JotCast | Notre Dame Basketball - April 2026 chat | 4/30/2026

Notre Dame Basketball - April 2026 chat

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Guest

9:40

Who do yo I think will be the 5 starters

Tom Noie

9:36

Cowboy Mike: Saddle up! Let's ride! Injuries really the last two years have been a quiet killer. It's not that you lose guys - that happens. It's that you've lost the guys you can't afford to lose - Burton, Matt Allocco, Braeden Shrewsberry two years ago, Burton, Haralson, Njie this year. It would be nice to see what a healthy, competent roster could do. Funny that our injury discussion leads into Gan Solongo, who is from Mongolia. Solongo missed much of his senior year at La Lumiere because of injury. He's only played organized basketball for four years, which means he still doesn't know what he doesn't know. His development will be a long game. Question is - will the staff be around long around for that development to develop?

Cowboy Mike

Hometown is Jefferson. GA.

than last year? I'm gonna say yes as long as we don't lose players to injury. Let's face it, losing the two best players to injury was crusher. Also, what is your take on the big freshman from Europe? Thanks.

9:32

Interesting Portal Season. Is this upcoming team gonna be better

Tom Noie

9:32

Dave: I've been told time and again by email this week from one long-time Notre Dame basketball follower that it's not about money. It's about this and that and that and this. Sorry. It is about money. Transfer Portal explodes. Money. NCAA Tournament expands. Money. Elite-level players now make four, five, six million dollars. Money. College basketball is slowly pricing programs out of relevancy. Notre Dame is one of those.

Dave from West Covina, CA.

9:29

Hi Tom and thank you for hosting this chat once again! I want to start out by saying I am a very positive person but I am not looking forward to the upcoming season for the Notre Dame men's basketball team. When I first heard that the players would be getting paid I knew this was the beginning of the end. Being a fan of the team since the late 1970's I used to look forward to a Notre Dame basketball player being on the team for all 4 years. What is happening now is ludicrous. As a fan I don't care about the money..... just basketball. I know there will be a lot of people saying this is great for the player and it is..... but I am only looking at it as a fan. Then if it couldn't get worse..... it did! Now the tournament will have 76 teams in it. Once again, it is about money. The game is being watered down and it is just a fragment of what it used to be. I hope I am wrong but the upcoming season will be another disaster. What do you think?

Tom Noie

9:28

Joe: You're not crazy. What ails Notre Dame basketball isn't just money or the head coach or the administration. It's a confluence of reasons that have combined at the perfect time to create the perfect storm. Or, in this case, im perfect. Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua made it clear that basketball wasn't going to go down the transfer portal road to stay relevant. Notre Dame was going to build through high school recruiting - and garnered a Top 10 nationally ranked class. Then two of those from that class left after one year. Can't build a culture, can't build through the portal, can't keep your high school recruits. What CAN Notre Dame do in today's college basketball world? That's a question for others far above our pay grades to figure out. The early answer is ... nothing.

Joe from River Forest, ILLINOIS

9:25

Tom, I feel that Notre Dame did a decent job in getting some good transfers. The problem next year will be depth in the front court until they commit more money to Nil I don’t see the NCAA tournament in the near future. I don’t think the problem is Micah Shrewsbury. I think the problem is a lack of Nil funds. Do you agree with these statements, or am I crazy?

Tom Noie

9:25

Pat: Way too early to tell in terms of the five portal additions. Notre Dame did what it could - did what it HAD to do - to survive, but this is a program entering Year Four under Micah Shrewsberry, but it's really Year One. No one has any idea how all of this is going to look. It might look OK. It might look awful. Only then will we know if Notre Dame was a winner or loser. Luke Devine is in that gray area of preferred walk-on/scholarship guy who does have eligibility remaining. He has yet to appear in a game. It's hard to count him when looking at the big picture.

