JotCast | Notre Dame Basketball - April 2026 chat

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J.J. from Bristol

11:22

Am I being a sunshine pumper, or is the portal class that's been acquired... pretty good, at least when considering the realities of the program's station in the sport and general situation currently? Duncomb and Roberts are mid-major stat-stuffers with skills that should translate without obvious trouble. Braeden Smith seems like a reasonable bet on a player who has talent but didn't fit at his previous stop. Dortch has the physical tools to be, at minimum, a lottery ticket shot at developing a player with upside. Is it better, or even close to better, than having Burton, Certa and Haralson all back? Of course not. But I'd say this feels like a fairly decent haul for a program in the established mess that Notre Dame is in?

Tom Noie

11:22

Ben: No real reason. Have talked with Braeden Smith and Devin Brown and both have talked as if everything is fine. Wouldn't ready anything into it.

Ben - Indianapolis, IN

11:21

Why hasn’t Notre Dame announced Smith, Dortch, or Brown? Is there a chance those fall through?

Tom Noie

11:21

Jim: Nothing. Seriously, nothing. It is what it is, and still will be regardless of the head coach, which brings about another doomsday scenario (as if there aren't enough). Say Notre Dame wants to move off Micah Shrewsberry. Don't think for a minute that it will bring in an established, experienced, veteran head coach to lead the way out. Nope. Not happening. Where is most of the money (there's that word again) spent today in college basketball? On. The. Roster. If Notre Dame had to choose between spending on an established coach or a roster, it's going down the roster road. Not going to do both. Could do both. Still not going to happen.

Jim from Annandale, VA

11:18

Hi Tom. Can you think of anything that would motivate Notre Dame's administration and boosters to support their men's basketball program at a level where they could at least be competitive in the ACC? The men's program is an embarrassment. Why should fans support a team that the University itself won't support? I have read other sites that keep pointing at Shrewsberry as the problem, but John Wooden could not win under these conditions. Sad to see a once great program so badly treated by the people who should be trying to save it.

Tom Noie

11:18

A public service announcement for the "It's Not About Money" crowd - a former all-league Notre Dame basketball player just reached out and said the following - "It's a different time in this NIL space. Whoever has the most $$$ will get the players." And, in theory, win. Now back to our regularly-scheduled chat...

11:04

Tom: Does it? The one name we kept hearing in spring and summer last year was Garrett Sundra. What a great offseason he had had. What steps he had taken. He was bigger and faster and stronger and better. Then .... whiff. With Frost, how was he going to develop? Over who? You had Haralson and Certa and Shrewsberry. Difficult to get to a fourth guy on that perimeter. Thing is, had he stayed, he could've jumped right into the Certa roll next season. But, ah, ha, guess what happens. He wanted a massive bump in his NIL. Sorry, Ryder, but there's the portal. From a potential starter at Notre Dame had he weathered the defections to George Washington. Portal can be a cruel place.

Tom - Schaumburg, IL

11:01

Garrett Sundra to James Madison and Ryder Frost to George Washington really speaks poorly of this staff’s evaluation/development. Is anything being done to improve the recruiting process? You do not hear anything about it these days. Kind of concerning.

Tom Noie

11:01

Hank: There's always a chance. Somebody falls through the cracks and fits what Notre Dame wants to do. It would have to be somebody who could help right away. College basketball, elite college basketball, is year to year these days. No reason to wait on a guy who may or may not finish out his eligibility with you.

Hank - Chicago, IL

10:59

Is there still a chance Notre Dame adds a sixth transfer or has that ship sailed?

Tom Noie

10:59

JJ: That's OK. We can agree to disagree. And it might be less than zero percent that those three main guys return. Bad program, bad coach, bad culture. Let's run with that. How to explain what happened at TCU? Program went 23-12 overall, 11-7 in the Big 12. Won an NCAA Tournament game. Six guys jumped to the portal. The cost of doing business had Notre Dame done something similar would have been unsustainable.

JJ - Naples, FL

10:54

I comprehensively disagree with you saying there would still be a 0% chance of retaining Burton/Haralson/Certa if Notre Dame had been an NCAA Tournament team. Don't you think an NCAA Tournament team would have a culture built and would be a more attractive investment for donor dollars? It seems easy to all these departures on money instead of a bad program with a bad coach and a bad culture. I bet if you gave any of the three truth serum and they would tell you the coaching staff is the problem.

Sam - Niles, MI

10:39

There is no conceivable way Micah Shrewsberry actually believes he can turn things around at Notre Dame. It would be the best for both him and the school to part ways after this coming season. It is a bad fit. Both parties deserve a chance to change course and get things back on the right path.

Tom Noie

10:37

Ben: No, because it's not going to play the game the way the game needs to be played to be a second weekend NCAA Tournament team let alone beyond. It's not going to do that. Not now, maybe not ever. It's not going to matter who the coach might be or the athletic director or the general manager or what the roster looks like. It doesn't look at any of the schools you fans have propped up and wondered, why can't Notre Dame be like them? Or them? Notre Dame looks and says, we're Notre Dame. We're doing it this way and that's that.

