SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In the whirlwind of seismic changes to the college sports model that feels perpetually unending, Notre Dame second-year men’s basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry has settled into a new comfort zone when it comes to building a program.
Which doesn’t look drastically different from the old one that he brought to a podium at Purcell Pavillion and shared 16 months ago upon being introduced as Mike Brey’s successor.
In fact, he might even be more invested in some elements of it coming off a 13-20 showing overall and 7-13 in ACC play in his first season in South Bend, even against the backdrop of little or no speed bumps when it comes to both player movement in and out of programs and seemingly when it comes to financial compensation for players as well.
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“It is like — you have no idea what's going to happen, which is crazy, right?” Shrewsberry mulled Thursday ahead of a late afternoon practice at Rolfs Athletics Hall. “Crazy to think of, and I try not to think of it, try to enjoy my day since it's July. But our model hasn't really changed, though.
“You’ve got to understand where you are and how you build it and who you want here. That's the biggest thing. As we get to the stage now where there's the ability to transfer freely, it’s in the back of every college coach’s mind. So, we’ve got to find guys that value Notre Dame.
“Like they get here and they love the basketball part of what we're doing. They feel like they're getting better. They feel like they're going to grow and they can reach all their dreams here as a basketball player. But at the same time, they have to value this place educationally.”
Shrewsberry believes he found six such newcomers to add to a core of returning players led by sophomore-to-be point guard Markus Burton, the reigning ACC Rookie of the Year.
The new arrivals, on campus and enrolled in summer school since mid-June, include freshman guards Sir Mohammed and Cole Certa, freshman forward Garrett Sundra, and three grad transfers — post Nikita Konstantynovskyi (Lehigh), forward Burke Chebuhar (Monmouth) and guard Matt Allocco (Princeton), the latter of whom goes by “Mush” and who asserted his leadership skills throughout the open media viewing window on Thursday’s practice.
“When the scoreboard gets turned on, his chatter and his competitiveness go to a totally different level, and it raises everybody else's level,” Shrewsberry offered of the 6-foot-4 Allocco. “So, whether you’re trying to win, you're trying to lose, you're on his team, you're not on his team — you're engaged and you’re a part of that competitiveness. And it drives people. It drives the dudes on his team and it drives the dudes against him, because they hate him in those moments. ABSOLUTELY hate him in those moments.
“But our practices have been really fun, because of how competitive they've been. And he's a big part of that. He's a competitor, but he's a competitor that lets you know. He's talking non-stop. Like, he's encouraging his teammates and he's going at the dudes on the other team at the same exact time.”
Shrewsberry’s tough love, when it comes to the ongoing and uncompromising process of resetting the program’s identity and culture, can feel every bit as abrasive. Which is something he feels he needs to bake into his recruiting model to keep the outgoing part of the transfer portal at ND from needing a revolving door.
Freshman forward Carey Booth (Illinois) and senior froward Matt Zona (Fordham) were notable transfers out this offseason.
“They have to value what they're getting from a relationship standpoint with our staff on campus, whatever it may be, because those are the things that keep them here,” Shrewsberry said of ND’s recruiting targets. “If they don't value that as much and it's just a basketball decision, it's easy for you to roll. But if you're saying, ‘Man, I've put a lot of time into this. And I have a chance to get this degree and I might not want to give this up easy.’
“So, finding that it's really important for us. And the ebbs and flows of recruiting is you offer kids and you recruit kids early when you see something. But you don't get a chance to really know who they are until you spend some time with them, recruiting for a while. And sometimes I've pivoted.”
And Shrewsberry admitted that’s not usually a popular move with the rest of his coaching staff. But he persists anyway.
“I get to a certain point, and I pivot, because continuity is going to be one of our biggest deals,” he said. “Like, how do we sustain the program for a long time? It's through continuity. I’ve got to find the guys that can be here, that can be a part of that continuity.
“So, sometimes I’ve got to pivot at the last moment. Even if you put a lot of time in, it's OK, because putting a lot of time in and somebody leaves after a year, that hurts more than anything with your program and your continuity. So, finding the right guys, finding the people that value this place for everything that we bring to the table is really important for us.”
Shrewsberry has yet to secure a verbal commitment in the 2025 cycle, though Notre Dame continues to get official visits scheduled for rising seniors in the fall ahead of the November early-signing period.
And the state of Indiana continues to be an important territory in Shrewsberry’s high school building process. No fewer than six players from the Hoosier state in the 2025 class hold ND offers, though Heritage Hills High forward Trent Sisley has committed to play his senior season at Montverde Academy In Florida.
South Bend Washington’s Steven Reynolds III, meanwhile, is among a handful of 2026 prospects who have received scholarship offers nationally from Notre Dame.
The 47-year-old Shrewsberry is himself a former Indiana high school player, at Indianapolis Cathedral, and played collegiately at Hanover in the southern part of the state. His coaching career includes in-state stops at DePauw, Wabash, Indiana University South Bend, Butler and Purdue.
“Every part of the state except Fort Wayne and The [Calumet] Region I've been in, I've coached in, I’ve recruited in,” he said. “The connections throughout this state just makes a lot of sense. Like there's six degrees of separation on every kid. But you get to Indiana, and it's like one degree of separation for me. I know, everybody.”
But it’s more than that. It’s the caliber of player that’s prevalent in Indiana.
“I think the coaching that they get is really good,” Shrewsberry said. “There's some different areas of the country, like there's really good areas everywhere. But like Ohio, the DC Catholic-school area, like North Carolina's really good, the Chicago Catholic League. There's some areas where guys are getting coached, like REALLY coached.
“There's some Indiana high school coaches that are so good. So these kids are at a little bit of an advantage, because they're being coached at a young age. So that's why, for us, who we bring in is really important. Bringing in guys from high-level programs with high-level coaches is beneficial to us, and I think we can find that here in Indiana.”
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