JotCast | Notre Dame Basketball - April 2026 chat

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Tom Noie

3:02

This seems like a good spot to call it a basketball day. We're rolling toward seven hours. My head is about to explode. Appreciate the participation from all. We'll circle back around maybe in May or June. Have a question or comment that cannot wait, drop me a note at tnoie@sbtinfo.com

3:00

Ryan: Here's my standard answer about the three years spent covering a Micah Shrewsberry team - what do we know? We don't know. We've seen a glimpse of something here and there, but nothing sustained. Nothing that carries over from one game or one week to the next. It was all defense the first year. It was all offense the second year. It was a mess the third year. Fourth year? Who knows what it's going to look like, but it sure will be interesting to find out.

Ryan- Raleigh

2:58

I think you’ve covered the off the court issues with the program thoroughly. Let’s talk strictly on the court. I confused at what this team’s identity is. When I watch a Dan Hurley team, I know they will have lots of movement and off ball screens. When I watch a Rick Pitino team, I know they will be a tough, gritty team that will pressure ball handlers. What is a Micah Shrewsberry team? I know he has a good offensive mind - some SLOBs and BLOBs he designs are beautiful. But outside of those structured play calls, I feel like I always seen him standing on the sideline yelling out instructions while players do nothing. This has been my biggest issue with Shrewsberry the coach. Can he changes ways in year 4? Or is this just how he will always coach? If he doesn’t change, is it time to have a conversation about how he might be a better assistant coach who can draw plays rather than a leader of men who creates an identity of a team?

Tom Noie

2:57

IF: Sometimes it's time to go a different direction. From what I understand, she's leaving the business. Time for a new chapter.

Illinois Fool

2:57

Drifting a bit on this one, but why did Coach Mabrey leave the Women's staff? The information on it seems to lack her future plans.

Tom Noie

2:07

Hank: I think you would have to make it very clear - beyond crystal - that you want most of it or all of it to go specifically to basketball. Men's basketball. Otherwise, it would likely be funneled all to football. Not saying that has happened, but also not saying that it hasn't.

Hank - Chicago, IL

2:05

Last question - thanks for doing this - always illuminating - say I inherit a bunch of money from some long lost relative I know nothing about and I donate it all to Notre Dame NIL - would all that money be diverted to football? would they just sit on it?

Tom Noie

2:05

The consensus was Brady Koehler, and not Jalen Haralson, was the top guy on the roster with the biggest NBA future upside. Once he grows into his body and figure it out, he's going to be really good. Will that happen here? We've talked a ton today about the M word, and that's a factor, but you know what else needs to be more of a factor? The F word. There are kids out there who fit Notre Dame the way they once did with the Bonzie Colsons and Pat Connaughtons and Matt Farrells of the world. Notre Dame needs to find those guys. Yes, it's hard, but don't they choose hard at Notre Dame (or is that only for football?)

Matt - Kenosha, WI

2:02

You touched on it below - but already dreading Koehler leaving when he improves (I see that as likely given his athletic profile and there being no shortage) and probably one or two other guys (Brown? Ahneman? Sanderson?) joining him in having Notre Dame being priced out.

Tom Noie

1:47

Jon: Twelve million dollars can go a long way in college basketball. The conventional thinking is you need between $10-15 million to be a perennial power. Purdue qualifies. It also helps to have a proven head coach in Matt Painter. He seems like someone along the lines of Mike Brey, someone who's like, I've had it with all of this NIL stuff and pay for play, I'm just going to coach my #$% off and win despite all of it. He's done that, but he also has more runway to work with.

Jon Chicago

1:44

Please explain Purdue to me. Consistently great. I've hear their budget is $12mm which is higher than ND but miles behind other BIG teams

Tom Noie

1:44

I could keep going and going and going with examples of why this hasn't worked, but you should get the point by now. None of this makes any sense x 100 because it's not just one reason or two reasons or even five or six. It's the perfect storm of reasons why Notre Dame basketball has become a mid-major in the Atlantic Coast Conference. It everyone's fault.

