Abromaitis had played in two games and was averaging 14.0 points and 7.0 rebounds. He had missed Notre Dame first four games due to misunderstanding of a technicality in an NCAA rule governing seasons of competition that dated back to the 2008-09 campaign when he played in the first two exhibition of his sophomore campaign and then sat out the remainder of that season.

In his first return back to the Irish lineup in Notre Dame’s 87-58 loss to Missouri in the semifinals of the CBE Classic in Kansas City, Mo., the fifth-year senior scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

“Tim Abromaitis is one of the great stories in college athletics and represents everything that is good about college basketball,” Irish head coach Mike Brey said.

“We are all disappointed for Tim because of all that he has meant to our program. He has been such a big part of our success over the past three seasons. Tim is such a special young man and an unbelievable representative of Notre Dame both on and off the basketball court.”

A preseason all-Big East selection, Abromaitis graduated from Notre Dame in May 2010 with a degree in finance and received an MBA from the Mendoza College of Business in May 2011. He was a member of the 2011 USA Men’s Basketball World University Games Team in August.

He is expected to undergo surgery in the next two weeks.

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Stephen Vasturia,

“About 15 minutes ago,” Sagona told FiveStarBasketball.com Monday afternoon.

Vasturia chose the Irish over Virginia, Georgetown, Northwestern, Temple and Penn State.

Click here to read the full story at FiveStarBasketball.com.

(Photo courtesy ESPN)

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Notre Dame is currently independent in football, but houses all of its other sports in the Big East.

Now, the Irish may consider joining the Big Ten or the ACC in all sports or maintaining their independence while entering the Big 12 for all other sports, the Post reported.

“Each option has a strength and a weakness,” said a Post source. “The Big Ten keeps them a national program, but football will be hard-pressed to win the league and it hurts the basketball’s ability to recruit in the East.”

“The ACC offers them a better chance to win the league and helps the basketball program, but it hurts their standing as a national program,” the source added. “The Big 12 offers them a chance to keep their independence in football, but it’s a terrible cultural fit for Notre Dame.”

These comments echo what Notre Dame coach Mike Brey recently told SNY.tv.

Brey said he would prefer to see the Irish remain in the Big East, but that he could imagine the school in a number of leagues.

“Right now in the last month I’ve envisioned us as part of the Big East rebuilt, as part of the ACC, as part of the Big Ten and maybe as part of the Big 12,” Brey said. “I’ve gone through them all in my mind. And quite frankly about two days ago I came to the conclusion I’m driving myself crazy. And that’s what my AD [Jack Swarbrick] has been dealing with for two years so I feel for him.”

Brey added that Notre Dame needs an alternate plan if the Big East falls apart.

“We’ve got to have Plan B in order because there’s days…that this doesn’t look very good and we know that the rest of our [Big East] football programs are trying to get our right now,” he said. “If they can’t get out, then maybe we can keep this thing going. If they get out, though, then we gotta start looking at other options.”

Both Brey and Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino told SNY.tv they are in favor of adding both Temple and Memphis for basketball to enhance the league’s basketball side.

Having lost Pittsburgh, Syracuse, TCU and, now apparently West Virginia, the Big East is reportedly set to invite Houston, SMU and Central Florida for all sports and Air Force, Navy and Boise State for football only.

Invitations to all six schools are expected to go out Tuesday during the Big East’s annual presidents’ meeting, the Post and the New York Times both reported

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In this video interview from Big East Media Day, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey talks about the Irish, conference realignment and how he expects Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall and St. John’s to improve over the next few years.

“The last five years, those guys have been down,” he said. “With the new coaches at those places, they’re going to be back. So a lot of our depth improvement is going to come from members that are just going to jump up and get better.”

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In his sophomore year (’08-’09), Abromaitis played in Notre Dame’s first two exhibition games against Briar Cliff (Oct. 31) and Stonehill (Nov. 9) and then was withheld from competition for the remainder of the season in order to preserve an extra year of eligibility.

Under NCAA rules, and specifically Bylaw 14.2.3.1.3, freshman student-athletes are allowed to participate in preseason exhibition contests and still preserve the entire year of eligibility. The Bylaw, however, does not provide the same exception for returning student-athletes in their sophomore, junior and senior seasons. Therefore, Abromaitis technically used a season of eligibility when he participated in those two preseason exhibition contests during that year.

