Tag: John MacLeod

Flashback to LaPhonso Ellis being drafted by Denver Nuggets in 1992

Who remembers this?

Later this week, a select group of young basketball players will have their dreams realized when they are selected in the NBA draft. That won’t include any Notre Dame players this time around, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look back on those who have been picked. Among those is [autotag]LaPhonso Ellis[/autotag], who was picked fifth overall by the Denver Nuggets in 1992:

You’ll notice a clip a lot of credit for Ellis’ growth in his final season for the Irish is given to [autotag]John MacLeod[/autotag], who had just taken over for [autotag]Digger Phelps[/autotag]. You’ll also notice the graphic indicated that Ellis joined [autotag]Tom Hawkins[/autotag], [autotag]Walter Sahn[/autotag] and [autotag]Robert Whitmore[/autotag] in the program’s 1,000-point/1,000 rebound club. Only [autotag]Luke Harangody[/autotag] has joined in the years since.

Ellis flourished in his first of 11 NBA seasons, making the All-Rookie First Team alongside Shaquille O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner and Tom Gugliotta. He started every game for the Nuggets, averaging 14.7 points a game and career highs of 9.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks a game.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

“He asked if I wanted him here. He knew …

“He asked if I wanted him here. He knew that a big, big piece of team building is coach and the player that is the leader of the team. It was awesome. He thought about me when he was making his decision. It’s important,” Young told The Undefeated. McMillan won’t make the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player, but could have an opportunity as a head coach. He enters Friday night’s game against the Brooklyn Nets seven wins shy of surpassing John Macleod to become the 18th-winningest head coach in NBA history with lots of basketball still to coach.

Notre Dame Basketball Won’t Be Able to Gather This Summer

When Notre Dame’s president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins, announced that the university would open for the fall, moods everywhere brightened

When Notre Dame’s president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins, announced Monday that the university would open for the fall semester, albeit two weeks early and with no fall break, moods everywhere brightened. The announcement meant a possible light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel. Maybe football would go on as scheduled. Just about anything was possible now.

However, what won’t be possible is the Notre Dame basketball team’s annual summertime spent together. Though the university will open Aug. 10, the second summer school session was canceled. That means the Irish basketball players won’t be on campus over the summer for the first time since 1998, the last year of the John MacLeod era.

Though Mike Brey’s staff hopes the team can gather at some point in July, it would be nothing compared to the six weeks the Irish usually spend working and bonding together. While some teams might embrace having to go right at it when they’re finally able to gather again, this is an especially challenging time for Notre Dame. With John Mooney, Rex Pflueger and T.J. Gibbs all having graduated, the 2020-21 season represents a changing of the guard by way of the junior class leading the way. Now comes a challenge Prentiss Hubb, Nate Laszewski and Dane Goodwin couldn’t possibly have prepared for.

True college basketball fans love seeing videos of their team working out together and maybe even taking trips together over the summer. They serve as hype for the coming season at a time when college basketball is out of the spotlight. This year, the world has changed, and no one knows what will happen when the games return. Summer school or no summer school, it will be time to play before the Irish know it, and with everyone is eager to get back on that court and win, no opponent’s going to feel sorry for them if they’re ill-prepared this fall.

Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament: No. 15 Seed – 2018-19 Irish

Notre Dame hasn’t had many lean seasons since Mike Brey took over, but as far as badness, the 2018-19 Irish take the cake.

Notre Dame hasn’t had many lean seasons since Mike Brey took over, but as far as badness, the 2018-19 Irish take the cake. That’s not to say they didn’t have the talent to compete, at least at the start of the season. The team was ravaged by injuries, particularly a torn ACL for Rex Pflueger, and that made it impossible for them to compete in a top-heavy ACC.

As is typical for them, the Irish had a good nonconference showing at 10-3. But with their depth suddenly thin, once conference play began, they never got anything going. Losing streaks of five and seven gave them an ACC record of 3-15, their worst conference showing since going 4-14 in their inaugural Big East campaign in 1995-96. They salvaged a win in the conference tournament over Georgia Tech before Louisville ended their season in the next round and brought their final overall record to 14-19, their worst since going 14-16 in John MacLeod’s last season in 1998-99.

In spite of the team’s troubles, John Mooney averaged a double-double with 14.1 points and 11.2 rebounds a game. T.J. Gibbs averaged 13.4 points a game, and D.J. Harvey had a scoring average of 10.7 in his final season with Notre Dame before transferring to Vanderbilt. In Pflueger’s absence, the Irish went through a revolving door for the fifth player in their starting lineup, which was consistent otherwise.

The Irish committed the fewest fouls in the country (455) and the third-fewest turnovers (306). Opponents realized they were facing a team that wasn’t going to beat itself, but they mostly won anyway.