1:42

His next old, win-now team at Notre Dame will be his first. He brought along a strength and conditioning coach from Penn State (Greg Miskinis) that was supposed to be basketball only. Then the athletic department saddled him with several other sports. He left early in the 2024-25 season. Notre Dame basically worked the entire 2024-25 season without a designated strength coach. The program has changed administrators, changed administrative assistants, changed staff. The guy that hired Shrewsberry left. And college basketball changed. NIL arrived. The transfer portal became the new normal. Notre Dame stayed true to Notre Dame. Shrewsberry thought he could build Notre Dame one way. The academic side said think again. Look at where his transfers have come from over the first three seasons - Northwestern, Penn State, Seton Hall the first year, then it really gets good with Princeton, Lehigh, Monmouth, Northern Arizona and Madonna. Again, not an accident. Marching orders.

1:34

AJ: I saved this one until the queue was emptied so that I can give it the proper nuance. There's a lot there, so this may take a while. One day, maybe one day soon, we can roll through all the changes that have occurred at Notre Dame within the basketball program since Micah Shrewsberry took the job. Again, it cannot be stressed enough that these are in no way excuses for why this program has gone sideways, though there will be a minority who will read it and say, yep, there goes the dopey columnist laying out excuses for Micah Shrewsberry. They do not excuse anything about his time as the head coach, but they are a part of the issues. Shrewsberry has often said that he doesn't like change. Doesn't deal with it well. Cannot handle it. It's been nothing but change since he took the job. Everything about college basketball has changed since he arrived in March 2023 after only two years as a Division I coach where he had an old, win and win now team at Penn State.

A.J. Farmington Hills, MI

1:30

A) If Micah Shrewsberry was essentially set up to fail when he took this job:

Why did he take the job?

B) If the answer to that question is money:

Why did Notre Dame make such a financial commitment to a guy knowing basketball will continue to remain on the backburner?

C) If the answer to that question is that the previous AD cared more about basketball:

Why was Shrewsberry's first transfer portal class just as bad as all the other ones under the current AD (outside of Tae Davis)?

D) If the answer to that question is that Shrewsberry and Swarbrick had a plan to build through recruiting:

Were they both really that ignorant as to where this sport was headed?

E) None of this makes any sense

Tom Noie

1:29

My man! Give me a shout next time on my route...I see you! Too early to tell about the 2027 recruiting class. If fans here are resigned to the fact that this is it for this coaching staff, imagine what possible recruits are being told from other schools.

Matt-Granger

1:28

Tom: how does all the departures affect next years recruiting class, who would want to come after seeing so many leave. Also good seeing you walking the neighborhood

Tom Noie

1:28

Matt: Strictly a PR move, one that was made when it looked like Notre Dame had a team that could sneak into the NCAA Tournament next season. Now, just a waste of a long trip.

Matt - Kenosha, WI

1:27

Why in the world did Notre Dame agree to play in that Rome game? It does not do anything for them. Going to Italy to lose to Villanova by double digits. There needs to be a common sense czar somewhere around there that puts the kibash on stuff like that. It is just not necessary. Open the season against Chicago State and let guys get confidence by having success playing with one another.

Tom Noie

1:26

Dan: What is there not to get? To compete at the level of NCAA Tournament and beyond comes with a price that Notre Dame simply is not going to pay. In the eyes of the administration, it can go all in for football as long as it maintains some shred of being an academic institution in every other sport. Deep-pocketed donors aside, what keeps Notre Dame from having a $20 million basketball roster? Nothing. It doesn't want to do that. Doing that lessons its mission as a place to cultivate the student-athlete, even though that notion is long gone in college athletics.

Dan

1:23

Tom: you're not answering the why. You're just saying ND won't invest in basketball, because they don't want to. Why don't they want to? The no way no how may be true but I still don't get it.

Tom Noie

1:23

Phil: Brady Koehler blows up this year or Tommy Ahneman comes from nowhere to be a double-double big...both would price themselves out of Notre Dame.

