With Notre Dame all but certain to be an NCAA Tournament team, it was a given that the ACC would reward some of its players. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. Three Irish players have been named to a variety of all-conference teams.
Blake Wesley, the freshman phenom from South Bend who is projected to be a first-round NBA draft selection this year, has been named to the All-ACC Second Team and the conference’s All-Rookie Team. The Irish’s last all-rookie selection was Jerian Grant on the Big East team for the 2011-12 season. Wesley definitely earned both honors after leading the team in scoring (14.8 points a game).
Senior Dane Goodwin is on the All-ACC Third Team after averaging 14.0 points a game and putting up a shooting slash line of .498/.448/.855. Only Wesley had a higher scoring average for the Irish.
Paul Atkinson Jr., the graduate transfer from Yale and former Ivy League Player of the Year, is an honorable mention on the All-ACC Team. He rounded out the Irish players with double-digit scoring averages at 12.6.
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The Irish have been enduring a NBA Draft selection drought since 2016, when Demetrius Jackson was selected in the second round with the 45th overall pick by the Boston Celtics. The last first round selection was a year before with Jerian Grant going 19th overall to the Washington Wizards.
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz believe that the drought will end this year. They have Irish guard Blake Wesley going 30th overall to the Oklahoma City Thunder in their latest mock NBA Draft (insider).
The Irish freshman has had a very solid season, averaging 14.7 points-per-game while chipping in 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists. Wesley is shooting 41.1% from the field and oozes with potential.
Wesley will have a big time decision to make at the end of the season, will he return to the Irish and improve on his draft stock or test the NBA waters after just one year in South Bend?
𝙴 𝙻 𝙸 𝚃 𝙴.
With four rebounds tonight, freshman @blakewesley0 now 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆 this season to reach 400 points, 100 rebounds, 50 3FGM, 70 assists and 30 steals 🔥#GoIrish ☘️ pic.twitter.com/gSmjm6IFxJ
During the past season, Notre Dame and Kentucky played each other the first of three consecutive years.
During the past season, Notre Dame and Kentucky played each other the first of three consecutive years. The Irish barely hung to win after dominating most of the game. It’s possible that this game being played on the road had something to do with it. Regardless, that might not be a problem for the upcoming season because Tom Noie of the South Bend Tribune is reporting that the next game appears headed for Purcell Pavilion:
While it would be nice to have two teams with great expectations play at Madison Square Garden this year, maybe it’s better to end the current series on the big stage. Of course, there’s no telling how good either team actually will be this coming season, let alone the next one. That’s just a gamble they’ll have to take.
The Irish trail the all-time series with the Wildcats, 43-20. These programs last played in South Bend as part of the Big East/SEC Challenge on November 29, 2012. The Irish won that game, 64-50, behind 16 points from Eric Atkins, 13 points from Jerian Grant and a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds from Jack Cooley.
Houston began the process of narrowing its roster for the 2020-21 regular season by releasing two guards and a big man.
The Houston Rockets began the process of narrowing their roster for the 2020-21 season by waiving second-year big man Kenny Wooten, veteran guard Jerian Grant, and rookie swingman Trevelin Queen. NBA teams are allowed to carry significantly more players in training camp and exhibition games than during the regular season, which will force roster reductions across the league in the coming days.
All three of Houston’s waived players averaged 12 minutes per game or less during three preseason contests to date, so it was clear that none were among the preferred options for new head coach Stephen Silas.
With Wooten, Queen, and Grant gone, and Chris Clemons expected to be out for the season due to a torn Achilles, here’s how Houston’s active roster currently stands entering Thursday’s preseason finale.
Guards: James Harden, John Wall, Ben McLemore, Brodric Thomas (rookie), Mason Jones (rookie) Swingmen: David Nwaba, Sterling Brown, Gerald Green Forwards: PJ Tucker, Danuel House Jr., Jae’Sean Tate, Kenyon Martin Jr. (rookie) Centers: Christian Wood, DeMarcus Cousins, Bruno Caboclo
The release of Wooten opens up a two-way contract slot for the Rockets, since that’s how he was claimed from the Knicks.
Over five NBA seasons, Grant has averaged 6.1 points and 2.9 assists in 17.9 minutes per game. He was a first-round pick in the 2015 draft.
The Houston Rockets are signing veteran guard Jerian Grant to a one-year contract, per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
Grant was the No. 19 overall pick in the 2015 draft after playing four seasons in college at Notre Dame. Now 28 years old, the 6-foot-4 guard has averaged 6.1 points (32.3% on 3-pointers) and 2.9 assists in 17.9 minutes per game over his five seasons to date in the NBA.
