Notre Dame Sends 4th to Big East
When the signing period began ten days ago all signs indicated that Johnnie Lacy would play the season out and wait to make his decision in the spring. But one Big East program wouldn’t take no for an answer, and now Lacy is set to head to Providence College for the next four years after signing his National Letter of Intent yesterday.
“I really like their coaching staff,” Lacy told scout.com’s Evan Daniels. “They said the ball would be in my hands right away as a freshman and that’s what I’m looking for.”
For those who haven’t seen Lacy play before, think T.J. Ford, the current Indiana Pacer who thrived during his career at the University of Texas. Despite being only 5’10” and 160 pounds Lacy is a blur with the ball as he possesses both incredible speed from north to south as well as tremendous quickness from east to west. He is essentially a one man fast break and some one who is almost impossible for defenders to keep out of the lane.
Providence head coach Keno Davis summed up Lacy’s potential impact on the Friars by saying, “We are very pleased to have Johnnie in our program. He not only has outstanding quickness at the point guard position, but the ability to make his teammates better. His talents combined with our up-tempo brand of basketball, make him a perfect fit for Providence College.”
Lacy is the second member of Prep’s team to commit to the Friar’s as Notre Dame head coach Ryan Hurd will give Davis both of his starting guards in Lacy and Antoine Allen.
The duo is likely to make quite a formidable pair both during the upcoming season and then during their four year career in the Big East.
Lacy is at his best when allowed to attack the defense where his penetration either provides him a scoring opportunity or more often forces the opposing defense to collapse leaving him opportunities to create shots for his teammates. Enter Allen who is a big time scorer who can both knock down shots from behind the arc or beat his man off the dribble, and you can see why this is such a formidable pair.
Providence fans will have their first chance to see Lacy and Allen in action this weekend, as Notre Dame participates in the National Prep Showcase at Bryant University, just ten minutes outside of Providence. Notre Dame will square off against the Patterson School at 2:30 on Friday afternoon in a match-up of the 3rd and 4th ranked prep school teams in the country. On Saturday, they will face Massanutten Military Academy at 1:30.
Johnnie Lacy