Pat H. Springfield Ill

9:22

Was Notre Dame a winner or a loser in its portal additions? Did Lucas Devine ever play last season? Assume he is a senior

Tom Noie

9:22

Mark: Blessing or curse? You pick. Or, really, your school picks. For programs that operate at another level, say, Rick Pitino and St. John's or Pat Kelsey and Louisville, it's a blessing. You work year to year knowing with absolute certainty that the roster you have now won't be anywhere close to the roster you have then. Max out those spots, max out those following seasons, and then start over. It's a curse for Notre Dame, which belongs to a power conference but has a mid-major approach to basketball. It wants to keep its guys, but when certain schools come calling with bags of that M word, its roster gets picked apart. Yes, it's easier for those guys to leave a program stuck in neutral, but ask yourself - why is it in neutral. Is it just the head coach? Is it just the portal? It's all-encompassing.

Guest

9:18

Mark from South Bend. Is the Portal a bandage for your basketball program? Or a yearly blessing?

Tom Noie

9:18

Dennis: None of three were expected to play major rotational roles this year, which has become low-hanging fruit for the "This is what's wrong with Notre Dame basketball" crowd. Again, misplaced frustration and anger. Yes, Micah Shrewsberry awarded scholarships to his son (Nick Shrewsberry), the son of the program strength coach (Jonathan Sanderson) and a third player (Gan Solongo) who the strength coach (Jon Sanderson) serves as the legal guardian. Here's what people don't see, or want to see - what did you expect from this class? Look at what the roster should have been - Markus Burton, Jalen Haralson, Braeden Shrewsberry, Cole Certa, Brady Koehler, Logan Imes, Ryder Frost, Tommy Ahneman and eventually Logan Duncomb who had been on the Irish wish list for months. That group would've commanded nearly all the available quality minutes. What do kids want when choosing a program? Playing time. There was no need for a freshman to step into a major role if the roster had remained.

Dennis Huyvaert

9:13

Hi Tom , I have to admit I have not done much backround checking on our incoming Freshmen . Will any of them make a dent in the rotation this season ? Thank you for your great work .

Tom Noie

9:09

Jeff: Well said, but there IS a chance that next year's team will be more of a true team. Markus Burton was the local guy and the Mr. Basketball guy and the guy who put more people in the seats (not really, but hey, why nuke that narrative), but at the end of the basketball day, Notre Dame hitched its success for three seasons (where he missed parts of two, including 21 this season with injury) on a 5-10 shooting guard who had ZERO idea how to be a point guard. What did that get this program? A 41-56 overall record, 19-39 in the ACC. All of that said, here comes the disclaimer necessary for any discussion about Notre Dame basketball and what has happened or might happen - it starts with the head coach. Micah Shreswsberry needs to be better in all areas for this program to be better. There indeed is no evidence that will happen. There needs to be this season.

Jeff

9:05

I just wanted to make a statement. I know we lost some good players but this was not a successful group. I have coached in the past and sometimes the group you bring in to replace them aren't as talented but are better together and have more success. I am not diluting myself and saying with any certainty that this is going to happen but it could happen. It will take really good coaching for that to happen, and I am not convinced yet the Shrewsberry is a good coach. I haven't really seen any evidence of that yet. I am hoping for a turn around next season. I know it is a long shot.

Tom Noie

9:04

As for culture, not sure there is one. There was the start of one with the veteran guys and the freshman class, but that's been blown up. It's going to be difficult for Notre Dame to build back that culture. If guys get good, they're going to want more money than Notre Dame is willing to play. And let's not ignore the obvious - too few want the four for 40 or four for 40 or four for whatever that was once a selling point. Those days are gone. This is where college basketball is in 2026 and moving forward. Adapt or get left behind. Notre Dame is a couple miles back with the hood up, the engine smoking and wondering how to make it to the next checkpoint.

9:01

Jeff: Micah Shrewsberry made that comment on the eve of the season finale at Boston College. At that point, he truly believed, as did some on that core group of players he referenced, that the majority pieces of the program would return. One of those guys expected to return mention about 15 minutes after Shrewsberry spoke that he was "definitely" coming back. Others were as well, they just needed "to find a little more money" for another eventual portal guy. There are those out there (you know who you are!!

