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

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EM, South Bend

12:10

Endorsing comment by Joe from South Side!

Thomas Noie

12:10

EM: It's like asking why Duke and North Carolina has been able to sustain success. Look at the women's game as the women's game. Look at the men's game as the men's game. Comparing it is beyond silly. Are we then going to ask why Notre Dame men have had a one-and-done but the Notre Dame women haven't? See? Silly.

EM, South Bend

12:09

I know it’s comparing apples to oranges, but why has the women’s program under both Coach McGraw and Coach Ivey been able to be so successful for longer and the men’s program has not?

Thomas Noie

12:09

A great unanswerable question. Nowhere close to being answered.

Brian

12:08

real question, who is in the starting lineup next year? Starling possible transfer or NBA, VAL could leave. Zona, JR, Sanders who else?

Thomas Noie

12:08

Hire a head coach first. Then salvage the roster.

Chris, DC

12:08

Do Lubin and Starling return?

Thomas Noie

12:08

Jack: Start shaking those couch cushions. Resources? That's a four-letter word around Notre Dame when it comes to the basketball program. Taboo. Off limits. It's not something anyone wants to talk about.

Jack

12:07

Hey Tom, Do you expect buy-in from Notre Dame to actually go out and get a coach with a chance to be successful and provide him with the resources to succeed? Or do you expect them to got the traditional route of finding the cheap option and putting him on an island with no resources? Maybe they can find a few extra dollars in the football team's Gug couch cushions?

Thomas Noie

12:07

John: Interesting, but impossible to find on the fly. My apologies. Answered a similar question earlier. I'm not about this program getting to the NCAA tournament X number of times in Y amount of years. This should be a program that should annually be good enough to where it shouldn't sweat Selection Sunday. The NCAA tournament is an absolute crapshoot (coming from someone who doesn't gamble). Just get in and then you go from there.

John, Orlando

12:05

Hi Tom, where does Notre Dame’s winning percentage over the past 23 years under Coach Brey rank nationally among division 1 schools over the same period? I realize that this data may be difficult to find / access but to paraphrase Coach Brey this is the ultimate measurement.

Thomas Noie

11:57

Great. I'd love to see local fans be expected to play the same prices for women's basketball tickets as they do for the men. Then we're having a totally different conversation. There's a reason why the women's program has built a stronger following. It's all about

Guest

11:56

I would also love to see the mens basketball program get the talent and also support from local fans as the womens program has. But we need to win first…

Thomas Noie

11:56

Ryan: A complete collapse in confidence from a group that was supposed to carry a boatload of it through this season. And that's just for starters. I'd say keep the faith with the hope that it gets better, but I'm not sure it will. At least, not anytime soon.

Ryan mars pa

11:55

Tom what is going on with this team lost some close games will miss coach brey after this season

Thomas Noie

11:55

Steve: Thanks, but I didn't sign up for this job with the stipulation that it would be all sunshine and balloons. It comes with the job, and I owe it the readers and the people who care about Notre Dame men's basketball to paint a fair and accurate picture, regardless of how awful it might look. Lengthen the rotation? If Mike Brey was going to do that, he could've started two games ago. Why would he start now? He's nothing if not loyal, and his loyalty to Trey Wertz and Dane Goodwin and Nate Laszewski goes beyond anyone's comprehension.

Steve Duff

11:52

You deserve hazard pay for covering this team Tom - ooof. Any chance Brey will start lengthening the rotation now that the season is effectively over? I believe JR is a redshirt but it would be nice to see what Zona and Dom in particular can do. That cupboard is gonna be pretty bare for whoever replaces him. Thanks Tom and hang in there!

Thomas Noie

11:52

Ever seen the GIF of the child swinging innocently on a swing while a structure fire rages behind him? It's like that. This program is headed for 3-17 in the league. When it ends, there will be nothing remaining but ash.

Ed,Greensboro

11:50

Tom, same old story last night in Raleigh.How much damage is this season's death march doing to the program?

Thomas Noie

11:50

Harold: If there's a person in the world better than Phonz, show me. Phonz is a friend, but he has zero coaching experience. He could reach guys and teach guys but in this day and age, you better know exactly what you're signing up for and, in the case of Notre Dame, what you're walking into. For someone who's never been the lion cage at this level, that's a tough ask. I can't do that to my man.

Harold C.

11:49

I think that LaPhonso Ellis would be a great fit for ND BB Coach! What’s your opinion?

Thomas Noie

11:48

Willie: There's a reason why he's in the SBT's top three possible candidates. He fits for a lot of reasons. Not the least of which was this - he took over a Charleston program last year - his first year - and the roster had .... two players. He still had a winning season. He's got the juice for a program that lacks it.

Willie from Mishawaka

11:47

I recently read an article written by Brett Friedlander about how Pat Kelsey would be a perfect fit to replace Mike Brey. Young, energetic, and a catholic school product who learned from Skip Prosser. What do you think about this possibility?

