JotCast | Notre Dame hoops summer chat

Notre Dame hoops summer chat

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Thomas Noie

12:40

When it came to his staff/support structure, Mike Brey often liked to tell the story of the night Notre Dame played Ohio State at Purcell Pavilion in December 2020. Brey walked out of the locker room just before tip, looked over at the Buckeye bench and saw that they had something like 15 staff members all in golf shirts. He remembers thinking, now THAT'S a basketball program, where you have enough emphasis/university support to throw enough money at however many assistants you need. In 2022 when Notre Dame played Texas Tech in the NCAA tournament, the Red Raider team picture on its web site featured 47 individuals - coaches, players, support staff, etc. Notre Dame will never be THAT serious about hoops, but the message was clear - it had to do better than three assistant coaches, an ops guy and a video guy. Brey pushed - begged?? - for years to extend the staff to help get his players more help. Notre Dame never budged.

joe from the south side

12:34

Tom, Can you provide insight on how the coaching and support staff has evolved under Shrew? How many now vs. Brey? Is the overall budget for staff significantly better? Is this indicative of Brey being asleep at the switch and Shrew is more plugged in? Has the ND admin. finally realized that to compete in today's free spending, free agent world of college sports, you better pony up or bow out? Your thoughts?

Thomas Noie

12:31

My tea leaves (coming from people who know way more than me) are a bit different, particularly when it comes to Mohammed. Get him and Certa and Sundra and McAndrew and call it a class. Let's go.

joe from the south side

12:30

Tom, Based on the tea leaves........Trent Perry-No Chance. Los Angeles kid destined for the PAC 12/Big 10 (since SoCal is recruiting him). Only Rex P. and Richie Branning (throwback reference of the day) would make that move. Travis Perry-I had to look him up since I don't believe ND has even offered him. Maybe a backup PG if the other PG falls thru. Jackson McAndrew-ND has a puncher's chance. Let's add Garrett Sundra here too, since they play the same position. Sundra looks to be Plan B. He's the kid Brey would get when the real recruit he wanted went elsewhere. For Shrew, that would be Kon Knueppel-Cole Certa. Lastly, Sir Mohammed. Close to 0%. He backed away from ND once before. If you said NO once, you can easily say it twice. With 10 current and probably not too much turnover (we will see), Shrew is likely looking at 2 or 3 guys. Certa, McAndrew/Sundra and MAYBE MAYBE one wild card who surfaces later.

Thomas Noie

12:21

Uhhh.....white whale? In what ways? It didn't matter if he was ready or somewhat ready or nowhere close to being ready (this), there was zero chance that Koniecnzy was going to play as a true freshman with a perimeter that featured Prentiss Hubb, Dane Goodwin, Cormac Ryan and a guy by the name of Blake Wesley. No chance for J.R. It was only slightly better last season, but too few minutes for him to matter, which is why he sat out. Once you decide to sit to redshirt, you have to stay seated to redshirt. No reason to burn an entire year for what, a week or two of meaningful minutes. It was understood on the front end of Koniecnzy's recruitment that this would be a long-term process. Now it's time for him to show it on the back end. There's opportunity. There's a role for him. There's maybe a starting role for him. He has to show that those first two years were spent smartly, that he learned the game, that he got stronger and got better. It's up to him now to deliver. It's there for him.

J.J. Post

12:17

It feels like minutes for J.R. Koniecnzy has been the white whale of Notre Dame MBB for the last two seasons. It was impossible to watch his dunks in pregame warmups and not wonder how he couldn't seem to find serious minutes on an Irish team that wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders last year. Is it known what the reason was for him being unable to get on the floor last year - redshirt protection? And is there a sense that on a young, full-rebuild team he could finally step into a sizable role?

Thomas Noie

12:11

Bobby: I respect the question, but don't know enough about any of the guys to say for sure they're next in line. Who are they as people? As players? What does this team lack? Doesn't lack? Too many unknowns right now, so throwing a dart at the board, let's go with Jackson McAndrew for size and Sir Mohammed for versatility. Might also be good to get a point guard, either in the Class of 2024 or out of the portal.

Bobby Singer

12:09

Tom let’s say we can and only take 2 more on the 24 class who are the most likely 2 and who are the 2 you would want the most realistically?

Thomas Noie

12:06

Justin: BREAKING NEWS! Good catch my man. There's your marquee non-conference home game. Thanks my man!

