Irish Sports Daily

The Notre Dame men’s basketball program hosted a major recruit on Tuesday in Orange, Calif., (Lutheran) four-star guard Gabe York.

“It was great,” the ESPNU Top 100 player said. “The campus was great. I met some of the players and the coaching staff brought me in with open arms. We got off to a really good start.”

York’s grandparents took a visit to Notre Dame years ago and told York about how beautiful the campus was. He was not disappointed.

“It was just like they said,” he said. “It was perfect. Everything looked old even though they were brand new buildings. There were a lot of churches and the Golden Dome that my grandmother was telling me about looks exactly how she described it.”

York picked up an official scholarship offer from the Irish during the trip.

“I had known over the phone, but just talking to me about it and telling me to my face was better, just to know a school like that really wants me,” he said.

York has developed bonds with Notre Dame assistant Martin Ingelsby and head coach Mike Brey. He has talked to Brey on the phone several times, but Tuesday was his first chance to meet the Irish head man.

“It was great,” York said of meeting Brey. “He was very hands-on. Everywhere I went, he was there with me. It was just a great experience.”

York also had the chance to meet a couple current Notre Dame players.

“I met Eric Atkins and Jerian Grant,” he said. “Eric was really talking about how he had a really great chance of coming in and playing right away just like Coach said and Coach Brey is telling me the same thing. So, just knowing that he actually makes that happen is good to know.”

Last weekend, York met a future Irish hoopster in 2012 commitment Cameron Biedscheid at the NBAPA Camp in Virginia.

“He played on my team,” York said of Biedscheid. ”I was throwing oops to him, he was throwing oops to me. It was just an instant click.”

Biedscheid was in York’s ear about playing together again in college, but that’s unlikely to be a major factor in York’s recruitment.

“It just depends on what’s going to be best for me,” he said. “I have a lot of friends going other places too, so at the end of the day, it’s just going to be what works for me and my situation.”

In addition to seeing the basketball facilities, York got a chance to see the academic side of Notre Dame.

“I met with the academic advisor and we did the whole schedule of what the athletes do, Monday to Wednesday what they do and Tuesday and Thursday what they do,” he said. “We sat down for about 30 minutes and just talked about academics and where do the kids go and how they have tutors their freshman years.”

York was traveling from South Bend to Marquette and plans on trimming his list of 10 schools in half soon. He stated before that he believed the Irish would be included in his final five and after the visit, he feels the same way.

“Obviously I haven’t seen the other campus, it might change, but as of right now, yeah.”