Thomas Noie

11:47

Claire: good stuff. What we've seen from Starling this season is a lot of what we saw from him last season at LaLu. He was OK with being the fit-in, third guard. When the time came for him to step into more of a role, he did. He was that gifted. That's different at the college level. Again, he was OK with being the fit-in freshman surrounded by old guys. Whereas Blake Wesley was like, yeah, I'm playing and I don't care who cares, Starling's a different kind of kid. He may be more talented in a raw sense than Wesley, but Wesley was, for a lack of a better term, a killer. Like, I'm coming after you and you have no choice. Starling's not there yet. Wesley raised the bar so high, a bar that Starling hasn't been able to reach. I believe Notre Dame missed its chance when it started 0-2. It should've given the ball then and there to Starling and said, run with it. We've not seen Starling's true skills. We might never see them.

Claire M

11:43

Tom, appreciate your coverage of ND hoops. Amongst other issues with this team this year, the inability to guard or win the close games they did last year is there is no Blake Wesley to get a steal and dunk to put a game away as he did last season in numerous game situations. With that, while Starling is a gifted guy and will become a good player at some point (somewhere), there is a big gap between where he is and the impact Wesley had on a team as a freshman. We were lead to believe that Starling was the guy with “it”, that he got itwas so mature and we have not seen that from him.

Thomas Noie

11:43

Ed: The issues are too great to overcome to get this program to the point where Mike Brey couldn't get it - to a Final Four. This is not a Final Four program. That comes from deep within the university. Look, there's care there. People care about the program, but not enough to help get it where it should be. You think this year or the last couple years (minus 2021-22) were bad. Might have to get used to it.

Ed Zagorski, Irving, TX

11:39

Your article on the challenges for the next coach was really interesting. Using your crystal ball, how long (or can) will it take the program overcome the issues that have mounted and do you believe the University will invest in support staff to help the new coach? I was there as a student in the late 70s during the ‘glory days’ and am concerned that the school won’t invest as it will never make the kind of money that the football program does.

Thomas Noie

11:39

Jack: That was a fun line, but absolutely not. Mike Brey can offer his opinion to Jack Swarbrick, but this is Jack Swarbrick's hire based on who he best fits for his vision of the program and for the university. At some point, he'll have to say, if he hasn't already, Mike, I love you and love what you've done for our school, but I need to go this alone. Thanks.

Jack

11:38

In his retirement presser, Brey made it seem like he will be very much involved in the coaching selection. Do you think he should be, and could this tilt things toward Inglesby?

Thomas Noie

11:38

Chris: Perhaps he'd have helped, but it never got to that point where they wondered how he'd fit. His visit was more courtesy than reality.

Chris, DC

11:37

Tom, How big of a difference would Basile at VTech have made ? Thanks. Chris

Thomas Noie

11:37

Chris: All depends on the next coach. Do those players fit his style? Do they meet the next coach and think immediately, yeah, I can play for this guy. I WANT to play for this guy. Nobody knows.

Chris, DC

11:36

Tom, Do you think ND can keep Starling, Lubin and Campbell? Also how big of a

Thomas Noie

11:36

Jim: First week of April would fit. And look back in the chat for our poll - the top six possibilities are in the poll. But I'll let you in on a secret. Just between you and me, OK? Nobody knows who the next coach will be. Not the beat writer. Not the athletic director. Maybe not even the next coach.

Jim Tal Valley Center, CA

11:35

Morning Tom, Great work on all the latest doings involving the ND hoop program. In your estimation, what would be a reasonable timeline by which the Irish should have a new coach in place? Unless it's someone that isn't currently coaching it's hard to imagine anything getting done before mid-to-late March at the earliest. Also, do you have any preferred candidates for the job as of now? Thanks for all you do.

Thomas Noie

11:34

In theory, but be Notre Dame. Do it your way, but be 1,000 percent committed to doing it your way. The commitment level, not sure if it's always there. Notre Dame talks so much about being elite, but it's really not, not the way it could and should and has to be in men's basketball.

Chris from Albany

11:33

Is Virginia the blueprint that ND should reach for? I assume they have some of the same issues as ND but they seem to overcome. Why? Is it simply Bennett is that good?

Thomas Noie

11:33

Chris: Here's my expectation for Notre Dame men's basketball - stop expecting the NCAA tournament. Here's what I mean - run a program that doesn't worry about getting to the NCAA tournament. Does Tom Izzo worry about getting to March? Does BIll Self? Does Mick Cronin? No. Build a program that might not win NCAA championships, but is respected enough and good enough to be competitive enough where you're not sweating out Selection Sunday every single year. Market your program better. Promote it better. Get the national media to understand that even if you lose a game, you're good. I don't get this NCAA tournament scorecard nonsense. Welp, made it two of the last three years. We're good. Nah, forget that. Just be good enough and respected enough and sustained enough where Selection Sunday doesn't matter. Get to the point where the only question is where you're going, not if you're going. That's reasonable, isn't it?

Chris from Albany

11:30

Tom thanks for the chat. In reading your article about the hurdles to overcome at ND what do you think the realistic expectations of the basketball head coach is at ND? My own expectation is to make the big dance 2 out of 3 years which Brey did through his first 17 years.

Thomas Noie

11:28

Dan: Markus Burton is really good right now at the high school level, but he has to get bigger and stronger to survive college basketball life in the real world. We need to see the next coach before figuring out the next starting point guard.

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