A big domino has fallen for Notre Dame and its 2018 basketball recruiting class: Rivals100 forward Nate Laszewski is Irish.
The 6-foot-10, 205-pound Northfield (Mass.) Mt. Hermon product announced his decision this evening to commit to Mike Brey’s program over North Carolina, Wake Forest and others.
Landing Laszewski is a big recruiting victory for the Irish beating out a blueblood program in North Carolina and adding a talented frontcourt player to complement its three guard commits of point guard Prentiss Hubb and shooting guards Robby Carmody and Dane Goodwin.
Laszewski took an official visit to Notre Dame during the weekend of the Georgia football game and was followed by trips to Wake Forest and North Carolina the following weekends.
Brey continued his pursuit of Laszewski visiting him just days after each visit reinforcing to the four-star he was a top priority for the Irish.
“It was really good,” Laszewski said of his Irish official. “I got to see a lot of the campus, hang out with the guys a little bit, play with them, go to the football game and meet some more people involved with the program.
“[The big takeaway was] that’s it a really great school, really good basketball with a great team. It’s just a great package.”
Notre Dame has been recruiting Laszewski for over two years with the senior making an unofficial visit in 2015 and 2016. Brey and assistant Rod Balanis led the charge for Laszewski with the entire staff pitching in as the process went on.
“We get along really well,” Laszewski said of Balanis after being offered. “He’s the one who mainly took me around campus on both of my unofficial visits. We’ve always talked back-and-forth and he’s been up to here a couple times. It’s been good.
“Coach Brey is excited about his program all the time and what they have going on there. From when I’ve talked to him, he just seems like a really cool coach.”
Laszewski blew up on the recruiting trail after a strong July on the AAU circuit with Notre Dame, North Carolina, Arizona, Indiana and Wisconsin all offering the sharpshooter.
Laszewski is now the highest-rated recruit in the Irish class coming in at No. 69 in the current rankings. He is joined by Hubb (No. 83) and Carmody (No. 86) in the Rivals100 with Goodwin rounding out the class at No. 105.
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