JotCast | May hoops chat

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Thomas Noie

10:30

Mickey: Ah, NOW we get serious. I see. Too early to tell with recruiting. The guys Notre Dame landed this year were all former Penn State guys, so how much did it really take to get them to look at Notre Dame other than the head coach? No, we won't know if there's a difference or if Micah Shrewsberry can recruit until there's a four-star - a high four-star - who picks Notre Dame and isn't supposed to pick Notre Dame. Mike Brey recruited his share of star guys - he just couldn't land them. And it would be hard for me to say that coaching style matters in a way it didn't before because I've never seen Micah Shrewsberry coach, at least this group. There weren't many coaches in the country who gave his players ultimate freedom than Mike Brey.

Mickey, New York

10:27

When you look at the players we are now recruiting vs what was here, what do you see as the difference in player type? And it seems these players are highly rated but weren’t in on ND before. Is it just the change of style that opens the doors to these players? The coaching style? Both?

Thomas Noie

10:26

Mickey: Checks NDI.....Notre Dame bows out early in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, just misses out on the NCAA tournament, quiet offseason....nope. Nothing new to see here....You?

Mickey, New York

10:25

Anything new since the last chat???

Thomas Noie

10:25

Jim: Great to hear from you, but I read your question three different times. Once, out loud. And have to say, I'm thoroughly confused. Little help as to what you're trying to say? Thanks my man!

Jim in Charlottesville VA

10:24

Hi Tom. Glad to have this Chat going! Do you foresee the import of ND Men’s Basketball improving from one being “difficult to explain” (pace Cormac Ryan) to one enthusiastically embraced, supported, and reported?

Thomas Noie

10:23

Chris: Micah Shrewsberry mentioned last week during our chat that he'd like to get to 12 scholarship players. That means three more. A veteran handler (or two) is at the top of that list. Shrewsberry isn't as concerned about getting them on campus in time for summer school as he is about getting them on campus before the start of the fall semester. If they don't get them until July or early August, he's good with that. Just as long as he gets them. As for Zona and Sanders, a lot of what happens this season will determine whether they're back. They play a lot, they show a lot, they matter a lot, maybe they're back. Then again, the portal being the portal, maybe they say, hey, I've got my degree, I just want to go somewhere where I'm going to play and play a lot. Or they're ready for a change of scenery. That's OK too. It happens.

Chris

10:20

Tom: Great coverage! Do you think the Irish are looking to fill just 2 of their 4 remaining scholarships for this fall -- maybe a veteran point and a veteran big -- and hope they land those guys during the summer? Also, do you see Zona and Sanders as five-year players? Thanks!

Thomas Noie

10:18

Ed: Totally agree. Micah Shrewsberry gets it in that he knows he's got to recruit, recruit, recruit to get this program back to where it was in 2015-16 and beyond. He crisscrossed the country during the May period. Like, South Carolina one day, Arizona the next. He recruits in ways that Mike Brey rarely did - or, in the end, wanted to. Brey will be the first to admit that he didn't allocate the necessary energy to recruiting. Shrewsberry has that juice.

ed,greensboro,nc

10:17

Tom, Our new coach seems to be like Marcus Freeman.A relentless recruiter who will sell Notre Dame rather than complain about restrictions restrictions(i.e.academics.) A breath of fresh air after Brey. Thoughts?

Thomas Noie

10:16

Mike: Preach my man! I've been on the guys who would be in charge of it for years to put a roster together. It's so hard for them. Who would play? Take guys like Bonzie Colson, Jack Cooley, John Mooney, Jerian Grant. Maybe a T.J. Gibbs. As of today, all of them are still involved in their respective leagues in Europe. Those schedules are crazy long. I think those guys come back for six weeks, eight tops, before they have to return to Europe. The window for them to compete/decompress is insanely small. There also have been issues with their pro teams not allowing them to participate in TBT so close to their pro seasons starting. You need guys who are done with pro ball, but there are only so many Demetrius Jacksons or Rex Pfluegers around. Too few to fill out a roster than could compete for a championship - and I've been told the only way Notre Dame fields a TBT team is if it has a legit shot to win it. You can't win it without the Colsons or Grants or Mooneys.

