Tag: Pat Connaughton

Pat Connaughton/Blake Wesley NBA Tracker: Oct. 24-29

Hope there’s more to talk about in the coming weeks and months.

The NBA season is underway, but it was an unremarkable first week for Notre Dame’s two league representatives. Most people probably didn’t even notice them.

[autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] scored seven and five points, respectively, in the Milwaukee Bucks’ first two games, which were played against the Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks. Exactly half of his four field goals were made from 3-point range. Those field goals came as he shot only 26.7% from the field. Hopefully, he was just working the rust off.

The week was even more uneventful for [autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] of the San Antonio Spurs. He was left on the bench during his team’s first two games and finally saw the floor Oct. 29 against the Los Angels Clippers. By the time he entered the game though, the Spurs were getting blown out, and Gregg Popovich decided to empty his bench. Wesley split a pair of free throws and missed a 3-pointer.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame’s last game against Georgetown

Between 1996 and 2013, Notre Dame and Georgetown played each other at least once ever year as Big East rivals.

Between 1996 and 2013, Notre Dame and Georgetown played each other at least once ever year as Big East rivals. When the programs, who will play a home-and-home series the next two seasons, met Jan. 21, 2013 at Purcell Pavilion, the conference series was tied at 11. With the Irish about to move to the ACC, the game decided who had perpetual conference bragging rights. That turned out to be the Hoyas, who upset the No. 24 Irish, 63-47, en route to winning a share of the Big East title.

Future NBA journeyman Otto Porter Jr. led all scorers with 19 points and came within a rebound of a double-double. D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera scored 14 off the bench for the Hoyas. Moses Abraham, another Hoyas reserved, had 10 boards.

[autotag]Jerian Grant[/autotag] led the Irish with 13 points and had a game-high three steals. [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] scored 12, and [autotag]Jack Cooley[/autotag] achieved a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. However, the team shooting an overall 34.7% from the field proved too much to overcome. Not even Red Panda’s halftime performance could inspire the Irish enough.

As we prepare for the upcoming home-and-home, here are the images of this game Irish fans probably would rather forget:

Most recent Notre Dame players to be NBA draft selections

All of these players did the Irish proud before making the jump.

Nobody on Notre Dame’s veteran-laden team from this past season will be selected in Thursday’s NBA draft. In fact, given the inexperience across the board on the upcoming season’s roster and under a new coach no less, it could be quite a while before we see another Notre Dame player drafted. On the bright side, that means no early departures except via the transfer portal. Then again, it sure would be nice to have NBA-ready talent in South Bend.

The only way to deal with a challenging present and short-term future is to look to the past. In this case, the way to go about that is to look at former players who heard their names called on draft night over the past several years. Of the 62 former Notre Dame players who have suited up in the NBA or ABA, 41 have entered professional basketball via the draft. Here are the most recent ones:

Top 10 Notre Dame baseball players according to ChatGPT

How many of these players do you recognize?

So Notre Dame will not make the College World Series for a second straight season. In fact, it didn’t make the NCAA Tournament at all. So what are Irish fans left to do? Look into the past, of course.

Not long ago, we took the liberty of asking ChatGPT, the AI information bot that supposedly is threatening to put all of us writers out of work, its opinion on Notre Dame athletic history. Specifically, we asked it to rank what it believed were the top 10 Notre Dame football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball players. Now, we’re bringing it back to seek its opinion about Irish baseball players.

Keep in mind that ChatGPT gives this disclaimer:

“As an AI, I don’t have access to real-time information or the ability to provide subjective opinions. However, I can tell you about some notable baseball players who have had successful careers at the University of Notre Dame. Keep in mind that this list is not exhaustive and does not rank them in any particular order.”

There’s also this:

“Please note that this is not an exhaustive or ranked list, and there have been many other talented baseball players who have represented the University of Notre Dame.”

So with all of that said, let’s see who ChatGPT came up with. Please note that some of these have been edited to remove inaccurate or outdated information:

Notre Dame appearances at MLB ballparks through the years

The Irish have been well-represented during ceremonial first pitches.

This is an exciting week for Notre Dame. Not everyone can say they’ve been at MLB’s two oldest ballparks during the same week, but this year’s Irish will be able to make that claim. They’ll face Northwestern at Wrigley Field on Tuesday before meeting Boston College at Fenway Park on Friday. The best part for us at Fighting Irish Wire is that we’ve been credentialed for both games, so we’ll be reporting the action directly from these historic venues.

With these two games taking place during the final week of the regular season, we thought it would be nice to take a look back at Notre Dame figures making appearances at MLB ballparks over the years. We’re not talking about when the football team has played games there or former Irish players who have made the big leagues. We’re talking about when figures have made appearances on behalf of the university. If you have a really good memory, maybe you can recall at least one of these:

Notre Dame alumnus Monty Williams dismissed as Phoenix Suns coach

Was this the right call?

