JotCast | Notre Dame men's basketball 2024-25 season wrap chat

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Tom Noie

3:36

That feels like a proper place to end this for today - the high point of Notre Dame hoops for who knows how long. Appreciate all the questions and comments. Solid effort. Let's run it back sometime next month, when we may have a better idea of what the roster will look like. If you have a question or comment that cannot wait, drop me a note at tnoie@sbtinfo.com. Thanks again everyone!

3:35

Right there with you, brother.

JBarney from LA

3:34

kentucky game still haunts. you can't convince me that ND doesn't win the whole dang thing if they just close that game out. they were playing the best ball in the country and I'll die on that hill

Tom Noie

3:34

best atmosphere ever...x 10. Not even close. Get chills every time I see that drive and two-handed dunk from Pat Connaughton....remember thinking, they just may do this. And by this, it was winning a national championship. Win that game, they'd have ridden that wave to a title. Can't convince me otherwise. That team had IT.

Joey

3:33

I was at the Kentucky game. Never more proud to be an Irish fan.

Tom Noie

3:31

Please make it stop! Great line, but please, no...

joe from the south side

3:31

Tom, Shrews orchestrates more than Lawrence Welk.

Tom Noie

3:31

Great, but Notre Dame needs someone to finish at the rim and not just bang. Kebba can bang. Gotta score!

Mike from WI

3:30

I also think Ahneman may turn out to be the most prepared to get minutes out of that class. He already has a frame to bang inside.

Tom Noie

3:30

JB: Awesome question - with really no wrong answer. I'll go with Kentucky, North Carolina, Butler (also for postgame when we learned Brey's mom had died earlier in the day), Louisville and Georgetown. All crazy memorable in their own way. Love them all, but man, that Kentucky game, the waves of emotion in that building, never felt it before or since. Maybe again?

JBarney from LA

3:28

rank these games in order of your most fun to cover. doesn't necessarily have to be most significance historically, just overall your love/enjoyment being at that game and writing an article: 4ot win @ georgetown, 5ot win against louisville, acc final win against unc, tourney win over butler, elite 8 loss against kentucky

Tom Noie

3:28

Ha! Are we sure they run sets? No, really. The "more plays than Broadway" nonsense from Jon Rothstein about Shrewsberry - when have we seen more than one a game where we were like, whoa, that's some witchcraft there....

joe from the south side

3:27

Tom, Spoken like someone who has chucked a few too many 3s. With Brey maybe. No way Frost comes in and understands all the sets Shrews wants to run.

Tom Noie

3:27

see Powell, Duncan. He went to Georgia Tech from ... Sacramento State. Think he couldn't help Notre Dame last season? He killed Notre Dame. Killed the season. Parlayed that into a transfer to Georgetown. For every Matt Allocco or Burke Chebuhar, there's a Duncan Powell. You just have to find them. They're there.

Mike from WI

3:25

Completely disagree on the low-level conference players. Few and far between can compete athletically at the ACC level, and it shows every single season. I've numerous guys who even committed to Duke and UNC who were complete busts and lacked the athleticism to even sniff regular minutes. Conversely, I've seen P5 transfers who played sparingly find success elsewhere because their ceilings were much higher than the Ivy/Patriot/MEAC guys who are so, so limited and have no idea the level of competition at the ACC level. And for all the talk about Allocco's competitiveness, it didn't translate to the floor. Frankly, there were several times, where he appeared overwhelmed. Talking in practice is way different than in ACC games. Sign another high school guy and see if he works out rather than another very-limited Ivy guy.

Tom Noie

3:24

Shot-making knows now age - and class consideration...

joe from the south side

3:23

Tom, Frost will eventually be the best 3 point shooter on the squad. He's in a numbers bind with more experienced guys who kind of do just what he does.

Tom Noie

3:22

Notre Dame marketing department on Line One. Biggest To-Do: Give the average fan reason to care. In-house host, silly games, halftime nonsense ain't it.

Robert from Mishawaka

3:21

I agree with your comment: Enough with the sideshow gimmicks and shenanigans. The kids running up the court putting on oversized shorts and shoes and dribbling back to make a layup is more suited for the family crowd that attends the women's games. Honor a long time season ticket holder, police officer, firefighter, veteran, etc. Shirt giveaways for the students is useless if only 50-100 attend. The overpaying season ticket holder is forgotten about and they're tired of the program not winning and prices still going up.

Tom Noie

3:18

SOURCES: Anheman a TE candidate! Early word from those who might know have said Haralson and Frost with early chances. Time and patience for the other two. So there's that. And agree on Haralson. Singular? Not yet.

joe from the south side

3:17

Tom, The only way Jalen is a one and done guy is if he transfers. He is a damn good BBL player but in the NBA, you have to be singular. Right now, that's not his calling card. While we are on the topic, Frost likely won't play much. His minutes go to Shrews and Certa. Koehler looks like Sundra. Needs time to physically develop. Anheman has a shot at playing. One because they are weak at that spot. Two, he can mix it up. God he reminds me so much of Laimbeer. That big kind of awkward goofball, all elbows, likes contact. Might be a good TE candidate for Freeman.

Tom Noie

3:16

Mike: There is NOTHING wrong with taking a lower-level guy if it's the right guy. if they can play, they can play. Where this program got into trouble last year was it was taking guys seemingly for the sake of taking them. Give me guys who are hungry instead of high-major guys who are entitled. It's a tricky balancing act.

