JotCast | May hoops chat

Prev Page View Full Chat Next Page

Thomas Noie

1:52

Kevin: How about all of them? After four years of watching Nate Laszewski do what he did and four years of Dane Goodwin doing what he did and three years of Trey Wertz and Cormac Ryan, it will be awesome to have different pieces to the puzzle and how it all fits. Booth was the highest-ranked of all of them, but in talking with Carey, outside of Braeden Shrewsberry deciding to play for his dad, Booth's commitment was the easiest. Booth said no matter where Micah Shrewsberry was going to coach, Booth was going there. Can't wait to see him. And Kebbe Njie. And Markus Burton, who I watched grow up. New cast. New direction. New optimism.

Kevin, chicago

1:49

Who are you most excited by of the incoming players? Was booth a big snag?

Thomas Noie

1:49

Chris: Mike Brey had a commitment from Hunter Dickinson. Had him. Done deal. His brother was going to join Brey's staff - he was going to create a position for him to lock that down. It was Thanksgiving Day 2019 when Brey went to Dickinson's home - for dinner. He left with a commitment. Guaranteed. That was basically the beginning of the beginning of the beginning of the end. Or something like that.

Chris in memphis

1:44

Tom, thanks for all you do. What was the real story about hunter Dickinson’s recruitment at nd? Did he soft commit then back out? Feel like that was a huge negative turning point in brey’s later years, someone Brey was counting on to continue the success after the bonzie years

Thomas Noie

1:42

Jake: Georgia Tech is one of two permanent repeat opponents (Boston College) for Notre Dame in the Atlantic Coast Conference, so a trip to midtown ATL is on the schedule every year. Having their paths cross next season with Brey, who will be a member of the Atlanta Hawks' coaching staff, might be a little soon. And a little too weird.

Jake

1:40

not sure if ND travels to GT again but if they do, would you expect there to be a get together in atlanta between Brey and Shrewsberry/the team, maybe they’ll say hi or all get dinner together?

Thomas Noie

1:38

Kevin: I don't know if he was at IU South Bend long enough to connect with anyone at Notre Dame. He was here for such a short time and had so many other aspects that needed to be addressed, IUSB may well have been the moon. As for Mike Brey having "pushed" for Micah Shrewsberry? Think Jack Swarbrick had his mind made up before anyone that Shrewsberry would be the guy. Getting Brey's input/opinion was kind of like, thanks, but we're good.

Kevin

1:37

If shrews coached at iusb that means he really is coming home. Would there have been any ties to nd from that era, like in summer camps, before he got here that you know of? Brey seems to have pushed for Shrews' hire.

Thomas Noie

1:22

Way, way, way back before 9 a.m., it was the first question posed in the chat. I went with Matt Zona, given what I saw of him in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament game against Virginia Tech. I'd never seen any of that previously, and wanted to see more of it. I don't know how well he was coached, or if he was coached last year once Ryan Humphrey left for Oklahoma. He's the most experienced guy on the roster as we sit here today. Maybe that experience into a role and a season that nobody sees coming. It would alleviate a lot of pressure from Carey Booth and Kebba Njie if that happens.

Justin Ft. Wayne

1:19

Tom, you asked us who will be the breakout player this season so let me ask you, who is your breakout player for this season?

Thomas Noie

1:18

John: Thanks for the question. I'm not going to knock you and not knocking Micah Shrewsberry, but he's been a college coach for two years. Now, his resume is off-the-charts impressive, but it's a little early to say he's a big-time coach. He's a coach with big-time potential who believes in this program, knows what this state means when it comes to basketball and wants to be here. That matters. The job is still the job. It's a hard job, for reasons we've discussed and already seen.

john from naperville

1:15

Tom- thanks for the chat. You wrote after Brey decided to step down, why Notre Dame would be such a tough place to land a big time coach. Then comes Shrewsberry. Obviously the admin made a big time financial commitment, but what else do you think brought him to ND outside of being from Indiana?

