Notre Dame Basketball: 2023-24 season preview for the Fighting Irish
By Joey Loose
Major changes have come in South Bend for the first time in nearly a quarter century, as Mike Brey stepped aside after serving as Notre Dame Basketball’s head coach for the last 23 years. Considering the current state of the program, the time was probably right for this type of change, with the Fighting Irish finishing below .500 in three of the last five seasons. Notre Dame regularly made the Big Dance in the final years of the Big East and initially in the ACC, but have not been so regular this last half decade.
In steps Micah Shrewsberry, who last year developed Jalen Pickett into an All-American and led Penn State to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade. Shrewsberry is a native of Indiana who’s back at home in the Hoosier State, even coaching at IU South Bend nearly two decades ago. His stock is clearly high after what happened with the Nittany Lions, who he led for just two seasons, but what kind of success can he have with this program in the ACC?
We teased major changes and that’s a certified fact: this roster will look very unrecognizable. While lots of movement is typical with the current state of college basketball, this Notre Dame team will look significantly different this season. Nearly every single player from last season is gone, including all the starters and the top seven scorers. Names like Dane Goodwin, Nate Laszewski, Cormac Ryan no longer lead that lineup, while freshman JJ Starling transferred to Syracuse.
Recent history has shown us that the Transfer Portal allows coaches to build competent rosters from day one, but it’s not an easy task by any means. Notre Dame is coming off another rough season, winning just 11 games last year, and are replacing virtually every bit of production. Shrewsberry as been busy both on the recruiting trail and utilizing that Transfer Portal, but what can we realistically expect from a completely new-look team?
The ACC has belonged to Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia, though Miami certainly has grabbed a piece of that glory in recent years. We’re nearly a decade since Notre Dame’s back-to-back Elite Eight runs and their time in the spotlight has clearly come to an end. Shrewsberry has a mighty task ahead, and he likely won’t accomplish many of his goals this season. Still, we’ll be looking closely at this Notre Dame team, examining their roster, their schedule, and seeing what this season may hold for the team. Can Shrewsberry pull off that same magic he had with Penn State here in South Bend?