How Notre Dame senior Dane Goodwin ‘became a guard’ and put together an All-ACC caliber season

Dane Goodwin put forth his best Dikembe Mutombo impression during Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey’s first viewing of him.

Several years ago, at an AAU tournament in Virginia, Brey sat down to watch a game and witnessed Goodwin swat away several shot attempts. The then-Ohio State commitment was a guard by designation, but he spent much of his time playing the four or the five.

“The first time I saw him play, he blocked like five shots,” Brey recalled.

Goodwin was a high-major wing prospect, but his high school and AAU teams often used his 6-foot-4 frame in the interior. His game reflected it, even when he arrived at Notre Dame in the summer of 2018. He could shoot, undoubtedly. Rebound, too. His handle was fine for his size and position. Still, Brey has issued him one challenge over the years.

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“When are you going to be a college guard and not a high school four-man?” Brey said. “That was the running joke.”

Really, it was a half-joke. If his senior season is any indication, he took it seriously.

Goodwin may still play the four at times in Notre Dame’s offense, but as a senior he’s a guard in skill set as much as he is one by label. He is Notre Dame’s second-leading scorer – just behind freshman Blake Wesley – at 14.4 points per game. He’s shooting 50.7 percent from the field, 45.6 percent on three-pointers and 85.5 percent from the free throw line. His previous respective career highs were 43.4, 37.7 and 86.2. He has scored in double figures in all but three games this year. His steadiness is high on the list of reasons why Notre Dame is tracking toward the NCAA tournament.

The 50-40-90 visions from earlier this season are likely out of reach, but his current stat line still puts him in rare company. He and Missouri State’s Isiaih Mosley are the only two players shooting at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three-point range and 85 percent from the foul line while averaging at least 10 points per game.

“How he’s playing, it’s machine-like,” Brey said.

Refining With Time

Goodwin becoming a guard didn’t mean developing the ability to play rope-a-dope with the ball in his hands or becoming hiccup quick. Rather, it has more to do with consistency in getting to his most comfortable spots, a better understanding of moving without the ball, seeing the entire floor when he drives and making the extra pass.

“I don’t think it’s anything he has drastically changed,” said Goodwin’s father, Damon, the head coach at Division III Capital University in Columbus. “He’s just bigger, stronger, smarter and more confident as a basketball player. It’s just coming together.”

Now, Goodwin displays the decision-making skills of a guard and has put bouts of tunnel vision behind him. Developing feel for the game isn’t like developing as a shooter. It’s not a craft honed with long hours in practice. It takes trial and error in games — and the opportunity to put lessons learned into action. Goodwin has had the leash since he stepped on campus, averaging at least 24 minutes per game every season.

The payoff is clear now. Goodwin’s 9.2 percent turnover rate is a career best and 53rd nationally, per KenPom. His 10 percent assist rate in ACC games also is a personal best. He makes passes he didn’t three years ago. He can hit a big man on a dive to the rim. Fire a skip pass to a shooter. Kick out to the wing on a drive.

“Just making plays is the biggest thing,” Goodwin said. “Coming off ball screens, being in the right positions as far as offense goes. And just taking those big shots, being in those positions.”

It’s that last part where his presence has been most important. When Notre Dame needs a big shot, teammates look for No. 23. If he’s open, he’s letting it fly. Like he did twice from three-point range in the final minutes of the 69-65 win over Virginia Jan. 29. Or like he did by making a layup and drawing a foul in the final four minutes of the 66-62 victory over Kentucky Dec. 11. Many of the Irish’s baseline out-of-bounds plays are designed to get Goodwin an open jumper.

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No one shoots 45.6 percent on threes and 50.7 percent overall without consistently strong shot selection. Goodwin is doing so because he possesses a self-awareness of where he’s best and doesn’t try to play outside that framework. Call it a senior’s sense.

Goodwin scores most of his points on catch-and-shoot jumpers, taking jumpers coming off screens, mid-range pull-ups and a post-up turnaround shot. He’s deliberate when picking his spots to drive, understanding he’s not a blow-by ball-handler or a creative finisher at the rim.

Occasionally, he leans into his days as a forward and posts up — a skill developed playing one-on-one in the driveway with Damon. Per Synergy Sports, he’s averaging 1.07 points per possession when he posts up, which ranks in the 89th percentile nationally.

“He has always been a good shooter and always been able to score, because he can post up with a mismatch and take a bigger guy outside,” Damon said.

‘Cockiness In A Good Way’

Reach a certain level of basketball, and a player’s position is often shaped by an old adage. You are who you can guard on defense.

For Goodwin to fully be a guard, he had to prove capable of defending them. And for three years, that was a bumpy ride. This season, though, he’s staying in front of his man with more consistency and causing more disruption in passing lanes. He has held his own in tough matchups against wing forwards when Notre Dame plays small.

“He’s not going to stop a point guard jet, but he’s a better perimeter defender as a bigger wing,” Damon said.

Sturdy defense requires not only agility and effort, but belief and self-confidence. In Damon’s eyes, a visible uptick in those is as big a reason for Dane’s breakthrough as any other.

“He probably always felt ‘my destiny is to be an all-league guy,’” Brey said. “There’s a confidence — a cockiness in a good way — an edge about him how he carries himself. Like, ‘This should happen for me.’ He doesn’t doubt it. That’s probably one of the reasons it’s hard to take him out of games sometimes.”

And hard not to want him back for a fifth season. Goodwin has the option to play one due to the NCAA’s COVID-19 exemption, which granted all 2020-21 winter sport student athletes an extra year of eligibility.

“It’d be a great opportunity for myself and to help this team for another year,” Goodwin said. “We’ll see how this year goes and see what happens, but it’s definitely a possibility.”