SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame men's basketball will look a little different this year.
First-year head coach Micah Shrewsberry leads the charge for a team consisting of four true freshmen, three transfers and little returning production from last season.
The Irish tip off Nov. 1 with an exhibition game against Hanover, and five days later, they'll take the floor for their season opener against Niagara.
Monday marked the first official day of practice in college basketball, and Notre Dame hit the floor running after months of on-court workouts and conditioning training.
Shrewsberry said Monday's practice was different than what the Irish had been doing months prior, but said there was mutual excitement from the coaches and players on taking the first steps of building Notre Dame's identity.
"I think we're constantly still growing and getting better," Shrewsberry told Inside ND Sports before Tuesday's practice. "Like the thing I told them, really, that's what we want to focus on is team first and improving daily, and that's it.
"Don't think about anything else but those things. And come in here with that attitude each and every day, and let's try and get better. We're trying to get better. We don't want to be our best on Nov. 6. We want to be our best at the end of the season."
Shrewsberry said the Irish built their foundation during preseason workouts, and the upcoming practices create opportunities to zero in on details and build habits.
Establishing a defensive mindset
Junior guard Julian Roper II, a transfer from Northwestern, said defense was one of the biggest competitive factors in the Big 10, and he's brought that mindset to Notre Dame since committing in April.
As a freshman for the Wildcats in 2021-22, Roper recorded 25 steals, which ranked second0highest on the team.
"So, just taking that from there and taking it here ... I know I have to be sound defensively," Roper said. "Defense is probably one of the biggest things that will lead to our offense, especially [for] us this year. Really just being sound on defense, fundamentally sound [and] not gambling a lot ... trying to get stops every play [and] every time down, not necessarily a steal. We're just trying to get stops every time. That's one of the biggest things."
Last season, Penn State, under Shrewsberry, held its opponents to 68.2 points per game and averaged slightly over four steals per game.
Shrewsberry said one of his non-negotiables at Notre Dame is effort. Another one is defense, and he's looking for players that can follow rules and guard certain actions in live game settings.
"We spent a lot of time doing it," Shrewsberry said. "I think you are what you emphasize. And for us, we need to have a defensive DNA from the start with our team, so we emphasize that a lot. We emphasize ball movement on offense. And like I said, there's things we got to clean up to get where we need to be.
"But that part of it has been emphasized and it's been drilled in and it'll continue to be, because that gives us a chance every single night. It's all we want, is a chance to win every single night. If we have a defensive DNA, that will happen."
Falling back in love
J.R. Konieczny said he wasn't sure what to expect when Shrewsberry and the new Irish coaching staff arrived on campus in the spring.
Coming off a redshirt season, the former South Bend (Ind.) St. Joseph's star pondered his next move. He spoke with his family and close friends, and received a universal message they'd support any decision he made.
After meeting the new coaches and learning Shrewsberry's NBA pedigree, Konieczny knew he wanted to remain loyal to Notre Dame.
This summer, the 6-foot-7, 204-pound guard said he realized a lot about his personal identity and relationship with basketball.
"I want to say I just like kind of redefined my whole kind of thinking when it comes to basketball," Konieczny said. "You know, I've taken two years off of playing basketball. Deep down, you know, I'm thinking to myself, 'I just love playing basketball, but I had to step back.' You're thinking about that, and really ... I love playing basketball.
"I just want to go out there on the court. I want to be playing again ... I have a new hunger for the game. I have a new love for the game. New respect for the game, especially these new coaches, they've shown me a lot so I'm just excited to get ready."
Konieczny, who said he's never gone two consecutive years without playing basketball, has only appeared in seven career games for the Irish.
The former three-star prospect in the 2021 recruiting class received brief interest from Purdue, where Shrewsberry was on staff from 2019-21, but the Boilermakers never offered a scholarship.
Konieczny has made an impression on Shrewsberry with his work ethic and commitment to getting better.
"His willingness to learn has been great," Shrewsberry said. "He spent a lot of time with [assistant] coach [Mike] Farrelly really early on in the spring when we got here, working on his shot, which has been great. I'm really pleased with how he's shooting the basketball, but he's been working [and] taking the time.
"Everybody wants to come to the gym and work on like, me putting the ball in the hole. He's taking time to work on the things that helped him be a better defender. Because I told him, 'I only need five to play defense. And I'm going to play the guys that can do it.'"
"He's trying to put himself in that position to earn playing time by what he's doing on the defensive end of the floor."
Digging deeper
• Sophomore forward Tae Davis looked impressive throughout the viewing period. At 6-9, his ball-handling was arguably the most sound on the team during drills orchestrated by assistant to the head coach Tre Whitted. Shrewsberry said the Irish may explore different positional options with Davis.
"When I recruited Tae out of high school, he played point guard his senior year for his dad at Warren Central, and he didn't get to do as much of that at Seton Hall last year," Shrewsberry said pf the transfer. "We want to get him back into more of that role. He may not necessarily be our point guard, but we always want to play with multiple guys that can handle the basketball, that can play off pick-and-rolls, and he's one of those guys that can do it."
"Now doing that at his height is an advantage for us because of how people have to try and match up with him. He's been really aggressive. He's another guy that spent a lot of time in the gym working, learning what we're doing. But he's got the ability to really guard for us, multi-positional switch of all actions, but also handle the ball and be a facilitator for us on offense."
• Roper and sophomore forward Kebba Njie seemed to be the biggest vocal leaders of the team and could fill two of the five starting roles on opening night. Roper said Njie, forward Matt Zona and himself naturally stepped into those leadership roles this summer
• Konieczny looked sharp in his cuts and movement from one spot on the court to the next while recruiting coordinator Grady Eifert acted as the defender. He might have the highest ceiling on the team, along with Davis. Associate head coach Kyle Getter was in control of the drill, while Shrewsberry watched closely and jumped in at spots.
• Of the three freshmen guards, Markus Burton's ball handling looked more developed and quicker than Logan Imes' and Braeden Shrewsberry's. All three, along with freshman forward Carey Booth, participated in the box drill together, run by assistant coaches Farrelly and Ryan Owens. The emphasis was on passing and ball movement, while defenders attempted to deflect and steal passes between the four freshmen.
"I think Markus, along with our other three freshmen, they don't back down from anybody, and I love that part of it," Shrewsberry said. "They're best friends. If you see them off the court, they're all together. But when you watch them on the court, they're competing like they've never met each other and they are making each other better every time that they do that.
"There's no brother-in-law act where, 'Man, I'm gonna let you like do your thing and you look good. Next time you give me an opportunity and I'll look good."
"It's like, 'No, we're gonna help each other get better.' And that's all you can ask for right there. They're all learning. They're all picking it up."
• Size could be an issue for the Irish this season. Njie and Booth are both listed at 6-10. From a physical standpoint, Njie and Zona look to be the two players best physically suited to bang down low and take on the opposition's starting center. Davis and Konieczny each have long wingspans but have slender builds. The Irish didn't run any rebounding or post drills in the open practice portion.
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