2025-2026 ND Basketball Thread

[IRISHDODGER]

Micah Shrewsberry tear his Achilles now?!
You can’t make this shit up.

Blame Landow!

 

[IRISHDODGER]

I mean he has to be fired right?

I think most fans think that but listening to Tom Noie (longtime ND basketball beat writer for SBT), he thinks he gets another year maybe two. His contention is that ND still doesn’t spend on the level of programs competing at the D1 level. He stated that ND has shown a similar commitment as schools like BC, Pitt & WF and not coincidentally; their records are similar.

This was said on a podcast before the Duke game, so who knows if his tune has changed? Obviously, guys like Certa & Haralson have to return and then he has to pick up an instant impact in the portal. Reportedly, his players love playing or him. Let’s see if that changes when Certa & Haralson get offered millions to transfer.

 

[IrishBryan77]

Commentators almost laughing about the greatest thrashing .... ouch.

Well.....it's comical is it not?

 

[Irish#1]

Given the state of the program, it will be extremely hard to keep anyone from transferring.

 

[IrishBryan77]

Given the state of the program, it will be extremely hard to keep anyone from transferring.

I mean it would probably be smart for them to do so. Unless they like to lose which seems to be the trend

 

[arrowryan]

Shrews is a terrible coach. His oldest son is a top 5 worst guard I’ve ever seen play at ND; he could build a house with all the bricks he jacks up. And his youngest son is probably barely good enough to play NAIA, let alone the ACC.

The university is doing the football program a disservice by giving Shrew a dime of NIL money.

 

[arrowryan]

🤣🤣

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

🤣🤣

Cobra insurance will help pay for it.

 

[stlnd01]

I think most fans think that but listening to Tom Noie (longtime ND basketball beat writer for SBT), he thinks he gets another year maybe two. His contention is that ND still doesn’t spend on the level of programs competing at the D1 level. He stated that ND has shown a similar commitment as schools like BC, Pitt & WF and not coincidentally; their records are similar.

End of the day we're a football school. I'm sure the athletic department has made the calculations that their money and energy is better spent on football.
Yes there are schools that are able to succeed at both, but given other structural headwinds our basketball program faces, I'm not entirely clear it is worth the investment it would take to truly compete at a high level. Especially in the new world order of NIL and open transfers. And especially if it robs dollars from the many other programs that are quite competitive, where you can get more bang for your buck.
Still, we should be better than we are. The trick is finding a coach who can succeed within the parameters of Notre Dame.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

End of the day we're a football school. I'm sure the athletic department has made the calculations that their money and energy is better spent on football.
Yes there are schools that are able to succeed at both, but given other structural headwinds our basketball program faces, I'm not entirely clear it is worth the investment it would take to truly compete at a high level. Especially in the new world order of NIL and open transfers. And especially if it robs dollars from the many other programs that are quite competitive, where you can get more bang for your buck.
Still, we should be better than we are. The trick is finding a coach who can succeed within the parameters of Notre Dame.

I think that’s well understood by the majority of the fanbase & administration. Still no excuse to not invest more than the moribund programs in the conference. I agree it appears that a better HC would solve that but I’ll defer to Noie whose been on that beat for decades.

 

[Irish#1]

Dan Patrick mentioned this is the biggest home loss since 1898. When Dan Patrick mentions NDBB, it's got to be very good or very very bad.

 

[SoIll]

I simply don't know how you can retain him after last night. If they were playing inspired basketball. Playing hard. In games, keep him. This is only going to get worse unfortunately. I just don't understand. He was a X/O savant at Penn State. I am flabbergasted on bad he and the team has been. Taking his son, was his first mistake...

 

[Irish#1]

End of the day we're a football school. I'm sure the athletic department has made the calculations that their money and energy is better spent on football.
Yes there are schools that are able to succeed at both, but given other structural headwinds our basketball program faces, I'm not entirely clear it is worth the investment it would take to truly compete at a high level. Especially in the new world order of NIL and open transfers. And especially if it robs dollars from the many other programs that are quite competitive, where you can get more bang for your buck.
Still, we should be better than we are. The trick is finding a coach who can succeed within the parameters of Notre Dame.

