JotCast | Notre Dame men's basketball chat - January 2023

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Mike - NC

12:58

Any chance Chris Quinn comes back? I know he's Spo's top assistant and likely wants to stay in NBA but think he could be convinced to come back?

Thomas Noie

12:58

Dave: Look at what wins in the Atlantic Coast Conference. You better run some offense that's difficult to defend. Multiple actions. Multiple options. Have skilled guys who can go off the dribble. Have versatile wings who can shoot it and rebound. Defend. You better have at least one pro every season. Two? Even better. Three? Now you have the makings of a team that can make a deep NCAA run. A team that's unafraid on the road. What coach fits that criteria? That's the job of Jack Swarbrick.

Dave Y - St Louis

12:55

Based on what you know about coaching hoops at ND, what kind of style of play do you think fits them best for ACC play and what new coach can provide that style?

Thomas Noie

12:47

James: Almost too good to be true, right? He fits for many reasons.

James - Indiana

12:47

Micah Shrewsberry as next HC? Brad Stevens lead assistant at Butler and then Celtics and then went to learn under Painter and now at PSU. Seems like a home run hire

Thomas Noie

12:46

Ray: Just stop while you're way behind. You cull this information because as you've said, you know ..... 25 Notre Dame fans? Whoa, a whole 25. Not exactly a good cross section of the fan base, or maybe it is. Let me put this as delicately as possible - wake up. This program has gone to one Final Four in its history, and wandered through the college basketball desert for 10 years before Brey. But it's suddenly Final Four or bust? Couldn't be more wrong. You and your "many Notre Dame fans." When the new gets to multiple Final Fours in his 10 seasons - that's the timeframe, right? - I'll buy you and your 25 fellow fans dinner.

Ray

12:42

Ray from Southern California - Tom I don't personally know one ND fan that agrees with what you wrote below in BOLD: How many fans of a program that was dying a slow death would've taken nearly 500 wins? Three Sweet 16s? Two Elite Eights? A freaking ACC tournament championship after beating Duke and North Carolina? How many would've taken that? How about everybody. These numbers would be good if Brey coached 10-12 years and decent if he coached 13-15 years but three Sweet 16's and zero final fours in 23 years is not good Tom. I don't know one ND fan that thinks it is. I will stop commenting on this now. I think you understand my position and its a position of many Notre Dame fans.

Thomas Noie

12:42

Bonkers: It's been about four hours, so I might be a little punchy. But the top three, in any order, would be Darian DeVries from Drake, Micah Shrewsberry from Penn State and Pat Kelsey from Charleston. NBA guys? Chris Quinn and Sean Sweeney. That's a pretty good starting five. Let's see where it goes.

Bonkers in Yonkers

12:41

Tom, it's been awhile. I'm sure you've answered this but bear with me and anyone that's joined in the last 10 minutes. Rank the Top 3 coaching candidates, if you'd be so kind, that are your most likely to be interviewed and offered the job. #KeepGrindin

Thomas Noie

12:41

Chris: It depends. Do they stagger across the finish line to get to NIT territory or do they beat Duke or Virginia on the road. Right now, this can't end soon enough. It's hard to see that sentiment changing.

Chris, DC

12:39

Tom, if somehow this team made the NIT they will not go correct? Again a long shot. I understand.

Thomas Noie

12:39

Jim: Agree. Epic failure, a failure that is totally unacceptable. Brey will long be remembered for what he did with this program in the Big East, then in the ACC, but the shape in which he leaves it, yeah, that's in the second paragraph as well.

Jim Tal Valley Center, CA

12:38

Tom, I have great admiration for Mike Brey but one of the true testaments of a successful coach is the condition that he leaves the program in when he departs. And from that standpoint, given all the uncertainty concerning the Irish as to the incoming freshman class and the potentially dubious makeup of next year's roster, there's no way anyone can say he succeeded on that front. Your thoughts?

