JotCast | Notre Dame basketball - January 2026 chat | 1/8/2026

Notre Dame basketball - January 2026 chat

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Tom Noie

2:40

Thanks to everyone who participated in our session today, Solid all the way around. We'll be back in February (TBD) for our next Notre Dame hoops chat. If you have a question or comment that cannot wait, drop me a note at tnoie@sbtinfo.com. Have a great rest of the week!

2:21

Mike: It's the way of the college basketball world, really, for all of us. No way would the Tribune, or, really, any newspaper foot the bill for the beat writer (columnist) to spend basically a week in the Bay Area (over New Year's) to cover a team that hasn't been all that good. So we pick and choose what games we cover on the road and the places we go. We were at Ohio State. We were at TCU. We'll be at North Carolina. We'll be at Louisville and maybe Pittsburgh and then, who knows about the ACC Tournament. There's only so much money in our travel budget, and most of that has to go to covering Notre Dame football (duh!). Maybe one day, Notre Dame basketball is nationally relevant and worth more of a financial commitment on our part. So there's that part of it. The other part is that Notre Dame had decided before the game that it would not participate in any post-game media after the Cal game. The reasons for that are for Notre Dame to address. Post-game presser after that happened? Not a chance.

San Diego Mike

2:15

Going back to the Brey presser at FSU for a min, why do we only hear from Shrews after a home game? Wouldve loved a press conference to wash down that game Friday night

Tom Noie

2:05

Robert: I'm the leaf-blowing bozo of the neighborhood. Get 'em off the lawn and to the curb. Great day to be outside, which leads me to wonder, 51 degrees on January 8 and what am I doing still inside?

Never say never in recruiting, but there's always a chance Notre Dame adds a body if it thinks it might lose somebody in the offseason. No indication yet that that might be the case. If everything holds, next year's roster is pretty much set, which means...anarchy is imminent!

Robert from Mishawaka

2:02

You talked about the decent weather and your leaves which made me go out and rake some up. I saw the post about the Laporte tourney, which sounds interesting. Besides next year's incoming recruits, are there any underclassmen that ND might be looking at for next season?

Tom Noie

1:48

Mike: Watch this: https://tinyurl.com/4rjyc8cm and try NOT to chuckle. It never gets old. As for the ACC trying to say to Notre Dame after the Shrewsberry incident, hey, are we good? I absolutely think it's the ACC saying yeah, we know you got a league road win swiped with that call, so we're just going to move on.

San Diego Mike

1:45

Is there any reason to believe the ACC claiming the Shrews incident was a non-issue and considered closed is them trying to get back in the good graces of ND? That call brought be back to FSU circa 2019 in Breys presser "cmon John Gaffney!". I despise this conference lol

Tom Noie

1:45

Mike: And if he had committed that foul? Whoooooo boy....can't imagine the shouts from the shadows on that one.

Mike in St Pete

1:45

Maybe long armed and athletic is who should be tasked with fouling with 9 seconds left in a 3point game 😀

Tom Noie

1:45

Dave: In Year Three from what everyone likes to say is a complete rebuild from the disaster that was left for him? Yes. How could it not be?

Dave

1:44

Tom do think an NIT bid would be a successful season

Tom Noie

1:41

Mike: That's probably a tough ask for someone who didn't pick up a basketball until December for the first time in probably 10 months. Mark Zackery is long-armed and athletic but probably still trying to get his basketball sea legs at this point. That's the red flag of being a two-sport guy. You better be an elite of the elite athlete to hit the ground running. Otherwise, by the time you feel adjusted, it's time for spring football.

Mike in St Pete

1:39

Love the chats! Im kinda hoping Zackery gets a few more chances to run the offense as the season progresses...

Tom Noie

1:37

Frank: I have and hope to maybe get over there Friday, though it is hard to gauge where guys might fit at the next level when they play at that level. Especially bigs.

Frank from "THE BEND"

1:35

This weekend (1/9-1/11) is the LaPorte Invitational that will showcase La Lumiere vs 3 other top teams from around the country. Have you attended this before or will you attend it to watch 2 of Notre Dame's 3 recruits play?

Tom Noie

1:21

Kyle: A non-issue, especially on January 8. Sometimes, people will chatter just to chatter. There's nothing to chatter about, at least not yet.

Kyle Thibideau

1:19

Hey Tom there’s been a lot of chatter of Micah potentially being on the hot seat because of his performance last year and specifically this year but I feel as if Micah has put them in a good position aside from PFW. Not a lot of coaches could lose an all acc player in Burton and continue to rip off resume building wins like tcu and compete in the acc. What’s your stance on Micah’s job stability ?

Tom Noie

1:07

Frank: First off, not sure where you've been hiding all these years, but you bring a certain something to these chats that is unbelievably appreciated. Swing by more often! Second, let's set the over/under at 4,646 which is what Notre Dame averages for home attendance in a building that seats 9,149. I'll go over (but only slightly) because, if not Saturday, then when? Ever? Of course, weather might be a factor in which case, close friends and relatives only.

Frank from "THE BEND"

1:05

Speaking of bribes (promotion), Notre has a 574 hat giveaway for this Saturdays Clemson. Should we have a poll on the attendance number? LOL

Tom Noie

1:03

Mike: Less than zero. His three-year contract with the Atlanta Hawks expires at the end of the season. Wouldn't be surprised to see him move back home to the DMV and get involved in TV with the ACC Network, maybe some athletics administrative work at a place like George Washington. He coached his final game that night in Greensboro, North Carolina against Virginia Tech.

