JotCast | ND Hoops chat - 2024 wrap

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joe from the south side

10:52

Tom, I think what gives me hope about Shrews and his "get old, stay old" carryover from Brey is his energy and drive to recruit. Seems to me he and his staff know there is no longer an "off season." Part 2 is you know, some how, some way, he is going to convince a program difference maker to come to South Bend (or 2nd one if you give Burton the nod). He's too credible and sincere not to. Your take?

Thomas Noie

10:50

Joe: Quick, no cheating. Give me the five Carey Booth plays this season where you said, wow, that athleticism! We've never seen anything like it. I don't mean to bang on Carey Booth, but there are those who have said what a "devastating" loss Booth is for reasons A, B and C. He may have been athletic, but his game was so raw, so untapped. That athleticism, given his other deficiencies, wasn't going to win Notre Dame games. Do you hold on to that athleticism just because? There have been a lot of Notre Dame teams who have won a lot of games with guys who weren't going to win a dunk contest.

joe from the south side

10:46

Tom, Agree with your assessment of transfer portal needs. However, I think one point being overlooked is athleticism. Losing Booth is a huge blow to that. What's left on the current roster is Davis, Burton, and maybe Roper. Trust me. Sundra and Certa aren't moving the needle in that category. Maybe Sir M can. IMO, if they can't fill specific needs via the portal, at least upgrade overall quickness and dexterity and hope that along with experience, you get to .500 in the ACC. Or somewhere close.

Thomas Noie

10:46

Charlie: You new around these parts? I spent a few hours with Mike Brey when the Atlanta Hawks were in Chicago in December. Wrote a column (https://tinyurl.com/59hk4eem) and had a Q and A with him (https://tinyurl.com/y5rr7u7c). Biggest takeaway? He gets that it was time for a change and that people got tired of him. But he also got tired of it. It happens.

Charlie from Chicago

10:44

Genuine question, how's Coach Brey doing? Would love a summer check in or something, I truly hope he is loving his job with the Hawks and semi-retirement. Such a fun HC for two awesome decades, hope he gets to come back and be honored once Micah has established himself down the road.

Thomas Noie

10:43

Charlie: There comes a time where as a head coach, you need a little leeway to develop your guys the best way you believe they should be developed. Everyone's path is different. I'll let everyone read between the lines on this one...

Charlie from Chicago

10:41

Tom, you can just spell it out for everyone, Calvin Booth is too involved and forcing his son to transfer because of what NBA Scouts told him. Now that we got that out of the way...

Thomas Noie

10:41

Matt: Nine's a good workable number. Notre Dame had nine guys average at least 11.2 minute per game. Number aside, what I liked about Micah Shrewsberry and his bench, what I rarely liked about Mike Brey and his bench, was how the roles were mixed and matched based on whether a particular player had it that night or didn't have it. Mike Brey went with seven guys, but it was always those seven. He rarely deviated, believing that a guy could go through a rough patch but eventually work his way out of it. I like the way Shrewsberry sees if a guy has it or doesn't have it, and then adjusts. Sometimes, we saw a lot of Carey Booth. Or a little. Sometimes, it was Kebba Njie. Or Logan Imes. Or JRK. Tae Davis and Markus Burton rarely came off the floor, but that's because nobody else could do what they do. Let's go with a revolving door of nine instead of a set seven. Sound good?

Matt from NWI

10:38

Mike Brey's teams generally did not have a lot of depth. A good chunk of them were around 7 deep. After watching this new regime for a year, what do you think Shrewberry's philosophy on that is? Will he be a guy that wants to have a 9 man rotation or do you see it being a shorter bench?

Thomas Noie

10:32

Ryan: Nobody saw THAT coming from Markus Burton. Having watched him in high school, I was concerned that he was strong enough to hold up to the pounding that he took over 33 games, 20 in the ACC. There was something more inside him that no scouting service or in-person attendance could gauge. He was a revelation. To media., To fans. Maybe even to Notre Dame.

Ryan Mars

10:31

Hi Tom What do you think about the Season Burton had he Had A Good Year GO IRISH ☘️☘️🏀🏀

Thomas Noie

10:31

Mike: Great observation. It can't be style of play and team fit. It has to be player-coach fit. Look at the two players, really the three players, Notre Dame brought in as transfers this past season - Tae Davis, Kebba Njie, Julian Roper. Older guys with experience, but older guys who not only get Notre Dame, but get Micah Shrewsberry. Who were the three players that were barked at (I'll use that terms loosely) most by the head coach this year? Davis, Njie and Roper. Why? Because he knew they would respond. They'd take his coaching, understand the meaning of the message and help spread the gospel of Micah in the locker room. Notre Dame isn't going to get a guy or guys just to get guys. They have to fit the place. They have to fit the program. They have to be secure enough to be coached hard. It's a hard needle to thread.

Mike, New Jersey

10:27

Tom I feel like unlike other schools (Arkansas for example) Shrews and staff are selective and strategic about what transfer portal players they reach out to. Are they looking for players that the staff has some type of connection with whether its through AAU or high school basketball coaches or is it just purely style of play and team fit?

Thomas Noie

10:26

Look at the numbers, look at the effort, look at the care factor. Look at all that and you see a guy who took a really big step in understanding what it takes at that level to play. That ship shouldn't sail yet. There's more there.