Justin, Ft. Wayne

12:06

Tom, I saw you say ND and Georgetown aren’t expected to start that series another year. Georgetown already released there schedule and it says they play at Notre Dame on Dec. 16??

Thomas Noie

12:06

Mike: Greg Miskinis is indeed men's basketball only in terms of strength and conditioning. No dual roles. It's all hoops. He was with Micah Shrewsberry last season at Penn State, so he'll know exactly what the head coach wants/needs/expects.

Mike C

12:05

Hey Tom, can you confirm the new S&C guy is strictly for Men's Hoops and he won't be splitting time like Rolinski did?

Thomas Noie

12:04

For those too young to remember, that would be 6-20 in 1971-72 under a young Digger Phelps. Patience is an absolute must. Plenty of it. This is going to be a long year in many ways. That's what happens when you return only three players and have to build it back in the manner that Notre Dame requires. Micah Shrewsberry couldn't just mine the transfer portal for a quick fix. That's not this school. Or program. This is going to take time. Give him it.

Guest

12:02

Tom,Atlanta - I wish I could be more optimistic, Tom, but this could be ND’s worst season since Digger’s first year. Patience will be required.

Thomas Noie

12:01

IF: Too early to tell. When I sat with Micah Shrewsberry in early May, he had too many other areas that required his attention that he admitted he hadn't thought much (really, at all) about future scheduling, philosophy, etc. He did open the door to the idea of doing some cool/different/unique scheduling stuff similar to what the Notre Dame women's program is doing in playing South Carolina in Paris. Notre Dame will replace Marquette with Georgetown next season, so he does kind of get keeping some sort of connection with its Big East/private school past. A future home-and-home with Butler and Purdue are possibilities given Shrewsberry's connections to both schools. Notre Dame also will get an annual game with an SEC school, as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge. No more annual Big Ten commitment, and a recruiting emphasis on the Midwest, will open the chance to possibly add a Big Ten school here and there.

Illinois Fool

11:57

Will the scheduling philosophy change much under the new regime?

Thomas Noie

11:56

Todd: He's one of the main targets for Notre Dame in the 2024, so there's that. And that he has Notre Dame in his top four means there's mutual interest. But it's recruiting, so even when you think you know, you don't...

Todd from NC

11:55

Based on what you may be hearing, where do we stand in the Jackson McAndrews chase? (We have at least a 25 percent chance at landing him!!!)

Thomas Noie

11:47

IF: I'd say the prospect of that happening is rather slim. Never say never in college basketball when a prospect might just appear one day and everything fits and he's on campus for the start of the fall semester. Listening to Shrewsberry the other day, you get the feeling that he's OK moving forward with this current roster. He's said that he won't make a stop-gap/quick decision on a prospect just to plug a hole. Everything about a possible player has to fit - short-term and long-term. That's a tough ask/find as August nears.

Illinois Fool

11:45

What are the chances of Shrew adding another player this summer? If I remember correctly he said that as long as a player was on campus by the fall things could work out.

Thomas Noie

11:45

Aidan: Carey Booth is as intriguing a prospect/player as anyone on the roster. He's like a young deer, kind of wobbly legged trying to walk/run/play all at the same time. He needs reps. He needs weight. He needs experience, but has so much potential. He could be a guy who maybe doesn't start at the start and then by January, you're like, whoa, he's ready for a bigger role. He's just so young. Give him time. He'll make the most of it.

Aidan

11:43

How do you see Carey Booth fitting in this year. As he has the highest ceiling on the team but also is very raw coming out of high-school. So does he get thrown in early and see how he plays or is he gonna be someone we see as maybe starting the season playing 10-15 minutes?

Thomas Noie

11:41

Paul: At the very least, Notre Dame should be better than 3-17 in the league. Even if it's an average - or below average - team, it has to be better than 3-7 at home in league play as it was last year. And 0-10 on the road? Speaks to how this team just kind of collectively quit to go winless away from home. Even a bad team can scratch out at least one win somewhere away from home in league play. So yeah, better than 3-17 in the league this season, for sure.

Paul R

11:39

I know this team is very young and inexperienced compared to last years group, but is it reasonable to believe they could win more conference games this year?

Thomas Noie

11:39

Nathan: Everything - and everybody - is on the playing-time table. They have to be with so few experienced guys who've never gone through the grind of a season. Tony Sanders is right there with J.R. Konieczny and Matt Zona - guys who barely have played, but who now have a chance to hit the reset button and show the staff that they deserve a longer look.