) who will swear that these portal decisions were not motivated by money. They were absolutely motivated by money. At least, three of them were - Markus Burton, Cole Certa and Jalen Haralson. You could throw Ryder Frost in there as well with his (outrageous) asking price to return. Sir Mohammed and Garrett Sundra just needed a change of scenery.

Jeff in Newport News

8:57

Okay, again, thanks for doing these sessions! It is hard to find insider information these days. I have a question about the culture at Notre Dame basketball which will help me decide if this can be turned around in the next three to five years. I remember reading an article late in the year where Shrewsberry advised there is a ". . . core group of guys that are ready to help us make the next step." Within a couple of weeks, seven players hit the transfer portal. I know you are closer to the team and see how they interact with each other throughout the season. Do you believe Shrewsberry believed his "core group" included players that left in the transfer portal? Bottom line, was this a financial decision for most of them or a belief that they wanted a change of scenery? I am interested to see if his teams are building this culture or if he is just being cut off at the knee by the university despite a good culture. I really miss the days of Mike Brey and watching the players have fun on the court!

Tom Noie

8:56

Mike: Let's go over, just for the sake of having the 2026-27 kinda, sorta matter. This team added some veteran pieces in Ethan Roberts, Logan Duncomb and Braeden Smith. They've been around winning. They may not win at a clip they expect to win at next season, but can it get any worse than 4-14? Not so sure.

Mike from Rochester, NY

8:54

O/U 3 ACC wins?

Tom Noie

8:54

Linas: If we're only guessing, I'd say that as of today (Thursday, April 30), I'd say that in no way shape or form is this current Notre Dame better than last year's version - but with an asterisk. We know less than zero about these five portal additions. They've never played together, let alone practiced for Micah Shrewsberry. How is all that going to come together? How will it all look after June and July? This team has the potential to be better last year's team that finished 13-18 overall, 4-14 in the ACC, but we have to see something - see anything - this summer that allows us to think, yes, there's something there. Right now, it's way too early to say about anybody - and anything. We just don't know how these pieces will fit.

Linas from the OC

8:51

Hi Tom, Appreciate all the great articles -- you had all the portal entries even before they officially declared. If I asked you today, right now, to take your best guess if this current Irish team is better than last season, what would you say? Also, which of the incoming freshmen has the best chance to start in November or get meaningful minutes? Thanks

Tom Noie

8:50

John: Appreciate the question, but given where this program currently finds itself, high school recruiting gets shuffled to the back of the college basketball bus for the short term. Let's see what this season's roster can do this season. We'll revisit closer to fall. Given where this season might go, it might not matter...

John

8:49

Hello Tom, I imagine high school recruiting will be a challenge for the staff, but still really important. Any scoop on official or unofficial visitors or any predictions on might realistically sign a letter of intent this November?

Tom Noie

8:44

Mike: Impossible to say without knowing inside and out, backward and forward, up and down every roster of Power Four teams. Not sure Notre Dame is any less athletic than Boston College or Georgia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Not sure it's any less athletic than last season when it finished with all of 38 dunks in 31 games. If a lack of athleticism leads to an upgrade in basketball IQ (assist/turnover ratio!!!), I'll make that trade 11 times out of 10.

Mike from Rochester, NY

8:43

Is this the least athletic roster of all Power 4 teams?

Tom Noie

8:16

Why is Notre Dame basketball where it is?

The current state of college athletics (21.3% | 10 votes)

The head coach (14.9% | 7 votes)

The administration (59.6% | 28 votes)

That's just the way it is (2.1% | 1 vote)

Everything is awesome (2.1% | 1 vote)

Total Votes: 47

8:14

Welcome to the April edition of the Notre Dame basketball chat, which may look and sound and feel a lot like the March chat given the current state of the program. Transfer portal season is all but complete for Notre Dame, which added five players to the six (seven) it lost to the portal when it opened in April 7. Let's just get to today's chat - please, please, please make sure you add a name and a hometown to your question/comment/concern. With that, you know the rest. Let's light this chat candle...

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