10:25

Russ: A rhetorical question and not specifically knocking you, but really? The JRK ship has sailed? Wait....what? Has everyone who thinks that said ship has sailed for JRK forgotten that this past season was really the first time he's PLAYED an actual season since his senior year at South Bend Saint Joseph High School? JRK averaged 7.7 points, 4.5 rebounds (third on the team) in 22.7 minutes. He shot .401 percent from the field, .330 percent from 3 and .837 percent from the foul line. He played in 32 games (missed one) and made 19 starts. That's pretty good for someone who hadn't been a main guy in three seasons. Nobody plays harder than JRK. Nobody wants to play more than JRK. His production nose-dived toward the end of the year, but he was bothered by a lingering foot issue that really should have shelved him for the last half dozen games. He instead chose to play through the pain and the discomfort. He's the last guy to say, ah, forget it, I'm just going to sit.

Russ Granger

10:20

Is there still Abromaitis upside for JRK or has that ship sailed?

Thomas Noie

10:20

Burton was the Atlantic Coast Conference rookie of the year and Shrewsberry had a strong case to make the league's all-rookie team, but for Notre Dame to be better, its guards have to be a lot better to improve all of those aforementioned numbers. Particularly, the A/T ratio and assist numbers have to improve. And by a lot. Want to get back to the NCAA Tournament? You better start with good guards. Really good guards.

10:18

Too early to tell. Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry had to start and had to play a lot because there were no other options. Next season, there HAVE to be more options. Maybe that's Sir Mohammed. Maybe that's out of the transfer portal. Notre Dame finished 342nd in the country in scoring offense, 320 in turnover margin, 289 in 3-point field goal percentage, 330 in free throw attempts, 304 in effective field goal percentage, 344 in assists and 335 in assist/turnover margin.

Guest

10:16

Are Burton and Shrewsberry going to be the starting backcourt next season or could Shrews look for a two-guard in the portal that slots in as a starter?

Thomas Noie

10:14

Mike: Ask me in August...

Mike

10:14

Markus Burton. Stays or goes? Your guess on %?

Thomas Noie

10:13

Digger: Does this mean you'll stop calling me wondering what channel the NCAA tournament games are on? Please?

Digger

10:13

Based on your response earlier you don't sound surprised that Booth departed, any insight why? Insight into how ND will respond?

Thomas Noie

10:13

Ben: Asked and answered. Scroll up. Or down.

Ben

10:12

Hi Tom - Markus Burton and Tae Davis were conspicuously absent from the video ND put out on social channels earlier this week. How committed are they to returning to the team in 2024-25? And how would you describe the competitiveness of ND's men's basketball NIL operation generally? Is it going to be a problem retaining talent in this era?

Thomas Noie

10:12

Chris: As we sit here today (10:12 a.m. Thursday, April 4), that number likely is three. Maybe that changes. Maybe it doesn't. That's the transfer portal for you!

Chris

10:11

how many transfers do the Irish bring in this offseason?

Thomas Noie

10:09

Off the board negative. Is that how odds work? Asking for a friend...

Russ Granger

10:08

Odds of Booth staying? Less than 50/50?

Thomas Noie

10:08

Whitey: See above, or below, or however this chat unfolds at my transfer portal manifesto for those answers. But Notre Dame will rarely - OK, never - take a best available transfer. Ever.

Whitey from Wall Township New Jersey

10:07

Hi Tom. Always enjoy these chats. do you think Coach Shrews will look in the portal for the best available players or look by position?

Thomas Noie

10:07

Anything NIL related in terms of Notre Dame and specific sports are totally unrelated. There isn't one fund set aside for all Notre Dame sports. Football and men's basketball operate independently in terms of NIL. The focus for football, naturally, carries a little more

than men's basketball. Notre Dame men's basketball isn't going to be at the forefront of anything NIL, but do they have enough to compete? To win? To max out what this program could be in line with the university? Yes.

ND alum

10:04

How does ND’s NIL look for basketball compared to other ACC schools, I would assume football takes a bulk of the NIL distribution

Thomas Noie

10:04

From this point on, I'll refer all questions about the transfer portal to my earlier comments in the chat. The answer to any portal question can be found there. Gonna make you work a little today!

ND alum

10:03

Any names to keep an eye on in the portal? Any predictions?

Joey

10:03

Who do they have the best chance of landing from the portal?

Thomas Noie

10:02

Paul: It better be. It has to be. Rolling through rosters of other teams in advance of games this season against Notre Dame, I was staggered by the number of transfers - six, seven, five, eight, nine, five. That's the way of the world for college basketball, but that's not the way of the world for Notre Dame. Shrewsberry believes he can truly build a roster of three- and four- and five-year guys. That seems so far away right now, mainly because this program doesn't look anything like it's eventually going to look. So it seems impossible. Shrewsberry will build it back with guys who want to be at Notre Dame for more than just NIL or minutes or anything basketball related. This is not exactly new to Notre Dame, which got guys like Bonzie Colson and Matt Farrell and Pat Connaughton who saw the bigger picture. Those kinds of kids are still out there. Mike Brey found them, coached them, won with them. Micah Shrewsberry can do the same. Watch.

Paul R

9:59

Coach Shrewsberry talks alot about building this program the right way. In this day of transfer portal and NIL, is that vision even possibly? Or will anyone who takes more than year to get minutes transfer out?

Thomas Noie

9:57

What's below slim and none? Go three levels below that, and you're getting warmer...

Joey

9:56

also, chances of Booth coming back are slim to none, I assume?

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