Recruiting Report: Lunden McDay (2019)
Two seasons into Lunden McDay’s (2019) Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary career, the 6’2” wing holds one scholarship offer from Buffalo.
“I’ve been to a couple camps out there. It’s fun. It’s a nice campus and everything,” McDay said.
Although he’s shown enough to garner a scholarship from a MAC program, McDay hasn’t received any interest from other programs at this time.
McDay’s former Fighting Irish teammate, Jayvon Graves, is a freshman at Buffalo.
Last season, Graves powered STVM to the Division II State Championship with back-to-back 20-plus point performances at the Schott. They will miss Graves this season, but guys like McDay are ready to take the next step.
“I’m going to have to step up a lot, being one of the only sophomores, me and Chris [Painter], being the only sophomores on varsity. So, yeah, I’m going to have a bigger role,” McDay said.
After graduating two Division I players in the backcourt, the team has their work cut out for them. But, with six State Championships since 2000, it’s unlikely for STVM to make a habit of losing any time soon.
“Not a lot of people think we’re going to be good since Jon [Williams] and Jayvon left. But, you just want to keep that high level up and show that we can still play, even though we lost two great players,” McDay said.
On a personal level, last season taught McDay lessons about work ethic.
“It showed me that with patience and hard work you can get to where you want to be. We practice everyday. We practice hard,” McDay told Prep Hoops.
Where has McDay been focusing that hard work this offseason?
“My 3-point shot, because it was bad last year and I want to get that much better,” McDay said.
McDay is looking to add offensive skills, to package alongside his defensive prowess. His quickness, anticipation, strength, and plus-three wingspan allows McDay to be a versatile defender. There were times in last season’s State Tournament and during the grassroots season where McDay could be found protecting the rim and defending forwards.
However, last year was last year. Going forward, McDay expects to be much more than a defensive hybrid for STVM by taking on a larger scoring load.
In the meantime, McDay has maintained a 3.0 GPA.
