Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1105789
44 MAY 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY LOU SOMOGYI A fter getting rocked by a last- place regular-season finish in the ACC (3-15), the Notre Dame men's basketball pro- gram experienced an aftershock shortly thereafter. In late March, sophomore wing D.J. Harvey entered his name into the re- cently created NCAA transfer portal, which has several purposes. One, it no longer requires a student-athlete to first seek permission to talk to other programs. This allows for a transpar- ent investigative process. Second, it permits a program to withdraw one's scholarship once the player enters his name into the portal. Third, a player still has an option to return to his original school if he so desires, although realistically once the "divorce papers" have been filed, the chances of reconciliation are small. Harvey, the nation's No. 51 overall prospect in the class of 2017 per Rivals coming out the Hyattsville (Md.) De- Matha Catholic, was the lone recruit for the Fighting Irish that year follow- ing back-to-back appearances in the Elite Eight. His freshman campaign in 2017- 18 in which he averaged 5.8 points and 3.0 rebounds per outing was cut short after 19 games when a knee in- jury versus Louisville on Jan. 16, 2018 eventually required microfracture surgery the following month, sidelin- ing him from workouts and also play- ing time in the summer foreign tour to the Bahamas. There was some speculation that a medical redshirt season was a possi- bility, but that was squelched during an October scrimmage that was open to the media in which Harvey starred in the early stages. While averaging 25.9 minutes per game this past campaign as a sopho- more, the 6-6 Harvey started all 28 contests he played in before a right hamstring injury sidelined him for the final four games — including the two in the ACC Tournament, a 78-71 vic- tory versus Georgia Tech in the first round March 12 and a 75-53 defeat against Louisville the ensuing day to leave the final record at 14-19. Harvey finished the season third in scoring with 10.7 points per game and a distant second in rebounds — 4.3 compared to junior John Mooney's ACC-leading 11.2. Harvey's shooting percentage was merely 38.9 percent overall and 28.6 percent from three- point range (32 of 112). A popular refrain as the season be- gan to unravel for the young team was "all 11 scholarship players will return in 2019-20." Cynics guffawed that such a proclamation wasn't nec- essarily good news given the travails this past season. To the "glass is half empty" seg- ment, Harvey's potential departure is another example of the program trending in the wrong direction. To the "glass is half full" crowd, it is a possible "addition by subtraction" situation. WHAT IMPACT THE TRANSFER COULD HAVE Although Harvey has been consid- MOVING FORWARD Sophomore wing D.J. Harvey entered the transfer portal after the season During his sophomore season, Harvey ranked third on the team in scoring (10.7 points per game) and a distant second in rebounding (4.3 boards per contest) while shooting just 28.6 percent from three-point range and 38.9 percent overall. PHOTO BY COREY BODDEN