As former Penn State freshman forward Kebba Njie reportedly toured campus Monday, pondering a future with the Notre Dame men’s basketball program and reuniting with coach Micah Shrewsberry, another potential building block slipped away.
Freshman forward Ven-Allen Lubin announced via Twitter on Monday his intentions to transfer, and didn’t leave the door open for a change of heart and eventual return to Notre Dame.
That means only Mishawaka (Ind.) Penn point guard Markus Burton, the leading scorer in Indiana high school boys basketball this past season (30.3 ppg), is the only member of the past two Irish recruiting classes still at or headed to Notre Dame.
That’s five evacuees from the final two classes of the Mike Brey regime that ended with an 11-21 overall record this past season and a 3-17 ACC mark.
Lubin’s classmates, guard JJ Starling and forward Dom Campbell, have transferred to Syracuse and Howard, respectively. Signed in November and released from their national letters-of-intent, guards Parker Friedrichsen and Brady Dunlap have ruled out a U-turn to South Bend.
Friedrichsen has already signed with Wake Forest, while Dunlap’s new finalists don’t include the Irish.
Grad senior guards Robby Carmody and Cormac Ryan also entered the transfer portal since it opened for basketball players on March 13. Carmody, a reserve, has landed at Mercer. Ryan, a starter and captain, is also testing the NBA Draft waters and has the option still to stay in the draft or pursue a sixth collegiate season at Notre Dame or somewhere else.
Players who wish to withdraw from the draft and maintain their college eligibility must do so by May 31.
The 6-8 Lubin, from Orlando, Fla., averaged 6.2 points and 4.4 rebounds in 28 games for the Irish, including seven starts. He shot .580 from the field and .677 from the free-throw line. Lubin was ranked as the No. 49 overall prospect nationally in the 2022 class.
The remaining three Notre Dame scholarship players combined for an average of 1.7 points, 1.6 rebounds and 8.4 minutes a game last season — 6-9 junior Matt Zona, 6-7 junior Tony Sanders Jr., and 6-7 sophomore J.R. Konieczny.
Last season, though, Shrewsberry proved adept in roster construction. In his second and final season at Penn State he helped turn a 14-win team in 2021-22 into a 23-win NCAA Tournament team that included eight newcomers — three grad transfers and the highest-rated recruiting class in Nittany Lions history.
The 46-year-old Indiana native was announced as Notre Dame’s head coach on March 24 and met with the Irish media for the first time six days later.
Shrewsberry followed his historic recruiting effort with another top 30 class in the 2023 cycle, this one a three-man group. And all three could end up at Notre Dame.
Son Braeden Shrewsberry is a 6-2 guard who’s expected on the Irish roster next season, while 6-4 guard Logan Imes has visited ND, and 6-9 power forward Carey Booth is slated to do so early next week.
The transfer portal for men’s basketball remains open through May 11.
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