Ben - Indianapolis, IN

10:34

Has the program even tried to improve its financial situation? It sure seems like it has been a bunch of shoulder shrugging and finger pointing from Bevacqua, Shrewsberry, Garrity, and everyone else involved. A program that is not solution-oriented is never going to have any success.

Tom Noie

10:34

Billy: The longer this chat goes (and we're just getting started), the more it feels like this team will do something that nobody sees coming. Is it finishing in the top half of the Atlantic Coast Conference? Getting to the NCAA Tournament? Let's not be that goofy, but even just getting to the ACC Tournament would be a step forward from what didn't happen in 2025-26. You just get a sense from this staff, from these portal additions, that they're all about having a yeah, watch this ... mentality for this season. Who knows where it's all going, but at least it won't be dull. That we know for sure...

BillyMc

10:31

Tom - Thanks for being resident therapist for ND hoops fans. Am I crazy to think that next year’s team might lose even more games than this year’s team yet actually be a more interesting product to watch with better ball movement, ball control and smarter defense?

Tom Noie

10:31

Hank: There's usually a reason why someone from the transfer portal chooses School B or C or D instead of School A. That reason starts with a word that starts with M. You get tired of hearing it, and we get tired of saying it, but it's not going away anytime soon.

Hank - Chicago, IL

10:30

Do you know what happened with the Michael Cooper/Tre Singleton pairing? It seemed for a minute there was some smoke about it ending up at Notre Dame - but now Singleton is at Iowa State and Cooper is at Cal.

Tom Noie

10:30

Let's group these two questions together because they both wonder about athletic director Pete Bevacqua. Not sure if he doesn't care as much as he cares too much. About Notre Dame and what it stands for. It would be easy for him just to say, (forget) this, we're going to be great in football and really good in basketball, finances be damned. Here's a blank check for basketball - do what you need to do to be St. John's or Villanova or, gasp, Duke. That's not what Notre Dame is about. That's not what Pete Bevacqua is about. To be good in basketball in 2026, you have to be all in no matter the cost. Notre Dame isn't willing to pay that cost. It just won't.

Kevin - Granger

10:27

It will never make any sense to me how so many other schools can have a very good-to-great football and men's basketball programs, but Notre Dame acts like it is impossible. Aren't athletic administrators paid a ton of money to try to figure that out?

Tom - Schaumburg, IL

10:27

I do not understand how Pete Bevacqua can be considered a good athletic director if he is seemingly perfectly fine his college basketball program being at the bottom of the ACC in roster budget. How does that make any sense? Does he just not care?

Tom Noie

10:26

Hank: Asked and answered earlier. TBD. Waiting for the hiring to be final (thanks, George O'Leary) and will get to know Tony Rack as the offseason unfolds.

Hank - Chicago, IL

10:26

What should we know about Tony Rack?

Tom Noie

10:26

Ben: You mean the five transfer portal additions, right? It's April, so there's no reason not to be optimistic. Yes, it sucks that the life of Notre Dame basketball was sucked out of the program in April, but in some way, that may be the best thing that happens moving forward. For everyone, including Micah Shrewsberry. We might see something from him (and from the program) this season we haven't the first three seasons. It could be the ultimate watch this scenario...

Ben - Indianapolis, IN

10:15

It might be way too early to ask, but do you have any sense for the program's general feelings about the guys coming in? It certainly remains to be seen how things will go, and I know it might be too optimistic, but I kind of view these gets as kind of making the best out of a bad situation from a roster/financial standpoint.

Tom Noie

10:15

Mark: Notre Dame could do far more for basketball than it has without having a Mark Cuban or a Cody Campbell. it has more money that it will ever know what to do with. Unfortunately for basketball and baseball and pick whatever other Notre Dame sport you want, it believes that it's in the student-athlete business, not the pay for play business. It can operate differently (and it should) for football because Notre Dame football is one of one. It could be so much better for basketball. It just doesn't want to be.

Mark Wurfel

10:13

Listened to you on Locked on Irish. It was good to hear your comments. I know we don't have a Mark Cuban or the Double-Eagle guy fromTexas Tech, but who are the rich alumni or supporters who help fund the football team? Is there anyone like that who could or should have a connection to the basketball program? $10-$15 million a year from a billionaire seems like a small amount to get the basketball team back to being competitive. I know most are way down on our coaching but it seems to me Bevaqua and the powers that be could find the funds without affecting football if they wanted to.

Tom Noie

10:12

Yes, Micah Shrewsberry needed to be better from the jump, but so did Notre Dame. Twenty years ago, someone in the athletic department would have seen what they had in Shrewsberry and worked to round out the rough edges. This goes to the belief that Notre Dame hasn't exactly helped Micah Shrewsberry be successful. Now for you and for many others, it's too late. That said, ask yourself if this fan base really gave Micah Shrewsberry a chance. Notre Dame averaged 6,096 fans with zero home sellouts in his first season. Not exactly the hey, coach, we've got your back no matter what support, was it?