Thomas Noie

12:38

Ray: Still silly, and still wondering if you're at the bar at 9:36 a.m. California time. If you need to be walked through where this program was when Mike Brey arrived and where he took it, NCAA tournament flameout aside, we'll just have to agree to disagree. Have another one on me, though

Ray

12:35

Hi Tom. During your last chat in November you ended the chat claiming I was pretty much crazy in my opinion of Brey. I said if I knew today what Brey's record would have been after 23 years that I would not have hired him. You called my drunk and dismissed my opinion as silly. I completely disagree. College hoops for the last couple of decades is all about NCAA tournament success. The regular season is meaningless. This is not an opinion Tom. Look at the TV ratings for games in November- early March and compare it to the tournament. Power programs fire coaches who don't perform well in the dance. Brey has failed in the dance. In 23 years he made the second weekend of the tournament only three times. He made zero final fours and lost as a favorite to the following teams - Mississippi, Winthrop, Washington State, Xavier, Old Dominion, Florida State, Old Dominion, and Iowa State. In 23 years he only defeated two teams that were seeded higher - Illinois and Alabama.

Thomas Noie

12:34

Chris: Same stance as J.J. Starling and Ven-Allen Lubin returning. No thoughts until a head coach is in place. Ryan, though, may decide it's time to start his next chapter, though his return would work for various reasons.

Chris, DC

12:33

Tom, Thoughts on Cormac Ryan coming back for a sixth year. I say slim to none

Thomas Noie

12:33

Mike: Honestly, if the scale is 1 to 100, both are about a 2,500. And that might be too low.

Mike in PA

12:33

Tom - I saw someone mention Coach K as a replacement. Obviously, that's just crazy and will never happen in a million years. If on a crazy scale of 1 to 100, and Coach K is a 150, where does Jay Wright stand? I know I know, probably 149. But I would love it.

Thomas Noie

12:32

Why would it? What's he done? He's OK at a mid-major right now. He went 0-18 in the SEC. That's the hardest of sells at Notre Dame, regardless of his feel-good storybook career at Valpo, which, in today's world of college basketball, may as well happened in the 1960s. This has to be as close to a home-run hire as it can get. Bryce Drew's a leg-it-out close call at second base double.

Mark

12:30

Has the name Bryce Drew came up at all?

Thomas Noie

12:30

Tom: They wouldn't. There's a faction of the fan base that doesn't operate in reality. They believe what they want to believe and nothing - and nobody - is going to convince them any differently. The elite of the elite college coach looks at Notre Dame and say, no freaking way. They know. They know not only how the sport operates but how Notre Dame operates. Mike Brey did a whole lot for that program, and it's still in the coaching stone age.

Tom

12:28

Tom can you please provide a public service announcement to all of the delusional Irish fans that Mark Few, Brad Stevens, Monty Williams, and all these other pipe dream candidates are not walking through that door. Some of the names I have seen tossed around are absurd. Notre Dame Basketball does not equal Notre Dame football. Why would any of these guys take a job at an ACC bottom feeder that could care less about their basketball program?

Thomas Noie

12:27

Dave: You do follow Notre Dame football. You know of the Four Horsemen and Rockne and Holtz and everything else. If you do, you don't have to ask the question. It's Notre Dame football.

Dave

12:27

Does the football team have the same admission requirement as the basketball team? How is it that only 10 of the top 100 hoops recruits can get into ND, but we can get top 150 football recruits?

Thomas Noie

12:27

Joe: How do you convince anyone you're the right hire if you're on your third head coaching job in three years? A lot of anything that happens moving forward with the job is based on timing. It has to fit. If Mike White still was at Florida and ready for a reset, yeah, he might be the clubhouse leader.

joe from the south side

12:25

Tom, Sincere question. Why aren't we hearing Mike White as a possible hire? 45 years old. Wildly successful at every stop. And certainly strong ties to South Bend. The guy's childhood dream was to play QB at ND.

Thomas Noie

12:25

Want to win today? No, really win. Seriously win. Gotta get dirty. Got to.

joe from the south side

12:25

Tom, Cannot hire any coach in his 70s. Too old. Everyone opposing coach will tell recruits "that guy will die before you graduate." That includes Mike K. They need 40ish like Brey was when he was hired. Pitino is a much larger longshot than Mike K. based on the fact that his background isn't as clean as ND would require. No chance for him. Wouldn't want him anyway.

