When thinking about the Notre Dame basketball players that might enter the portal when it opened this morning, it’s unlikely that a kid who had hailed from South Bend would be among the first.
Of course, considering that J.R. Konieczny has been a career reserve for the Fighting Irish, it makes sense that he might be on the lookout for a school where he could get more playing time in his final college season. Whatever the rational, it looks as though the guard has entered the transfer portal, just hours after the first players were able to do so.
The Notre Dame basketball team now has lost two players to the portal so far. Konieczny follows Tae Davis, who was a surprise announcement on Sunday night. Davis’ announcement was far more shocking considering he’s not hurting for playing time and had his best season of his college career by a wide margin.
Notre Dame basketball loses second player to the transfer portal
This past season, Konieczny played in 32 games, but started just 4 and averaged 16.3 minutes per contest. He scored 4.3 points while hauling down 2.8 rebounds. All of those numbers were down from 2023-24, which could certainly be one reason he’s decided to move on to greener pastures.
The Notre Dame basketball program is going to see some serious upheaval this season as it’s expected they’ll be looking to be players in the portal by adding some bodies. Of course, the holes they need to plug got bigger in the last two days.