JotCast | February 26 Notre Dame hoops chat

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Charles Arnett

9:00

I'll ask about the elephant in the room. Is Micah Shrewsberry on the Hot Seat?

Tom Noie

9:00

Jack: We need all the optimism you can muster. Here's some more - what can Micah Shrewsberry do with a roster that's actually on par with the rest of the Atlantic Coast Conference? That wasn't it in his first season. That wasn't it in his second season. We were supposed to get an idea in his third season, and then the TCU game and Markus Burton's drive to the basket happened.

Jack from Rye,NY

8:57

Another thought if I can… sometimes the worst thing that happens in one season can be the best the next season. Remember about 10 years ago when Jerian had academic mis step and was suspended. We fell apart in last minute at MSG vs Ohio State and the season went down tubes. Everyone thought Grant was gone to NBA draft. But what happened - players like Steve Vasturia got more playing time ( like Jalen and Brady now) Grant came back ( hopefully Markus will too) and the next year brought the Elite 8. I’m not predicting that for this group but maybe just maybe 26-27 can become a very competitive and quality tourney team and we can look at Cal game as low point like Ohio State at MSG. Is that too much optimism ?

Tom Noie

8:57

Jack: This is what gets lost in the revisionist history that is Notre Dame basketball - particularly why they shout from the shadows for a coaching change. Take any ACC roster and automatically eliminate 18.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.6 steals and 30.1 minutes from your stats sheet. Oh, and take away a guy who was shooting .917 from the foul line. Why do the numbers look the way they do? Why does this season look the way it does? Markus Burton wasn't going to cure all that ails Notre Dame had he not suffered a broken left ankle in December, but he'd cure some of it smoldering in the middle of a 3-10 league season. And you're so right, he WAS just starting to figure out how to be a natural point guard, maybe for the first time in his basketball life. Eliminate all that, and eliminate all that Notre Dame looked to do with the ball in Burton's hands and explain how you should be better than 3-10.

Jack from Rye,NY

8:53

Hi Tom. Sifting through the injury to Markus Burton, we probably have 7-8 conference wins going into this weekend with chance for 10-11 wins with him by season end. At least NIT team. What I think goes unspoken is that Markus was just starting to figure it out as PG and not just scorer. He had 10 assists vs Missouri and 5 in first 10 minutes of TCU game. And that unselfishness is contagious ( 26 assists for team vs TCU). I feel he was just ready to take off as PG and was making right reads, as opposed to getting too deep and having shot blocked. Do you agree?

Tom Noie

8:50

Jim: You know what those numbers tell you? That this team is not gifted enough or old enough on either end to seriously compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Look at the rosters of the other league teams. Lots of transfers. Old guys. Guys who have been in the freaking Euroleague. Go compete against that as college freshmen and sophomores. Good luck.

Jim, Annandale, VA

8:48

Hi Tom — With a team that currently ranks 265th in assist-to-turnover ratio, 185th in field goal percentage, 240th in average number of free throws attempted per game, 144th in field goal percentage defense, and 133rd in 3-point field goal percentage defense, do you think the return of Marcus Burton and the maturation of Haralson, Koelher, and Frost will be enough for this team to make the kind of jump necessary to finally achieve the 10 ACC wins that eluded them this year? I know about lies, damn lies, and statistics, but I think these statistics pretty accurately reflect this year’s team. Thanks for the chats. Always fun and informative.

Tom Noie

8:48

Pete: Here's what the fan sitting high up in Purcell Pavilion or at home on their couch doesn't hear or know. When Jalen Haralson seemingly ignores ball movement to dribble, dribble, dribble and back his guy down on the block and looks to score ... that's being called directly from the bench. You can hear Micah Shrewsberry telling him....take him. Score. Do it again. Take him. Score it. It's hard to argue with the results in Atlantic Coast Conference games, where Haralson is shooting .529 percent from the field and averaging a team-best 16.3 points. Haralson may still be a game-time decision with an ankle issue for Saturday. Notre Dame is better with Jalen Haralson in the lineup. We went down that road before earlier in the year, and couldn't have been more wrong. Notre Dame is not better without Markus Burton, and it's not better without Jalen Haralson.

