2022 Top 100 Forward "Definitely Interested" In Notre Dame
The last two months have been busy ones for the Notre Dame men’s hoops staff as they sent out several offers in the class of 2021 and 2022, which has really helped define their recruiting board moving forward.
One of the more interesting offers in the class of 2022 went out to Grand Island (Neb.) Senior School four-star prospect Isaac Traudt. The talented big man is already very high on the Irish.
Traudt, the No. 66 overall player in the nation on the 247Sports composite rankings, already has a plethora of high major offers, and has seen his recruitment really take off since the start of the 2022 basketball contact period back on June 15th. Before that date, most of his offers were from mid major programs, but it was only a matter of time before the big name schools came calling.
“Starting in early April, I received my first few offers from Drake, Wyoming, Northern Colorado, Nebraska-Omaha, Idaho and South Dakota, and at the end of the month I received my first high major offer Kansas State,” he explained to Irish Breakdown. “After that, I didn’t receive another offer until the contact period on June 15th, but Nebraska and Creighton offered that first day. Missouri then offered in early July, and that is kind of when it started to really take off. I received six offers in the span of five days from Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Stanford, Wisconsin, Notre Dame and Oklahoma.”
Minnesota and Virginia Tech have since offered the 6-9, 195 versatile forward, and that is exactly what he prides himself on. Traudt can do a lot of things on the basketball court and is actually the primary ball handler for his high school team. Part of that has to do with the fact he came into high school at 6-2 and has since grown to just over 6-9. He has the skill set to be a point forward at the collegiate level, and can see himself playing a variety of roles for whatever team he ends up choosing.
“I’m a pretty versatile player,” he stated. “I can play basically the two through four spots at the collegiate level, and in high school I’m actually my team’s point guard. I think it’s a safe bet that I’m the tallest point guard in Nebraska.
“Defensively, I’ve really improved on defense since the season ended,” he continued. “I’ve been able to play pickup games in Lincoln with a bunch of college players, Donovan Williams (Oklahoma State) being one of them. I just had to guard while playing with them, because if you don’t guard you get exposed, so I’ve really improved in that aspect of my game. Now I can definitely say I can guard spots two through four at a high level.”
The No.1 player in the state of Nebraska got in touch with Notre Dame soon after the contact period opened up. Coach Ryan Humphrey reached out first, and then head coach Mike Brey handed out the offer back on July 24th. He was excited when the phone call came from the Irish head coach.
“My talks with Notre Dame have been really good,” he said. “Coach Humphrey reached out shortly after the contact period, and told me they were looking closely at me. When AAU basketball started back up here, he was watching my live streams and film from that, and I think that really helped me a lot in giving them the chance to watch me play.
“And then Coach Brey called me this morning (July 24th), and said he thought I would be a really good fit and that they are very interested,” he continued. “That is when he offered me. It was awesome!”
In a college program, Traudt wants a nice blend of basketball fit, great academics and solid relationships with the coaches and players. With the transfer portal the way it is these days, it has become common for players to move on from their original program early on. He doesn’t want that for himself and therefore has a list of priorities high on his list for when he picks a school.
“The No. 1 thing for me is how I fit into their basketball program, with the way they want to play and their style of play,” said Traudt. “I want to make a career out of basketball, so that is important to me. No. 2 is definitely education and the academic side of things. I don’t know what I want to major in yet, but I want my degree to come from a high academic institution. The third thing would be my relationship with the coaches and players. Wherever I go, I want to stay there for my full college tenure. I don’t want to transfer.”
All of these reasons for wanting a school definitely line up with his interest in Notre Dame. Style of play, academics and relationships are all things he could see being strong indicators that make the Irish a top contender for his pledge down the road.
“I think Notre Dame would be a good fit for me,” he mentioned. “I am definitely interested in them. I will hopefully get out to a visit there at some point and really be able to consider them. I really like the way they play, and think they would compliment my game well.”
It is still early for the soon to be junior stretch forward, and many more offers will likely be on the table when it comes time to make a decision. If his offer list hasn’t backed up his talent level, his rise in the most recent 247 rankings certainly should peak the interest of college basketball fans. In March, he was an unranked prospect with no Division 1 offers to his name, and now just a few months later, he is comfortably in the top 100 with many high major basketball offers to consider.
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