JotCast | Notre Dame basketball chat - January 2025 | 1/30/2025

Notre Dame basketball chat - January 2025

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Tom Noie

3:56

That will do it for today. Solid effort and many thanks to all who participated. We'll circle back around maybe the third week of February for our next one. Notre Dame basketball may look and feel a little different then. If you have a question or comment that cannot wait, drop me a note at tnoie@sbtinfo.com. Thanks! Have a great weekend.

3:49

Want to be serious about men's basketball? Sign Nate Ament, then we'll talk.

3:48

Patrick: Everything about the gameday experience is sub-par. It's a dead atmosphere. They do the same stuff they've done for years. It's tired. It's stale. Honestly, it stinks. Where is the connection to history? When's the last time a former player was brought back and featured on the videoboard. Why the silly contests during timeouts. It's a clown show at times. Notre Dame likes to fancy itself as first class in everything, then act like it for basketball. Great, they've got a nice recruiting class, but do something in terms of ticket distribution and fan interest and the gameday experience that makes it seem like you care, if only a little. Pete Bevacqua and Marcus Freeman and the administration are all aligned to do whatever is needed, however it is needed, to deliver a national championship for football. Understandably so, but are they truly doing all they can to max out the men's basketball experience, whatever that might look like? Don't get that feeling whatsoever. They're fine with being fine.

Patrick from NYC

3:44

Scrolling though earlier questions Tom, could you expand on how/why you feel men's basketball isn't a priority under PB and what would signal that is it a priority? He's at every game in his first year and we just made a major haul in next year's freshman class that we haven't seen in decades and that took serious NIL commitment. Yes, the game day experience is still not great, but I'm bullish on the program becoming more important to the school. Tell me what you would need to see, thanks

peanut-gallery

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Tom Noie

3:44

Last year, Notre Dame was 49th in the country in scoring defense (67.2), 86th in field goal percentage defense (.422) and 107th in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.325). Those numbers this season are 142nd for scoring defense (70.4 ppg.), 208th for field goal percentage defense (.409) and 144th for 3-point field goal percentage defense (.324). That said, the Irish have improved from having the 342nd scoring offense last season (64.0 ppg.) to 181st (74.7).

3:41

Mike: The numbers are nowhere near where they were last year defensively (we'll get to them in a second) and the first person to admit that's the case is Micah Shrewsberry. He may not be totally fine with where they are defensively, but he's not exactly concerned. He's explained that to not only just play but survive last season, that team had to defend first and second and third in a lot of games just to have a chance. This year's team is different from an offensive standpoint, so the focus most of the spring and summer and preseason was all offense. How has Notre Dame slipped defensively? Here's how...

San Diego Mike

3:39

Is it just me or does it seem like the defense has been substantially worse than it was last year? I havent looked at any numbers but thats what my eyeballs have been telling me. Seems like its been very hard to get the stops that we were getting at the end of 2024. If you agree, is that because the focus of the offseason was on speeding up tempo offensively?

Tom Noie

3:31

Robert: There have been no minutes restrictions on Burton since his first game (North Carolina). It's only natural to defer to someone who can do things that you can't do. Notre Dame does it with Burton. It reaches a point in seemingly every game where they're like, you go and figure it out and we'll follow. Sometimes it works (Georgia Tech) and sometimes it doesn't (Syracuse).

Robert from Mishawaka

3:30

In recent games coach has sat Burton a little longer than usual, is this precautionary after his injury? Also when he sits the offense is stagnant, compared to when he's in. Not to mentioned from more than just me, does the team just defer to letting Burton be the offense?

Tom Noie

3:23

Stay tuned to the South Bend Tribune to find out!

stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye

Frank from Michiana

3:23

After your most recent media day were there any good takes from your afternoon there?

Tom Noie

3:18

There have been only three games that I have not written on because Notre Dame football duties have overlapped - Creighton (day of USC game in Los Angeles); Syracuse (CFP national championship game duties in ATL) and Duke, which I was prepared to write on ONLY if Notre Dame someone won or lost at the buzzer. Coming off the North Carolina State game, which I covered in my hotel room in Fort Lauderdale, the Duke column would've been a complete rewrite of what happened earlier in the week in Raleigh. Sometimes, even I run out of words to try and describe something that keeps happening over and over and over... except of course, wins...

Patrick from NYC

3:15

Coming late to the chat and looking forward to looking back at all the stuff covered earlier, thanks! SorrY fi this was but I noticed there were no game recaps for a few earlier this season, like Duke, etc....did I miss something or was this intentional?