Thomas Noie

1:14

SBJ: When Micah Shrewsberry was introduced on March 30, we media dopes were like, can't wait to see what this roster is going to look like in a month. Surely, given its state at that point, the administration gave him a whole lot of leeway to go the quick-fix route and get as many guys as he needed to get. Now we sit here seven weeks later and he's gotten Julian Roper out of Northwestern and Kebba Njie who he had at Penn State. That's it. That also might be it. Shrewsberry also said that day on the floor of Purcell Pavilion that he doesn't believe in quick fixes, and wouldn't rely on them to build out the roster. Maybe he didn't get any concessions. Maybe he's truly married to the long game in this and believes that his way will prove the best way. He'll make sure of it in recruiting. With Brey, when you don't get a portal break AND you don't recruit, you're doomed. He was.

SB Jimbo

1:10

Did Shrewsberry get any concessions from ND during the hiring process? I'm thinking in terms of 1-time (to fill out the roster) or ongoing lower academic concessions, higher NIL payouts (not sure that's the right word), or anything else that put Brey's teams at a disadvantage vs other schools. Thanks.

Thomas Noie

12:59

Mike: You work with somebody for 23 years, through all those wins and losses and ups and downs and everything else, and that doesn't just go away. I'd be surprised if we went our separate ways. The relationship will change - probably for the better - moving forward. Nothing about how I covered him was personal - it was the job. I think he understands that. Respects it even.

San Mike Diego

12:57

Do you still see yourself staying in touch w/ Brey or did you guys not have that type of relationship?

Thomas Noie

12:57

Jim: I think he does, and I think in time, he'll admit that if he saw how all of this was going to unfold, maybe he'd have done something differently. Just walked away in January or left after the end of the 2021-22 season. In the end, he was holding on to something that wasn't there. That he checked out mentally in January trickled down to the rest of the program. He'd fallen so out of touch that I don't think he realized nearly everyone would leave as soon as they left. Think he figured the freshmen would at least wait until a new coach was hired. They were the first to leave. There will be a time, after some reflection, when he admits, yeah, I really burned that thing to the ground. That's on me.

Jim Tal Valley Center, CA

12:54

Hi Tom, truly enjoy your work. Thank you. Did you see any sense of regret, remorse or even guilt on the part of Brey in regard to the dire straits that he was leaving the program in? I'm not saying that he was totally at fault, but the fact remains that much of the disaster that became the roster could be laid at his doorstep. I just don't see how he couldn't feel badly or responsible for what was left behind in his wake. And along that line, do you think Brey got somewhat of a pass and wasn't taken that much to task for the highly dubious status of the team when he departed?

Thomas Noie

12:53

Chad: You're not negative - you're absolutely right. This gig is not easy. It's really hard. It depends on what those three-straight losing seasons look like. Notre Dame went 3-17 in the ACC last season. Does it go 4-16 next year, then 5-15, then 9-11? Or does it stay relatively linear - 4-16, 5-15, 6-14? Is this team improving or just overwhelmed? Can it compete on the road? Can it hold serve at home. The good thing is that last year's team did NONE of any of that. You knew it was losing the minute it stepped on the floor. This team could well struggle the next three years, but within that struggle, if we see progress, at least there's something that wasn't there last season - hope.

Chad , Toledo

12:51

How long does Notre Dame give Shrewsberry if ND has 3 straight losing seasons ?Sorry to be negative but this Notre Dame gig is not easy like Brey has always stated!!ACC n home court nothing like the Digger era;Academics and Football first!!!

