Notre Dame Basketball: What You Need To Know About Nikola Djogo

Notre Dame basketball’s recruiting class of 2016 so far has three commitments with room for one more. One of Notre Dame’s current commitments is an under the radar type of guy.

Some would argue the Nikola Djogo was only offered because of his teammate Thon Maker. Those people would be right. The only reason why the Irish found Djogo was because they were recruiting Maker, that doesn’t mean Djodo can’t play though.

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Djogo is a 6’7″ 185lbs combo guard out of Toronto’s Athlete Institute Basketball Academy. First off this means the guy has not only played with some elite talent but he’s also had to play against it as well. This already gives Djogo an advantage because he’s not out there playing against nobody’s. Earlier this year Athlete Institute played Prolific Prep which means Djogo had his chance to play against Josh Jackson, the top ranked recruit in this year’s class.

Djogo’s vision is simply something you don’t see from many high school players. He’s the kind of player that while he is driving to the lane his body language clearly tells you that he has every intent to score.

He has a great feel for the court as well. He knows exactly where he needs to be on the court at all times to create separation, where his teammates are going to be, and when/where he need to put himself to be in a position to score. I think his game has to be accompanied by great team chemistry. Without that, he’s just a fancy player throwing passes where no one is at or failed to expect.

Djogo’s jumper is definitely something that is interesting. It’s not a traditional jumper, but that necessarily doesn’t have to be bad. Djogo puts both of his feet a little bit closer together and angled toward the right, which isn’t uncommon for a lefty. As far as his arms and upper body goes, its smooth, almost V.J. Beachem smooth!

As far as developing this summer, it would be nice to see Djogo add more speed and strength. He has a great feel for the ball, which one can see with his passing abilities, but he would be so much more dangerous with better ball handling abilities. Maybe follow Steph Curry’s pregame dribbling routine…

Defensively Djogo looks fundamentally sound and is great at tracking down the ball on fast breaks. As mentioned before, playing against the talent that he has been exposed to, the transition to defending D1 athletes shouldn’t come to difficult.

Djogo most likely isn’t going to be a “one-and-done” type, but still should be great addition to the Fighting Irish. As far as how much playing time he will get as a freshman, that’s far from known. Typically we don’t see Mike Brey giving freshman too many minutes and I don’t think Djogo will be a special case. Does he have potential to make an impact and gain valuable minutes? Of course, but it all depends on how he molds to the system in South Bend.

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