JotCast | Notre Dame basketball chat - March 2026

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Tom Noie

9:23

Mike: Hard to make chicken salad out of chicken $#%^@, right?

Mike D

9:23

If Shrews is expected to build through recruiting, what good is it if we don’t put the funds in too retain the players?

Tom Noie

9:23

TJ: Let's go with zero, zero and zero which adds up to ... zero. Welcome to college basketball 2026.

9:22

What percentage chance do you give us to keep each of these players: Haralson, Certa and Burton? Feels like we are looking at a shrewsberry/Imes return fighting to make the ACC tournament yet again.

Tom Noie

9:22

Jim: Notre Dame needs more than just a center.

Jim Reagan, Charlottesville VA

9:22

Hello Tom and Friends! Last off season, Shrews and Bevacqua apparently thought that the Team could improve despite not signing a fully ACC-capable and proven (pace Nie) Center. Did they not consider that this miss would subvert Player Development/Team Growth of all guys at each position on the roster? The Irish played 4+1 vs 5 in every game. Their play—game plan—was fated to be … off kilter. Tom, are Shrews and Pete now looking to sign an established veteran Center?

Tom Noie

9:21

Chris: You need a certain type of athlete to get after teams defensively. Funny, the times Notre Dame did play zone defense this year, it played it pretty well. But this has never been a lock-you-down outfit. Not under Shrewsberry. Not under Brey. Not ever. Be better? Absolutely.

Chris, Columbus, Ohio

ben practiced in a zone defense. Yet ND seems incapable of playing effective man-to-man defense. How does ND address this deficiency going forward. I

9:20

Tom: in watching this past weekend’s games, I was struck by the disparity between the way NCAA tournament teams play defense, and the current defense played by ND. Charles Barkley commented during one post-game discussion that offense comes and goes, but defense is a constant if you want to win. KK Bransford commented that defense made the difference in the ND Women upsetting #3 ranked Ohio State on Monday. The ND men play indifferent defense at best. I was shocked when I heard Micah Shrewsberry state in one post-game interview that ND had not eb

Tom Noie

9:20

Ben: Great question, already answered. Sir Mohammed, Garrett Sundra and Ryder Frost are gone. Markus Burton, Cole Certa and Jalen Haralson soon to be gone. Still not sure on Brady Koehler.

Ben

9:19

Hey Tom - What are you hearing around the portal, both leaving and coming? Can we tell Kebba to pursue his next phase in life and basketball?

Tom Noie

9:19

Ron: Yes, times 1,000. What is currently happening to Notre Dame in the transfer portal is a clear indication that is has no business trying to do college basketball business in the way it believes it can. This is professional sports. This is not kids from the I-95 corridor or Indiana dreaming of going to Notre Dame and earning a degree from Mendoza and playing high-level hoops. It's become first and second and third about money. Find some and spend some.

Ron St. Joe MI

9:17

Doesn't ND have to change their recruiting. NIL and transfer portal in order to compete in the current college basketball environment? Trying to build a team the old fashion way is not cutting it!

Tom Noie

9:16

Jim: Totally agree. Here's the concern outside of numbers. What is Notre Dame basketball? What's the identity? There is none. First year, it was defense, and the fan base (so many examples that can be trotted out (I'll save others from looking foolish) about how nice it would be for this program to embrace defense. That didn't last, and it was offense the second year. Third year was neither. This program needs to decide who it is at its core, and build out. Until that happens, we're just dancing around the same issues. Throwing deck chairs off the Titanic as the kids like to say...

Jim Tal, Valley Center CA,

9:14

Hi Tom, what has gotten lost in all the flaws and deficiencies of this team is the cold hard fact that ND played subpar, porous and, at times, lousy defense where they literally couldn't stop anybody, especially when it mattered. In the 15 or so games from the Miami tilt on, the Irish yielded 81, 89, 91, 100, 86, 82, 89, 90 and 86 points along the way. Is it any wonder they rarely won? Those numbers are beyond scary, they're inexcusable and are a damning indictment. Micah's inability to firm up the defense over the past two seasons lies in large part because of his inability to effectively teach and implement a respectable form of it, be it zone or man to man. Some people are willing to cut him a lot of slack in other areas but when it comes to getting the Irish to play just adequate defense, he has failed noticeably in that regard.