Grant’s 2019-20 season was limited to just six games. In two of his last three years with a larger sample, he shot 36.4% and 36.6% on 3-pointers.
Grant has plenty of family connections to the NBA, per Feigen:
Grant’s brother, Jerami, signed with the Pistons last week after a breakthrough season with the Nuggets. They are the son of former NBA player Harvey Grant and nephews of former Bulls and Magic star Horace Grant.
The Rockets will be Grant’s fifth NBA franchise, joining the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic, and Washington Wizards.
In Houston, Grant will attempt to earn a roster spot with a strong showing in the team’s upcoming training camp for the 2020-21 season. The team’s hope is for Grant to potentially replace Austin Rivers as a reserve guard behind All-Star starters Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Like Rivers, Grant should bring capable ball-handling ability and defensive length to the role, along with a solid (but not great) shot from 3-point range.
Financial terms of the one-year contract were not disclosed, but with the Rockets subject to a hard salary cap after the sign-and-trade acquisition of Christian Wood, it’s almost certainly a veteran’s minimum salary. The question is how much money (if any) in the deal is guaranteed.
The NBA will allow teams to sign a replacement player if there’s an injury, a positive COVID-19 test or a player who chooses to sit out.
As the NBA prepares to resume the 2019-20 season in July, more details about the league’s plan are coming to light. In the event of an injury or a positive COVID-19 test during training camp or the regular season, teams will be able to sign replacement players from the free-agent pool.
The NBA will allow each team to bring 17 players (including their two-way guys) to Disney’s Wide World of Sports. There won’t be a limit on how many replacement players a team can sign, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Once the playoffs start on August 17, teams won’t be able to add any replacement players.
Every night, players will be tested for COVID-19; if a player tests positive, they must self-quarantine for 10-14 days while their team continues playing.
Not only will replacement players be necessary in the event of positive tests, they also could be called upon if a player is injured. Most teams will arrive in Orlando healthier than usual at this point in the season thanks to the four-month break, but a number of trainers and players have expressed concern that there could be more injuries than usual when the season resumes. After all, players have been working out on their own since mid-March and it’s hard to mimic game movements and intensity while training alone. Ramping back up slowly with a training camp (and potentially two or three exhibition games) should help, but there’s still increased injury risk.
Because this is an unprecedented situation, people around the NBA have no idea how teams will approach this transaction window and how many replacement players will be signed.
“I’m not sure if teams will rush to sign guys,” an agent said. “NBA rosters are already the biggest of any major sport in terms of the ratio of players on the roster to players on the court/field,” the agent explained. “In the NBA, it’s 15:5 (or 3:1) whereas it’s 25:9 (or 2.8:1) in MLB and 53:22 (or 2.4:1) in the NFL. And that doesn’t even include two-way players. I’m sure every team is aware of all the available G League guys and free agents. But in the playoffs, most rotations shrink to nine or 10 guys anyway. So, if you have 15 players, you should have five extra guys.”
“I’m curious to see if teams will sign free agents,” one Western Conference executive added. “I have no idea what will happen. At the end of the day, we’re just talking about a 15th man most likely, right?”
One Eastern Conference general manager pointed out that some teams may not consider signing replacement players at all, even if there is an injury or a positive COVID-19 test. Since a replacement player would have to quarantine for 10-14 days before playing, the team’s injured or sick player may be close to returning by the time the replacement player is finally able to take the court.
“I think as long as a team doesn’t have multiple players who get sick at the same time, they won’t sign anyone,” the general manager said. “I think most teams will just wait for their sick player to return.”
Some NBA teams with an open roster spot may decide to sign a free agent prior to arriving in Orlando rather than waiting until an injury or positive test occurs to address their depth. Technically, this player wouldn’t be a “replacement player,” but he’d be stashed on their roster in case of emergency. This would allow the player to go through training camp with the team as well as the initial quarantine period in Orlando. Then, if there is an injury or positive test, he would be able to play right away rather than having to quarantine for 10-14 days upon arrival like a replacement player would have to do.
Recently, there’s been a lot of discussion about how some players may choose not to play when the season resumes in Orlando. In recent weeks, a number of executives brought up this possibility and openly wondered what would happen if their players sit out because they didn’t want to be in the bubble for months and risk their health. Now, some players are also concerned that resuming play would shift the public’s focus away from the Black Lives Matter movement.
