'We’ve got work to do.' Micah Shrewsberry already moving Notre Dame men's basketball ahead

On a recent late afternoon in downtown Washington, along an empty corridor in an otherwise boisterous building, Notre Dame men’s basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry quietly offered one request. 

From the time he was hired until that day in D.C., the 47-year-old Shrewsberry was in a sprint. There was a roster to build, or really, rebuild. There were staff to hire and practice plans to plan and a foundation to lay, a culture to create from nothing with so many unfamiliar faces. There were workouts and road trips, home games and road games. There were some big wins and a few bigger losses. 

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There were struggles. There was some success. All of it ended the afternoon of March 13 at Capital One Arena when Notre Dame was eliminated from the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament by Wake Forest in a 72-59 second-round loss. The Irish had plenty of want-to late in a season when they won six of their last 10 games and showed some serious swagger. They just didn’t have enough to sustain it. 

At that point, it had been 357 days since he was named Irish head coach. Of those 357 days, he likely did something Notre Dame men’s basketball related on 356 of them. Assume he took Christmas off to spend with family, but the way college coaches are wired, the way Shrewsberry is wired, you can’t be certain. Maybe he sneaked away from gift-giving and dinner to study video or draft a practice plan. 

Shrewsberry loathes losing. When the Irish don’t win, he admittedly is tough to be around in the minutes and hours and sometimes days that follow. On his best day, he’s salty. On his worst? Worse.  

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On this day, when there were no more press conferences to attend, no more media obligations to oblige, no more scout sessions or film sessions or player meetings, Shrewsberry walked alone in that back corridor of Capital One Arena. A reporter wondered if he had a few minutes to sum up the first season of what many hope are many for him in South Bend. 

Shrewsberry slowed and offered that quiet request, which encapsulated those 357 days since his hiring. 

“Is it OK if I sit down?” he asked. “My feet are killing me.” 

Shrewsberry had been on his wheels for nearly that entire last game, but really, he had been on the move for nearly a year. Shrewsberry found a folding chair, unfolded it in an alcove and sat down to deconstruct his first season. He even offered something rare for him after a loss. 

A smile. 

Looking back and moving forward

It was a long season — for him, for his staff, for his players, for the administrators. The Irish lost more games (20) than they won (13). It was the first time in program history that Notre Dame lost at least 20 games in a second straight season, but that doesn’t mean this didn’t move in the needed direction. 

“Wins and losses happen but wins happen more when you have the right people involved and you have the right people in the room,” Shrewsberry said. “From a character standpoint, we’ve got the right people.” 

Basketball ability matters to Shrewsberry, but character matters more. Notre Dame needs to add a few more pieces for 2024-25. It desperately needs an experienced, proven scorer/rebounder/presence in the post and a (forget) this veteran wing who can go and get a bucket or get to the foul line whenever he wants. 

In basketball parlance, Notre Dame needs a killer. Two of them. 

Shrewsberry won’t take just any power forward or wing, no matter the resume. They want to play for him, they better fit. 

“Our pieces are only going to improve, but we can’t give up the character part to add a piece,” Shrewsberry said. “There’s things/pieces that we’ll look to add to help them grow, but the foundation we laid, like I told those guys, we’ve got work to do.” 

Work for 2024-25 really started for Shrewsberry as he assembled the 2023-24 roster. He knew freshmen Carey Booth and Markus Burton and Logan Imes and Braeden Shrewsberry would be foundational pieces. So would transfers Tae Davis and Kebba Njie. Those two experienced pieces/transfers mentioned earlier? Shrewsberry wanted to fill those voids last season, but it didn’t work out. This offseason, it has to work out. 

Those two pieces must be added for the Irish to move forward, to be better. 

“Who can you add? What can you do with your roster? How do you get continuity?” Shrewsberry said. “The continuity really matters. How do we become a Purdue? A Marquette? People who have their guys. It’s hard. 

“My eyes have always been on, be as good as we can be now and then grow this thing for the future to be really good.” 

This season didn’t end the way Notre Dame wanted, but the Irish also weren’t ready for it to end. Get a team that wins 13 games and they’re ready to close that chapter and move to the next. Last year’s team was ready to call it quits in January. This year’s wasn’t. 

As Shrewsberry scanned his locker room in Washington one final time, he saw a group that wasn’t ready to get home and get on with their lives. 

“If some dude is sitting there stone-faced and doesn’t care, he’s ready to jump on a plane and go on vacation,” Shrewsberry said. “These dudes wanted to keep playing.” 

It’s become the norm for programs that don’t do enough to qualify for the NCAA Tournament to simply shut it down. No NIT. No CBI. No nothing. Shrewsberry insisted that if the Irish had found a way to win a few more games, to finish 16-15 or 17-16, any postseason would’ve been absolutely embraced. 

They wanted to keep going, even though the grind was a grind. 

Junior J.R. Konieczny battled through a left foot issue that might require offseason surgery. He should’ve shut it down in February but kept competing. Imes had one of his hamstrings wrapped for the Wake Forest game, while Roper had a sprained hand. Burton climbed the steps to the post-game interview dais like someone three times his age. 

“We just don’t have anything left if there was anything,” Shrewsberry said. “This is a good end for the group.” 

The end, but also, the beginning. Shrewsberry promised that’s the last time Notre Dame finishes 12th in the ACC standings and plays in the first game on the first day of the league tournament. The Irish are going to do more and be more moving forward. The roster will grow, and with it, expectations. 

This season was all about survival. Next season and the seasons that follow, will be about sustained success. 

“We’ve got to get better,” Shrewsberry said. “I’ve got to grow as a coach. Our staff has to help our guys get better. They’ve got to get better. We’ve got to come (to the ACC Tournament) as a different team next year. 

“We've got to keep taking steps from here.” 

With that, Shrewsberry stood and started toward the locker room, a fresh bounce already in his step. 

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact: (574) 235-6153.