JotCast | Notre Dame basketball chat - March 2026

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Tom Noie

8:44

Mark: I'll say the quiet part out loud. College basketball is a dirty business. A cesspool, some would say. That's not to say college football doesn't have its issues. It does. To succeed in college basketball, schools must get dirty. Athletic directors. Head coaches. Staff. If that means tampering to get a kid, they tamper. If that means paying a prospect millions, they pay him millions. Notre Dame operates with the notion that 4 for 40 still means something. It doesn't. College basketball success is predicated today on money. You need to spend it to succeed. Those who do, turn on the TV tonight. They're in the Sweet 16. Those who don't are left on the lunatic fringe of the sport's shadows.

Mark Hurley - Saratoga Springs NY

8:41

I love basketball. But my interest level in ND basketball has not been tugged at for a long time now. That is a combination of a me thing and a program thing.Do not understand for the life of me in the NIL/Transfer Portal era why when the womens program is so consistently successful year in and year out, and that other programs including and beyond football do well on a year in and year out basis, why the Mens Basketball team cannot be a Top 20 program on an annual basis when they play Top 20 programs year in and year out in being part of the ACC. The expectations of recruiting success and on court success should co exist with a culture that kids should want to be a part of, and oh, by the way, get compensated well for choosing ND over other Top 20 programs. Why can our leadership of this program not accomplish this immediately, starting next year?

Tom Noie

8:41

Jim: Notre Dame is all in on winning a national championship for football. As it should be. Notre Dame Football is Notre Dame Football. At no time would anyone advocate taking ANYTHING away from that program to help another on campus. But, and here comes the but, when you have such an all-in emphasis on football glory, some of your other sports are going to suffer. Notre Dame basketball is bleeding all over Purcell Pavilion. There is no indication anyone will rush out and stop it. Pete Bevacqua believes that Notre Dame basketball can be and should be a program where student-athletes max out their college experiences. That's nice, but college basketball players today don't want the all-encompassing campus experience. They want to play and they want to be paid.

Jim, Annandale, VA

Sorry Tom, I accidentally sent my last question before finishing my statement/questions. In a nutshell, I don't see how Notre Dame can build and sustain a winning program, much less contend for anything, without spending more on the portal. I think in this day and age, it is impossible to build a program solely on high school recruiting. Have you heard anything that makes you think the ND administration understands this? Or do you get the sense that they do not even care? If last season did not open their eyes, I fear than nothing will. I am not a big fan of Shrewsberry, but as you have noted, he is not getting the necessary support from the University. The University has plenty of money, so unlike other schools, money is not the issue. Thanks for the great reporting!

8:38

Thanks Tom for the great coverage of ND b-ball! Have you heard anything that makes you think that ND will invest more in the portal for men's basketball? The current roster, assuming everyone returns, seems poorly constructed: 9 guards, 4 forwards, and 2 centers. Out of the 6 frontline players, only one, Brady Koehler, seems to come close to filling the role of rim protector for next year's team. Shrewsberry and the athletic department seemed to have no plan on how to improve the program (remember when Shrewsberry said that he could definitely win a national title

Tom Noie

8:38

Fresno Fan: Appreciate the question, but again, for the rest of the audience, likely submitted before the transfer portal process has started. Look at the previous question as to why simply firing the head coach and starting over may not be an option.

Fresno Fan

8:36

I am fearing the opening of the transfer portal. Is there any speculation around the Notre Dame Athletic Department that there will be defections from the basketball program? If everyone comes back and everybody can stay healthy, I think that they will be decent and Strewsberry may weather the storm. However, if there are defections and we are back to square one, I think the re-rebuild should be done without him. Your opinion please.

Tom Noie

8:36

If you fire Micah Shrewsberry today, that's how much it will cost to start over. Thirty to 40 million. Maybe more. Paying off the remaining four years of Shrewsberry's contract will run you $16 million. Paying out the rest of the staff maybe another $4 million. Any new coach, a coach who's serious about winning, will want at least $10 million set aside to build out his roster, and it would have to be rebuilt from scratch. Then there's playing another head coach. Can you get your guy for five years at $20 million? Right there, that's $50 million to fire Micah Shrewsberry and start over at a place where basketball is not a priority. Fire the Coach. Not as easy as it sounds.

8:33

Ron: It's half past 8 and we've reached the "Fire Micah Shrewsberry" portion of the chat. Settle in. This might take a while. Say you're Pete Bevacqua, and you've seen enough after Shrewsberry has gone 41-56 overall, 19-39 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Doesn't matter than you have a roster making peanuts compared to the top half of the conference. You want to win, at least win more than you have. So you fire Micah Shrewsberry. Where are you getting the $30-40 million to rebuild the program? Shaking out the cushions in the main administration building? Having a bake sale outside South Dining Hall?

Ron from Bloomfield, In

8:30

it seems like most of the ACC teams in the bottom half of the standings are chancing coaches.My question is why doesn’t Notre Dame just do the right thing for the program and move on from Shrewsberry? It seems likely if he is the coach next year it will be another wasted season and set the program even further back. I know the buyout might be costly but not making a change will be worse. The worst winning percentage since the early 1920’s is not good enough. Thanks I really enjoy you chats.