Tom Noie

3:12

I used the apples to oranges analogy earlier in the chat to compare men's college basketball to women's college basketball, and may close with using it to compare Brady Koehler to Cole Certa. Koehler is a totally different player. He's 6-8, long, athletic and has the rep of doing what needs to be done to impact winning. Score? Rebound? Facilitate? Defend? Fit in? Cole Certa carved the rep as a shooter. Period. Recruiting is an inexact science. Guys don't know what they don't know. They obviously didn't know about Certa. Koehler just seems different, but again, I like to reserve anything concrete on guys until i see them play against other college guys. Then you know. We saw with Certa that he would have to be an astronomically consistent shooter to see the floor this year.

One more Certa question :-)

3:08

You guess Koehler is a rotation guy from the jump...his recruiting profile is exactly the same as Certa's was. And I agree, that recruiting profile is one that should support at least being a consistent bench guy as a freshman. Is it just that Certa may have been overranked a bit by the recruiting services? Is there something specific about Koehler that you see as an even better fit? We'll need young talent to step up and play next year, with latitude from coach to make some of those freshman mistakes in game situations. I just hope Koehler is more ready to play than it appears Certa was coming in.

Tom Noie

3:08

Sir Mohammed and it's not even close, though I don't know how big of a bite of the playing time apple he'll get. The train's kind of moving now and he lost/missed too much time to make up for it now. He doesn't play much and doesn't always impact games, but there are a handful of possessions here and there where you realize why he was so coveted. He just knows the game. Sees it. Thinks it. Love guys like that.

Matt from St. Paul

3:07

Who is the one player currently not in the starting lineup that you are most excited to watch the rest of the season?

Tom Noie

3:06

Mike: One's an engineer, the other plans to study architecture. Neither have an athletic bone in their body. They have come to dislike basketball because, for stretches, it takes me away from home. It's all good though.

Mike from Rochester NY

3:05

Since you mentioned being on dad duty, did your kids inherit the same love for hoops that you have?

Tom Noie

1:45

Duty calls again (this time, I need to swing by Notre Dame for media access). Keep the questions coming. Back soon to finish our chat.

1:42

Mike: Given their skill sets and what I know about them and the way Micah Shrewsberry wants to play, Haralson and Koehler are rotation guys from the jump. I need to see Frost and Ahneman play before understanding, OK, now I see how they might fit.

Mike from Rochester NY

1:41

Tom- do you see any of the freshmen (other than Haralson or Ament if he picks ND) contributing next year?

Tom Noie

1:11

Keep the questions coming. Have to step away for about 30 minutes (dad duties), but will circle back at about 1:45. Everybody behave!

1:10

Team One. Book it.

Alex

1:09

Team 1 starting five: Demetrius Jackson, Russell Carter, Pat Connaughton, Bonzie Colson, and Ryan Humphrey. Team 2 starting five: Markus Burton, Jerian Grant, Blake Wesley, Zach Auguste, and Luke Harangody. Who makes a longer run and who are you taking? No swapping players!

Tom Noie

1:07

I'm going to hold you to that!

cool

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Frank from Michiana

1:06

Thanks for the chat and allowing us casual to diehard fans to get thoughts off our chests. For me it's just frustrating watching what has happened to the program over the years. Till the next time...

Tom Noie

1:03

Frank: How is that any different than say, Notre Dame football? For every home game against USC, you get Miami (Ohio). Notre Dame plays a marquee non-league home football game this season against Texas A&M, but also plays Navy, North Carolina State and Syracuse. Name a men's basketball program that plays a banger non-league schedule that has MULTIPLE (not one, or two) non-league home games. Hint: It doesn't exist. I don't get the idea of, well, the home non-conference schedule stinks so I'm out.

Frank from Michiana

12:59

Kind of piggybacking off your reply of not playing those teams like Dayton and others. So as a fan of Notre Dame basketball of 40+ years I should just accept that if I want to be a season ticket holder I'm going to pay to watch terrible non conference games. No wonder the program has sank to the level they are now and continue to sink.

Tom Noie

12:57

Jim: How in the world would anyone really know that? Men's basketball is different than hockey which is different than say men's lacrosse? Wouldn't even know where to start with that...

Jim in C’ville

12:56

Hello Tom. Today’s Chat is good conversation about several aspects/issues of the Men’s 🏀 Program. i get that this Program is not administered as the 🏈one is. I am good with that—understand it. H Question: is Men’s 🏀 administered differently than the other Sports Programs that are not 🏈? My impression—and it’s only that—is that Admin is more uptight with Men’s 🏀 than the others. Or less interested. Or less adept. In any case, Admin seems to me at more arms length with Men’s🏀 than with Hockey and the many Olympic Sports Programs. Thoughts?