10:09

Tom: Oh, he knows. And he has to own that. So too does the administration for letting get to a point where it currently resides. Somebody somewhere over there had to have a program heart-to-heart talk with Shrewsberry when he arrived in 2023. He did so with the conviction/insistence that he was a basketball coach and only a basketball coach. That right there should've been a stopping point for someone who knows better. Uh, Coach, I know you're just the Coach, but we're going to need a little more from you to help build back some of the juice that had been squeezed out of the program. Get people to know you. Get students to like you. Go to the dorms. Go to the dining halls. Sell your program. Sell yourself. Nothing like that ever happened that first year and that door slammed shut. For good. Had he been a little more PR savvy (had Notre Dame), it would have bought him some good will to look beyond the loss to Western Carolina and the blowout to The Citadel.

Tom - Schaumburg, IL

10:04

Do you think Micah Shrewsberry has any idea that the fan base is all the way out on him and the program? I know it has been a running thing for many, many years that the fan dedication to the program is not what it should be, but anecdotally, myself and all my friends (devoted Notre Dame men's basketball fans dating back 20-ish years to when we were freshmen) are completely out on the guy. He has no moves to get any of us back.

Tom Noie

10:03

Hank: One hundred and fifty percent do i believe that. Had Notre Dame won to that an extent, guess what happens - it creates even more of a demand for the law firm of Burton, Certa and Haralson. Those three combined this year likely will make more than Notre Dame's remaining roster. Winning the way it would have won last year would mean Notre Dame would have to go to a place from a roster retention (financial) standpoint that it just won't go. It's not hard. Winning costs money. Winning more then next season costs even more money. Notre Dame isn't in that business in basketball. Football? Absolutely. Basketball? Nope.

Hank - Chicago, IL

10:00

Trying to wrap my head around things a bit. Do you really believe that if Notre Dame last season had somehow found a way to get an at-large bid (for comparison's sake in this hypothetical - say they were NC State and/or SMU and had an above average regular season, but still ended up going to Dayton and losing), it still would have lost Burton/Certa/Haralson because of money? You do not think some proof of concept would have prompted more institutional/donor support that could have kept at least one of those guys around?

Tom Noie

10:00

Matt: We're over an hour into today's chat and have reached the portion pertaining to Pat Garrity, finishing up his first season as the program general manager. My opinion of what he's done (or hasn't done) is incomplete. When Garrity was hired, there was a belief (hope) that he was going to be some sort of salary cap wizard (only on the college level) and/or voice of basketball reason in relation to Micah Shrewsberry. No sure those were ever his marching orders for the job. He's working within the guidelines that the university has outlined for both basketball programs. If the operating budget for men's basketball this season is (guessing) $6 million or a bit more, it's Garrity's job to help the program find the right fits to stay within those guardrails. What's a player's number ($$$)? Does it fit with Notre Dame? Does he fit with Notre Dame from an academic standpoint? He was not put in the position to evaluate the staff. And he's certainly not there as any sort of head coach in waiting.

Matt,

9:54

what is your opinion on the job Pat Garrity has done helping with the roster?

Tom Noie

9:48

Tony: That would be Tony Mack, who spent last season as the associate head coach at Winthrop. Nothing has been finalized in the hiring process, but he will replace the staff spot vacated by former associate head coach Kyle Getter, now a first-time head coach at California Baptist. Mack will be an assistant coach at Notre Dame while Irish assistant coach Mike Farrelly will rotate into the associate head coach role. Mack is someone that Micah Shrewsberry has tracked for a few years now. Other than that, he's a blank slate. Won't know what he offers until we speak with him, and see him on the practice court.

Tony

9:45

Tom, do you know anything on the Coach Mack hire? Is he a good choice?

Tom Noie

9:45

Tony: Easy. Win. Maybe win big. There's no other route. If this spring told programs who are cash-poor anything, it's to expect major roster turnover every year until this thing gets sorted out (regulated). Notre Dame lost and lost six guys this past season. Notre Dame may have won and still lost six guys this past season. Enough with the Four for 40 nonsense. Players today seek specific numbers, and those numbers have nothing to do with game stats.

Tony

9:42

Tom, how is Shrews going to sell 2027 recruits to come to ND knowing his days are numbered? Next year could be another empty roste?

Tom Noie

9:42

Say that Notre Dame plays Villanova tonight in Rome (that game is set for November 1), the starting lineup would be: PG: Braeden Smith; SG: Braeden Shrewsberry; WG: Ethan Roberts; SF: Brady Koehler; PF: Logan Duncomb. Bench guys: Logan Imes (PG), Jonathan Sanderson (combo guard), Devin Brown (swingman), Bryce Dortch (SF), Tommy Ahneman (PF).

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