2025-2026 ND Basketball Thread

[PolishDomer]

Not wrong. People aren't flying in and driving 10 hours to see a game at the Joyce Center on a Thursday against Wake in January.

I would if it was on a Saturday lol

 

[Henges24]

Yuck. Is that black? Why not dark green at least. Oh well…

 

[DomeFieldAdvantage]

Basketball needs to appeal to the local community way more than football - so for that reason I honestly don't mind it. They need South Bend to buy in as ND being their local team

Totally agree. I would play up the South Bend and even Indiana aspects way more for basketball, especially since Indiana is like THE basketball state.

 

[CTIDANDREW]

+3500 on DraftKings to make the Final Four if you're feeling lucky.
Boy how the mighty have fallen.

It would be nice to just go 3-0 this year into the Ohio State game and see how the boys look.
Hopefully avoid another ELON or Western Carolina embarrassment early on as the previous two years.

 

[JD Irish]

Has anyone ever called it "The Bend" ? What a stupid slogan. Just write South Bend.

 

[arndtjc]

Big fan of the Noturdue Fightin' Boilerirish basketball jerseys!!!

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Here come the "Bend Over" jokes...

 

[CTIDANDREW]

20th Anniversary of the One and Done rule being introduced into the NBA.
Best of luck to Jalen as he hopefully becomes our first ever freshman lottery pick from the program.

We don't even have a lottery draft pick this century.

He has the measurables, now we just have to see if he can show it at the next level.
It would be incredible for him to showcase himself for the next four months, get this program going back in the right direction, then go make nine figures in the NBA.

Excited to see him in action.

 

[Irish#1]

I hope those are dark blue and not black.

 

[sfk324]

I feel like some brake pumping is necessary on Towt. His numbers against P5 programs while at NAU were mediocre. I expect him to be more playable than Nikita was, but people hoping for something approaching a Jack Cooley revelation are likely to be disappointed.

 

[PolishDomer]

Has anyone ever called it "The Bend" ? What a stupid slogan. Just write South Bend.

Endorsed by the American Association of Urologists

 

[FU BK]

Help a colorblind mofo out, is that a dark navy blue or black?

As a fellow colorblind fella...I feel your pain

 

[irishandy]

It's year 3 for coach Shrews, they brought in the best ever recruiting class, it's time to see results. They need to make the NCAA tournament.

The basketball programs have a new GM (a damn good player and person) and one that knows the University of Notre Dame.

I am kind of excited for this season.

 

[Irish#1]

Squeezed out an exhibition win against Butler 77-76. Not sure how good Butler will be this year. I saw them placed at the bottom of their conference, but also saw where they were picked middle of the pack.

Irish Win First Exhibition, 77-76, at Butler

13 Irish played and four finished in double figures

fightingirish.com

 

[arrowryan]

Certified ass

 

[MacIrish75]

Eh just a scrimmage. We’ll see.

 

[IrishBryan77]

The men still have a team? 🤔

 

[IrishBryan77]

I gave up after David Rivers and Elmer Bennet

 

[Kingbish01]

I gave up after David Rivers and Elmer Bennet

Ellis, Sweet and Bennet...that was the first squad I remember for ND hoops.

 

[SportsingHard]

I gave up after David Rivers and Elmer Bennet

Those are some of my fondest ND bball memories, but interesting in the LaPhonso Ellis class the first name to come to your mind is Elmer.

 

[IrishBryan77]

Those are some of my fondest ND bball memories, but interesting in the LaPhonso Ellis class the first name to come to your mind is Elmer.

I loved Laphonso Ellis. I just tried thinking back before him even. That's when I started watching. lol. I'm old

 

[NDdomer2]

The Pat Garrity era are the first years I have legit memories of

 

[SportsingHard]

I loved Laphonso Ellis. I just tried thinking back before him even. That's when I started watching. lol. I'm old

I'm just saying Ellis and Bennett were in the same class with Daimon Sweet and Keith Tower (plus Keith Adkins, who transferred.)

 

[KMac151993]

Squeezed out an exhibition win against Butler 77-76. Not sure how good Butler will be this year. I saw them placed at the bottom of their conference, but also saw where they were picked middle of the pack.