Pete from Berrien Springs

8:44

The offense in the Ga Tech game had more ball and player movement than we have seen in a while. Yes, you can attribute that to GA Tech's poor defense but also to how ND decided to play without Haralson. I hope we see more of that against Pitt on Saturday...and not Shrewsberry reverting to having Haralson try to back his defender down in the paint with the other 4 guys standing and watching. Which offense do you predict for Saturday, Tom? Thanks for these chats

Tom Noie

8:43

If Brady Koehler doesn't look like the left-handed version of Franz Wagner five, 10, 15 games into his freshman season, he's never going to get there. Patience has always been a part of the plan under Micah Shrewsberry. It was going to take time. Give it to these guys to figure it out. This was never going to be as quick of a fix as people wanted/hoped/expected. I figured it would be four years. That jumped to five years when the 2023-24 roster was finalized.

8:42

Chris: That's life as a college basketball underclassman. You'll have good days, and both have, and you'll have not so good days, and both have. In today's one-and-done age of college basketball, we may have expected too much from Sir Mohammed. He was a Top 50 guy coming out of high school, so it was like, OK, he's going to be a dude from Day One and that will be that. He hasn't been that. Maybe he's one of those guys who's going to take two, three years to develop before we see his true skills. Same with Brady Koehler to an extent. There's so much there to work with, but he's also so young. Raw. Inexperienced. He's doing stuff now that he won't do as he gets older, gets bigger, gets stronger, gets wiser to college basketball. Rick Pitino was right (no, really). Everyone wants everything right now. Gotta have it. We don't allow anyone in college basketball, players, coaches, everybody, to figure it out. If Sir Mohammed doesn't show out in a year and a half, he's a failure....

Chris - Columbus, Ohio

8:38

Could you comment on the development of Brady Koehler and Sir Muhammed this season? I see talent with both players, but a lot of inconsistency also.

Tom Noie

8:37

Thomas: Don't have one. May not need one. Sorry.

Thomas

8:37

Hi Tom, could you please give us your top 5 coaches on your wish list to replace Shrewsberry?

Tom Noie

8:36

John: Thank you for being the (lone?) voice of reason...

John Fitzpatrick

8:36

Rebuilding takes time

Tom Noie

8:36

Ron: Honestly? Crickets. Like asking what we're hearing about the end of the world as we know it. We feel fine.

Ron

8:35

what are you hearing about Harralson going pro and Micah’s future?

Tom Noie

8:35

Jason: Nothing like coming off the top rope to kick off this chat. OK, I'll play along. Notre Dame will decide it's time for a change with its men's basketball coach when Pete Bevacqua can say to Micah Shrewsberry that, like football, he has given him everything he needs to be successful. When everything that can be done has been done to build a roster that can compete for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and annually in the NCAA Tournament. When Pete Bevacqua looks at the program and decides that he no longer sees progress. We're nowhere near that yet. Maybe not even close.

Guest

8:32

Jason- Indianapolis, IN How much longer does Pete Bevacqua keep Shrewsberry as head coach of Men’s Basketball Team?

Tom Noie

8:09

We made it. Stunning, right? Seems like just yesterday, or maybe last week, it was October and everything about Notre Dame basketball and the college hoops season was new and exciting and optimistic. Now, here we are, at the tail-end of the final full month of the regular season. The end is in sight. Hopefully, the end doesn't arrive sooner than expected with no trip to the ACC Tournament. There's work to be done for Notre Dame to get to Charlotte. To join today's chat, please, please, please include your name and hometown. For republish purposes, GUEST just doesn't work. If you have a question or comment, you must also have a name. And with that, you know the rest....let's light this chat candle on a 42-degree morning in Northern Indiana with ... thunderstorms. Ahhhh....spring....

*** Thursday, February 19 ***

Tom Noie

12:25

What gives you optimism for Notre Dame basketball moving forward?

Possible roster retention (26.2% | 11 votes)

The maturation of the underclassmen (45.2% | 19 votes)

Building this back over time (4.8% | 2 votes)

Small steps of progress this season (4.8% | 2 votes)

Recruiting (9.5% | 4 votes)

Other (9.5% | 4 votes)

Total Votes: 42

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