Abromaitis’ fifth year of eligibility has been preserved for this season due to an NCAA waiver that took into consideration the Notre Dame men’s basketball coaching staff’s misunderstanding of the rule and on the condition that he be withheld from the first four regular-season games.

Abromaitis will play in both of the Irish exhibition contests against St. Xavier (Nov. 1) and Stonehill (Nov.7), but then will be required to sit out games against Mississippi Valley State (Nov. 12), Detroit (Nov. 14), Sam Houston State (Nov. 16) and Delaware State (Nov. 18). His first game back will be against Missouri when the Irish face the Tigers at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., in the semifinals of the CBE Classic on Monday, Nov. 21.

“This certainly was an unfortunate misunderstanding that I had of the NCAA rule,” Irish coach Mike Brey said. “I discovered that I had misinterpreted the rule midway through the 2008-09 season and immediately reported it to our compliance office.

“The NCAA has been very accommodating in working with us in order to provide Tim with the waiver that will allow him to play this season contingent upon him sitting out the first four games.”

RELATED CONTENT

**Brey fires back at Boeheim; can imagine Irish in ACC

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NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y

Already we’ve seen Louisville coach Rick Pitino fire shots at UConn’s flirtation with the ACC, calling it the “dumbest thing” he’s ever heard of.

Pitino and Kentucky coach John Calipari have also engaged in an entertaining Bluegrass back-and-forth.

Now here comes Notre Dame coach Mike Brey answering back at Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim.

Speaking in an exclusive interview Friday with SNY.tv, Brey said he did not appreciate Boeheim blaming Notre Dame for the breakup of the Big East and the defection of Syracuse and Pittsburgh to the ACC.

“We may have been the only school in the league whose agenda was always clear,” Brey said during Howard Garfinkel’s ‘Clinic to End All Clinics’ at Iona College. “Everybody else’s agenda was a little tricky here lately. Everybody knew what we wanted. This is what we’re doing. Independent football — we’re going to give you some [football] games — and we’re in [the Big East] with everything else. We have never wavered on that.

“Everybody else has been dancing and datin’ and sneakin’ around…so I feel that was a little bit of a cheap shot. But you know, there’s a lot of cheap shots going around right now.”

There sure are.

Brey was responding to comments Boeheim recently made on Syracuse radio station WSKO.

“We’re leaving a 17-team Big East Conference that’s going to include a team from Texas, Florida, Chicago, Wisconsin, Kentucky. We’re not leaving what we founded. We’re leaving something completely different,” Boeheim said. “Obviously, it was unstable, and a couple of people criticizing this are people that could have saved the Big East. If Notre Dame wanted to save the Big East, they could have joined in 2004 and we wouldn’t be having these discussions today.

“But they didn’t want to.”

Brey said he “wants badly to stay in the Big East,” but called TCU’s departure to the Big 12 “another blow, and we seem to be taking a lot of body blows right now.”

“That was the most powerful football program out there that we could snatch and we couldn’t get it done,” he added of TCU.

Brey confessed he can imagine the Irish playing in a number of other leagues, including the ACC.

“Right now in the last month I’ve envisioned us as part of the Big East rebuilt, as part of the ACC, as part of the Big Ten and maybe as part of the Big 12,” Brey said. “I’ve gone through them all in my mind. And quite frankly about two days ago I came to the conclusion I’m driving myself crazy. And that’s what my AD [Jack Swarbrick] has been dealing with for two years so I feel for him.”

Brey added that Notre Dame needs an alternate plan if the Big East falls apart.

“We’ve got to have Plan B in order because there’s days, like [Thursday], that this doesn’t look very good and we know that the rest of our [Big East] football programs are trying to get our right now,” he said. “If they can’t get out, then maybe we can keep this thing going. If they get out, though, then we gotta start looking at other options.”

Though Pitino has said he would like to see the Big East stay together, the Big 12 may now target some combination of Louisville, West Virginia and Cincinnati to bring the league to 12 teams after TCU joins.

