JotCast | ND Hoops chat - 2024 wrap

Thomas Noie

2:56

And with that, we put a period on the 2023-24 Notre Dame men's basketball season. Solid effort today with all the questions and comments. More than six hours worth. We'll give hoops a rest (for a little bit) before circling back maybe in May or June before everything gets started again in mid-June with summer school. Stay tuned to NDInsider for the latest Irish hoops news. Thanks again to everyone.

2:23

Mike Farrelly was working with the bigs when I watched the open practice - the only open practice the media saw this season - the day before the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. Slipped a little? In the two years that Humphrey has been gone, Notre Dame really had no post play in 2021-22 and had a sophomore (who should really have been a freshman) working through a broken hand as post players. Slippage? More of incomplete than anything.

Wadelite

2:22

ND big man coach is? It seems ND big man play has slipped a lot since Humphrey left.

Thomas Noie

2:22

That's a question for someone with a higher pay grade than me. That nonsense of "win consistently" has been trotted out for years. It's almost like the Mike Brey Era, which got stale and was in need of a reboot. The Purcell Pavilion experience has gone stale. Blow it up, start over and bring in someone with a different vibe. What's that vibe? Ask someone whose job it is to create it.

J.J. P

2:19

As a follow up to the "men's fanbase feels stuck in a time-warp" comment -- what steps can be realistically taken to improve the gameday environment at Purcell Pavilion? Is this simply a "if they win consistently people will come" situation? I feel like the mostly strong attendance in early 2022-23, and subsequent drop-off once the team's play fell off a cliff seemed to indicate the crowds were largely performance related, but is that simplifying things too much?

Thomas Noie

2:14

Michael: A little bit. Jerian Grant couldn't stick in the NBA because he couldn't shoot. He's found his game is better suited for Europe. Demetrius Jackson had to go when he went to max out his NBA chances. He was a little too small to stick. Both didn't because they didn't have that one trait that they did really well. Elite well. The Blake Wesley question isn't worth wondering about. He wasn't coming back. He had to go. Imagine, though, the nightmare pileup of guards that year - Wertz, Goodwin, Starling, Ryan, Wesley. No way that would've worked. That following season already was a nightmare for so many reasons. Not enough shots or dribbles to go around would've been even more.

Michael, Steubenville OH

2:11

Tom - are you surprised Jerian grant and Demetrius Jackson didn't have more successful NBA careers? Follow up, how big of a difference do you think Blake Wesley would have made if he returned for his sophomore season?

Thomas Noie

2:10

Bobby: Hear they're going to be right, maybe to the end. Magic Eight ball says...."Ask again later."

Bobby

2:08

Does Notre Dame have any chance with Jalen Haralson or are we a courtesy finalist?

Thomas Noie

2:01

Mark: Absolutely. I mentioned something about Purdue in an earlier question. Think with both Butler and Purdue, given Micah Shrewsberry's connections to both, it's more a question of WHEN and not IF something starts with Notre Dame. Both would be way better choices than Indiana. I know it's IU (are the Hoosiers still a bluebood? Asking for a friend) and it's the state of Indiana, but if Micah Shrewsberry knew that anytime Indiana played in South Bend and Purcell Pavilion basically turned into Assembly Hall North, he'd have second thoughts of scheduling the Hoosiers.

Mark Kru z from Mishawaka

1:59

Tom with Coach Shrewsberry having ties with Matt Painter at Purdue is there any chance there could be a home and home with Purdue once the ND program is established on solid ground? I know you were not a fan of the Crossroads Classic and I agree it ran its course.

Thomas Noie

1:59

Of course, there's only one answer. He knows it. I know it. Tom Knight.

Mick

1:58

Who was an ND player during your time who you thought would become a coach, but never did?

Thomas Noie

1:58

Mike: Always in spring. One of my favorite research/writing pieces of the offseason. May. Maybe.

Mike from Rochester

1:57

Will you be writing your annual "where are they now?" summary on all of the ND alumni playing professionally?

Thomas Noie

1:57

Thomas

1:57

Ah yes, it just means more has always meant So Everyone’s Cheating.

Thomas Noie

1:57

Mike: A question I ask the guy who's supposedly in charge of putting it together every year. I do know that there had been plans the last couple years to do something TBT related, but it doesn't work out. A lot of the guys still playing overseas have such a small window of opportunity to be home that they basically have to choose between TBT and vacation. They choose vacation. The Notre Dame guys have said that if and when they ever do it again, they want to do it right. Which means A-list kind of guys.

Mike, New Jersey

1:55

Tom, Where's the Fighting Alumni TBT Squad??!

Thomas Noie

1:54

Mick: That might not be the fault of the Ivy League/Patriot League guys. That might be because they're choosing the wrong school. They fall in love with getting love from a Duke or a North Carolina, and can't see the forest through the trees. They get a chance to go to one of those schools, they go, almost forgetful of the fact that the talent, even the back end of the rotation talent, is still pretty good. Notre Dame doesn't do what it did in 2021-22 without Paul Atkinson. The guy was all-league consideration worthy.

Mick

1:53

Too many of these Ivy League/Patriot Conference transfers do nothing at the highest level. Yes, some of them pan out, like Atkinson, but most don't. Duke and UNC alone, have taken several of these types of players over the past five years, and they've done nothing.