Tom Noie

9:13

Bob: Not sure about that one, but it would take an extremely rare prospect to step from high school into a college rotation in January. Like a basketball savant, the kind of kid that likely doesn't have Notre Dame anywhere on their radar.

Guest

9:12

Bob Smith Kelso WA Does the same rules apply to basketball as they do in football about early enrollment? If they do has Notre Dame ever had one come in in January ? Thank You

Tom Noie

9:12

Billy: I wish I could bring you back from the brink, but it's going to be difficult. This isn't college basketball any more, not in the sense of 2015 and 2016 when Notre Dame was going to Elite Eights. It's pro basketball. It's about contracts and dollar amounts and roster additions and subtractions and full-on rebuilds year after year. Pay the players, everyone howled for years. Well, they're getting paid. Amateurism is dead.

Billy Mc

9:10

Tom - Talk me off the ledge. Most teams in the ACC this year had 3 or more transfers as starters. And now I have no idea who will be back next year for Notre Dame. With the constant roster changeover I feel like I’m watching semi-organized pickup hoops at the local YMCA. Where do you see the quality of college hoops now compared to the days when teams played together for years and where are we going from here?

Tom Noie

9:09

Hope might be all you have to hold onto. Hang tight!

Sean Greensboro

9:09

Secondly, just avoiding injuries and more NIL money will not make up for poor coaching.You can't hope things will change.Hope is not a plan.Thanks.

Tom Noie

9:09

Sean: Great question. Have had a long-standing standing request to sit with Pete Bevacqua. He does maybe two media gatherings a year. Even then, the questions that can be asked are limited. Big difference compared to when Jack Swarbrick was in that office, and media dopes like myself regularly got 30-35 minutes. Two questions of PB about Notre Dame basketball aren't going to cut it. But I don't see that changing. Especially now. Don't think the beat writer/columnist for the South Bend Tribune is on the must-call list over there. That's fine. I get it. Again, nothing personal. Just business.

Sean Greensboro

9:06

Tom , is Pete going to come out of hiding and talk about the disaster that is men's Basketball?He is killing the program.

Tom Noie

9:05

Much ails Notre Dame basketball right now, but the lack of marquee non-conference home games is so far down the list that it's not even on the radar. Follow your handle and go fishing. Put your money there.

mbgonefishing10@gmail.com

9:04

Setting here watching some of the basketball tourney. See teams like Siena, Howard, TCU, Penn, Troy and on and on. Not just playing but winning a game or two here and there. Then you watch N.D. and they can't even get into the ACC tourney. There is definitely something wrong with this picture. They complain about the small crowds but I have been a season ticket holder for almost 40 years. Why am I wasting my money to support this program when they don't care about it? When I ask this question awhile back you said because it is college basketball and some good games to watch. How many none conference top twenty five teams have they played at home the last six or seven years. I just hope the good young players are still there next year. I don't know if any of this makes any sense, just frustrated I guess. sorry.

Tom Noie

9:04

Connor: It's fading, but it's been fading for years. You answered your comment in your comment. College basketball is 10 times more important at Providence than it is at Notre Dame. Always has been. Not sure Notre Dame basketball is an afterthought with Pete Bevacqua. He's just following the blueprint set forth before him. Blame Mike Brey. He did more with less for so many years that the administration just figured it would always be like that. The game has changed. Time for Notre Dame to change with it.

Connor P (Dallas, TX)

9:01

Coach Shrewsberry’s performance through 3 seasons has been…unremarkable at best. Even Providence, whose endowment is dwarfed by ours, was willing to buy out the contract of an underperforming Year 3 HC. Is Shrewsberry’s retention a sign of Bevacqua treating basketball as an afterthought? I’d hate for the basketball program to fade into nothingness due to neglect.

Tom Noie

9:01

Mike: Cormac Ryan is a case study of someone sticking with it and figuring it out and believing that he belongs at that level. It wasn't like he was some schlub when he was at Notre Dame. Go back and watch the Duke game when Notre Dame won at Cameron. Or the Alabama game in the NCAA Tournament. Ryan was pure heater Ryan in those games. So much so that heading into the 2022-23 season, Ryan received at least one vote for preseason first team All-Atlantic Coast Conference. Why didn't what he did in 2021-22 translate to 2022-23? That whole team, and the head coach, just kind of quit on one another.

Mike

8:58

Hey Tom, noticed that Cormac Ryan debuted with the Bucks recently. Did you ever feel as though he flashed NBA-ready skills during his time at ND? Obviously a great player, but his g-league stats are leaps and bounds better than his production here.