Brey said Notre Dame would like to maintain its independence in football, but may inevitably have to join one of the four super-conferences should they eventually form.

“We’re trapped a little bit but we gotta keep an eye on things because if it gets to four conferences and our football program isn’t in one of them and then can’t play for the national championship, then all bets are off and we gotta rethink the whole thing,” he said. “I don’t think we’re at that yet, but it sure seems like it’s coming in the future.”

As far as the Big East’s options going forward, Brey would like to see the league add some combination of Temple, Memphis and Houston to replace Syracuse and Pitt.

“I think Temple would be great,” he said. “I want Memphis because we need basketball star power because we’ve lost some. Memphis brings a basketball program, and we’ve just lost two horses. We need to be mindful of our basketball stuff. And I think Houston can give us a little bit. Memphis really gives you that star power.

“I like a Temple and a Memphis and a Houston because of their basketball. I don’t really care about their football.”

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Elijah Macon, 6-foot-9, 230-pound power forward from Huntington (W.Va.) Prep, committed to West Virginia for the second time, doing so during an official visit to the school. A Columbus, Ohio native, Macon previously committed to the Mounties in the fall of 2009.

“It’s just the perfect place for me. They have everything I need plus a hall of fame coach that will make me a better player,” Macon, the Rivals No. 18 power forward in the Class of 2012, told WVSports.com via text message.

Macon also held offers from Tennessee, USC, Pittsburgh, Maryland and Kansas State, but was down to West Virginia Pitt.

“He’s  a very athletic step-out four who can score,” said Huntington coach Rob Fulford. “His ability to put the ball on the floor and make plays will be a problem at the next level. Elijah is a very aggressive offensive and defensive player who is contagious to teammates.

“He gives West Virginia a much needed skilled big man who can play away from the basket as well as bully guys on the post when needed.”

Also, Zach Auguste, a 6-10, 220-pound power forward from New Hampton (N.H.) Prep committed to Notre Dame even after eliminating them in August.

“I think it was all decided before I even visited,” Auguste told the South Bend Tribune. “Even after I eliminated them, they kept contacting me telling me, ‘This is where you need to be’ and ‘We’re going to prove this is the school for you.’
“I said, ‘OK, maybe that means something.’ They wanted me and they were going to make sure to get me.”

Ranked Rivals No. 28 power forward, Auguste had previously cut his list to Florida, Georgia Tech, Marquette and West Virginia.

Auguste joins 2012 players Cameron Biedscheid (St. Louis) and Austin Burgett (Avon, Ind.) in Notre Dame’s 2012 recruiting class.

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They finished second.

This year Notre Dame will be without Ben Hansbrough, the reigning Big East Player of the Year, as well as several other key departed players, and the coaches may once again sleep on the Irish.

It wouldn’t surprise Tim Abromaitis one bit.

“It seems like it happens every year with us, where we lose a senior who had a great career and everybody forgets about us a little bit,” Abromaitis said in a recent phone interview.

The 6-foot-8 graduate student made the comments from Colorado Springs, Colo., where he was named a 2011 USA Basketball Men’s World University Games Team member.

Team USA is currently in China, where they will play an exhibition in the city of Huizhou against New Century on Thursday.

“It’s a great honor for me to be selected to this team,” said Abromaitis, who averaged 15.4 points and 6.1 rebounds last season. “It’s something that I’ve been working towards all summer. It’s an awesome opportunity for me.”

He added: “Hopefully we can go over there and get a gold medal.”

As for the Irish, Hansbrough (18.4 points) and former forward Tyrone Nash both signed to play in Germany, while forward Carleton Scott, who departed with one year of eligibility remaining, signed on in Spain.

Guard Scott Martin (9.7 ppg) is the only returning senior on the team. (Abromaitis is a grad student.)

“We’ll have to find different guys,” Abromaitis said. “We have a lot of bodies on our team, and guys that can step up. I think me included will have to step up this upcoming year.”

Abromaitis said he expects sophomore guard Eric Atkins and junior forward Jack Cooley in particular to find a new level.

“Eric took a back seat to Ben last year,” he said. “That was kind of his role on the team, as the point guard coming off the bench. But I think he definitely matured a lot, got stronger, worked on his shot, worked on his game. He’s a really good all-around point guard, and he’s going to be a fun one to watch next year.”