While it’s possible that enough NBA players speaking up would force the NBPA to back out of the plan to resume play, it seems more likely that the NBA will just allow each player to make their own decision when it comes to participating. If a player chooses to sit out, their team will resume play without them. These players wouldn’t face any consequences (aside from not being paid) and NBA teams would be allowed to sign a replacement player to take their place, according to a recent article by Wojnarowski.
There’s also some concern that players on fringe playoff teams will opt to play, but then want to leave the bubble or sit out as soon as their team is mathematically eliminated from the postseason. Players won’t want to put their health at risk and stay in the bubble if they aren’t playing for something. Some players (such as Damian Lillard) have already said that they wouldn’t risk their health to participate in meaningless games, and who could blame them?
“I feel like the eighth seed and the ninth seed could partially be determined by whose schedule sets them up against teams who are ‘tanking’ at the end,” said one Western Conference executive.
DeMarcus Cousins is one of the free agents who’s eligible to be signed. (Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports)
Interestingly, not all free agents are eligible to be signed as replacement players.
In order to be eligible, a player had to be on an NBA or G League roster this season or last season. Players who were overseas as of March 11, 2020 (when the NBA season was suspended) are not eligible to be signed, which rules out some notable free agents such as Lance Stephenson, Donatas Motiejunas, Greg Monroe and Miles Plumlee. If a player started the season overseas but got a FIBA clearance before March 11, they are eligible to be signed as long as they were on an NBA or G League roster in 2019-20 or 2018-19 (like Willie Reed, for example, who was in Greece to start the season but then got his FIBA clearance and signed with a G League team).
There are plenty of of notable free agents and former G League players who are eligible to be signed including DeMarcus Cousins, Isaiah Thomas, Darren Collison, Jamal Crawford, Iman Shumpert, JR Smith, Nik Stauskas, Kenneth Faried, Tyler Zeller, Jerian Grant, Corey Brewer, Tyler Johnson, Jodie Meeks, Michael Beasley, Nick Young, Trey Burke, Allen Crabbe, Jordan Bell, Justin Anderson, Tim Frazier, Tyrone Wallace, Ivan Rabb, Jarrod Uthoff, Amile Jefferson, Jonah Bolden, Tyler Ennis, Josh Magette, JP Macura, Ryan Broekhoff and Yante Maten among others.
While it’ll be interesting to see how the 22 NBA teams in the bubble utilize the replacement players, the eight teams who aren’t resuming play will be allowed to sign players during this transaction window too. Don’t be surprised if some of these teams take advantage of this opportunity to add a free agent and acquire their Bird rights.
“I would be on the lookout for a smart non-bubble team to add someone during the transaction window,” one NBA agent said. “Any team can sign guys from that same pool of talent and, I assume, pay guys the same pro-rated amount.”
In Wojnarowski’s article about replacement players, he confirmed that “the eight teams left out of the Orlando resumption are allowed to waive or sign players during the transaction window,” although “they cannot sign a player to a two-way contract.”
It’s worth noting that a lot of these details are still being worked out and nothing is official as of yet. Several agents and executives pointed out that they’re receiving these updates through social media, just like the rest of us, and awaiting further instruction from the league or NBPA.
In this time of quarantine, it can feel a little lonely.
In this time of quarantine, it can feel a little lonely. But when you were part of a championship-winning team, that loneliness has potential to go away for a bit. On Saturday afternoon, the 2014-15 Notre Dame men’s basketball team did just that.
The ’14-15 Irish, who won the ACC championship and were one last-second 3-pointer away from getting to the Final Four, got together on Twitch to reminisce about their team, arguably the best team Mike Brey has coached in his time in South Bend. Never mind that this team got bounced in the semifinals of our Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament. This is the team people think of first when it comes to recent Notre Dame men’s basketball.
Hosted by Demetrius Jackson’s channel and co-hosted by associate athletic communications director Alan Wasielewski, the ’14-15 Irish were well-represented, so there were plenty of stories to be shared. Besides Jackson, the players on the chat were Jerian Grant, Zach Auguste, Pat Connaughton, Steve Vasturia, V.J. Beachem, Bonzie Colson, Austin Torres, Austin Burgett, Martinas Geben, Eric Kantenda and Matt Gregory, whose father crashed the chat at one point. Incredibly, Matt Farrell was the only player absent. Also joining them were team chaplain and Notre Dame’s Director of Campus Ministry, the Rev. Peter M. McCormick.
There were nothing but positive vibes all-around. In the great scheme of things, five years removed from a memorable event is not a long time. Still, it had the feel of a 20-year college reunion. These boys became men together, so they all see each other as brothers.
At the time of this writing, the reunion still was going on, so you might still be able to check it out if you hurry. It’s clear they all still love each other. That’s the glimmer of light we need in these dark times.
