SOUTH BEND, Ind. \u2014 Micah Shrewsberry prefers to stick to shaking hands over swinging golf clubs.<\/p>\n
The Notre Dame men\u2019s basketball <\/a>head coach didn\u2019t participate in the golf portion of Tuesday\u2019s Coaches vs. Cancer Golf Classic at Notre Dame\u2019s Warren Golf Course, but he was still the face of a two-day Celebration of Hope<\/a> that began Monday with a Night of the Stars at Four Winds Casino in South Bend, Ind. Ahead of his third season leading the Irish men\u2019s basketball program, Shrewsberry has carried on the philanthropic mission of raising funds for the American Cancer Society that former head coach Mike Brey embraced during his time at Notre Dame.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not a person that hasn\u2019t been touched at some point in time by somebody that they know,\u201d Shrewsberry said of the fight against cancer. \u201cMyself included. It\u2019s big for our family. Something that\u2019s important for us. It\u2019s a fight everybody can get behind.\u201d<\/p>\n Shrewsberry also discussed the summer progress made within his basketball program as the Irish look to recover from a forgettable 15-18 season following a 13-20 record in his first season at Notre Dame. These were my top three takeaways.<\/p>\n Shrewsberry wants to get back to basics<\/p>\n Micah Shrewsberry didn\u2019t need to wait until the offseason to identify what he considered a mistake in how he prepared his team for last season. At various times throughout the season, Shrewsberry blamed himself for spending too much time trying to improve the team\u2019s offense, which resulted in taking too many steps back defensively.<\/p>\n The Irish allowed 72.5 points per game during the 2024-25 season after limiting opponents to 67.2 points per game the previous season.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us it\u2019s really getting back to the standards, getting back to the basics of who we want to be,\u201d Shrewsberry said. \u201cWe spent a lot of time doing that this summer.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really focused on our defense, focused on our rebounding, focused on our toughness, our togetherness and everything else. Easy things to kind of fix and correct, but we spend a lot of time doing. I think you\u2019ll see some improvements in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n Shrewsberry pointed to the need to stay healthy as one of the biggest lessons from last season. That\u2019s because his starting backcourt of Markus Burton<\/a>, Braeden Shrewsberry<\/a> and Matt Allocco<\/a> only played together in 15 games due to injuries to all three of them throughout the season.<\/p>\n Notre Dame can attempt to improve injury prevention under new director of men\u2019s basketball strength and conditioning Jon Sanderson. But the offseason work with Sanderson can be about much more than that.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been a tougher team,\u201d Micah Shrewsberry said. \u201cThat started on the court, but it started in the weight room with our new hire in Jon Sanderson. We have a culture of toughness just like we have a culture of hard work. When you see us play, that\u2019s being displayed out there at all times on the court. That\u2019s the biggest lesson for me. We\u2019re gonna go back to who we were.\u201d<\/p>\n Finding a different presence<\/p>\n The toughness Micah Shrewsberry wants out of his team can show up in a number of different ways when the 2025-26 season starts with exhibitions in October. Improved rebounding would be a good start.<\/p>\n The Irish averaged 35.09 rebounds per game last season, which ranked in the bottom half of Division I last season (No. 188 of 355). That number dipped to 33.8 in 20 regular season games against ACC opponents. The Irish ranked 10th in team rebounding in ACC play for a conference that only received four bids to the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n Notre Dame\u2019s rebounding problems can\u2019t simply be solved by bringing in graduate transfer Carson Towt<\/a>, who led Division I in rebounding last season with 12.4 per game at Northern Arizona last season. But the 6-foot-8, 235-pound Towt\u2019s presence can help others buy into the rebounding mindset.<\/p>\n It also helps that Notre Dame has five players on the roster listed taller than Towt \u2014 sophomore forward Garrett Sundra<\/a> (6-11), freshman forward Brady Koehler <\/a>(6-10), senior forward Kebba Njie <\/a>(6-10), freshman center Tommy Ahneman<\/a> (6-10) and graduate transfer forward Matthew MacLellan <\/a>(6-9) \u2014 and only one listed shorter than 6-4 \u2014 Burton at 6-0.<\/p>\n \u201cOur look is different,\u201d Micah Shrewsberry said. \u201cWe don\u2019t walk through many airports anymore, but we got an airport team. We\u2019re bigger. We\u2019re taller. We\u2019re longer. We\u2019re more athletic. Our look is a little bit different.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not playing, but the guys that are playing say they can feel that difference when they\u2019re attacking off the dribble and trying to get to the basket. They can feel that difference, especially defensively.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are some changes. There are some differences. We\u2019re still trying to work out the kinks of how it\u2019s going to look.\u201d<\/p>\n Focused on having fun through improvement<\/p>\n Back-to-back losing seasons to start Shrewsberry\u2019s Notre Dame tenure could easily suck the fun out of the program. Certainly, watching the Irish play the past two seasons hasn\u2019t been an overly pleasant experience. But the fact that Notre Dame only lost two players to the transfer portal after last season \u2014 forward Tae Davis<\/a> to Oklahoma and guard J.R. Konieczny<\/a> to Florida Gulf Coast \u2014 indicates a certain level of buy-in from Notre Dame\u2019s roster.<\/p>\n The remaining players seem to believe in what Shrewsberry is trying to build. The development process can be fun if everyone\u2019s pushing in the same direction.<\/p>\n \u201cJust have fun,\u201d Shrewsberry said of his summer message to the team. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019ve been doing. Spending a lot of time together, learning, but our continuity is a little bit different than a lot of people around the country.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving seven guys back, it doesn\u2019t sound like a lot, but we can talk about things and guys are doing it already. We made some changes to some stuff and schematically in what we\u2019re doing. But they picked up on it really well.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve come with an unbelievable attitude. But also I love the days when we\u2019re not practicing and the court\u2019s full of guys down there working and getting better. We have a team full of guys who want to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n Notre Dame added four scholarship freshmen \u2014 Koehler, Ahneman and forwards Jalen Haralson<\/a> and Ryder Frost<\/a> \u2014 this offseason in addition to the graduate transfers of Towt and MacLellan (NAIA\u2019s Madonna). One of the best recruiting classes in recent program history has hit the ground running.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re learning,\u201d Micah Shrewsberry said. \u201cWe got a lot of guys back. We got a lot of guys returning. We added a couple of older guys. They\u2019re just falling in line with what those guys were already doing. The foundation has already been laid in place. They\u2019ve come in eager to work and fell in line like everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOUTH BEND, Ind. \u2014 Micah Shrewsberry prefers to stick to shaking hands over swinging golf clubs. 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