Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Newcomers

With the Irish picked to finish 9th in the Big East (certainly no one around the program truly believes the team will finish that low, but being underrated is rarely a bad thing), it's time to take a closer look at the guys who make up our squad. First, the freshmen.

#21 Tim Abromaitis- 6-8/220, Unionville, CT

A two-star recruit on Scout.com, Abromaitis (correct spelling) projects as a small forward on the college level. He was also recruited by Northwestern, Penn, Princeton, and William and Mary. Birthday is 9/17/1989, making him the youngest player on the team.


#1 Tyrone Nash- 6-8 / 220, Queens, NY

Nash is the most ready of the freshmen to make an impact. A three-star recruit, he certainly looks far more prepared than fellow three-star classmate Scott. Playing both forward positions, he will be the first to wear Chris Thomas' old number. Notre Dame beat out several schools including Georgetown, Indiana, and Marquette for his signature.


#13 Ty Proffitt- 6-4 / 206, London, KY

A two star recruit out of high school, Proffitt will look for playing time at both guard positions. Also recruited by (Western, Eastern, and University of) Kentucky, Proffitt hit a game winning shot to secure his high school team's regional championship and was all-state his sophomore and junior years.

Carleton Scott- 6-7 / 198, San Antonio, TX

On the surface, Scott is a promising, if undersized, prospect. He might need a year or two to grow into his body, but has the best upside of the class. Can play both forward positions. Was also recruited by Georgetown.

Thomas Kopko- 6-0/175, Bubank, IL

Kopko is a freshman walkon who was a two-star recuit according to Scout.com. He has no official ND bio yet and, judging by his picture, he's not happy about that.

Some fun facts: Abromaitis had a brother who played at Yale and father James played for UCONN and the Nets. Nash averaged a double-double his last two years in high school. Proffitt played varsity high school ball in 8th grade. Scott helped his high school team to go their first ever Texas state title game.

So now you know a little more about our youngest players. Tomorrow I will begin a little more game-oriented breakdown of the returners.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

kopko has a bio posted now... it actually is pretty impressive, how is it that we got him as a walk on... why isnt he somewhere else?

...an obvious D1 talent in my opinion based on the bio at least.

BlackandGreen said...

Thanks for the heads up. Very interesting indeed. His bio on Rivals (http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?pr_key=53877&sport=2) indicates that he took a walkon spot for the Irish over shcolarship offers from Bucknell, Harvard, and Yale (obviously a very good student as well).

Anonymous said...

yea im from chicago and saw this kid play quite a few times. he has a real good outside shot and can play either guard position. he had the entire ivy and patriot leagues drooling over him but opted to playing for the Irish. Supposedly he loves ND...

...no complaints here

Anonymous said...

Saw him last summer in Chicago Sonny Parker league. He played with kids from DePaul. Against some of the top D-1 talent in Chicago, saw him hit as many as 6 threes in a game while still handling point. Great court vision.

Anonymous said...

he had a good, solid performance last night against NIU (although so did everyone else). actually ran the team while on the floor and surprisingly enough the other players responded. very interesting. also, he knocked a deep three and hit a layup on the fast break... i dont know but i seriously think this kid might do some things come 2 years from now... obviously needs to get stronger though

GoldRush Apple said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Thanks for the clarification. Not sure if it is the case across the board, but I know a local track star who is going to Princeton. They prepared a solid financial aid package for her to make up for no athletic scholarship.

Good to see Kopko get some playing time and score against Northern Illinois. He certainly has the ability to contribute.

Anonymous said...

link: illinoishsbasketball.com

Thomas Kopko of St. Laurence has commited to play his college basketball for Notre Dame university of the Big East conference. "I am really excited about that opportuny to play at Notre Dame," said Kopko, "It has always been my dream to play division-1 basketball, and I am truly grateful that I can fulfill that dream at Notre Dame."

Kopko Chose Notre Dame over many schools that were actively pursuing him from across the country. Richmond, Maine, San Diego st., Denver, Colgate, Boston university, and almost every Ivy league school had offered Kopko, who said Princeton and Yale were his favorite Ivy leagues. "I chose Notre Dame because of their great acedemic and athletic traditions," said Kopko "After talking to Coach Brey and Coach Cross, I canceled all remaining official visits that were scheduled over the next month."

Kopko is a verstile guard that can run the point or step over and play the 2. Kopko was a three year starter at St. Laurence and was a two time All-CCL selection. He finished this season averaging 17.6 ppg 5.6 apg and 4.2 rpg, and finished his career with over 1100 points.

BlackandGreen said...

Great to hear. I didn't know anything about the guy before he stepped on campus, but I like everything about him so far.

As an aside, it's interesting to hear him talk about Gene Cross' involvement with recruiting. I have seen him interact with potential recruits before and really like how he relates to the high schoolers. He is an absolute gem to have on the bench and I hope we get as much as we can in the recruiting and coaching departments from him before his enevitable departure for a head coaching gig elsewhere. Heck, if Coach Brey was to leave anytime soon Kevin White would need to look no further than the Joyce Center offices for his replacement.

Anonymous said...

i heard that he was very close to accepting a scholarship from DePaul in a package deal with his friend/ teammate Mac Koshwal