How a Notre Dame men’s basketball class built on ‘recovery recruiting’ became one Mike Brey likes

The two-word phrase Mike Brey used to describe the process of assembling Notre Dame men’s basketball’s 2023 class sounds, on its surface, like a jab. It’s an admission that the ideal outcomes and grand visions when first stacking the 2023 recruiting board did not materialize.

“We’ve had a lot of ‘recovery recruiting’ at times where you chase a horse and you maybe don’t get him, but you come back around,” Brey said.

Indeed, the three-man class Notre Dame signed Wednesday did not contain anybody who had been a top priority for more than a year or was among the Irish’s first 2023 offers. None of Bixby (Okla.) guard Parker Friedrichsen, Studio City (Calif.) wing Brady Dunlap or Mishawaka (Ind.) Penn guard Markus Burton had a Notre Dame offer before late July.

But that does not mean the yield was fruitless or an abject failure. In the end, Brey signed a class that has three players ranked in the top 155 of the 2023 On3 Consensus.

“This class really fits a need,” Brey said in a statement announcing the signings. “We got three talented perimeter players to help replenish the load of guards we are losing after this season.”

Not bad for coming back around. The early misses are part of this class’ story, but the ability to rebound ensured they never snowballed into disaster or a November signing day with one or zero players. A No. 45 ranking (No. 7 in the ACC) isn’t where the Irish thought they’d be, but it’s a range where they have previously thrived.

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“This was a really good example, even though all those kids can really play for us and were on our radar,” Brey said.

Friedrichsen is the highest-ranked of the three in the consensus, at No. 116 overall and a four-star recruit. Dunlap is 148th, and Burton 155th – both consensus three-stars. In the On3 top 150, Dunlap is the No. 77 prospect and a four-star, with Friedrichsen behind him at No. 111 and also a four-star. Burton is a three-star and the No. 25 point guard.

None was top of mind when Brey and his staff took some big swings earlier in the cycle that came up empty in the summer. Forwards Xavier Booker and TJ Power – each a top-25 overall prospect – were Notre Dame’s first two official visitors in the 2023 class when they came to campus in June.

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By mid-July, though, those two started trending in another direction. Booker, a five-star, sided with Michigan State. Power did not include Notre Dame in his final group and picked Duke. The Irish couldn’t gain enough traction with some spring offers to get them on official visits in that same time frame. This was the class to think big and aim high. It would be the group that helps replace a quintet of fifth-year seniors.

Notre Dame moved on Burton, Friedrichsen and Dunlap within a few weeks of the July live evaluation periods ending. The assistants watched all three with a closer eye then. Before, they were names on a list. By the final live period July 20-24, they were priorities. Burton reported his offer on social media July 26. He committed three days later, choosing the Irish over several mid-major options.

“You give a lot of credit to your staff on that,” Brey said. “Where I may not be as plugged into those other guys, [my assistants] are. Then you make a quick turn, and they turn me loose on it. You’re able to move.”

Burton’s offer list is light for an ACC signee, but Brey wasn’t interested passing on a recruit who plays 8 miles from campus and risking him turning into a star elsewhere. He was compelled when he saw Burton score 35 points against reigning Class 4A state champion Indianapolis Cathedral (Booker’s team) in a June live period game. July viewings gave him the final push to offer.

Friedrichsen, a former Oklahoma State commit, chose Notre Dame over Davidson and Nebraska. Dunlap picked the Irish over Nebraska, Colorado and San Diego State. Neither is anywhere near the usual East Coast footprint where Brey has focused most of his recruiting efforts. The Irish have lived in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, with some dips into Florida and dabbling in the home state.

But those three were among the recruits the assistants had identified and brought to him when Notre Dame needed to flip to recovery mode. Brey trusted their eyes, saw for himself and gave the all-clear on offers. His first two stops in the September recruiting period were Friedrichsen’s and Dunlap’s schools. Both were committed by the end of September. The recovery was fast.

Dunlap will be just the second Notre Dame scholarship player from a California high school since Brey became head coach in 2000. He moved there in 2018, though, when his dad, Jeff, was hired as an assistant basketball coach at Cal State Northridge. Jeff Dunlap held the same job at North Carolina State from 2011-17 and Alabama from 2007-09. Friedrichsen is believed to be the first from Oklahoma since Ryan Humphrey in 2002.

“Parker’s high school coach and Brady’s father really understood our program and how their skill set would fit for us,” Brey said. “And then they can also do the math that there are a lot of guards leaving the building. There is playing time available.”

Recovery nearly included a top-30 player. Four-star guard Elmarko Jackson, the No. 26 player in the consensus, took an official visit to Notre Dame in early October. The Irish had been in the race since the spring and landed one of his five fall visits. Jackson chose Kansas Oct. 13.

The bulk of the recovery is done, but not all of it. Notre Dame still does not have a forward in the class and will lose grad student Nate Laszewski after the season. Booker would have filled that void. Instead, the Irish will see what the spring recruiting period brings. Transfer portal plunging remains the most likely route to solving the frontcourt need.

“I almost feel like with how young we could end up being, with the three coming and what we’re losing, do we go find an old guy in the portal to keep us a little older, or two?” Brey said. “We have the scholarships.”