Tom Noie

8:30

Rob: The game has changed. It's not a big man game. It's a guard/wing game. Then there's Michigan, which still finds a way to easily incorporate a big man into its offense. That's more the exception than the rule. And it's not from a lack of effort as to why Notre Dame ha struggled to figure it out in the low post. Notre Dame wants to play with a big who can pass and defend and score and see the floor, but those bigs either A) cost too much or B) are more interested in other programs. What's the sell at Notre Dame for a big or any other player? It's not the degree. Those days are done.

RowdyRob

8:28

Even in the era of the threes, a dominate big man in the middle makes all the difference. ND seems not to be able to recruit one. I hate watching the ball be passed around the perimeter until with 5 seconds left, someone throws up a prayer. Watching St. Louis play Georgia on 03/19 reminded me of the glory years of Digger Phelps, the backdoor cut and the extra pass. Why do colleges play the same stale, boring offense as the pros ? Anyone playing the "Princeton" offense now ? Must be somebody.

Tom Noie

8:28

Mike: Notre Dame certainly will have plenty of sufficient funds to spend with so many players in the portal. Question is, how is Notre Dame going to spend it? Notre Dame doesn't just need a big man. It needs a guard, a wing, a power forward. It needs a lot.

Mike from Rochester, NY

8:26

Any chance ND might be able to muster up sufficient funds to find a decent big man this year?

Tom Noie

8:26

Mike: Watching, participating, covering the NCAA Tournament no matter what the field looks like, no matter how much amateurism has been lost in what is now professional sports will never, ever be dull. There's nothing like those first two days with games and storylines coming from all directions. Best three weeks of sports anywhere. That won't ever change.

Mike from Rochester, NY

8:24

Do you think pay-for-play and transfer-on-demand have killed the excitement of the first round? Two years of blowouts and few upsets have me convinced that the NCAA Tournament is the latest casualty of this quagmire.

Tom Noie

8:24

JDub: Have you seen "All the President's Men?" The scene where Redford meets with Deep Throat, who finally comes clean about the Watergate break-in. Get your notepad out, Hall Holbrook tells Redford. It leads everywhere. That's kind of what ails Notre Dame basketball right now. Yes, Micah Shrewsberry needs to coach better, lead better, recruit better, be better, but it's not just coaching. It's not just roster makeup. it's administrative support and really, a lack of any seriousness about the program given where the sport is as to why Notre Dame is where it is. It really does lead everywhere. There isn't one quick/easy fix.

JDub ATL Is it coaching, talent, or combination?

8:22

Atlanta- Is it coaching. Talr

Tom Noie

8:18

Chris: We are in the middle of, let's call it a transition period, for the Notre Dame basketball roster. Guys are out of eligibility. Guys are jumping into the portal. Guys are contemplating jumping to the portal. Notre Dame expects to lose at least six player to the transfer portal when it opens April 7.

Chris

8:17

Tom. Do we think there’s a mass exodus coming?? If so what does Shrewsberry do or what can he do to survive it?

Tom Noie

8:16

Isaac: It's currently 8:11 a.m. on Thursday morning, March 26. As of now, there are nine returning players from the 2025-26 season still technically a part of the Notre Dame basketball program. That will change, maybe by the time you ready this. Notre Dame carried 15 players last season - the NCAA maximum allowed. Three (Matthew MacLellan, Kebba Njie, Carson Towt) have exhausted their eligibilities. Three (Ryder Frost, Sir Mohammed, Garrett Sundra) have announced plans to enter the transfer portal, which opens April 7. Three (Markus Burton, Cole Certa, Jalan Haralson) have informed the staff that they will also enter the transfer portal. So today's nine players will likely become six tomorrow. Or the next day. Those six are Tommy Ahneman, Luke Devine, Logan Imes, Brady Koehler, Braeden Shrewsberry and Brady Stevens. Three recruits (Jonathan Sanderson, Gan Solongo, Nick Shrewsberry) will arrive in June. How does the rest of the roster fill out? Stay tuned.

Isaac J-R

8:11

How much of the roster should we expect to see return for next year?

Tom Noie

8:10

Tom: Nothing like easing into today's session with a softball question. Much appreciated. The gloves may come off eventually. But Tommy Ahneman is a freshman center from Fargo, North Dakota who played his senior season of high school in Minneapolis. Ahneman underwent knee surgery last fall and spent the season as a medical redshirt. He was at the end of the bench for every game. At 6-foot-11, 250 pounds, Ahneman is the great unknown for next season. What is known that he does not plan to enter the transfer portal. That's a plus.

Tom from South Bend

8:08

On the roster posted on the ND app, it shows a 6"11" Freshman Center. It describes him as a 4 or 5-star recruit. What is his status? He never played, and I never saw him on the bench. His name is Tommy Ahneman.

Tom Noie

8:08

Welcome back to our latest Notre Dame basketball chat. Buckle up. This one might get a little bumpy based on the reaction to this column - https://tinyurl.com/yh4m8xxb. Notre Dame basketball is not in a good place right now coming clear of a fourth straight losing season and mass transfers in the process of portalling. We'll see if we can talk you off the basketball ledge. To join today's chat, please include your name and hometown. No Guests. No snappy chat site nicknames. Real people only, please. With that, you know the rest. Let's light this chat candle...

*** Thursday, March 26 ***

Tom Noie

11:38

After watching the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament, where are you on Notre Dame and its March Madness future?

Next year's the year (5.6% | 7 votes)

Still two years away (10.4% | 13 votes)

2028 would be great (8% | 10 votes)

Those teams are playing a different sport (40% | 50 votes)

Dream on (36% | 45 votes)

Total Votes: 125

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