This year has not been ideal for Notre Dame basketball. Notre Dame is currently 4-8 on the year and just picked up their first league win in ACC play Saturday after an 80-70 win over Boston College.
Their record may not show it currently, but there is good news for the Irish coaching staff, and fans of Notre Dame hoops. Help is on the way. The only bad news is that it will have to wait until next year. On January 3rd, Paul Atkinson decided that he wanted to play his final season of college basketball in South Bend at the University of Notre Dame.
Atkinson is listed at 6’10, and 220 lbs, so he should fit right in to face off against fellow big men in the ACC next year. The former Yale standout forward should supply a scoring punch for Notre Dame, and potentially form a duo down low with Nate Laszewski who is having a very good season for the Irish right now. Atkinson averaged 17.6 points per game, and 7.3 rebounds last year at Yale.
2020 was a weird year. The pandemic was definitely a main cause of the weirdness. If the pandemic did not happen you most likely would not be reading this article right now. Atkinson would be playing his senior year at Yale in hopes of leading them back to the NCAA tournament if the Ivy League did not cancel their season. But we all know that did not happen.
Atkinson’s Yale career was now over. This led Atkinson to enter his name in the transfer portal, where he eventually selected Notre Dame over other suitors like Iowa, NC State, Miami, and Texas.
After watching some film on the graduate forward Atkinson I saw flashes of one former Notre Dame basketball player, Zach Auguste. Both, Zach and Paul are big-bodied forwards who play well with their backs to the basket, and also thriving around the paint. Atkinson also has a pretty great highlight reel of dunks online, but he is not only a dunker. The footwork and the post moves for the future Irish forward are very impressive as well. If Atkinson can be any resemblance to August in South Bend next year it will be a huge win for Notre Dame.
Atkinson should slide right into the center position at Notre Dame next season to take over for Juwan Durham who is the current center for the Irish. Durham, who is a graduate senior himself right now could be back next year after the NCAA announced that players would be granted an extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic. If Juwan Durham were to come back next season it would provide the Irish with more front-court depth overall.
Add in graduate transfer Atkinson, local incoming freshman recruits: Blake Wesley and J.R. Konieczny, and the likes of returning players: Nate Laszewski, Dane Goodwin, Prentiss Hubb, Cormac Ryan, Trey Wertz, and a healthy Robby Carmody as well. That sounds like a roster, and a team that can get back to hearing their name announced on Selection Sunday for the NCAA tournament in the future.