Agree on being a FB school, but politely disagree, with the rest. After FB, isn't BB the next biggest generator of revenue? Increase BB revenue you increase more funds for other programs.

There are plenty of FB schools that are doing quite well in BB. Regardless, ND has the funds to take care of all the athletic programs if they choose. I get Pete doesn't want to eat Shrews salary, but he shouldn't be giving him much of a leash at this point.

 

[RDU Irish]

Given the state of the program, it will be extremely hard to keep anyone from transferring.

Given the state of the program - who gives a shit. Put up a Bookstore BBall All Star squad coached by Father Pete for all I care. I can at least respect and root for that.

 

[BilboBaggins]

End of the day we're a football school. I'm sure the athletic department has made the calculations that their money and energy is better spent on football.
Yes there are schools that are able to succeed at both, but given other structural headwinds our basketball program faces, I'm not entirely clear it is worth the investment it would take to truly compete at a high level. Especially in the new world order of NIL and open transfers. And especially if it robs dollars from the many other programs that are quite competitive, where you can get more bang for your buck.
Still, we should be better than we are. The trick is finding a coach who can succeed within the parameters of Notre Dame.

Notre Dame can be as good as Michigan or Purdue.

 

[ab2cmiller]

Notre Dame can be as good as Michigan or Purdue.

In the age of NIL, this is probably true if we are willing to pay a decent amount more for recruits.

 

[stlnd01]

Agree on being a FB school, but politely disagree, with the rest. After FB, isn't BB the next biggest generator of revenue? Increase BB revenue you increase more funds for other programs.

How much revenue does our basketball program generate? I’ve no clear idea.

How much more would it generate if we spent enough on transfers to become, say, a middle-of-the-pack ACC team that contends for Tournament slots?

Again, I don’t really know. Sure we’d sell more tickets but what beyond that?

I wouldn’t be shocked if they’ve run the numbers and decided the ROI isn’t there right now, and so they’d rather invest in football and in sports where we can realistically compete for titles for less money.

 

[NDPhilly]

Shrews was highly coveted from PSU. They certainly weren’t trying to settle with him.

 

[ab2cmiller]

Noie knows ND basketball. He knows where the real problems lie.

 

[notredomer23]

I don’t buy that ND doesn’t want to be competitive. Football is king and it should be, but pretending basketball isn’t getting adequate funding is giving Shrews an excuse that he doesn’t deserve. Shrews has been getting better recruits consistently than Brey ever did not because he’s a great recruiter (he may be!) but because of this funding… the roster assembly and talent development is bad and the in game coaching is somehow worse. Now could you make the argument that the lack of transfer portal acquisitions is on the university/NIL rather than Shrews? Sure, but that doesn’t jive with the amount that they invested in high school recruiting. It seems like a choice that Shrews wants to build the roster from the ground up and hardly supplement with the portal.

 

[BeatSC]

Because this team is terrible and probably the worst Notre Dame team I can remember

Oh, that’s why. Got it.

 

[BruinDomer]

I don't buy the recruiting side or funding argument. Maybe by rankings measure the recruiting has been an improvement but I just don't buy that we outbid top schools for the recruits we've gotten and that Shrews actually has better talent. It's much more likely schools identified weaknesses and deficiencies in these players that we also identified but we're willing to accept (because this is ND basketball we're talking about). Go look at the top historical recruits we've signed since the start of this century. Not a single one has had real success professionally in the NBA or even at another school. Our only legitimate NBA player over the last 20 years has been Pat Connaughton. Blame the coaches but imo this is more an indictment against what ND is as an athletic destination when it doesn't have tradition and historical success to fall back on. Strip those aspects and we're a tough academic and very religious school in the middle of northwest Indiana. Comparisons to Michigan, IU, Purdue or Syracuse are apt given the weather situation but fail to highlight that those schools have had historical basketball success. We don't have that and to act like we can just flip a switch and start recruiting and signing legit star recruits or transfers with funding is asinine to me.

The only reason you can have hope is cuz IU just did this in football but that's basically the type of turnaround we're talking about. Which is to say, extremely unlikely to ever occur.