Tom Noie

12:50

I would take exception to the "large interest" comment about the Big East. Notre Dame fans were there for the big games against Connecticut and Syracuse and Marquette and Villanova, but there were plenty of Big East games where the attitude was the same as it is in the ACC. Like, meh...no thanks. I remember there were two years where one of the most important home games was against Providence. Game didn't sell out. Not even close. Nobody cared. In some ways, they still don't. Well, not enough care. That's more the issue.

12:48

Robert: Great idea, but never going to happen. We saw what did when Notre Dame went to Marquette last season. Overmatched in every aspect. So scratch Marquette off the list. Same for DePaul and Dayton, but for different reasons. Not because Notre Dame would get run off the floor, but because those are programs that you can't trust to be good. You can't take the chance that DePaul decides to play its NCAA Tournament game against you and somehow wins, but then goes 0-18 in the league. You can't go to University of Dayton Arena (and look, it's my alma mater so I would love to do that), and get beat by Dayton, then have Dayton be a middle of the pack A-10 team. My Dayton guys touted the Flyers as an NCAA team after it beat UCONN in Maui, but it has lost league games to UMASS and George Mason and the other night to St. Bonaventure by 22. What interest that would be generated with those games would be big hits to your SOS and NET numbers when it comes NCAA Tournament time. It's a tricky balance.

Robert from Mishawaka

12:43

Here's something that is always brought up from those that can't stand Notre Dame being an independent in football, join a conference. I understand that's not going to happen, and the athletic department likes what the football team has now. I personally believe the fact Notre Dame is a midwestern team and play teams in another geographic area that hurts interest. There was lots of interest when they were in the Big East, not so much in the ACC. The ACC is for those tobacco road schools, not Notre Dame. Play more midwestern schools in non conference play such as DePaul, Marquette, Dayton, etc on home and aways.

Tom Noie

12:43

Kebba Njie leads this team in rebounding and blocked shots and as mentioned earlier is the anchor of the defense who gives everyone else confidence knowing he's back there. That's not nothing. For every fumbled pass that you may see, he probably does three or four other things that go unnoticed.

Alex

12:42

I hate to pile on Njie because he definitely gets the most flack from fans, and I know this won't happen, but am I off in thinking Nikita could or would be slightly more effective if their minutes were reversed? I feel I see flashes when Nikita is out there. But let me be clear, by flashes I mean when he grabs a rebound I'm not scared he's going to fumble it out of bounds. He also had a nice take to the rim the other night. I'm kind of joking but I'm kind of not with this question.

Tom Noie

12:31

Mark: Myriad reasons. The number of coaches who have left the league, the schools that don't know if they want to be all in on NIL. The transfer portal. And public perception which does more damage than anybody would care to admit. The one aspect about the Big East or the salad days of the ACC is it always had some TV doofus carrying the water for the league. Who carries it now for the ACC? Anyone? They're all quick to jump on the SEC this year and the Big Ten when it was good and at times, still the Big East, but who nationally is pounding the table for the ACC in any given year? This goes all the way back to 2022 when Notre Dame went 15-5 in the league and had to play in the play-in game because EVERYBODY insisted the league was so bad. Then group think kicked in and they looked at Notre Dame, saw the 15-5 league record and decided, yeah, send them to Dayton. Then they almost went to the Sweet 16. It wasn't down, but because a select few said it was, that was the perception, which was nowhere near reality.

Mark Kru z from Mishawaka

12:28

Tom is there an explanation why the ACC has been down for the past few seasons? Clearly they are well behind the SEC,Big 10 and the Big 12. Has it been some of the schools not making a serious commitment to basketball? Back in the late 2010's the SEC schools got together to make a serious commitment to hoops and its paying off. With talk of the SEC going to 20 teams and the possibility of Miami,Fla St,Clemson and UNC leaving what would this do for ND in the future for hoops in the ACC?

Tom Noie

12:27

Alex: Right on the money. That Rothstein comment gets a lot of mileage from us media dopes who have seen way more of this in person than Jon Rothstein. Great, more plays than Broadway. But when are we going to see them? Seriously. And honestly. When?

Alex

12:26

Jon Rothstein says more plays than broadway but to me it often looks like more isolation than Castaway. I feel I see way more resorting to Burton or Davis going 1v1. Am I off on this?

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