Micah Shrewsberry is "Coming Out Fighting" in First Season at Notre Dame

Notre Dame men’s basketball opens its first season under new coach Micah Shrewsberry in 38 days when it hosts Niagara. 

He spent ample time with his team over the summer in the fall, with practice for the 2023-24 season already underway. 

Shrewsberry is focusing on gradual improvements over a hot start that quickly fizzles out, which last year’s team experienced. In 2022-23, the Fighting Irish began 6-1 with a win over Michigan State only to wrap up the season 5-20. 

“We don't want to be our best on Nov. 6,” he said. “We want to be our best at the end of the season. So, I think you're starting to sense that a little bit. I think there are things that we’ve got to clean up, obviously, but we’ve got six weeks until we play.”

On Tuesday, the Atlantic Coast Conference released conference schedules. 

Notre Dame will get tested early in the ACC by opening conference play with four tournament teams from a season ago, including the three top-returning programs. 

First Four ACC Games of 2023-24 Season 

Dec. 2 - at Miami

Dec. 30 - Virginia

Jan. 3 - N.C. State

Jan. 6 - Duke

As anticipated, there are meager expectations for the Irish in Year 1 under Shrewsberry. 

College basketball insider Jon Rothstein picked Notre Dame to finish dead last in the ACC this season.

Shrewsberry won’t pin Rothstein’s article to a bulletin board or put the insider’s face on a dart board, but he’s taking note of the doubters. 

“It's pretty disrespectful, but I love that part of it because I'm a fighter, and I'm trying to win this year,” Shrewsberry said. “But I know what our growth is going to look like. I know what we're gonna look like here next year and the year after that the year after that.”

Of course, Rothstein is basing his projections on the information available. He knows the Irish are coming off of a 3-17 ACC record (14th out of 15 teams) and ended 2022-23 as the nation’s 166th-ranked team, according to Kenpom.

He’s also well aware that the Notre Dame roster experienced a mass exodus following the departure of former coach Mike Brey. Last year, nine different players saw action in at least 10 games. 

The only returner is senior forward Matt Zona, who averaged 1.7 points and 1.4 rebounds in 20 games a season ago. 

Shrewsberry hit the recruiting trail and transfer portal hard in the offseason, bringing in four freshmen and three players from other major conference programs.

Rothstein’s Projected Notre Dame Starters & Bench

G Markus Burton, Freshman

G Julian Roper II, Junior

G J.R. Konieczny, Junior

F Carey Booth, Freshman

C Kebba Njie, Sophomore

Bench: Freshman G Braeden Shrewsberry, Freshman G Logan Imes, Sophomore F Tae Davis, Senior G Tony Sanders, Senior F Matt Zona

Still, the biggest unknown is who will score the basketball. The seven players on Notre Dame’s roster with college experience averaged a combined 15.1 points per game in their most recent seasons.

*Denotes 2021-22 statistics after Konieczny took a red shirt last season.

“There are people putting up a lot of numbers on bad teams too, right?” Shrewsberry said. “Somebody's got to lead a bad team in scoring. Somebody's guys got to lead every team in scoring. I don't look at the numbers and be like, 'Man, we're gonna score 16 points a game.'”

Shrewsberry expects individual scoring averages to increase with more chances to shoot. 

“All these guys probably led their high school team in scoring,” Shrewsberry said. “Just because they hadn't done here doesn't mean they've never done it before in their lives. So they've done it before. They just haven't had the opportunity to do it.”

Still, it may take time before they’re scoring efficiently. Under Shrewsberry, the 2022-23 Penn State men’s basketball team ranked 13th out of 363 Division I programs in adjusted offensive efficiency. 

The year prior, the Nittany Lions ranked 133rd in Shrewsberry’s first season as head coach. 

Shrewsberry might emphasize defense over offense early in his Notre Dame tenure, which also happens to be where there’s the most room for improvement. 

Last year, Kenpom ranked Notre Dame’s adjusted defensive efficiency 255th out of 363 Division I programs. 

“I’ve got a lot more rules defensively than offensively,” Shrewsberry said. “So they gotta learn our system. We're gonna guard in this system. I need rule followers. I need guys that can understand how we guard certain things and can do it in live action. We drill it, we drill, we drill it and we drill it. Now do it live-action.”

Julian Roper II should provide the energy and toughness Notre Dame needs to thrive on the defensive end, but he still needs to prove he can stay healthy. Injuries limited him to 15 games during his sophomore campaign at Northwestern.

Shrewsberry is pleased with redshirt sophomore J.R. Konieczny's shooting ability and athleticism, but that will only matter if the 6-foot-7, 204-pound guard can impact the other end of the court. 

“He's taken time to work on the things that helped him be a better defender,” Shrewsberry said. “Because I told him I only need five to play defense. I'm going to play the guys that can do it. He's trying to put himself in that position to earn playing time by what he's doing on the defensive end of the court.”

The same goes for Carey Booth, a former blue-chip prospect. He possesses NBA talent but likely lacks the polish necessary to be one-and-done.  

Burton was more of a scorer at nearby Penn H.S. in Granger, Ind., but he might be the best option to handle the rock. 

Thus far, Shrewsberry is impressed with Burton’s competitive fire.

“Markus, along with our other three freshmen, they don't back down from anybody,” Shrewsberry said. “I love that part of it. They’re best friends, right? If you see him off the court, they're all together, but when you watch them on the court, they're competing like they never met each other.”

Still, the Irish may struggle this season.

If they do, Shrewsberry wants opponents to enjoy their success while they can, but that doesn’t mean Notre Dame will roll over, either. 

“I never put anything beyond what's happening today, right?” Shrewsberry said. “I don't know if I'm going to be here tomorrow, so there is no tomorrow for us. I'm coming out fighting and scratching and crawling every single day. I say that because this will be the easiest year for you to get us because we're all new. We're all new together.

“I'm not saying you're going to get us, but this will be easier for you to do it.”