JotCast | Notre Dame basketball chat - March 2026

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Hank - Chicago, IL

10:03

If you took over as Notre Dame men's basketball GM tomorrow, what would be in your offseason roster plan?

Tom Noie

10:02

That's for someone who knows the portal inside and out and upside down and right side up to figure out. There are players out there who would fit. Who can play. Trick is to find them.

tcreevy69

10:02

Looks like ND will suffer significant losses in portal..Do we have any chance to add some significant upgrades or at least decent replacements for these transfers?

Tom Noie

10:02

Tom: That's seemingly the $10 million question, right? Let's see what change occurs given what has happened this week. Maybe the portal defections help.

Tom - Schaumburg, IL

10:01

Why won't Notre Dame devote more care to its men's basketball program? Knowingly and willingly putting out a bad product seems to run counter to what the university's mission is.

Tom Noie

10:00

Josh: Honestly? No. Without a serious financial commitment, serious as in $10 million per year for the roster, what is happening now will happen again. Say Notre Dame figures it out to patch together a roster of young guys and transfers with multiple years of eligibility remaining. It catches that lightning in a bottle mentioned earlier. It wins and wins big next year. It defies every odd and gets to the NCAA Tournament. Guess what happens? Every single one of those core players is going to want to be paid more. A lot more. More than Notre Dame can offer. Then it's back to Square One. Get serious, or get out.

Josh - Granger, IN

9:58

Do you think Notre Dame will ever make the adjustments needed to be *competitive* in men's basketball? By that I mean doing enough were it can make two NCAA Tournament appearances every five years. This current arrangement is a slap in the face to fans and alumni.

Tom Noie

9:57

Brian: Associate head coach Kyle Getter is a finalist for the Pepperdine head coaching job, so there might be one vacancy on the staff. It's a no-brainer on how to fill it - get a veteran basketball voice who can be part sounding board, part sage, part voice of reason.

Brian from Iowa

9:56

I have begrudgingly accepted that Micah Shrewsberry is getting a fourth season (YUCK), but do you know if there will be any changes to his coaching staff?

Tom Noie

9:56

KT: You lost me when you included SMU in your comment. SMU? Really? SMU literally bought its way into the Atlantic Coast Conference. It has more money than it knows what to do with. And for years, I'm sure Clemson fans wondered why its basketball program couldn't be more like Notre Dame's. Brad Brownell was on the hot seat every single season until he caught lightning in a bottle and kept it there. The secret is how to go about catching it. Is is dumb luck? Coaching? Roster construction? Just time? One more point on SMU, which you believe Notre Dame should be more like. Do you know the last time SMU won an NCAA Tournament game? It was 1988. It beat Notre Dame. Just going to leave that there...

9:53

No is asking Notre Dame to be Duke or North Carolina or Louisville, but what would it take for it to be at the same level as Clemson or SMU? That should not be too big of an ask. Not sure why it seems like the administration is content on it only swimming in the Boston College waters.

Tom Noie

9:53

Michael: Do we know that Micah Shrewsberry is "allergic" to the transfer portal or the university has that allergy. I'd guess it's the university. Micah Shrewsberry, to a point, is just operating within the guidelines set forth by his employer. And this is 2026, there is no such notion as "walk-ons." Not in football, not in basketball. Every player is on scholarship. If you can run a high pick and roll, give the hoops office a shout...

Michael

9:51

How is Notre Dame planning to construct a roster for next season? Shrewsberry has shown he is mostly allergic to the transfer portal and we are consistently told there is little-to-no money. Is it going to be very walk-on heavy?

Tom Noie

9:51

Myles: Aren't we there now? Just turn on tonight's Sweet 16 games. It's a different sport than the one Notre Dame is playing, and the roster with which it is playing it.

Myles

9:51

Do you think there will ever be a moment where the athletic administration says enough is enough and decides to get serious about the men's basketball program? It is insane they are bringing back a coach for a fourth season with a barren roster after he did not even qualify for the conference tournament in his third season. That is a program that is being neglected. There is a massive head coaching problem within the program and it is not surprising at all that everyone is leaving instead of having to deal with him again.

Tom Noie

9:50

Frank: Pat Garrity's main role is to decide how a potential recruit fits into the framework of the university and the basketball budget. He's not there to judge Micah Shrewsberry or offer any insight into how Notre Dame can better handle a 2-2-1 halfcourt press.

Frank from THE EBND

9:49

How much involvement does Pat Garrity have with both programs (Men's & Women's) recruiting, NIL budgeting, and day to day operations?

Tom Noie

9:49

Chris: Never say never. Again, a lot of it circles back to Mike Brey being able to do more with less. Think part of the admin groupthink was, can't the next guy do that as well? We did it once, why not do it again? This recent run of portal defections may be the wakeup call Notre Dame needs to realize whatever it has done and however it has done it in the past won't do.

Chris

9:47

Has ND simply given up on ever trying to field a competence basketball program?

Tom Noie

9:47

Jim: That excellence stuff and competing for championships is a bunch of nonsense. Always has been. Even Micah Shrewsberry saying he believed Notre Dame could win national championships during his introductory press conference was wrong. This program's not winning national championships anytime soon.

Jim from Annandale, VA

9:46

Hi Tom, Your most recent reporting on the basketball program has answered the question I left Monday concerning the administration's willingness to spend money on the portal. This administration does not even seem willing to spend money to retain their own players. If the administration is not willing to spend at a certain level, the men's basketball program will not only not be successful, it will be an embarrassment year in and year out. Do you really think that this Notre Dame administration is willing to have embarrassing sports programs represent a University that claims to strive for excellence in all fields of endeavor (academic, athletic, etc.)? Surely the people making decisions understand that college athletics have changed dramatically in the last few years.