Tom Noie

8:58

Doug: If you have $30-40-50 million laying around to address the issue, give Notre Dame a call. Firing a head coach is an easy answer, with a very complex calculus for a school like Notre Dame. Way easier said than done.

douglascooper66@gmail.com

8:57

Why didn't ND fire Shrewsberry? He is not the answer.

Tom Noie

8:56

Logan Imes? Great in a short burst of minutes role, but overmatched against front-line ACC guards. Get me a guy who can get downhill, drive and kick or finish in traffic and those assist and assist/turnover numbers might improve. Until then, Notre Dame just adrift in the college basketball ocean.

8:55

Linas: In my year-end look back on Notre Dame basketball in 2025-26 (https://tinyurl.com/2d7rxyb5) I highlighted the dreadful assist and assist/turnover numbers as something that has to change for this program to do anything. Why are they so bad? You've going to have to stay with me here. I might meander with the answer, but we'll get there. It's nothing personal, just business, but the fact that you had a shoot first, second and third shooting guard running your team as the point guard for the better part of three years did this system zero favors. Markus Burton has always been about getting his. He did it down the road at Penn High School. He did it at Notre Dame. He'll go do it somewhere else next year. He wasn't a point guard, but when Shrewsberry arrived, he had no choice - Burton had to play because he could score. Notre Dame had to ride with that in Shrewsberry's second and third seasons. Jalen Haralson stepped in for Burton this past year, but he's also not a pure point guard.

Linas from the OC

8:51

Hi Tom, happy spring! Been watching all these great point guards in tournament -- Jeremy Fears, Christian Anderson, Darius Acuff, Jaden Bradley ...Why is Notre Dame such a poor passing team? Just looked it up -- 268th in assists per game. Logan Imes and Carson Towt rank 1101 , Cole Certa 2098. I did actually see (I think) Sir Mohammed get an assist late in the season? We haven't had a true point guards since Farrell. Please tell me Jonathan Sanderson is the saviour?? Thanks for all the great chats

Tom Noie

8:51

Pat: You have to dig and often dig deep, but there was some good stuff there at times this season. The 27 assists and the win at TCU, the 19-point lead built at home against Virginia. The win over North Carolina State. Other moments off an out of bounds under or sideline out of bounds where you thought, yeah, haven't seen that before. What happens though is all of it gets lost in the losing. There was progress this year, but not enough it. Micah Shrewsberry has been here for three seasons. After three seasons, here's what we know - we don't know. Part of that is on him, but part of it is on everything else. Subtract that first season, it was all about survival. So was the second year after Markus Burton went down. This year, we were seeing some good stuff, but won't see it again. Next year is Year Four, but in a ways, it reverts back to Year One.

Pat from Bordentown

8:48

Tom - I know Micah is getting another year and I understand he is not getting the resources that other programs get, etc. - but my question is this - I keep hearing people say "we know he can coach" or "he's a good coach" etc. Based on what? His PSU run? What has he shown you at ND to show that he can coach and just needs the resources?

Tom Noie

8:48

Joe: Given what's happening with the roster in the transfer portal, it will have to widen the transfer guardrails a little. Otherwise, nothing changes. Look at where Notre Dame has gone for transfers under Micah Shrewsberry - Nothwestern, Penn State, Lehigh, Monmouth, Princeton, Northern Arizona, Madonna. That's not a coincidence. That's a problem.

Joe Toddy

8:46

Tom, now that transfer season is almost upon us, tell us what the current status of ND accepting non-graduate transfers. Now that it is happening for football, can basketball finally get the same treatment from the administration?

Tom Noie

8:46

Brian: Unless there is a serious change in philosophy, a change in the head coach will not make a difference. Fire Micah Shrewsberry and hire a new guy, but keep the status quo, and we're right back where we started. It has to be a university-wide paradigm shift. Whatever it takes.

Brian Sontchi

8:44

Hello Tom from the home of FermiLab — From the outside it seems AD Bevacqua is not concerned about adapting the men’s b-ball program to 2026 reality. Sure football is king, but for many many years the men’s b-ball program co-existed nicely with football. Why won’t he unlock the safe and allow the program to spend the NIL money? Will he make a change in coaches after March Madness? The men’s b-ball program can annually be a top 25 program, so what is he going to do about it? Thank you for your articles.

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