Phil from South Bend

1:22

Tom what's interesting about ND now is that they seem to be the ACC equivalent of Delaware. Even before NIL, Ingelsby was losing his best players after every season to major conference teams.

Tom Noie

1:22

College basketball 2026...gotta love it.

Phil from South Bend

1:21

Tom...the info regarding Ryder Frost is mind blowing. The delusional way he over valued himself makes his exit from ND a decision that likely was mutually a very good thing.

Tom Noie

1:21

Hank: This cannot be stressed enough - Notre Dame basketball is where it is by choice. Period.

Hank - Chicago, IL

1:21

That M word. I am just very frustrated because it does not have to be like this. If I were a Ball State alum, I would get it. But that is not the situation. They can - they just actively choose every day not to.

Tom Noie

1:20

Mike: Only if it's Maui Mike from 2017...

Mike, New Jersey

1:20

That's a hell of a lineup. Throw in Hubb, Abro, and Mooney off the bench, and I'm not sure they lose a game. Love Captain Pat, but can we get Mike Brey in there for old times' sake?

Tom Noie

1:20

Matt: As long as he has the chance to stay around long enough to do it. There's something there. It just needs time.

Matt - Kenosha, WI

1:20

At least the men's basketball program has a good strength and conditioning coach. The transformations he did with guys at Michigan were crazy. Looking forward to seeing the progress of these guys.

Tom Noie

12:53

Hank: There is a price for excitement. What excites a slumbering fan base? Known names. What does it take to get known names? See, it all circles back to the M word, my man!

Hank - Chicago, IL

12:52

That seems to run counter though of the AD being 900% of what Notre Dame lacks. It should be a fireable offense for him to be aware of it and not do anything about it. That is just criminal. Cool. We got guys from Penn and Winthrop. Again, no one is expecting you to bring in John Blackwell or Flory Bidunga - but maybe, get some guys people can be excited about.

Tom Noie

12:52

Colin: Nothing against you, but I'll try to say this slower....Notre Dame does not believe in being in the business of having to compete to play players....if someone wants to be at Notre Dame, OK, let's go. If Notre Dame has to bid against a Clemson or an Indiana or a Tennessee, not going to happen. It's not how that place does business. That may make zero sense to the fan base, but it makes perfect sense to Notre Dame.

Colin from Dallas, TX

12:51

I can understand a big 10 school like Indiana and SEC school like Tennessee putting up big $ offers to take those guys away. It's more frustrating that a football-first school like Clemson in your own conference can take away Certa from you and ND can't even put up a fight to try to keep him apparently. How can the administration be okay with this? Do they really think they can't be competitive with Clemson? I know they've been better recently but come on.

Tom Noie

12:50

Mike: Notre Dame hasn't had a TBT team in years. Too many guys still playing professionally in Europe whose offseason windows don't line up for a TBT run. Question for you - starting five for a TBT game? Mine: PG - Jerian Grant, SG - Blake Wesley SF - Bonzie Colson PF- Zach Auguste, C - Jack Cooley Coach: Pat Connaughton

Mike, New Jersey

12:47

Last question for you, Tom: will the TBT squad be coming together this summer? Way too many talented alumni playing overseas not to compete. Maybe Garrity can GM that team.

Tom Noie

12:47

Hank: Jordan Cornette is as plugged into this program as any former player in recent memory, He has a personal stake in it beyond the fact that he played here. He knows of what he speaks. Pete Bevacqua is 900 percent aware of what Notre Dame basketball lacks (I watched him watch the second half of the Duke game). The budget has and may even be better down the road, but nowhere near enough to matter.

Hank - Chicago, IL

12:45

Jordan Cornette made some waves among ND fans earlier this month when he said Pete Bevacqua is keenly aware of what we currently lack and then he said he expects the budget to double this year. Was this just wishful thinking or is there something to it?

Tom Noie

12:45

Truth. Four for 40 forever!

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