“Those two really mesh”: How Mike Brey and J.J. Starling’s chemistry led five-star guard to Notre Dame

On3 imageby:Patrick Engel05/25/22

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LA PORTE, Ind. — Two years ago, J.J. Starling spent much of June 15 on the phone with college coaches, as most rising high school juniors who are coveted basketball recruits do. That’s the first day coaches can directly contact them. Messages and phone calls roll in like an unabating tide. Mike Brey and Notre Dame were one of many to light up Starling’s phone screen.

They were one of just a few to stand out in a sea of praise and promises.

Brey first called Starling on June 15, 2020, and like many other coaches, left no doubt about his interest. What caught Starling’s attention, though, was Brey’s upbeat demeanor.

“The energy he gave, I felt it through the phone,” Starling said. “That’s how in person I knew it’d be more unreal. This is a guy I would want to play for.”

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Starling, a 6-4 guard from La Porte (Ind.) La Lumiere School, knew that day Brey was different. Brey knew his task was convincing Starling to be different.

That may seem like an easy ask for a player who is unafraid to don Crocs as his postgame footwear, but not when it involves telling Duke no. Not when it requires turning down Syracuse, located a few miles from Starling’s hometown of Baldwinsville, N.Y. Not when Notre Dame was mired in a four-year NCAA tournament drought. Not when it hadn’t landed a player from La Lumiere — a national prep power annually stocked with blue-chip recruits — despite repeated efforts.

Starling bucked convention and took the plunge, though, when he committed to Notre Dame in October 2021. He has since become Notre Dame’s first McDonald’s All-American since Demetrius Jackson in 2013 and a consensus five-star recruit. He’s the No. 15 player in the 2022 class, per the On3 Consensus. He and fellow freshman Dom Campbell and Ven-Allen Lubin — top-100 recruits themselves — will begin classes at Notre Dame next month.

Before Notre Dame could embark on a season that put the program (and Brey) back on course, it had to sign a recruiting class last fall that would make a potential revival feel like a sign of things to come instead of a one-off led by a senior-heavy group. The Irish landed the No. 12 class, per the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking, with Starling as the headliner.

“We needed to deliver today with a big win before we get on to trying to earn some bigger wins,” Brey said on signing day.

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No win was more pivotal than Starling, who has turned into a potential one-and-done and is already appearing as a first-round pick in the earliest 2023 NBA Mock Drafts. Blake Wesley’s departure for the draft after just one season at Notre Dame made Starling even more important in hindsight. A starter’s role is his to take. If all goes to plan for Starling this year, the Irish could produce a one-and-done player in consecutive seasons after never having one before Wesley.

“I feel like JJ can be in the same position I am right now if he does what he does, comes in this summer and works his butt off,” Wesley said. “He can start.”

Landing Starling was also a head-turner because of how Notre Dame made it happen. Brey was at the center of the recruitment from the start. He had to be. Non-negotiable. He leaned into the job.

“[Starling] will tell you straight up he’s a relationships kid,” La Lumiere head coach Pat Holmes said. “How is his relationship with the assistants and the head coach? He felt he connected with Coach Brey. He knows Coach Brey will be on him, but do it while having an arm around his shoulder. Personality-wise, those two really mesh.”

So does Starling’s game and Notre Dame’s offense. Starling is an elite shooter with a clean, repeatable stroke. Shooting, of course, is a prerequisite for playing guard in Brey’s offense. He’s a sound decision-maker with good feel for the game. He has played multiple backcourt spots at La Lumiere, acting as a willing facilitator and a primary creator. Notre Dame will likely ask him to play point guard. That might not be his eventual NBA home or even his most natural position, but Brey thinks he will be a seamless fit.

“A lot of young players just kind of play, and maybe they’re a little bit of wet blankets,” Brey said. “Not that they’re selfish, but they don’t lift other guys up emotionally with good energy. He just has great juice about him. He’s so happy when his teammates do something.”

Starling can impact a game even if he’s barely shooting the ball. His fingerprints as a drive-and-kick creator were all over La Lumiere’s 77-45 win over Lisle (Ill.) Benet Academy on Feb. 15, even though he didn’t score in the first half. La Lumiere’s ever-stocked roster doesn’t click unless it has an unselfish guard like Starling at the controls. Holmes gives him the freedom to operate it.

Starling sought that same leash in college and learned Notre Dame could give it to him. There’s precedent of freshmen stepping into primary roles for the Irish. Brey tossed Wesley in the rotation right away and let him work through his freshman ebbs and flows. He did the same thing with Prentiss Hubb as a freshman four years ago.

“If you’re trying to get to the NBA, you have to be on the court,” Holmes said. “You have to have the ball in your hands and make great decisions. If you show at Notre Dame you can make great decisions, be a selfless teammate and play the right way, you’re going to play a lot.”

This is the opportunity Brey and his assistants sold to make Starling turn down a blue blood and the hometown team, both of which have a better NBA draft history than Notre Dame. The Irish couldn’t point to a handful of recent first-rounders or lottery picks. They had to emphasize the long leash and the system fit.

Turns out, Starling was a buyer.

“Coach Brey puts a lot of trust in his guards,” Starling said. “With me being a guard, that’s what you want, for the head coach to trust you to make plays and put the ball in your hands.”

Brey and Notre Dame made clear Starling was their top choice to get that chance. Their guard board had one name on it by late summer: his. Brey even drove to La Lumiere in a Ferrari to pick him up for his Labor Day Weekend official visit.

“We were coming out of practice, we’re all sweaty and tired, and the first thing I see is a red Ferrari right outside with Coach Brey leaning on it,” Starling said. “He came in style. I’m thinking, ‘This is a movie.’”

He found nothing about it or any other interaction with Notre Dame’s staff was too good to be true. The same energy Starling felt from Brey on that June 15, 2020 phone call persisted through his recruitment. It helped foster the feeling of mutual trust that pulled at Starling during the process.

And ultimately steered him to South Bend.

“It just came down to who I’d be able to trust most,” Starling said. “That was Coach Brey.”

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