Advertisement
basketball Edit

Notre Dame & NBA Draft: By The Numbers

In 2015, Mike Brey saw Jerian Grant (22) selected in the first round and Pat Connaughton (24) in the second.
In 2015, Mike Brey saw Jerian Grant (22) selected in the first round and Pat Connaughton (24) in the second. (USA TODAY Sports)

Don’t miss out on any of our exclusive football, basketball and recruiting coverage. Click here to get your 30-day free trial!

3 Times two Notre Dame basketball players were selected in the first round in the same year. It occurred during the golden age of the program’s history (1968-81) in the post-World War II era : In 1971 it was Austin Carr (No. 1 overall pick) and Collis Jones (17); in 1974 John Shumate (4) and Gary Brokaw (18); and in 1981 Orlando Woolridge (6) and Kelly Tripucka (12).

In 2015, first-round pick Jerian Grant and second-round selection Pat Connaughton became the first duo from Notre Dame selected in the same season in 23 years, or since LaPhonso Ellis and Elmer Bennett in 1992.


6 Notre Dame players drafted (so far) during head coach Mike Brey’s 17 seasons, a main reason why he has become one of the nation's most respected mentors while keeping the Irish consistently among the top five teams in the powerful Big East from 2000-13 and ACC (2013-17). The sextet is comprised of Troy Murphy (2001), current Irish assistant Ryan Humphrey (2002), Luke Harangody (2010), Grant (2015), Connaughton (2015) and Demetrius Jackson (2016).

This does not include the six-year NBA career of former Irish guard Chris Quinn (2002-06), who was not drafted.


8 Years between the time a Notre Dame player was chosen from 2002 (Humphrey) to 2010 (Harangody), the longest drought in the school’s 70-year history in the draft. The previous longest was the six years from 1959 with Tom Hawkins (No. 3 overall pick) to 1965 with Ron Reed (No. 20), who would be a pitcher in Major League Baseball 19 years from 1966-84.


14 Fighting Irish alumni who played a minimum of 10 years in the NBA, with Naismith Hall of Fame member Adrian Dantley’s 15 seasons (1976-91) the longest, or one more than fifth-round pick Bill Laimbeer’s 14. The most recent to achieve the feat was Troy Murphy with 12 (2001-12).


27 Years between the time a Notre Dame guard was selected in the first round: David Rivers in 1988, and then Grant in 2015. In fact, the only other guard selected in between was the aforementioned Bennett in the second round of the 1992 NBA Draft.

----

Talk about it inside Rockne's Roundtable

Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.

• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD,

@BGI_MattJones, @BGI_DMcKinney and @BGI_CoreyBodden.

• Like us on Facebook

Advertisement