2025 Hoops Commit Tommy Ahneman Talks Notre Dame Fit
Tommy Ahneman’s decision to commit to Notre Dame came down to one simple factor.
“Fit,” the 2025 Minnesota center told Irish Sports Daily.
The 6-foot-11, 252-pounder ended up feeling the fit in South Bend on a number of levels, but it wasn’t obvious until he visited for the first time last month.
“When I stepped on campus, I walked into the practice facility and I think every single player came up and said hi to me,” Ahneman said of the Irish. “Usually they do that after practice, but they did that before practice. I was with the team the whole time. The freshmen were great. It was basically like being a part of the team on the visit and it was day-in-the-life stuff. They were all great, we all got along really well.”
Ahneman, who chose Notre Dame over Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and others, noted that the fit extended to the court as well.
“Honestly, what really sold me is when I sat down and we went over the player development stuff,” he said. “They had my whole player development plan laid out for me; what I would do coming in as a freshman. They even put my game highlights into a PowerPoint. I really knew that they took the time and watched everything. It wasn't all good. It wasn't all bad either. It was perfect just seeing what they saw for me and it was almost what I saw and what I need to get better at too. It was just all laid out there.
“They're very pick-and-roll heavy. I thrive in a pick-and-roll situation, pick-and-pop situations, stepping out and hitting a three. Low post game too; they hit the post entry. Their guards share the ball incredibly well there. They're always developing the bigs so they can do everything a guard can do; passing, dribbling, shooting, and then they even make it even more of an emphasis on scoring down low for the bigs too.”
And the fit with the coaching staff, specifically head coach Micah Shrewsberry and assistant Kyle Getter, was also tremendous.
“The coaching staff's amazing,” Ahneman said. “Coach Shrews, even though it was my third or fourth time really meeting him face to face, it was great getting to talk to him. Great talking to the rest of those guys. Coach Getter was amazing the whole time I was recruited by him. Just the whole feel of Notre Dame; the campus was amazing. I just really fell in love with it there. The players were great to me. Just Notre Dame as a whole was just awesome. It really pulled me to Notre Dame.”
His conversations with Getter went beyond basketball.
“It was family stuff,” he said. “It was, how am I doing today? He was very good about if I was swamped or something. He was like, 'Hey man, I just wanted to check in, see how you're doing. We don't need to talk for 20, 30 minutes. We're good. Let's just say hi, and then that's about it. And then we'll talk in person on your official.'
“He visited me a lot, almost every Tuesday coming to the workouts at my high school. It was just a great relationship even outside of basketball.”
Ahneman was excited to cap an historic recruiting run for the Irish that saw Brady Koehler, Jalen Haralson and Ryder Frost commit within a week.
“It was really cool,” he said. “No one really expects to be a part of the number one recruiting class. Just the way it all worked out, it was super cool. The buzz on campus was amazing. Everyone was telling me to commit on campus, so that was awesome.
“Obviously it's a really cool experience and something not many people get to be a part of.”
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