Mike, New Jersey

10:12

Hey Tom, are the Irish ever going to bring back a TBT team? So many great players playing overseas to build a roster with. I would love to see these guys hoops on national television in the summer.

Thomas Noie

10:12

Bob: There is no true "list" of portal guys because the wants and needs of those guys are so unknown. You figure that Brandon Newman from Purdue would be a fit at Notre Dame - relatively local, probably knows Shrewsberry, graduate student. He lands at Western Kentucky. Same goes for Jordan Dingle - a veteran point guard with tremendous ability. He went to Penn, so education is obviously paramount. He winds up at St. John's to play for Rick Pitino. The portal's funny that way. As is Notre Dame's history with it. Don't count on the portal as much as some other fans of other programs would count on it. But a veteran point has to be an absolute must moving forward. Really, any position with high-level experience - Notre Dame can use you. Now.

Bob from chicago

10:08

great interview with Coach. I noticed he wants to get to a roster of 12. Do you have a list of portal guys he is pursuing ? Seems like we need some wings in addition to a veteran PG ?

Thomas Noie

10:08

Dennis: With only nine scholarship players on the roster as May passes its midpoint, there's a chance that EVEYBODY gets minutes this year. Sanders included. He's been a back end of the rotation guy since he's been here, but now everyone who was in front of him was gone. Maybe now he gets a legit chance. He knew that it mattered little what he did or didn't do - the old guys ahead of him were always going to be the old guys ahead of him. You do have to admire that Tony Sanders is still at Notre Dame for the right reasons - he wants his degree. We have no idea if he can actually play, because there's been no evidence. Maybe he can. Maybe he can't. But I think we'll find out - something that didn't happen the first three years.

Dennis Huyvaert

10:05

Hi Tom , any chance Tony Sanders gets minutes this season ?

Thomas Noie

10:04

It didn't matter who took this job, it was going to take at least three seasons to truly know what the new guy could do. How will his teams hold up in close road games? Can they make Purcell Pavilion a tough place to play again? What about recruiting? Can he get guys that he's not supposed to get? What will the culture be like? There are so many unknowns, so many variables that go into whether or not a new coach hits. We may find out a lot about Shrewsberry this season, though there may be a lot we won't know. It's the ultimate process. It will be fascinating to find out.

9:57

Joe: Too early to tell. As I mentioned at the start of the chat, everything about the program still has that new car vibe. But what happens when the check engine light pops on when you take it out on the Toll Road? What happens when something starts to rattle? When the cigarette lighter doesn't work (IYKYK). Right now, the vibe is all feel-good, but how does the vibe change when/if we see this current roster on the practice floor next month and realize they're still two, three, maybe four guys short? We won't really know about Shrewsberry or about this program in two, three years. It's going to take time. Shrewsberry believes he can get there.

joe from the south side

9:55

Tom, So far, I don't feel hiring Micah has a "knock it out of the park" vibe. Since you had the lengthy sit down with him, what's your read? Can he get the program to where it should be?

Thomas Noie

9:55

Sorry for the delay in answering Joe - Every time I'm reminded of last year, I have to take a lap or two around the house and take deep breaths. I'll go with three players - Bonzie Colson, Pat Connaughton and Luke Harangody. Brey was at his best - as was this program - when he got the under-the-radar recruits who had some dawg in them. Guys whose games and personalities just permeated throughout the roster. I'd throw Tory Jackson in there as well. When Notre Dame had those guys, you knew it would win. It had a chance. Against anyone. They far exceeded any expectation of them when they arrived, to the point where they were the heartbeat of the program. When Brey stopped finding those guys, it was over.

joe from the south side

9:50

Tom, Now that the Brey era is officially, and mercifully, over, what player(s) best exemplifies Brey's philosophy as a BBL coach and/or best exemplifies how Brey represented Notre Dame? I would go with a Colin Falls type for Part 1. Brey loved him some skinny white shooters. Part 2 goes to Pat C. A champion on and off the court. You?

Thomas Noie

9:43

As for the non-conference schedule, look for it be as vanilla/bland as bland gets. Shrewsberry has a long-term vision for what he wants to do with the non-league schedule, but he also said you have to have a team that's good enough to match those high hopes. For 2023-24, Notre Dame has a return game at Marquette in December and will participate in the Legends Classic at Barclays Center with Auburn, Oklahoma State and Saint Bonaventure in its MTE (multi-team event). Maybe an ACC/SEC game, Other than that, expect a lot of guarantee home games. This team needs confidence. It needs experience. It needs wins. The marquee non-leagues are coming - just not this season.