In a Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament that’s had some surprises, perhaps the biggest one just happened.
In a Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament that’s had some surprises, perhaps the biggest one just happened. That surprise is the field’s top seed won’t play in the final. The fourth-seeded 2006-07 Irish convincingly upset the 2014-15 Irish, 97-83, in the first semifinal.
After falling behind by six early in the first half, the ’06-07 Irish went on a 10-0 and never trailed again. That first half saw the ’14-15 Irish cut a nine-point deficit to two before the ’06-07 Irish built their lead back up to 14, though they had to settle for an 11-point halftime lead after Jerian Grant hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer. In the second half, they led by as much as 19, and the ’14-15 Irish never got closer than nine. To say the least, this game played out in a way few could have expected not only in terms of the outcome, but also how it happened.
Russell Carter led all scorers and the ’06-07 Irish with 20 points. Luke Harangody had another quality game off the bench and scored 18 while shooting 8 of 11 from the field. Rob Kurz was 5 of 7 from the field and 6 of 7 from the free-throw line to score 16. Colin Falls scored 12, and Kyle McAlarney had 10 off the bench.
Demetrius Jackson paced the ’14-15 Irish with 19 points. Grant was close behind with 17 points while also dishing out a game-high eight assists. Steve Vasturia had 12, and Zach Auguste came close to a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds. Pat Connaughton was held in check with only nine points on 4-of-7 shooting.
We no longer have a double-digit seed in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament, but oh Lord, was the last quarterfinal game exciting.
We no longer have a double-digit seed in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament, but oh Lord, was the last quarterfinal game exciting. There’s nothing more exciting than a Cinderella team giving a superior team all it can handle. In the end, the third-seeded 2007-08 Irish barely defeated the 14th-seeded 2013-14 Irish, 87-86, with a buzzer beater.
The ’13-14 Irish led by as much as 10 in the first half before the ’07-08 Irish bounced back and took a one-point halftime lead on a Luke Zeller 3-pointer at the buzzer. With just under seven minutes left in regulation, the ’07-08 Irish had built that lead up to 11, but a 15-3 run by the ’13-14 Irish put them up one with two-and-a-half minutes to go. They briefly lost the lead before going up four. A Kyle McAlarney 3 cut the lead to 82-81 going into the final minute.
Pat Connaughton got to the free-throw line with 18 seconds left and made two shots to give the ’13-14 Irish an 84-81 lead. Rob Kurz quickly tied it at 84 with a 3-pointer five seconds later. Connaughton put his team up two with an open fadeaway jumper with two seconds left. That was just enough time for Ryan Ayers to hit his only field goal of the game: a buzzer-beating 3 to send the ’07-08 Irish to the semifinals.
McAlarney led the ’07-08 Irish with 21 points, including five 3-pointers, and four steals. Kurz was just behind with 20 points while shooting 6 of 12 from the field and making all five of his free throws. Luke Harangody did his part with a double-double of 16 points and 15 rebounds.
Eric Atkins had 19 points, seven rebounds and a game-high eight assists for the ’13-14 Irish. Jerian Grant came off the bench and scored 18 on 7-of-9 shooting from the field. Connaughton scored 14, and Demetrius Jackson and Zach Auguste had 10 apiece.
The top four seeds have been waiting around for a bit to get going in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament.
The top four seeds have been waiting around for a bit to get going in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament. The time to do so finally has arrived. The top-seeded 2014-15 Irish got the quarterfinals going with a come-from-behind 92-83 victory over the eighth-seeded 2009-10 Irish.
The ’09-10 Irish were in front for most of the first half, doing so by as many as eight points with two minutes left before settling on a six-point halftime lead. Midway through the second half, they still led by five, but the ’14-15 Irish went on a 7-0 run to take a two-point lead. The teams battled closely for a little longer until the game was tied at 74 with five minutes to go. V.J. Beachem then scored nine unanswered points on back-to-back 3-pointers and a three-point play, and the ’09-10 Irish never got closer than four points after that.
Jerian Grant was efficient and unselfish in leading the ’14-15 Irish with 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and a perfect 3 for 3 from 3-point range, as well as a game-high seven assists. Pat Connaughton scored 17 points and had a game-high four blocks. Thanks to his late charge, Beachem ended with 12 points in nine minutes played. Zach Auguste scored 11 and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
The ’09-10 Irish played only seven players, and that almost was enough. Tim Abromaitis paced them with a game-high 26 points to go with seven rebounds. Tyrone Nash scored 19, and Ben Hansbrough added 11.