Mike from WI

3:15

Unfortunately, good free agents aren't interested in ND right now. I would take a recruit who had been a B10 commit over the usual Ivy/Patriot/MEAC transfer each time. The reality is that few of the transfers from those leagues amount to much at the ACC level, and we have almost five years of samples. I would think, for example, that you will avoid hyping the next Matt Allocco more than a bit less in the future with other guys coming from low-level leagues.

Tom Noie

Would be more like, that Noie guy really is a dope...

3:15

They better be! I see you, NDMBB!!

Todd, Charlotte

3:14

Do you know if anyone on the MBB staff or in the administration is tasked with reading these chats to keep their finger on the pulse of the fanbase?

Tom Noie

3:09

JB: Based on what I've seen, and it's been such a small sample size, all the stars and planets and everything else in the basketball universe will have to align for Jalen Haralson to be the second one and done in program history. He's a solid basketball player, and that will get him on the floor earlier than anyone. I don't know if he has that one standout skill that screams one and done. With Blake Wesley, it was his athleticism that set him on that one and done path. Jalen Haralson might be one of those guys who would be a safe draft pick after his first year, but be a lock high draft pick his sophomore year. He'll carry himself like a one-and-done guy, but also seems smart enough to know that he may need a little more work before he's ready for that league/leap.

JBarney from LA

3:06

is the expectation that Haralson is almost assuredly one and done? certainly he has to prove it on the court, but is there a world where he's a really good player and also a 2 year guy? really like the incoming class and would love to see burton/haralson & co with a couple years together

Tom Noie

3:04

No pro team complains about having too many draft picks? Have you paid attention? Pro teams have been off-loading second-round picks for years, and let's see what OKC does about having something like 183 first-round picks in the next five years. In college basketball today, if you had the choice between another freshman or a junior with experience out of the portal, you're taking the junior. Like someone once said, best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores. I'd take another Julian Roper type of player for next season than another Garrett Sundra who was not physically ready to compete in the ACC. Grow your freshmen; play your old guys.

Mike from WI

3:01

I don't see a problem with a six-man class. Two/three/four will leave within a couple years. The whole "balance" thing is becoming obsolete. A lot of people are still reasoning like it's ten years ago. This is now professional, albeit minor league basketball now. No pro team complains about having too many draft picks. Frankly, with how limited several of the current players are, they should've been encouraged to look elsewhere.

Tom Noie

3:01

Easy. More Liatu King-Liza Karlen-Sonia Citron types who just play. They don't worry about stats or the spotlight. Let Hannah Hidalgo go be Hannah Hidalgo and be good that there's still enough for everyone to go around. Oh, an anyone who can stay healthy from start to finish and wants to play heavy minutes, come on down.

J.J. P

2:59

Based on the current roster, it seems a safe bet that the plan for next season for WBB will be to try and build a lineup that best accentuates Hidalgo on both ends of the floor. With only two other returnees and one freshman, for better or for worse Ivey has a largely blank canvas for building such a roster in the portal. Aside from the obvious numbers game of simply needing bodies (particularly down low), what sort of player profiles would you be looking for if you were the ND WBB GM to best surround Hidalgo?

Tom Noie

2:51

Great point. She will be missed, basically because she did, well, everything.

Joey

2:51

Just a comment. I believe Citron’s number should be retired ASAP. I have been watching Irish basketball for over 55 years and haven’t seen a more complete player. Men’s or Women’s basketball.

Tom Noie

2:42

JB: The students lost me maybe for good when one of them opined that they couldn't attend some home game in January because ... it was too cold. True story. As for the offseason, it's mainly group and individual skill work in the spring, a break, then summer school, which is really the best time for them to just lock the doors and play five-on-five. Get up and down and get a feel for one another so that when the season rolls around, they actually look like they know each other. Those position-specific camps are a thing of the past. Love the dribble camp comment. So true. A close second has become the shot-fake that allows defenders to close out the air space. Have a sliver of daylight? Shoot it.

JBarney from LA

2:39

set. spike. thank you for never shying away from dunking on the students, almost always warranted. do you have any insights into the offseason player development programs? someone earlier suggested Kebba attend a big man camp (yes please!). 90% of this team would do well to spend 2 weeks at a dribbling camp as well

Tom Noie

2:34

A pro even in college. Never publicly complained or griped about her stats or piece of the attention puzzle. Just played with a mindset of what do you want me to do/be tonight? Rebound and defend? Check. Facilitate? Check. Score. Here's some buckets. I liked to refer to her as the ultimate truth teller, especially in one-on-one interviews. None of that podium-speak nonsense that plagued too many in that program. Citron would give it to you straight. Much respect.

Joey

2:32

I would like to know your thoughts on Sonia Citron. To me she is the most underrated lady to play for the Irish.

Tom Noie

2:32

The answer is no answer. All courses of study incomplete, like Daniel Simpson Day (IYKYK). It's incomplete because this past season was a complete failure to move it forward. Even if the "rinse cycle" as you put it is incomplete, we should have at least some signs that this is headed in the right direction. We never saw enough to say, hey, you know what, it's going to work. We need to see signs next season. Of winning. Of progress. Of a competitive competence to where we say, those first two years, wipe those clean. Notre Dame will be good.

Mickey

2:29

I agree we should have known what the path was after this season. My question (from 4 hours ago) is focused on that. Is the not knowing because they don’t have the “rinse cycle” complete yet? I agreed with you that a tourney team was probably 4 years away, maybe 3 in the right circumstances. But after last season, I think it could be longer.
burton, lil shrews, Jalen, certa….fine players but I don’t think they are making any team afraid.

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