Notre Dame men’s basketball hosting top-25 recruit Xavier Booker for official visit beginning Thursday

On3 imageby:Patrick Engel06/23/22

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Notre Dame’s best chance to make a move with its longtime top 2023 target begins Thursday. The Irish will host four-star Indianapolis Cathedral forward Xavier Booker for an official visit Thursday and Friday, his AAU team G3 All Indy announced.

Booker is the No. 21 overall player and No. 4 center in the 2023 On3 Consensus. He’s a five-star prospect and No. 8 overall in On3’s own rankings.

Notre Dame has had its attention on him for well over a year. The Irish offered him exactly one year ago, on June 23, 2021, long before he climbed up the rankings and bloomed into one of the class’ most coveted players. He jumped from No. 50 to eighth when the On3 rankings refreshed June 13. Duke, Kansas and Texas have offered him this spring. Kentucky has shown interest.

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Irish coaches were a fixture at his games last summer and during the spring 2022 evaluation period. Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey and associate head coach Anthony Solomon have been his primary recruiters. That pair is one reason Booker has kept Notre Dame in the mix as his stock has soared and offer list has grown.

“Just the relationship I have with Coach Solomon and Coach Brey,” Booker told On3’s Jamie Shaw earlier in June. “They are really good coaches. I like their playing style and feel I would fit.”

Thursday will be Booker’s third time at Notre Dame. He took an unofficial visit in October 2021 and attended the Irish’s Jan. 31 home game against Duke. He has taken four prior official visits: Kansas State, Purdue, Indiana and Michigan State. Notre Dame earned the fifth-junior year official over Ohio State and Duke.

Recruits are also allotted five senior year official visits. Booker said he plans to use one to see Ohio State Sept. 3.

Booker is taking a break from a busy June of competition to see Notre Dame. He was at the Pangos All-American Camp in Las Vegas June 5-7. He will go to the NBPA Top 100 Camp June 27. He and his Cathedral teammates played in a tournament in Kentucky during the June 17-19 NCAA contact period.

As a junior at Cathedral, Booker averaged 12.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 2.3 blocks per game, per MaxPreps. He shot 52 percent from the field and 36 percent on three-pointers.

Booker is the Irish’s second official visitor of the 2023 cycle. Notre Dame had four-star Worcester (Mass.) Academy forward TJ Power on campus for an official earlier this month. He’s the No. 66 player in the On3 Consensus. Notre Dame does not yet hold any 2023 commitments.

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