Head coach Mike Brey is also counting on sophomore guards Alex Dragicevich and Jerian Grant, the son of former NBA standout Harvey Grant, to make a big contribution as well.

The Irish were dealt some tragic news when recruit Eric Katenda was permanently blinded in his left eye during a pickup game.

The 6-9 power forward was hurt during a game in Washington, D.C., and Brey was notified of the injury July 8.

“It was just the perfect storm, he’s coming down with a rebound and the guy kind of came up and was going for the ball and got him on an angle where it really caused an injury,” Brey told the Chicago Tribune.

Katenda, who attended high school in Kansas, was ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 23 power forward of the 2011 class. He was taking summer courses at Maryland’s Montgomery College in an effort to obtain academic clearance from the NCAA.

Brey said the plan now is for Katenda to be fitted for goggles to see whether it is possible for him to play. He added that Katenda’s scholarship will be honored whether he suits up for the Irish or not.

Notre Dame will try to move on after the tragic injury, with Big East coaches once again likely sleeping on the Irish.

“I think it’s something that motivates us,” Abromaitis said, “and maybe helps us coming into the season without many external expectations.

“But we all know that we can compete…and we’ll be ready to go.”

(Photo courtesy USA Basketball)

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Dexter Strickland

But he’s never played on the deck of an aircraft carrier.

That will change on Veteran’s Day when Strickland and his North Carolina teammates play Michigan State on the USS Carl Vinson, the aircraft carrier that carried Osama bin Laden’s body to a burial at sea.

It will mark the first NCAA basketball game played on a flat top.

“It will be a different experience for him, playing on it,” Lamont Halsey, the stepfather of the former Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick star, told SNY.tv by phone.

Hopefully the ship won’t wobble too much while the game is being played though, right?

“Hopefully is right,” Halsey said. “That’s something different, though.”

Halsey said no one in his family was killed or injured on 9/11, but nearly 3,000 Americans died that day in a plan hatched by bin Laden.

The aircraft carrier game, therefore, should have added significance for Strickland, a rising junior guard who played his high school ball for former St. Patrick coach Kevin Boyle not far from New York City.

Until now, the best organizers could say was that the game would be played on either the Carl Vinson or the Ronald Reagan. After meeting with Navy officials in Washington, D.C., this week, Mike Whalen of the Morale Entertainment Foundation said there’s a 99 percent chance the game will be on the Carl Vinson.

“It’s strictly by schedule,” Whalen said. “I know people don’t think that. It’s true. You can’t make this stuff up. It’s just the way it worked out.”

The Carl Vinson was in the North Arabian Sea on May 2 when it received a Navy SEAL team carrying the body of bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader who was killed in a raid on his compound in Pakistan. The body was placed in a weighted bag, an officer made religious remarks and it was dropped into the sea.

A court and stadium seating for about 7,000 fans will be set up on the flight deck. In case of rain, the game will be moved below to the hangar deck, with bleacher seating for the fans.

“The look on our players’ faces when I told them they would be playing outdoors on the deck of an aircraft carrier was priceless,” Carolina coach Roy Williams said last month. “The experience will create for them a lifetime of memories. Even more important is the chance to combine the start of the college basketball season with saluting and thanking our military personnel for all they do to allow us to safely live and play each day in the United States of America.”

Along with Strickland, North Carolina returns Harrison Barnes, John Henson and Tyler Zeller and is ranked as the preseason No. 1 team by many outlets.

“He’s looking forward to playing,” Halsey said of Strickland. “He’s looking forward to this whole upcoming season, living up to the expectations, trying to win it all when everybody comes back.”

(The AP contributed)

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Gary Harris,

“Haven’t cut any yet,” he said by text.

The 6-foot-4, 195-pound guard out of Fishers (Ind.) Hamilton Southeastern said Indiana, Michigan State, Louisville, Notre Dame and Purdue are “recruiting me the hardest.”

Still, Harris said Kentucky assistant Orlando Antigua has also been in touch “a little bit.”

As for when he may decide, Harris said he he plans to discuss his recruitment with his parents over the summer and has “no timetable” at the moment.

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