Grimace was a Power Forward | by Mike

On Wednesday, incoming basketball recruit Luke Zeller was named to the 2005 McDonald’s All-American Team. This year’s game will be played on March 30 at Notre Dame’s own Joyce Center. The game itself invariably degenerates into one-on-one (or none) play rife with showboating, and there is thus no point in attempting to evaluate players based on their performance in the game. Nonetheless, selection for the game is quite prestigious, political as it is rumored to be.

Using the methodology of the game's organizers, Zeller is Notre Dame’s 15th All-American. We decided to take a look at how that stacks up against other schools around the country. Note that this count is based on McDonald’s listings, which lists transfers at the school to which they transferred. Thus Joe Kleine counts for Arkansas rather than Notre Dame. On the other hand, Dan Miller counts for Notre Dame, and not Maryland (I can hear the howls of protest from Rochester now).

Only eighteen schools have had more than ten McDonald’s All-Americans. As one would expect, North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky are at the top of the heap. But there are only three other schools that have had more All-Americans than Notre Dame. Solid company. This demonstrates the mojo that Notre Dame basketball can have, despite the assertions of Notre Dame haters that “No basketball star would ever want to go to a football school.” If Brey can keep Notre Dame in the tournament a few more years, the malaise of the Nineties will recede from the memory of recruits and analysts – a critical step in getting our mojo back.

Most McDonald’s All-Americans, by school

North Carolina   47
Duke             38
Kansas           25
Kentucky         25
UCLA             24
Michigan         17
Louisville       16
Notre Dame       15
Indiana          15
Arizona          13
Georgia Tech     13
LSU              13
Maryland         13
St. John’s       13
Illinois         12
Michigan State   12
Arkansas         11
Syracuse         11

Notre Dame’s McDonald’s All-Americans

Tracy Jackson     1977
Tim Andree        1979
John Paxson       1979
Tom Sluby         1980
Barry Spencer     1980
Ken Barlow        1982
Tim Kempton       1982
David Rivers      1984
Keith Robinson    1986
LaPhonso Ellis    1988
Ryan Humphrey     1997
Danny Miller      1998
Chris Thomas      2001
Torin Francis     2002
Luke Zeller       2005