Oct. 29—SOUTH BEND — If recent history means anything, the outlook on Notre Dame men’s basketball could be favorable as it awaits the start of the season next week.
The Irish will play a charity exhibition game at Purdue Fort Wayne on Wednesday before they prepare for their season opener in South Bend on Wednesday, Nov. 6, against Stonehill.
Head coach Micah Shrewsberry enters his second season as the Fighting Irish’s head coach. In his second, and final season at Penn State in 2022-23, Shrewsberry unexpectedly led the Nittany Lions to a NCAA Tournament bid for the first time since 2011. Shrewsberry’s team would go on to win its first game as a No. 10 seed before dropping out in the Round of 32.
If the Irish were to enter the NCAA Tournament this season, it would be another surprise second-year leap for a Shrewsberry-led program.
Notre Dame (13-20 in 2023-24) returns seven of its nine players to start a game for the Fighting Irish last season. That includes sophomore guard, and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Rookie of the Year, Markus Burton.
Burton led the team in points (17.5), assists (4.3) and steals (1.9) per game during the 2023-24 season. His 577 points scored set the Notre Dame freshman scoring record and the star was named to the All-ACC Third Team at the end of the season. He was placed on the Preseason All-ACC First Team this October.
The Penn High School standout was notably one of the louder and more vocal leaders of an extremely young, and inexperienced Irish team that finished with a NET ranking of 121st and a KenPom ranking of 166 last season.
At times, like in its home losses to Western Carolina (71-61) and the Citadel (65-45), or during its seven-game conference losing skid, Notre Dame struggled to find a consistent offensive effort and was extremely careless with the basketball. The defense, which allowed just over 67 point per game (ranked 49th in the NCAA), helped keep the Irish in games when the youth was more noticeable.
In games where the Irish committed nine or less turnovers, the team was 6-0.
Expect consistent growth from a heavy load of returners and an incoming recruiting class ranked 19th by ESPN.
ND comes into this season ranked 69th by KenPom.