Thomas Noie

12:48

Joe: Please, please, please, do not let/ask/expect Micah Shrewsberry to mirror that desperate attempt to drum up student interest. Don't send him to the dorms. Don't let him stand on the tables in South Dining Hall and stump for fans. Let fans be curious enough and hungry enough and care enough that they want to find out about this Notre Dame men's basketball program on their own. We've talked so much about how/if Micah Shrewsberry is on the clock in terms of turning this program into a winner. Same is absolutely true for the fan base - you grew tired of Mike Brey and his program and everything about it that you stopped coming. Stopped caring. No more excuses. Time to deliver and give the new guy a new interest. We've wondered the last few hours whether Shrewsberry has it in him. Does the fan base, the student body have it in THEM? Let's see it.

Joe, Chicago

12:44

Brey was famous for going around to the dorms and mingling with the students. Obviously, attendance has been brutal the last few years, does Shrewsberry have the type of personality that would engage in students in a similar manner and does his local ties garner any additional SB fan interest?

Thomas Noie

12:44

Matt: One that shows everyone that he took that last two years seriously and got serious about his game so that said game reflects that. He has a chance to be a key rotation guy. Maybe start. Play more than he's played since he was a senior in high school. But if he steps out on the practice floor for the first time next month, the staff cannot look at him and say, what's he been doing for the last two years? Konieczny knew he wasn't going to play much (really, at all) as a freshman. He knew he was going to sit out last season. He planned to be a main guy in 2023-24. Well, 2023-24 is here, let's see what you've got.

Matt Studer, Bowling Green, Ohio

12:42

What kind of season do you expect from JR Koniecnzy this year?

Thomas Noie

12:42

Tim: True, on almost all of it. I'd push back a bit on the Dom Campbell criminal comment. Campbell might have wanted to get into some semblance of high-major college basketball shape to earn those minutes. But it was time for everything else to end. The Mike Brey experience. The Anthony Solomon defensive guru nonsense. Really, everything about the roster. A fellow beat guy and I were sooooooooo wanting to have every single player jump into the portal so that EVERYTHING about the program would be new and it would be starting over from scratch and rebuilding this from the ground up. Let's see where all of this goes. With Micah Shrewsberry. With his staff. With his recruiting. With this program. It's time.

Tim from Chicago

12:39

Mike Brey became a dinosaur, he didn't evolve with the changing landscape of college basketball. Lazy on the recruiting trail, suspect assistant coaching staff, not playing underclassmen (not playing Dom Campbell a few minutes consistently per game last season was criminal). I'm appreciative of what he did for the program, but all ND fans should be rejoicing right now. Shrews has accomplished a ton in just his first few months in South Bend. Also, South Florida should be thankful that the deal with Brey didn't work out, nobody goes to Florida at the end of their careers in order to bust their butts. I'm excited for your upcoming coverage and stories on the new era of ND basketball, this is going to be a lot fun, thanks for taking us on this journey with you.

Thomas Noie

12:36

Justin: Notre Dame wins at least one game away from home. Not much, but not nothing after this group went a combined 0-13 away from home last year. To go 0-10 on the road in league play - the first time in school history Notre Dame went winless in league play (Big East, ACC) away from home was a stat that slid under the radar of everything else that was awful last year. So let's go out on a limb and say Irish get at least one win away from South Bend air space.

Justin Ft. Wayne

12:34

Tom, I need your biggest, boldest prediction for the upcoming season. Let me hear it.

Thomas Noie

12:34

Matt: Totally understandable. Last year was likely his most miserable, frustrating year ever of college basketball. Why come back to that and all those feelings of failure? Start fresh. I mentioned it earlier - Cormac Ryan has a chance to be an all-league guy at North Carolina. He's going to play alongside Armando Bacot and RJ Davis - he never did that at Notre Dame, not even with Blake Wesley, who wasn't BLAKE WESLEY for long stretches of his only season.

Matt from St. Louis

12:32

What did you think about Cormac Ryan choosing UNC? How much of an impact do you think he will have for them?

