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Notre Dame & NBA Draft: By The Numbers

Demetrius Jackso (center) helped the Irish to back-to-back Elite 8 appearances.
Demetrius Jackso (center) helped the Irish to back-to-back Elite 8 appearances.
BGI/Andrew Ivins

1 If Demetrius Jackson is drafted in Thursday night's first round as projected, it would mark the first time in history Notre Dame had a true guard selected in the opening round in back-to-back years. Jerian Grant (traded from New York to Chicago this week) last year broke a 23-year drought of no Fighting Irish guards selected at all since 1992, when Elmer Bennett was chosen in the second round. The previous one to be selected in the first round was David Rivers in 1988.

2 Jackson getting selected in the first round would mark the first time Notre Dame had first-round selections in consecutive years since 2001-02. Troy Murphy, placed this winter in Notre Dame’s Ring of Honor, was chosen with the 14th overall pick in 2001, while recently hired Fighting Irish assistant Ryan Humphrey was taken No. 19 the following year. It would be eight years before another Notre Dame player would be picked (Luke Harangody in the 2010 second round).

3 Notre Dame players drafted in the first two rounds of the NBA Draft over a two-year period — Grant and Pat Connaughton last year, Jackson this year — would be a first since 1980-81. The 1980 draft had Bill Hanzlik taken in the first round, and in 1981 both Orlando Woolridge and Kelly Tripucka were selected in the first round, while Tracy Jackson was chosen in the second.

Not coincidentally, they played on the 1978-79 teams that advanced to consecutive Elite Eights in the NCAA Tournament (and the lone Final Four), which was duplicated for the first time since by the Irish in 2015 and 2016.

If center Zach Auguste also happens to be taken in the second round, the four over the last two years would match the four in 1980-81.

4 Unofficially, Jackson’s 43.5-inch one-step vertical jump at the NBA Combine in May was the fourth highest ever at the event, which came more to the forefront after 2000. That was just short of former teammates Connaughton’s 44-inch leap last year, which is tied for second. In just the standing vertical, the 6-1 Jackson measured out with the best at 37.5 among approximately five-dozen players.

5 Players selected from Notre Dame by the NBA since head coach Mike Brey’s arrival in July, 2000, not including tonight. Over that same time, compare that to the two ACC blue bloods: Duke has 25 (19 in the first round) and North Carolina 21 (17 in the first round).

Yet since the start of the 2014-15-basketball season, Notre Dame is 4-1 versus Duke and 3-2 against the Tar Heels, most notably losing to the national runners-up in the NCAA Tournament East Region final this March 27. It provides a context of what the Irish are up against in the ACC.

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