Notre Dame’s Best NBA Players

Notre Dame hasn’t been in the ACC all that long really, and the Irish have done fairly well under Mike Brey.

The basketball glory goes back a lot further than that. Notre Dame has a permanent spot in basketball history for ending UCLA’s incredible 88-game win streak.

And the Irish have had some great NBA players too. Here’s our pick for the Top Five Fighting Irish in the NBA.

• Adrian Dantley - AD was a superb basketball player. Undersized at 6-5, he could battle inside and shoot outside. He was a six-time All-Star, made the Hall of Fame and averaged 24.27 ppg for his career.
• Orlando Woolridge - A tremendously athletic forward, Woolridge had an excellent 15-year NBA career and is one of the few - perhaps the only - guy to play with both Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.
• Austin Carr - injuries limited him to an extent but Carr still had career averages of 15.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 2.75 apg. He remains a beloved figure in Cleveland.
• Bill Laimbeer - Okay, he’s not beloved, but he was a key part of two championship teams and he didn’t care what anyone thought. Yes, he was a dirty player, but he had a powerful influence on the league. Take that however you like.
• Kelly Tripucka - Often called overrated, Tripucka nonetheless averaged 17.17 over 10 seasons. He was a solid, if not spectacular player. And on the upside, no one we can think of ever called him dirty.