San Diego Mike

1:01

Is there a non-0 chance we see our old buddy Mike Brey back on the coaching sidelines for one last run?

Tom Noie

1:01

They are not the Basketball IQ types, either. Notre Dame deserves better, but there's that old writer guy shouting at the clouds. Truth hurts, people.

Pete from Berrien Springs

1:00

My take on the student body. They are not home grown Indiana kids, no IU or Purdue student bodies. They are not Midwest/Big Ten kids either. They are not ACC/Tobacco Road kids. They are not seated behind the opposit bench

Tom Noie

12:50

Agree. Haters have been out in full force on Shrewsberry this week. Here's the latest on Burton: https://tinyurl.com/4zmvwnbx. Still too early to tell on Haralson, though every indication is he needs another year. His game is good, but not good enough. Not yet.

Johnny

12:48

uve never understood the Shrews haters. Not many coaches could lose an 18 ppg scorer and continue to somewhat look just as good if not better in some cases. Sorry if you answered this already but any word on Markus Burton? And is there any thought of haralson being a one and done?

Tom Noie

12:46

This....

Pete from Berrien Springs

12:45

I believe they've done a decent job this year of "balancing" offense and defense...late game situations aside. We have better shooters and more of them than in the past. Defense has won them a few games. Hopefully, they will improve on the turnovers and shoot more consistently. That should lead to 10+? league wins. Time will tell.

Tom Noie

12:45

Frank: Yes, Tae Davis got a

from Oklahoma that Notre Dame simply couldn't match. I had heard about the "bribe" to go to the Missouri game. Great that it worked, but bad that this is where Notre Dame is at with its student body. Give me a reason to come out and I'll be there. Everybody has a price, I guess, and a free item of clothing will get the student body every time.

Frank from "THE BEND"

12:44

1) Speaking of GM Garrity and his moving of pieces around with the amount of money the program can/will spend. Did that lead to Tae Davis moving on? 2) As for the lack of crowd support, the sideshow of the in-game host saying a 6 year old is an OG, it's pathetic. My understanding is that the student body received a bribe (shirt or hoodie) to attend the Missouri game. The catch was they couldn't get it until after the game. LOL

Tom Noie

12:31

Andrew: First off, who's Johnson?

Micah Shrewsbserry has gone from defense first, offense last to offense first, defense last to whatever it's been this year partly because he's probably still trying to figure out who this team is, and maybe to an extent who he is. It's easy to say that you're going to be a defense-first team if you have a team that can do that. Same with offense. Notre Dame hasn't been anywhere near either the first two years. This year is a mish-mash combo of the two. Can he figure it out this year? The next few years might depend on it, right?

Andrew, Plymouth

12:29

There are two big issues that I believe have been overlooked. The first is that a true point guard has not been brought in yet, so hopefully Sanderson can be that, and there's been no "initiator of the offense" since Shrewsberry was hired. We've seen Burton, Haralson, and Johnson last year just try to play iso-ball with very few passes leading to buckets. Regular assists and hockey assists are both down, significantly. The second is that Micah has flip-flopped on focusing on either offense or defense each off-season. While he has been successful on whichever side of the ball he's focused on, it's been detrimental to the other side. What are the reasons he hasn't found a good balance between the two and do you think he can figure it out and get both sides of the ball in the right direction, within the same season?

Tom Noie

12:28

Dave: This season? Pretty good. In the future? Slim, at least for next season.

Dave

12:28

What are the odds we won't see Burton in a ND uniform again?

Tom Noie

12:25

Dan: It might be hard to see, but there's likely a method to Micah Shrewsberry's recruiting madness. I'd like to see him find two guards who treat that ball like gold. Haven't found one yet.

Dan - Chicago

12:24

I've noticed something interesting on how Shrews constructs him team. It's a bit of a Noah's Ark setup. 2 bigs, 2 very skinny stretch 4's, 2 big guards who can handle the ball but can't shoot, 2 catch and shoot guards, and 2 pt's (assuming Burton is one of them). Do you think this was on purpose or just kind of came to be? (Also, referencing Noah Ark's and ND basketball has a very good history if one were to go back 48 years and research).

Tom Noie

12:24

Billy: Asked and discussed earlier in the chat. I will say that we do not see practice so there's little evidence of, yes, we saw them handle that situation last week and aced it.

Billy from Philly

12:23

Brey used to talk about “game situations” all the time. In fact in a recent post on X he said that they would practice the “up three points” scenario every practice. Do you have any insight into practice structure and whether Coach Shrews spends more or less time than typical in late game situations and could that be a reason why Notre Dame execution in late game situations the last few years has been so poor?

Tom Noie

12:23

Robert: If Logan Imes is getting more minutes as the secondary and sometimes main handler in place of Sir Mohammed, there's probably a good reason. Notre Dame needs to find someone who can not only handle it confidently, but stop turning it over.

Robert

12:22

Tom, I seem to remember hearing that Sir Mohammed is a good ball handler who could bring the ball up. Maybe I’m mistaken. But, if that’s correct, do you think he should take some of Imes’ minutes? Thank you.

Tom Noie

12:21

Joe: You could make less, you could make the same, you could make more. Question is, do you want to move halfway around the world and out of your comfort zone, really, the only comfort zone you've ever known, to chase the dollars if you're Markus Burton? Going overseas isn't always the answer. Ask Demetrius Jackson, who never could warm to an idea that might've extended his pro career.

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