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No Notre Dame players.
The NCAA Tournament officially is here with five ACC teams among those seeking a national championship. The ACC particularly drew attention from the rest of the country after No. 10 seed NC State won the conference tournament for the first time since 1987. Strangely, no one on the Wolfpack concluded the ACC season as a leader in any of the major statistical categories. Some are going to March Madness though, and here they are:
No Notre Dame players on this list.
Well, we finally have reached March. The spotlight will shine bright on every team from here on out. But nowhere where the spotlight shine brighter than on the players most expected to lead their teams. That includes the ACC’s major statistical leaders, and you can find those players below:
No Notre Dame players.
The ACC is in its final few weeks before its tournament. If any team lying in the weeds is going to make a move, now is the time to get moving. Otherwise, they might as well just sit back and let the teams that deserve it more grab the best positions. Speaking of the best, here are the best statistical players in the conference:
No one from Notre Dame on this list.
We’ve reached the halfway point of February. That means teams only have a month left to build their NCAA Tournament resumes. If teams aren’t on track to make that tournament, they at least want to play strong over the next month. Here are the players most likely to help their teams do that:
No Notre Dame players.
We’re getting into the first full week of February now. It doesn’t seem like we already should be at this stage of the season, but we are. It’s another reminder for ACC teams that haven’t made their moves yet that the clock continues to tick. If they don’t, they’ll be put in their place by players like these conference statistical leaders:
At least one of these players could suit up for the Irish next season.
Notre Dame had a horrible 2022-23 season, but no matter what happened, 2023-24 was going to present a challenge. Having barely enough returning players just to to be able to play 5-on-5 is a problem no program ever wants to deal with. Yet that’s where the Irish are after half the previous roster was made up of graduate students and two of their three incoming freshmen de-committed after [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag] announced his departure.
The good news is the transfer portal is more active than ever before. Say what you will about what NIL has done to college sports, but new coach [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] has to be grateful that it has allowed the equivalent of free agency. With only [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] on the horizon, he’ll have to bandage up the Irish’s problems with transfers until he has one or two recruiting classes under his belt.
Nathan Erbach of the “Golden Homers” podcast has done a good job of tracking the existing college players who might make South Bend their home next season. Here are the players who reportedly have been connected to the Irish so far, a few of which either are about to visit campus or already have:
The Irish are in the mix for former Orangemen sharp shooter
There is a good amount of roster reconstruction that new [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] head coach [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] has in front of him.
Some of that will come via the transfer portal and the Irish are already making waves on that end. Syracuse graduate transfer [autotag]Joseph Girard III[/autotag] entered the portal on March 24th, and now has three scheduled in-home visits with potential landing spots.
Notre Dame is one of those, along with Clemson and BYU who are trying to lure the 6-foot, 1-inch and 190 pound shooter to their team. Girard III shot 38.1% from 3 last year and 40.3% from the field while hitting 85.7% of his free throws. Not only that, he contributed almost 3 rebounds and 3 assists per game.
Syracuse transfer Joe Girard tells me that he will have in-home visits with the following programs:
Clemson
Notre Dame
BYU— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 5, 2023
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Auburn appears to be in contact with Syracuse’s leading scorer, who averaged 16.1 points per game for the Orange this season.
It has been a week since Auburn’s season came to an end at the hands of the Houston Cougars in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama. The Tigers have not wasted any time, however, as head coach [autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag] and staff have started to pursue players in the transfer portal.
Among these players is [autotag]Joe Girard III[/autotag], a guard for the Syracuse Orange who has made it clear that he plans to test the NBA Draft waters but will also enter the transfer portal to keep his options open.
Girard led Syracuse in scoring this past season, averaging 16.4 points per game. Girard also averaged 2.3 rebounds and three assists per game. The Glens Falls, New York native has played in almost every game for the Orange since joining the program in 2019.
In a tweet from New York Times basketball insider, Adam Zagoria, the schools that have reached out to Girard were listed. Aside from Auburn, Girard has been contacted by major programs such as Indiana, Tennessee, LSU, Florida, and Ohio State.
Landing Girard would go a long way toward building up the guard position for the Tigers. At this point, the only new face joining Auburn this fall is [autotag]Aden Holloway[/autotag], the No. 6 point guard in the class of 2023 according to 247Sports.
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Not a great way to begin conference play.
SOUTH BEND — Coming into its ACC opener, Notre Dame had to know 6-foot-11 Syracuse center Jesse Edwards would be a problem. After all, he entered Saturday’s game as the conference’s leading rebounder and shot blocker. However, the Irish also needed to take his scoring ability into account. Even if they did, it didn’t matter as Edwards dominated in what became a nail-biting 62-61 Orange victory.
[autotag]Marcus Hammond[/autotag], making his Irish debut in a leg brace, capped a 6-0 run for the Irish in the final minute with a layup that just fell through the basket with 29 seconds left. Having also drawn a foul on the play, he hit a free throw to give the Irish a 61-60 lead, erasing what had been a five-point deficit moments earlier.
Out of a timeout, the Orange’s Judah Mintz, who mostly had been held in check, made a go-ahead basket with 14 seconds left. The Irish took a timeout and then saw the Orange use up their fouls to give. Ultimately, a [autotag]Dane Goodwin[/autotag] corner shot at the buzzer missed, and the Irish had their first home loss of the season.
Neither team led by more than five points the entire game, but it was the Irish (6-2, 0-1), who ended up making the more costly mistakes. They committed 10 turnovers and shot only 38.3% from the field. Edwards was happy to take advantage of that as he dominated the paint during a 22-point, 14-rebound afternoon at Purcell Pavilion. Equally volatile was Joseph Girard III, who scored 20 for the Orange (4-4, 1-0).
Goodwin was the top player for the Irish with 16 points and nine rebounds. Together with [autotag]Cormac Ryan[/autotag], who had 14 points, the two combined for seven 3-pointers. [autotag]Ven-Allen Lubin[/autotag] was a potent threat off the bench thanks to 10 points and eight boards.
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Desperate to get in the win column for ACC play, Notre Dame found itself in a contest with Syracuse on Saturday in which the lead changed 18 times. Whenever one team gained momentum, the other would take it right back. Ultimately, it was the Irish …
Desperate to get in the win column for ACC play, Notre Dame found itself in a contest with Syracuse on Saturday in which the lead changed 18 times. Whenever one team gained momentum, the other would take it right back. Ultimately, it was the Irish coming out on top in a wild contest, 88-87, for their first conference win of the year.
John Mooney (28 points, 14 rebounds) broke an 84-all tie with 39.7 seconds left when he got his own rebound off a miss and laid the ball back up and in. It gave Notre Dame the lead for good.
Prentiss Hubb (22 points, nine assists) made it 88-84 with two free throws, and Syracuse struggled to hit a 3-pointer on their final possession. Joseph Girard III finally knocked down a trey with 0.4 seconds left, but by then, the Irish only had to inbound the ball successfully to finish the win. Girard tried to draw a foul on his shot for a potential four-point play, but it was ruled a flop.
T.J. Gibbs scored 21 points for the Irish with all of his field goals coming on 3s. Rex Plueger was involved with a collision that aggravated his surgically-repaired left knee and didn’t play in the second half. However, he wasn’t about to let that diminish his postgame enthusiasm.
I LOVE MY TEAM🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀
— Rex Pflueger (@rexpflueger) January 4, 2020
