Whereas last year the focus was at the guard position, Notre Dame is looking at the class-of-2011 for its able-bodied big men.
One of the country’s premier power forwards, Mike Shaw (Chicago, Il./De La Salle), has been receiving constant attention from the Irish.
“Notre Dame, they’ve been following me for a while,” he said. “It’s nothing new. It’s not like they just got in and contacted me.”
The 6-foot-8, 220-pound junior holds more offers than he can count. In fact, Shaw lost track a while back, but the list keeps growing with names such as Illinois, Marquette, Michigan State, Texas and UNLV headlining the group.
“Oh, a bunch,” he said. “I can’t even remember or give you a list. I guess [Notre Dame] is going to be able to see me when they come out here.”
With his athletic ability despite his bigger frame, Shaw has been garnering all this national attention because of his scoring potential from a number of spots on the floor.
“I think I bring everything,” he said. “I play hard. I can do everything. I can get down there and rebound, shoot the ball, take people off the dribble.”
Mike Brey’s program added its name into the mix a while back.
“They offered me,” Shaw said, referring to Notre Dame. “I’ve got a bunch of offers. I think they already had offered me, but they just let me know again.”
Being so close to Notre Dame, Shaw has already been on a visit to the campus during the spring. Taking the two-hour drive east on the Indiana Toll Road, Shaw eventually made it to South Bend for one of Notre Dame’s biggest rivalry games.
“I’ve met the head coach, but I haven’t really had too much contact with them,” Shaw said. “I went to one of their games when they played UConn, but it wasn’t like—I didn’t get to talk to many of the coaches.”
Any time Notre Dame has a big conference game, the Purcell Pavilion is likely to be festive. March 3rd, Shaw came away impressed with the Irish ambience.
“I thought the atmosphere and everything was great,” Shaw said. “It was a great atmosphere. But I didn’t get to see too much.”
With the number of offers still growing, the junior power forward hasn’t yet begun to separate a clear list of favorites. That trimming could be coming soon.
First, Shaw wants to receive his family’s input.
“No, I haven’t started to separate my list yet,” Shaw said. “I have a bunch of offers from a bunch of different conferences. I’m going to have to sit down and talk about it with my family.”
As a result, Shaw isn’t sure when he’s planning on pulling the trigger and making his final college choice. Rather than to set a date, the junior is counting on his instincts and intuition to let him know when he is ready.
“Right now I don’t have a timeframe for when I’m going to be able to make my decision,” he said. “I’m going to take my time and everything.”
The recruiting calendar allows high school basketball players to sign National Letters of Intent twice during the year. Other dates to watch out for:
