Beeuwsaert Wants to Play in Pac-10 : Former Mater Dei Star Says He Is Leaving Notre Dame

Matt Beeuwsaert said he had always dreamed of playing basketball at Notre Dame. After concluding a successful career at Mater Dei High School two years ago, he got the chance.

Beeuwsaert, one of Orange County’s most heavily recruited prep players after helping lead Mater Dei into the CIF Southern Section 4-A championship game in both 1983 and 1984, landed a scholarship to attend Notre Dame and play for Coach Digger Phelps.

But as a sophomore this season, Beeuwsaert found himself doing more watching than playing for the Fighting Irish, and has decided to pursue his basketball dreams elsewhere.

Beeuwsaert said Thursday that he will leave Notre Dame at the end of the current school year and transfer to another school, probably one in the Pacific 10 conference.

“I just basically wasn’t happy with the basketball program (at Notre Dame) and the fact that I wasn’t playing,” he said.

Beeuwsaert said he is uncertain when he will reach a decision on where he will transfer, adding that he’s still in the process of contacting coaches of the schools he’s interested in. He visited California earlier this week, and said he also is considering Stanford.

“I want to stay out on the West Coast, and try to stay in the Pac-10,” he said. “I was recruited pretty heavily by the Pac-10 out of high school.”

The decision to transfer means that, under NCAA rules, Beeuwsaert will have to sit out one year before he will be eligible to play at his new school. But Beeuwsaert, a 6-foot 6-inch swingman, said he doesn’t regret going to Notre Dame.

“I can’t say I made a bad decision,” he said. “If I would have gone somewhere else, I always would have wondered what it would have been like there. There are no hard feelings. It just didn’t work out.”

There has been speculation that Beeuwsaert was interested in transferring to UC Irvine. Anteater Coach Bill Mulligan said he would be more than welcomed. But when asked Thursday if UCI was in the picture, Beeuwsaert replied: “I don’t think so.”

Beeuwsaert played a key role in Mater Dei’s rise to prep basketball prominence. He played on the Monarchs’ CIF championship team as a junior in 1983 and on the team that was upset by Long Beach Poly in the title game in 1984. Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said Beeuwsaert may have been his most complete player in both seasons.

Beeuwsaert stayed at his family’s home in Santa Ana this week during spring break, but will be returning to South Bend, Ind. next week to finish the spring semester at Notre Dame.