9:40

Pat: Everything is up for grabs - to the point where nobody has any idea what this may eventually look like. I don't know. Micah Shrewsberry probably doesn't know. His staff doesn't know. The players don't even know. It goes back to something I wrote last week on NDI about Shrewsberry - he hasn't had the chance to do the one task he was brought to campus to do - coach. The roster had three returning guys when he took the job in late March. He won't hold a practice until the week of June 12. If Notre Dame can't get to 10 or 11 or 12 scholarship players, it would be safe to say Markus Burton then slides into the role of starting point guard. He's the only true handler/facilitator/creator on the roster. Shrewsberry would prefer to find a veteran point guard to alleviate that expectation. We'll see if that happens.

Pat H. Springfield Illinois

9:36

Does anyone have an inside track to be a starter or are all positions up for grabs? What do you expect the non-conference schedule to look like? Thanks for hosting this

Thomas Noie

9:36

Tony: No way can the roster be done as we sit here on a sunny May 17 afternoon in Northern Indiana, can it? Notre Dame has nine scholarship players. It has four players (Matt Zona, Tony Sanders, Kebba Njie and Julian Roper), none of whom have ever been full-time starters/main guys. The roster is still way thin on experience. Micah Shrewsberry is confident they might get to as many as 12. We'll have to see how that happens. If you have a candle lit for Ven-Allen Lubin, blow it out. Lubin likely knew Notre Dame was going to get Booth and Njie, which led him to the portal. Nothing about the PF situation has changed to where he would decide, you know what, I want to come back. Booth and Njie and known guys for Shrewsberry. Lubin's not. That matters.

Tony,

9:33

Do you think the roster is finished for this year? Or do you know of a few portal transfers Coach Shrews is still after? Maybe V-A returns?

Thomas Noie

9:32

Mike: Nothing official - because you know how sloooooooooowly Notre Dame moves on such matters. Micah Shrewsberry mentioned last week during our chat that there are two additional positions still remaining to be filled - but that they also have been filled. One of those will go to Brian Snow, though his official title remains to be determined. Snow worked for Shrewsberry at Penn State and has been basically on the job at Notre Dame since Shrewsberry arrived. Shrewsberry also said the third assistant has been hired, they're just going through the human resources process. I'd expect word of that be official soon. No word on where former Irish associate head coach Anthony Solomon landed - or will land. Don't know if there's any urgency for him to land another job. He had hoped to be in the mix for the Notre Dame head coaching position. That never got off the ground.

Mike,

9:28

Tom, any news on who the 3rd assistant coach is going to be? Where did coach Solomon end up at?

Thomas Noie

9:27

As for quarters, no, no, no, a thousand times no. Halves are just fine for the men's college game. There's no flow when you're playing 10-minute quarters, where so many women's teams labor through those 10 minutes scoring four, five, six points. When it comes to men's basketball playing halves, it's like toying with the idea of expanding the NCAA tournament - DON'T TOUCH IT! EVER!

9:26

Mark: The Atlantic Coast Conference/Southeastern Challenge starts in 2023-24. It replaces the old ACC/Big Ten Challenge which (thankfully) ended last year. The SEC has 14 schools - the ACC has 15, which means one ACC school will sit out. In the previous ACC/Big Ten agreement, schools with new head coaches often were given the option on whether it wanted to compete or sit. Notre Dame might have that option, though there are other ACC schools (Syracuse, Georgia Tech) with new head coaches. Based on Notre Dame's roster, and its expected low-place (11th-15th) in the ACC, I don't see Notre Dame getting a "marquee" SEC matchup. No Kentucky. No Tennessee. No Alabama. Notre Dame isn't ready for that yet. Ole Miss, South Carolina is more likely. Matchups for the old ACC/Big Ten were usually announced in June.

Mark Kruz from Mishawaka

9:22

Tom have you heard who ND might possibly be playing in the ACC/SEC challenge this upcoming season? Also on Monday the IHSAA did away with the one and the bonus on FT's and going the the NBA rule. Men's college hoops needs to go to quarters and do the same plus advance the ball on a time out to mid court under 2 minutes but I don't think this would ever fly due to there would be 1 less media time out per half.