Irish Win First Exhibition, 77-76, at Butler

13 Irish played and four finished in double figures

fightingirish.com

We have essentially all new pieces - depends on how the team gels. It was a scripted exhibition.

 

[GrangerIrish24]

I loved Laphonso Ellis. I just tried thinking back before him even. That's when I started watching. lol. I'm old

Got to know Laphonso pretty well. One of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. Helped coach his son in some youth basketball league. It was remarkably nerve wrecking when his NBA father was in the stands every game.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Tom Hawkins ... 1958-1959 ... beat St. Johns in our (literal) barn. Floor was movable (pushable around on a dirt surface. Raised about three feet. If you ran three steps off the court, you plunged over the edge onto the dirt. Reduced incentive to hustle ...... great times.)

 

[texbender]

Austin Carr, Bob Arnzen, Collis Jones...then on to Digger's great teams wih Shumate, Dantley, Paterno, Tripuka, Lambeer, etal.

 

[cape cod]

1950 ND basketball recruits Entee Shine 6'2 1/2 (South Bend Central) & Joe Bertrand 6'3 (Chicago St Elizabeth) were the 1st two scholarship African American basketball players in ND history. The two were pictured on the cover of Ebony Magazine after arriving at ND.

BOTH went out for football briefly at ND. Shine was an end - an per the great book about ND football - "The Forgotten Four" was considered to have 'special' football talent.....but quit football to concentrate on basketball....Shine flunked out of ND after/during his sophomore season & transferred to Tennessee A&M...but his brief 'tryout' with the ND football squad was impressive enough that the LA Rams selected him in an NFL draft..though he had never played football in college.

Bertrand tried out for the football squad later in his ND days -only to suffer a broken hand in practice...he decided after that injury to stick to BB(though someone later claimed (mistakenly) that Bertrand was cut from the FB squad).....ND basketball teammate Jack Stephens also tried out for football with Bertrand & made the Irish varsity football team (1952)

 

[SeekNDestroy]

1950 ND basketball recruits Entee Shine 6'2 1/2 (South Bend Central) & Joe Bertrand 6'3 (Chicago St Elizabeth) were the 1st two scholarship African American basketball players in ND history. The two were pictured on the cover of Ebony Magazine after arriving at ND.

BOTH went out for football briefly at ND. Shine was an end - an per the great book about ND football - "The Forgotten Four" was considered to have 'special' football talent.....but quit football to concentrate on basketball....Shine flunked out of ND after/during his sophomore season & transferred to Tennessee A&M...but his brief 'tryout' with the ND football squad was impressive enough that the LA Rams selected him in an NFL draft..though he had never played football in college.

Bertrand tried out for the football squad later in his ND days -only to suffer a broken hand in practice...he decided after that injury to stick to BB(though someone later claimed (mistakenly) that Bertrand was cut from the FB squad).....ND basketball teammate Jack Stephens also tried out for football with Bertrand & made the Irish varsity football team (1952)

@Old Man Mike et al
I really enjoy reading historical tidbits about the Irish football and basketball teams. Thank you.

 

[cape cod]

Another early African American who tried out for the ND Basketball team (circa 1954) was 6'6 Jerome 'Gary' Cooper from Mobile, Alabama....his remarkable story is linked below....but his ND BB tryout was short lived....Cooper was invited to try out for the BB squad due to his size & leaping ability(as displayed while playing InterHall BB)....but Cooper had never played basketball before arriving at ND.

As the linked article states, Cooper could jump, rebound and play defense....but he need work on shooting, dribbling and passing...he was cut.

Joining the USMC after graduating from ND, Cooper was the 1st ever African American to command Marine troops in combat....later making it all the way to the rank of General in the Marine Corps

Black Domers: Jerome Gary Cooper | Notre Dame Magazine | University of Notre Dame

Jerome Gary Cooper '58 came to Notre Dame in autumn 1954 from Mobile, Alabama. He majored in finance and was a member of the Naval ROTC program. After graduation, he became a marine Corps officer, retiring with the rank of major general. He served as US ambassador to Jamaica during the Clinton...

magazine.nd.edu