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Notre Dame’s new starting quarterback Brandon Wimbush has a huge job ahead of him this fall, what with inheriting one of the most pressure-filled positions in college sports while becoming the face of a desperate team that NEEDS to win — a lot — following its worst season in 10 years.
The junior (redshirt sophomore as far as eligibility goes) from New Jersey appears ready to take on the tough, tough job, though, as Andy Staples showed in his piece on Wimbush on Monday, where he gets into details on Wimbush’s golf game, his impressive summer internships, harrowing George Whitfield training sessions, his mother’s influence, and his incredibly mature career plans.
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Irish fans certainly haven’t seen enough of Brandon Wimbush in action to know if he can be the next superstar Notre Dame QB, but if his mentality and approach to life are any indication, he looks like a born leader ready to put in the work to be a smashing success.
BONZIE COLSON, ALL-AMERICAN
Notre Dame junior forward BONZIE COLSON might not have won ACC Player of the Year as most of us thought he should have, but he received some strong national recognition on Tuesday from the Associated Press, who named him a 3rd-team All-American.
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Colson is joined on the 3rd team by future 2017 lottery picks Markelle Fultz (Washington), Josh Jackson (Kansas), and Lauri Markkanen (Arizona), along with Wisconsin big man Ethan Happ.
1st-team selections included Kansas guard Frank Mason III, Villanova guard Josh Hart, North Carolina forward Justin Jackson, UCLA guard Lonzo Ball, and Purdue forward Caleb Swanigan.
In 2017-2018, we might just see BONZIE in that first group of names, as his steady improvement each season (2014-2015: 5.6 ppg and 2.7 rpg, 2015-2016: 11.1 ppg and 6.7 rpg, 2016-2017: 17.8 ppg and 10.1 rpg) bodes well for a dynamite senior year.
Anders Bjork Named Northeast Regional Most Outstanding Player
It’s old news at this point that the 4th-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team defeated Minnesota and UMass Lowell to reach the Frozen Four, but earlier this week the good news continued to pour in for Jeff Jackson’s players, as junior forward Anders Bjork was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Northeast Regional.
Bjork was fantastic in the two wins, scoring two goals in the win over Minnesota and tallying assists on all three Irish goals against UMass Lowell.
Bjork and the Fighting Irish will take on 1-seed Denver at 9:30 PM ET on Thursday, April 6th, at the United Center in Chicago. The winner will play the victor of the game before theirs — a 6:00 PM ET tilt between 1-seeds Harvard and Minnesota Duluth — for the NCAA championship at 8 PM ET on April 8th.
Giacolone Wins Her 4th ACC Player of the Week Honor This Season
The ACC has named Samantha Giacolone its Defensive Player of the Week after the sophomore goalkeeper stopped a career-high 13 shots in a 16-7 win Sunday over Syracuse.
CONGRATS
— Notre Dame W Lax (@NDWomensLax) March 28, 2017
☘️@sammijacks is the @ACCWLax Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season!
➡️ MORE: https://t.co/c156e2HOB6 pic.twitter.com/Se9RWzXrkt
The Manorville, N.Y. native is fourth in Division I women's lacrosse with 108 saves, 28th in goals against average (9.89) and 44th in save percentage (.462). She's picked up 39 ground balls, which is more than she had in 21 games last year. Additionally, Giacolone has already caused nine turnovers, which is just two fewer than her entire freshman campaign.
The Irish (9-4) have received four conference player of the week honors this year. Giacolone received it three weeks ago after making nine saves in a win against then-No. 20 Louisville.
BONUS: Watch LaVar Ball Be Bad at Basketball (Alliteration Intended)
I don’t have anything super interesting to share about what LaVar Ball said this week, but video of him playing in a pickup basketball game surfaced, and it is INCREDIBLE.
Watch it now to have yourself a solid laugh and a great start to your Wednesday morning, alright?
Alriiiiiiiight
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