Nathan- South Bend

11:37

Do you see Tony Sanders playing at all this year? considering other than maybe a little his freshman year, I don't remember him playing much, if at all. we don't really know what he can do

Thomas Noie

11:36

Tom: Get off the chat and get to the shore, my man....come on! I kid....it will be some time before the full schedule is released - it usually doesn't happen until around Labor Day. Notre Dame might be close to releasing its non-league slate soon, and we could hear the home-only and road-only and repeat opponents in the Atlantic Coast Conference will be, but dates won't be finalized for a few more months. As for non-league, Notre Dame is at Marquette and at South Carolina. The series with Georgetown is not expected to start until the 2024-25 season. As of now, it doesn't appear that Notre Dame has a "marquee" non-league home game this season.

Tom from Jersey shore

11:33

Tom thanks for the summer basketball chat. Do you know when the full schedule is being released or have you heard any other games besides Marquette, G-Town and South Carolina

Thomas Noie

11:33

You mean since, let's see .... last summer? The previous year, Notre Dame had set a school record for most league wins (15), came within two minutes of getting to the Sweet 16 for the first time in six seasons, returned three veteran guys and had a talented freshman class that featured a McDonald's All-American on campus. That group - not us dopes in the media - talked as late as October of winning the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship and getting to an NCAA Final Four. There was plenty of enthusiasm for where last season could go, before it all historically fell apart to the point where the winningest coach in program history said, forget this, I'm out. There's enthusiasm, sure, but it's more about what this program can eventually become under Micah Shrewsberry, even though that might not be until four, five years down the basketball road.

Ryan Hoover fan

11:28

Tom is this the most off season enthusiasm you have seen for nd hoops in awhile?

Thomas Noie

11:26

Ryan: Matt Zona has a chance to be a main guy this year. This team has a long, long way to go. They may not get there this year or next, but they'll get there.

Ryan mars pa

11:26

Tom how has Matt Zona looked at open practice and how does the team look so far in open practice in the Micah Shrewsberry era go Irish

Thomas Noie

11:25

Joe: Let's go with Monty Williams, Brad Stevens and Jay Wright for question No. 1 and either Gregg McDermott or Chris Holtmann for question No. 2. Word as that search wound down was that DeVries and Langel weren't really as involved as many figured, for whatever reason. This really was a one-candidate process from the start. It was Shrewsberry from the start, Shrewsberry in the middle and Shrewsberry at the end. It really was that simple.

joe from the south side

11:23

Tom, About a week ago, Norlander of CBS did a great piece on the hiring of Shrew. In this quote, he talked about Jack S. and the hiring process. "This was to be his 28th (and likely final) head-coaching hire. He began by calling three shoot-for-the-moon candidatess, who all said no." Can you fill in the blanks? Part 2. The article talks about nearing the end of the process. "Notre Dame was effectively down to two candidates by this stage and had an encouraging signal from its No. 2 that it would be a yes if Shrewsberry was a no." DeVries, Langel or a 3rd party?

Thomas Noie

11:22

PG - Markus Burton; SG - Julian Roper WF - J.R. Konieczny PF - Kebba Njie, Matt Zona. Top reserves: Carey Booth, Tae Davis. Possible changes? Flip Davis for Koniecnzy and Booth for Zona.

JJ - Ft. Wayne

11:20

If you had to field a starting five tomorrow who would they be and who would be your first two off the bench?

Thomas Noie

11:16

Mike: Defense? What is this concept of which you speak? We saw 30 minutes of work earlier this week, and not one minute of that time was devoted to defense. It was all about offense and movement and cutting and swinging the ball and making shots. What is this team going to be defensively? No idea. I don't know and I don't know that Micah Shrewesberry knows. This group hasn't even played five-on-five yet this summer so to say for sure that this group can do this and this and this well on defense, that's not the case. Not yet. They'll get there, though.

Mike from Mount Holly

11:14

Is my assumption that the offense will struggle more than the defense a correct one? And what should fans expect to see defensively? Does Coach already know what sort of defensive setup this first ND team will be able to hang it's hat on?

Thomas Noie

11:14

IF: Right now, the job's Markus Burton's and only Burton's as the only true point guard on the roster. Micah Shrewsberry seemed pretty set as far back as May in terms of moving forward with this group as is, so I wouldn't say he "missed out" on a veteran point guard. I don't know how much he really wanted one. Or saw one that fit his plans.

Illinois Fool

11:12

Who can we expect to play the Point since Micah seems to have missed out on getting a veteran transfer? How much time would you guess Burton will play? Thanks for reme

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