Success in the recent past seems to be mattering less and less in the NBA. For at least some teams, it doesn’t matter what you did a few years ago if you’re not getting the job done now. The Phoenix Suns showed they subscribe to that philosophy when The Athletic reported that they have fired former Notre Dame player [autotag]Monty Williams[/autotag] as coach. Williams was the 2022 Coach of the Year, and he took the Suns to the 2021 NBA Finals.

Williams joins the ranks of NBA coaches who have lost their jobs recently despite doing great things not long ago. The Toronto Raptors ousted Nick Nurse even though he led them to the 2019 championship. Mike Budenholzer, who coached [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] and the Milwaukee Bucks to the 2021 title, also was handed his walking papers. These moves should put almost every coach in the league on notice about what can happen if their team underachieves.

Hopefully, Williams isn’t out of the NBA for long. He has too good of a resume for teams with coaching vacancies not to at least look at him. He’s a good guy, too. Who wouldn’t want that on their bench?

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

Top 10 Notre Dame men’s basketball players according to ChatGPT

Let’s see what AI knows about Irish men’s hoops.

For the past few months, I’ve heard quite a bit about the AI information bot known as ChatGPT. It was the subject of an episode during this past season of “South Park”. More importantly, I’ve heard how it’s such a game-changer that writing jobs are done for. We’ll see about that as I’m not too worried about it, but then again, I’m sure newspaper employees said the same thing about the internet in the mid-1990s.

When our editor Nick Shepkowski decided to ask ChatGPT what it thought Notre Dame’s 10 best football players were, I decided to follow suit and ask the same question but for the 10 best men’s basketball players instead. Keep in mind that even the bot knows this list is subjective:

“Please note that there are many other outstanding players who have played for Notre Dame and could also be included on this list.”

So keep that in mind as you go over the following list, which also includes ChatGPT’s description of each player:

Eight ACC players selected for Portsmouth Invitational Tournament

Two recent Notre Dame players could have an NBA shot.

There are several avenues for NBA hopefuls to make it to the league. One of the better-known ones is the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, which is open only to recent college seniors. This is the oldest amateur tournament in the country, so it carries some weight.

The tournament doesn’t generate NBA draft picks every year, but Tyrese Martin ended a four-year drought when he became a second-round selection in 2022. [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] was drafted after taking part in the 2015 tournament. Other notable tournament alumni include Jimmy Butler, Tim Hardaway, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, John Stockton, Dave Cowens, Earl Monroe and Rick Barry.

This year, eight recent ACC seniors have the opportunity to compete in the tournament. While there aren’t any guarantees for what happens afterwards, it’s a great way to get noticed by scouts. Here are the players who represented the ACC during the past season and will get a good look by folks who know the professional game well:

Pat Connaughton/Blake Wesley NBA Tracker: April 3-9

One player’s season ends; the other hopes to get healthy for the playoffs.

[autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] finished a trying rookie season with the San Antonio Spurs with a couple of decent performances. He scored 14 points April 8 against the Minnesota Timberwolves and came within one assist of a double-double while scoring 10 in the April 9 season finale against the Dallas Mavericks. His final week saw him average 6.5 points and 4.0 assists a game while shooting 35.5% from the field. Those were above his final season averages of 5.0 points and 2.7 assists on 32.1% shooting over 37 games.

[autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] sprained his ankle April 4 against the Washington Wizards and didn’t play for the rest of the week. During a season in which he made a career-high 33 starts out of 61 games played, the Milwaukee Bucks guard averaged 7.6 points and 4.6 rebounds a game while putting together a shooting slash line of .392/.339/.659. His field-goal percentages were the lowest they’ve been since his rookie year, but at the moment, that’s far less important to him than getting healthy enough to help the Bucks win their second championship in three years.

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

Pat Connaughton/Blake Wesley NBA Tracker: March 27-April 2

Not the best week if you’re a fan of NBA players from Notre Dame.

There definitely have been better weeks for Notre Dame’s NBA representation. While [autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] didn’t have the least productive week of his rookie season, his best outing was a seven-point, four-assist during the San Antonio Spurs’ 15-point loss to the Golden State Warriors on March 31. He did score in all three games but didn’t surpass his total against the Dubs. For the week, he averaged 4.7 points and 3.0 assists while shooting 29.4% from the field.

As the Milwaukee Bucks try to clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference, [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] is factoring into games less and less. Already having lost his starting spot, he was held scoreless in two of his three games over the past week, including only seeing garbage time April 2 against the Philadelphia 76ers. He did score eight points and dish out three assists in a blowout loss to the Boston Celtics on March 30. In the end, that game did little to prevent a final scoring average of 3.8 for the week.