Thomas Noie

9:21

Rick: Ven-Allen Lubin, like his freshman colleagues Dom Campbell and J.J. Starling, jumped into the transfer portal at season's end. The loss of all three was expected. They made a pact near the end of the season they came in together and if they were going to leave, they were going to leave together. Campbell went to Howard (shoutout to Rod Balanis) while Starling quickly headed home to Syracuse. Lubin's recruitment/transfer has been more low-key. Until it's done, there's always that chance, but again, why wait until May to say, yeah, Notre Dame doesn't seem that bad after all. Think I'll come back. I'd expect Lubin to wind up at Vanderbilt.

Rick from ohio

9:18

Haven’t heard anything on Lubin. Do you think he could return to Irish?

Thomas Noie

9:18

Once Brey realized he's leave millions of dollars (and it is millions) on the table by taking the USF job, he had to walk away from the USF job. The explanation that Brey and athletic director Michael Kelly couldn't reach an agreement wasn't exactly true. As for Notre Dame men's basketball under Shrewsberry, how will this team differ? I can't answer that until I can see Shrewsberry run a practice. What does he emphasize? How does it run? What assistants tutor what positions? What does he have to work with? The roster as it stands now isn't anywhere ACC-ready. How does that change in the coming months? Does it? There's so much that's still incomplete when it comes to the on-court product that anything would be a guess.

9:15

Matt: Whew, there's a lot there. Grab a seat and something to drink. This might take a while. First, Mike Brey was pretty confident that he would be the next head coach at USF. He'd already started assembling a staff (and had his successor in place after he coached three more years and parachuted out, but that's a story for a different chat). He'd already made contacts throughout college basketball to rebuild the USF roster through the portal. Those in the know at Notre Dame were of the understanding that he'd been offered the job, he'd taken the job and he would be introduced the following Wednesday. Everything was in place - and then everything fell apart, in part because Brey didn't realize the language in his Notre Dame contract that termed his buyout/separation agreement null IF he accepted another college coaching position. Brey didn't use an agent in either his agreement with Notre Dame or with USF. He did it himself, which was a mistake.

Matt from Aldie, VA

9:11

Hey Tom, thanks for doing this. Two-parter here: (1) What's the real story of what happened with Brey and South Florida? You and others thought it was a done deal. I guess Brey did too? Ultimately pretty embarrassing for him, though he'll probably be good as an NBA assistant. (2) From your limited experience with Coach Shrews and his staff, how will this team differ from a typical Brey-coached team? And what are reasonable expectations for year one? BONUS: How do you see the rotation to start?

Thomas Noie

9:11

Peter: See the above answer. Right now, there's nobody you point to in the portal and say, yep, that's a Notre Dame guy. That it hasn't happened yet might be a sign that there's no real fit. Do they find one? I don't know.

Pete J.

9:10

Who are the next targets to fill out the roster for the upcoming season?

Thomas Noie

9:10

If you're banking on Notre Dame simply picking up a player or two or three from the portal in the next few weeks/months, don't be surprised if that doesn't happen. There are plenty of players in the portal now. Ask yourself - why hasn't it happened already? Shrewsberry has said that he won't mine the portal for the quick one-year fix. This is a long-term rebuild. It's going to take time, and that time may not happen next season.

9:08

Ray: That was one of the must-ask questions for me last week when I sat down for 30 minutes - OK, 31 to be exact - with Micah Shrewsberry. I asked him if Notre Dame could get its roster to 12 by the start of the fall semester (He's not as concerned about getting everyone on campus for summer school, which starts June 12 as he is the start of the fall semester). Shrewsberry said he "thinks" they can get to 12, which leaves it open to interpretation. He wasn't rock-solid confident that, no question, they're getting to 12. He also couched his answer by saying if they have to go with nine, they'll go with nine. Hitting the transfer portal for three more players (preferably with power-conference experience) is the easy answer, but look at what Notre Dame has done in the transfer portal since it became the TRANSFER PORTAL. Two graduate transfers (Paul Atkinson, Marcus Hammond), a transfer from Northwestern (Julian Roper) and a transfer from Penn State who played for Shrewsberry (Kebba Njie). That's it.

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