Thomas Noie

12:25

Joe: Agree with that 1,000 percent. Our timelines line up. Jack Swarbrick needed four days to hire Marcus Freeman. He didn't even need four hours to hire Niele Ivey. This will not be a quick hire, nor should anyone expect it to be. This will be an extended timeframe. We're not talking days or weeks. We're talking months. Jack Swarbrick has nailed a lot of the big issues (football coach, women's basketball, ACC membership, football independence). I expect him to nail this one as well. He's said on multiple occasions that it's the big-picture/high profile issues that drive him. Here comes another.

joe from the south side

12:22

Tom, I would like to comment on your hiring timeline. First, the only guys who leave the NBA for college ball are guys who have exhausted their chances in the NBA. There are exceptions, but Quinn, Williams.....No Chance. Sweeney maybe just because of his attraction to ND. Also, a lot of the names mentioned are likely taking their teams to the Big Dance. They are not going to disrupt their seasons with an announcement like that. Finally, Jack S. has made a lot of hires in his time. I am sure he has a replacement planning chart on his computer somewhere. Let's let this play out and put some faith in his track record.

Thomas Noie

12:22

Joe: Yeah, I'm not sure that's not Markus Burton just being a 17-year-old kid who's head is still swimming. It's not like he had a lot of high major offers when Notre Dame came calling. Is he suddenly an option for Indiana or Purdue or someone else close to home? Not really sure. If any recruit should feel safe - way safer than Brady Dunlap (see ya!) or Parker Friedrichsen - it's Markus Burton. The last thing the new coach is going to do is to cut ties with the local guy. Not exactly the way to build interest/equity with your fan base, is it? I'd be surprised if Markus Burton isn't at Notre Dame next season, no matter the coach.

joe from the south side

12:19

Tom, I think Parker F. walks as well. Remember, he and Dunlap had already reneged on scholarships prior to ND calling. In your opinion, where do they stand with Burton? Is he committed to ND or Brey. I was kind of surprised he said he would decide after the season. I just thought he was locked in with ND.

Thomas Noie

12:17

Mike: Thank you, a voice of reason. Look what Mike Brey did in establishing a culture/identity in the Big East as it changed. Look at what Mike Brey did in starting over, then establishing a culture/identity in the Atlantic Coast Conference. There may have been two or three, OK, maybe four coaches in the country who would've enjoyed similar success. Do others see that? Nah, they whine about the NCAA tournaments and the losing seasons. Think back to where Notre Dame was in 2000 when Brey arrived. You'd have been laughed out of Rocco's if you said the new guy was going to go to a couple Elite Eights. They would've locked you up and thrown the key in Saint Mary's Lake if you said the new guy would beat Duke and North Carolina on back-to-back nights to win an ACC tournament. Brey fell short in a few areas, yes, but he far exceeded expectations in many more. And he did it all under the guidelines set forth by his bosses.

Mike in PA

12:14

Tom - thanks for this much needed therapy session. This is more of a comment than a question, but the folks who say good riddance to Brey, or say 3 sweet 16's in 23 years is underachieving or mediocre, must not have been alive for most of the 80's or 90's, right? ND Basketball was simply non-competitive for a decade. Brey comes in and immediately gives them a shot of life, and he goes on to have some of the highest highs in program history. He should be celebrated at all costs. Put him in the ring of honor now. Those who mock him, pun intended, will likely never be happy with any coach, in any sport.

Thomas Noie

12:13

No want-to. No care. No nothing.

joe from the south side

12:13

Tom, Absolutely true. There is CLEARLY enough blame to go around. I am just saying, he let Boeheim sit in his comfort zone for the entire 2nd half. TAKE HIM OUT OF IT! Force Boeheim to counter your move. Make him collapse the zone and maybe you can get off a decent shot or two. Part 2 is I always supported PHUBB. Last chat, I brought up the A/TO ratio. Last night, 11 Assists to 15 TOs. 15! NCST, not an overly impresive OFF team, 13 to 2. Poorly coached, no ability to defend.

Thomas Noie

12:13

Phil: Mike Brey's rotation now goes only six deep? In another week, it will have gone only five deep. But I get it. Don't know how many times this has to be said to understand - it's beyond impossible to say for sure what's going to happen with the roster until there's a new coach in place. Matt Zona may look at the new coach and say, yeah, my kind of guy. J.J. Starling may look at the new coach and say, nah, I'm out. We. Don't. Know. They. Don't. Know. Nobody. Knows.

Phil

12:11

Do you expect to see a transfer portal exodus among the younger guys (and maybe even older guys that have sat at the end of the bench their whole career)? Maybe a change will be good for some of these guys as they might get a coach that goes more than 6 deep?

Thomas Noie

12:10

Amen brother!

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