Thomas Noie

1:52

Patrick: It's coming. I think of the top eight current high school juniors in Indiana, Notre Dame is mentioned and mentioned prominently with six of them. They're going to get an Indiana kid, and maybe more, in 2025.

Patrick from NYC

1:52

Tom, when Coach Shrews was hired a lot was made of his Indiana roots and his desire to make ND more of a player for in-state talent. Have we seen any progress on that front, if not yet the fruits of those efforts?

Thomas Noie

1:51

Rick: More of a conversational piece of data than anything. Was going to do something one time about plus-minus and what it all meant. Then had an analytics guy tell me that they really don't look at it. End of my enterprise piece.

Rick from Long Island

1:50

Tom, some box scores include +/- ratings I have noticed, so they must be relevant. Do you know how the ND players ranked in that regard this past season? Do you think they are relevant? Thanks.

Thomas Noie

1:50

Zach: Two more words. Sir Mohhamed.

Zach

1:50

Apologize if his has been asked, but do you expect any of the freshman coming in to have a significant impact let’s say on a scale of B. Shrews to Burton

Thomas Noie

1:50

Patrick: It's like a long-term relationship. We're still in the figuring it out stage. Can they trust me? Can I trust them? It will take time, but it will get there.

Patrick from NYC

1:49

Tom, one season in with a new staff after two decades covering Brey, how (if at all) has your access to the players and staff changed? Do you see that access changing more over time?

Thomas Noie

1:48

Tim: Two words. Hannah Hidalgo.

Tim in Chicago

1:48

Tom - if you are open to a non ND related college basketball question...the women's college game is seeing record high viewership this spring. Do you think it falls off after Caitlin Clark graduates this year, or is it sustainable?

Thomas Noie

1:48

Patrick: Night and day. I get dinged (sometimes justified, sometimes not) for drawing a line in the sand between men's and women's basketball, but it's drawn because the programs and how they're run/viewed/etc at Notre Dame are so different. It's comparing apples and oranges. Or bananas. Or kiwi. The Notre Dame women's program has a niche fan base (elderly, young girls) and have maxed that out. Notre Dame men? Feels like they're stuck in a time warp. 1970s? 1980s? Present day? It's hard to say. I don't look at them and compare them in any way, shape or form, though others believe that to be the case. They play the same sport, but they're totally different.

Patrick from NYC

1:44

Hi Tom, I noticed in the past few years you've taken on more coverage of our women's team in addition to our men's team. As someone who only gets to see either team when they come out east, I'm curious to hear what you see as similar and different in their game day experiences at home. On tv, the women's crowd seems more engaged if not larger. Is there a lot of overlap or difference in the fan base and overall gameday experience (which, for the men's program as you said below, needs a total makeover)

Thomas Noie

1:44

If a main reason - no THE reason - you want to go to Notre Dame is to maximize your NIL opportunities, you probably aren't going to Notre Dame. It's just not ever going to be a school where high school prospects or college transfers look at it and say, I'm going for the big payday. I'm going to Notre Dame.

SFirish

1:42

I understand NIL wasn’t a factor in Booth leaving, but how big a factor is it in attracting players in the portal, and how well set up is NDMBB as it relates to NIL?

Thomas Noie

1:42

Aidan: This isn't a slam on you, but that's a sun rises in the East and sets in the West kind of deal. You knew as this season wound down that that would be the case with Markus Burton. Like, Notre Dame is expected to take care of him from an NIL standpoint to keep him home, but what if some SEC school swoops in with some crazy offer. You have to listen. What would you do - take the money and run or stay home? Not easy, is it?

Aidan

1:40

Probaly not what you want to answer but talked to some people that are credible that Burton has been shopping around looking at offers. Not saying he's leaving but definitely entertaining others. Wanting to know if you've heard some of those things and if a large offer came would ND try to offer and really prioritize keeping him?

Thomas Noie

1:40

A plethora of possibilities. Marquette's always going to be there given the history and the quick trip/A+ venue it plays in at Fiserv, but as I mentioned in December (long before it was 18-0) to Marquette AD, and former assistant AD in charge of hoops at Notre Dame Bill Scholl, Notre Dame needs a few more years of development before playing a team like Marquette. DePaul is another, but that program has to get at least respectable before you entertain that possibility. Gotta think something with Butler coming. UCLA's always going to be there because, well, duh. Kansas? Only if you have a team like 2011 or 2015 that's stocked with veterans. Even then, you might get run out of Allen Fieldhouse. Villanova to keep that Big East connection open. Dayton? Again, duh...Texas would've been a good hook (sorry) but now that SMU is going to the ACC, that gets you into Texas. Any high level/high quality/high visibility non-conference game. Now that the Big Ten/ACC is done, a home and home with Purdue seems inevitable.

J.J. P

1:34

As you mentioned earlier, Shrewsberry has mentioned wanting to be an "anyone, anywhere" program in terms of scheduling. Even if its not next year, what are some programs you would want to see Notre Dame play as a one-off or on a yearly basis? Either venues/cities you'd want to cover a game in, fun matchups on the court, or however else you might want to approach it

Thomas Noie

1:33

Thomas: Maybe timing? This year's Challenge was held the week after Thanksgiving and days before the SEC championship in Atlanta, so everybody at least down your way probably was still in college football mode. Nobody's ready for college basketball yet, at least in SEC where, as you know, it just means more!

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