 

[BeatSC]

worst home loss in ND history - absolutely brutal

That’s always a good time to can the coach. This season has Ty Willingham year three vibes. Is an Urban Meyer level coach out there waiting for us so we can can Shrews for a reason besides he sucks ass?

 

[BeatSC]

I’d be willing to try Chris Ash at this point.

I’ll even take Chris Ass!

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

I don't know who possibly wants this job if they fire this guy now, after year three. You're looking at long shot developmental coaching prospects unless you fully commit to making the program competitive in this current landscape, which they should do for the current head coach.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

I simply don't know how you can retain him after last night. If they were playing inspired basketball. Playing hard. In games, keep him. This is only going to get worse unfortunately. I just don't understand. He was a X/O savant at Penn State. I am flabbergasted on bad he and the team has been. Taking his son, was his first mistake...

As a fan, I understand but he ain’t getting fired anytime soon.

 

[Ndaccountant]

I do no think Shrewsbury is it. I also agree with Tom. Structural forces must change. Until they do, it really is pointless to pay Shrewsbury to go away.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

I don't buy the recruiting side or funding argument. Maybe by rankings measure the recruiting has been an improvement but I just don't buy that we outbid top schools for the recruits we've gotten and that Shrews actually has better talent. It's much more likely schools identified weaknesses and deficiencies in these players that we also identified but we're willing to accept (because this is ND basketball we're talking about). Go look at the top historical recruits we've signed since the start of this century. Not a single one has had real success professionally in the NBA or even at another school. Our only legitimate NBA player over the last 20 years has been Pat Connaughton. Blame the coaches but imo this is more an indictment against what ND is as an athletic destination when it doesn't have tradition and historical success to fall back on. Strip those aspects and we're a tough academic and very religious school in the middle of northwest Indiana. Comparisons to Michigan, IU, Purdue or Syracuse are apt given the weather situation but fail to highlight that those schools have had historical basketball success. We don't have that and to act like we can just flip a switch and start recruiting and signing legit star recruits or transfers with funding is asinine to me.

The only reason you can have hope is cuz IU just did this in football but that's basically the type of turnaround we're talking about. Which is to say, extremely unlikely to ever occur.

I was surprised to learn that ND one of the top 10 winningest programs of all time. To be fair, that’s not winning %age…just wins. But I was still pleasantly surprised. They’ve had two top five draft picks: Austin Carr (#1 overall) & LaPhonso Ellis (#5 overall). They also have one Hall-of-Famer in Adrian Dantley. All that doesn’t sound like a lot. Compare it to other schools & you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

For example, the University of Arkansas is considered a basketball school by most. They can claim a national championship in the early 90s. They followed that up w/ a runner-up finish the following season. They had some historic runs under Hall of Fame Coaches Eddie Sutton & Nolan Richardson. But they’ve only had one top five pick & only one Hall-of-Famer: Sidney Moncrief. I think a lot of ND fans conflate the football program w/ the basketball program historically. ND is not as bad historically at men’s basketball as it appears right now. Especially with younger fans.

 

[yankeehater]

That team on the court last night was a D2 level at best squad.

 

[notredomer23]

I don't buy the recruiting side or funding argument. Maybe by rankings measure the recruiting has been an improvement but I just don't buy that we outbid top schools for the recruits we've gotten and that Shrews actually has better talent. It's much more likely schools identified weaknesses and deficiencies in these players

This is not the case of schools cooling. Of the 4 star recruits in ‘24 and ‘25

• ND beat out Indiana and MSU as the top 3 for Haralson.
• ND beat out Villanova and Virginia Tech for Sir Mo
• ND beat out Wisconsin, Michigan, and Syracuse for Ryder Frost
• ND beat out Virginia Tech and Iowa for Brady Koehler
• ND beat out Illinois and Nebraska for Certa

Sure, they’re not beating Duke or Kansas head to head anytime soon, but they’re consistently beating out their peers who are all performing better than them on the court.

ND basketball may have some limitations for sure being a football school. Those limitations shouldn’t have them worse than the top half of the ACC with consistency.

The talent is young but it’s not getting developed. I have zero faith in him as in game coach. So if all he can do is get the players here (which I am overstating anyway since he can’t get them in the portal), he needs to go.