Doherty Sees Potential Fit At Notre Dame

The Early Signing Period for college basketball recruits opens on Wednesday.

Notre Dame already has verbal commitments from four of its top targets in the Class of 2018, but the Irish are making a late run at a fifth.

2018 Massachusetts forward Chris Doherty took an official visit to Notre Dame this weekend and left with an offer from the Irish and some thinking to do.

“It was incredible,” the 6-foot-7 Doherty said. “I loved the campus, the coaching staff, everything, the players. They’re a great group of guys. I really enjoyed it.”

The Marlborough, Mass., native arrived in South Bend late Thursday night and hung out in his hotel before hitting campus bright and early on Friday morning.

“I got some breakfast on campus, talked with some of the administrators and toured around all of the facilities and everything,” Doherty said. “They had a basketball game, which was nice. They looked pretty good for only their third or so preseason game.”

He was up early again on Saturday.

“I met the AD, which was really cool,” he said. “I went to their practice, it was pretty short, just like an hour. They had a football game and seeing that atmosphere was incredible; just the support they had even with the weather.”

On Friday and Saturday nights, Doherty had the chance to hang out with the current players on the Irish roster.

“They’re just a good group of guys,” he said. “I really enjoyed being around them.”

He also enjoyed being around the coaching staff, especially head coach Mike Brey.

“I met with Coach Brey a couple times,” said Doherty. “He’s a really cool dude. He’s laidback. He’s everything you see on TV. He doesn’t change in practice, which I really like.”

The Irish see Doherty as “an undersized big.”

“They said I fit their prototype,” he explained. “With the past players they have, they said I fit that mold. They said I could be a good player in their system. I really enjoyed it. I really like all of the coaches. They gave me a great visit.”

The coaches told him they could use his aggression and blue-collar mentality.

“They really embraced that and think I could be a good player for them,” he said.

At this point, he doesn’t have any other official visits scheduled.

“I’ve been talking to some coaches, but I haven’t set anything up officially yet,” he said. “I’ll have to talk to my family and figure all of that out.”

Doherty is aware the early signing period is coming. He never planned to rush his decision and doesn’t want to make one based on emotion, but it’s obvious the Irish have him at least wondering if this is the right time and Notre Dame is the right place.

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I’ll figure everything out. I just really enjoyed the visit.”