Thomas Noie

12:32

Tim: It matters. It matters a whole lot, and it matters to Micah Shrewsberry. I asked him last week about how many former players had reached out. A lot. Here's what he said when I asked why that was important - "That helps drive me because I'm doing this for them. This is their program. I want to make sure they're proud of what we're doing, they're excited about what we're doing, they're fired up.
I'm trying to make those guys proud. Recently, John Paxson was like, 'hey man, I'm seeing the recruiting week that you guys just had. Like, keep it going. We're so happy and excited for you.' That stuff fires me up. That's pretty cool." Matt Doherty didn't have time to connect with former guys in his only year. Part of him maybe didn't really want to. Mike Brey made it a priority, Micah Shrewsberry will as well.

Tim from Chicago

12:30

Hi Tom, thanks for bringing back the chat. With Brey having been the coach for the past 20+ years, I feel like he also maintained good relations with former players who were supportive of the program and created a sense of family among those guys. With the hire of a new regime, does losing that connection with the recent past matter at all to the program in today's era of college basketball?

Thomas Noie

12:30

Joe: Don't let your view of Brey cloud your judgement. Brey could MF guys with the best of them. He just rarely let us see that side. But it was there.

joe from the south side

12:29

Tom, I'll give you two culture changes that will take place. One, no guaranteed playing time just because you are old. Shrew doesn't owe anybody anything right now. Two, accountability. You don't play D, you don't rebound, you sit the bench. I don't think Brey liked to discipline players or even ride them hard. That changed with Shrew's hire.

Thomas Noie

12:28

Joe: Hard to see Father Jenkins offering any sort of a "guarantee." Think it was more along the lines of, you're our No. 1 choice. We're going to compensate you quite handsomely. You'll get a chance to return to a state that you hold dear to your heart. I like Micah Shrewsberry. I believe he has a chance to do some special things at Notre Dame. But he's only been a college head coach for two years. It's not like they went out and convinced Jay Wright to come and take the job. They got a coach, a really good coach, who might one day be a great coach. And the Shrewsberry transfer portal comment the day of his introductory roll out tells you all you need to know about how Notre Dame will rely on the transfer portal (Hint: not much).

joe from the south side

12:25

Tom, What kind of a guarantee did Jenkins and Swarbrick give Micah? By that I mean, Micah has been around BBL at every level. He knew taking over at ND was first and foremost putting out a dumpster fire. He also knows to replenish the roster properly is going to take 3 to 4 years, easily. Do you think that's the window ND guaranteed him? You know, you have 4-5 years to pull this together, knowing full well ND is not going to relent on their transfer policy. I think back to Shrew's comment that "the portal is a 1 year quick fix and he's not going that route."

Thomas Noie

12:14

Paul: Cormac Ryan had, had, had to go. Had to. No way do you want to return to this program after the tire fire that was last season. You can't. And, honestly, why would you if you're Cormac Ryan? You have your undergrad degree from Notre Dame. You have a Master's. You have only one item on your list - make a deep run in the NCAA tournament and get as many eyes on you as possible to help you in your basketball life after college. Would this team check any of those boxes for Ryan? Doesn't matter if he met with Shrewsberry. The quicker that he - the quicker that everyone - could leave last season behind, the better. Ryan will be better off for it in the long run. Watch.

Paul from SB

12:10

And what about Cormac Ryan? Did he simply not want to go through the pain of a rebuild? He would have been given the keys to the bus had he stayed. Do you know if he met with Schrews?

Thomas Noie

12:10

Joe: Exactly, When he hit the portal, I texted a guy also on the Notre Dame men's basketball beat and said, there's the guy to go get. The portal's funny like that. Just when you think this guy and that guy would be perfect fits for Notre Dame, they're not. Which makes recruiting all the more critical, but to what point if guys will leave like they left this year. See? Fragile.

joe from the south side

12:09

Tom, I'll add one more portal guy and how "ya never know". Michael O'Connell was Stanford's starting PG. I believe he just completed his SOPH year. He is originally from Long Island, but played BBL at Blair Academy in NJ. ND reached out. and offered. You couldn't script a better fit. He chose NCST.

Connecting…