Tom Noie

9:46

Mason: Football affects everything. EVERYTHING. Not sure about the exact numbers - those are guarded like state secrets - but it's a good bet that Notre Dame has less than $4 million earmarked for men's basketball. You want to be serious about basketball? Your roster should be at $10 million.

Mason

9:45

Do you see the NIL budget being about the same as this past season, or will there be an increase to help Shrewsberry compete in the ACC? Does the football budget effect the basketball budget?

Tom Noie

9:44

Mason: It has to. Look at the schools where Notre Dame basketball has landed transfers. Not many high-major basketball powers there. That's just one of the many changes that must happen if you want to be serious about the program.

Mason

9:43

Will the same adjustments to undergraduate transfers we saw with football be made for basketball?

Tom Noie

9:42

Tony: If Notre Dame isn't going to open the purse strings to build a roster, what is the point of opening the pursue strings to fire the head coach, gut the roster and start over. Firing Micah Shrewsberry won't fix the issues.

Tony

9:42

Tom, not only is this mess hurting the team now but it has to be in the 2027 class. How many more will lose to the portal. If they can’t pay there own players. How are they even going to pay any top players. Are Shrews days numbered?

Tom Noie

9:42

Crickets. Only crickets.

Stephen P.

9:41

Is anyone embarrassed? Are the decision makers within the athletic department ashamed by this?

Tom Noie

9:41

John: I think I indicated that Micah Shrewsberry's coaching to date isn't the ONLY issue. It's deeper than that. It's everything of what this program believes it's about. It's coaching and player development and wins and losses and administration backing. It's not a situation of, let's just fix this or change that and everything will flow smoothly again. It's the entire system. As two former players said this week, just burn it all down, let it burn, and then start from scratch. They have a point.

John from Naperville

9:39

Tom- you seemed to indicate earlier this year that Shrewsberry wasnt the problem, and believe Jordan Cornette has said something similar. How can any of the shrews haters expect him to be competitive, when in all likelihood his roster is going to be in shambles? If anything it shows he is getting the guys it takes to be competitive under the "old" model of CBB. Without significant financial resources or flex from administration on who they can get into school from a transfer basis, the program will have no chance at success, no matter the coaching. Incredibly disheartening, and fans shouldnt have any expectations until things change. Why even put out a product at this point?

Tom Noie

9:39

ABC: I wish I could say. I wish I could sit here and explain with crystal clear clarification of Pat Garrity's role as general manager. I don't know. That he does it for both programs was a quiet concern when he was hired, and still today.

ArmazBattleCry

9:37

What is Pat Garrity even doing? Is his title just ceremonial. I also cannot imagine any serious program hiring one person for the GM job for both programs. That is a half-measure. They are completely different jobs.

Tom Noie

9:37

Chris: Remember the old adage, two years away from being two years away? Notre Dame is two years away from that. It's the program's own doing. The game has changed, the university has not. You want to be good and you want March to matter, it takes going to places and doing things that the university doesn't want to go and doesn't want to do.

Chris K

9:35

Hey Tom, with the red sea parting and all the players apparently portalling..... to steal from Taylor Tweldon.... "what are we doing?" I mean realistically this roster will be worse then the one they fielded in Shrews first season. In the pie chart of blame Shrews has a big piece of the pie to eat but am i wrong saying the university has a bigger piece? cause you could bring Coach K in here with these lack of resources you're not gonna win and if you're not paying your stars at least market value there is no chance they are staying!!! I hate this cause ND hoops is my favorite I think cause everybody loves football as do I but i was going to games when Pat Garrity and Phil Hickey were playing on NBC against Georgetown pre conferences. I don't need them to be Final 4 good i just need the university to show us it cares.... I honestly don't feel they do right now. Football is always going to be king for a good reason. I"m off my soap box. I just want to be in it in Feb and March and see what happens.

Tom Noie

9:35

Jack: The answer to that is no, because the money from what Notre Dame would have to pay, is borderline obscene. It would push Notre Dame from a nice program that believes in the student-athlete notion to all-out professionalism. Pay Markus Burton, Cole Certa, Jalen Haralson, Ryder Frost and Sir Mohammed what they've left for, pay the rest of the roster and you're closing in on $10 million. That's not a Shrewsberry indictment, or even a Notre Dame indictment. That's an indictment on college basketball. There are haves (Michigan, Duke, Arizona, etc.) and have nots (Notre Dame, Boston College, Butler, Georgia Tech, etc.).

Jack from Rye,NY

hit send too soon. If answer is Yes they would stay then it’s not on the Coach but Administration. If answer is NO then it’s on coach, and that won’t bode well for Coach Shrews

9:31

Hi Tom, Internet drama and BS aside, I think we should all ask ourselves the following question if any of the core players transfer and that is “ If ND matched the NIL money, would they stay?”

Tom Noie

9:25

CJ: Notre Dame will open the 2026-27 in Rome against Villanova, a trip now that really doesn't make much sense. It will get a home game in the SEC-ACC Challenge for a second straight season after having gone on the road (South Carolina, Georgia) for two straight seasons. it will get the return home game against Ohio State and the Players Era Festival games in Las Vegas. That's about it from a marquee perspective. The rest will be filled with the usual non-conference suspects.

9:24

Looking ahead to the 2026-27 season, could you share any insight into the non-conference games that have been scheduled?

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