In reply to: Thank you!. I was interested to see that Caitlin Clark is posted by MPG
Per Dillon’s Recruiting update “On Sept. 28-30, Wing Haley Jones and Forward Laeticia Amihere will take their OVs to Notre Dame. Coincidentally (or not), the football opponent is Stanford, which is very much Jones' local college and very much in the recruiting picture. ”
I did not realize it was this upcoming weekend. Expect some interesting social media posts, etc. Fingers crossed!!
Link, below per ND Hoops Recruits:
Very much done by a local reporter ("awesome").
She seems like a really nice, unassuming kid who is a coaches' kid (twice) and is coached by one of the better HS/AAU coaches (Sue Phillips) around.
BTW, it looks like ND is first in her order of OVs. After reading some comments on The Boneyard, it looks like UConn is not last. Betting that last OV (not until November) is to the local school, Stanford.
a perfect fit for Notre Dame. However, she would be a perfect fit for many schools. I would not consider us the favorite, but I hope she has a tremendous (I mean "awesome") visit this weekend. No school, IMHO, will present a better group of teammates.
know which seniors ND visited at their homes this September?
...as you say: Ionescu graduates in Spring 2020 and a frosh guard like Clark takes over in Fall 2020. (Ionescu could make herself available to the draft early due to having her 22nd birthday in 2019, but let's assume she stays until her senior year for this post.)
Caitlin Clark does have some similarities in her game to Ionescu -- very much a field general who can make scoring the first priority if need be. PG with height.
On the other hand, could see those attributes working just as well at Notre Dame. Jordan Nixon will be a junior at that time, so wouldn't hurt to bring in a PG that year (or next) and Clark or Bueckers would certainly fit the bill to join Alli Campbell.
BTW, a quick glance at her twitter shows a young person who really enjoys her community, friends, high school and AAU team. While twitter is still a relatively new media, it offered kind of an "old school" picture (in a good way).
Would ND take both if it could, or first one to commit?
As for taking one, the other or both: i think there might be a few variables at play here:
- Do the Irish get a wing in 2019 (that would be Jones)?
- Do the freshman guards play up to expectations and where does MM see them fitting in best post-Marina and Arike?
- Does Alli Campbell keep growing?
If all top-line opportunities come to pass (hello, Ms. Jones; all the guards pan out great), you probably only need one point guard to join Alli in the Class of 2020. (The other reason is that you can bet a pot o' gold MM/Niele are going full throttle with Azzi Fudd in 2021.)
But if there's some variance and, hence, wiggle room, tough choices to make:
- you might want to get another wing (Parrish, Westbeld);
- But Geesh, Bueckers and Clark are two of the best players in the country, period. And the Irish do play a three-guard offense. It would be great having one of them. Trotting them both out...whew!?!
Stay tuned. First factor: who fills out the class of 2019.
Be interested in other's take on this....
take both. Nixon, Peoples, and Gilbert are athletic guards who will push for playing time. Prohaska will find ways to contribute. The addition of Campbell and one of Bueckers/Clark will give the Irish a full two-deep backcourt with no guard graduating in 2021 and Azzi Fudd on the radar.
I would like to see a forward in the 2020 class. As you noted the outcome of the 2019 recruiting class will soon set the stage.
for a while now. Sorry, I'm going to pass on a thoughtful, nuanced answer and just say to the question of "Would ND take both if it could?"
Hell, yes! …as would, I suppose, every college in the country.
versatile, and ND will have only 1 guard in the 2019 class, so get both and Campbell in 2020. Notre Dame plays a lot of guards, and Gilbert, Prohaska and Nixon will be juniors when Campbell, Clark and Bueckers would arrive. I really don't think that ND gets Jones, but if the Irish did, then I am definitely being greedy. We also have to factor for injuries; believe it or not, sometimes you get a lot of injuries all at the the same time.
The other thing is that realistically, we won't get all these players. I remember when we were recruiting Samuelson, Collier, Ogunbowale, Mabrey and Durr (and we already had Patberg committed for the following year). I wrung my hands about who we would have to exclude, but of course it never came to pass. We got only 2 of the 5 and we still did pretty damn good!
So for now, I will be greedy and say yes to all of them (Jones in 2019 and then Campbell, Clark and Bueckers in 2020) if they would agree to commit. Hell, Clay Kallam says that Jones could defend positions 1-4 at a P5 level (but not quick PG and not huge PF), so she's very versatile too.
I'd take both too.
Fact is, Muffet has always recruited good guards. I may be in the minority but I'm more concerned about landing a big at this point. In the freshman class we have one (Cosgrove) but still not sure if she plays down low or on the wing. In the current recruiting class, we just lost one to North Carolina, and we are apparently left with two remaining possibilities and I'm not reading much that gives me confidence on either. In 2019 class, Gusters has already eliminated us. If we don't land one in the current cycle, it really amps up the pressure to get one in 2019.
I'm not. (mostly) We have perhaps the best in the college ranks this year.
We have Mikayla Vaughn, Danielle Patterson, Danielle Cosgrove, and Sam Brunelle next year. We also have a decent chance at Aliyah Boston, who is a game changer—not the best chance as the Boneyard thinks we think—but a decent chance. [By the way, is there some alternate McGraw's Bench somewhere on the Web? I've read Boneyard posts saying that the Notre Dame fans believe Boston is theirs. I try to read every post here, and I don't recall a one that said that.] Jackie will also be grabbing rebounds in 2019-20.
In 2020-21, we have everyone from the year before, plus a really good chance, IMHO, of welcoming Natalija Marshall, who retweeted Allison Campbell's verbal acceptance of a ND offer.
I'd say we are sitting pretty. We will find out how pretty come November.
..I'm very intrigued to see Mik Vaughn come back once she's cleared to do so. She had looked very promising before her injury.
And up at the high post/forward slot, I think Danielle Patterson can only improve practicing against and playing with Ms. Vaughn, Shepard, Cosgrove and Turner this fall.
Hopefully, we'll be able to get one of the posts/forwards -- Amihere or Boston -- to join the Irish in 2019. But if nothing works out there, the Irish have Sam coming in at the high post and MM and staff can look for low posts in 2020. Having Vaughn available for four years helps here.