Tag: J.R. Konieczny

Photos from Notre Dame’s exhibition win over Hanover

The new-look Irish finally take the court.

Notre Dame’s season officially won’t begin for another week, but Irish fans got a taste of it Wednesday at Purcell Pavilion. The Irish dominated Hanover, a Division III school in the southeastern part of Indiana, in a 96-62 exhibition win. Hanover most likely didn’t expect to come out on top but surely was grateful for the opportunity to come to South Bend.

This was the first time fans saw the new-look Irish in action. Highly touted freshman and Mishawaka native [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] was the game’s high scorer with 18 points. Zionsville native [autotag]Logan Imes[/autotag] and [autotag]Braeden Shrewsberry[/autotag], son of new Irish coach [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag], both had 14 points. [autotag]Matt Zona[/autotag] and [autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag], two of the few incumbents on the roster, scored 12 apiece.

Don’t let this game fool you. The Irish very much are a work in progress, and the growing pains will be evident throughout the season. For now though, enjoy the photos from the winning exhibition:

Micah Shrewsberry, Kebba Njie, Matt Zona speak during ACC Tipoff

Hear from a team that figures to have many challenges this season.

Notre Dame is facing a challenging season with a new face and a mostly new roster. [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] fielded questions about that during the ACC Tipoff on Oct. 25 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Alongside him were [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag], a transfer who came over with Shrewsberry from Penn State, and [autotag]Matt Zona[/autotag], one of the few returnees on this year’s Irish.

Here is what they had to say:

Notre Dame returning only 1.57% of its 2022-23 scoring for 2023-24

How concerned are you about this?

We know Notre Dame is going to look completely different in 2023-24. The few returnees have made minimal impact on the program so far, and it’s one reason why Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports has picked the Irish to finish last in the ACC. Rothstein has indirectly taken that reasoning a step further by listing the percentage of returning scoring for each conference program. You’ll see that the Irish aren’t even in the same hemisphere of anyone else:

The only inaccuracy with this is that it actually goes up to 1.6% if you round it up to the nearest decimal, so for our purposes, we’re going with 1.57%. Nitpicking aside, if you take [autotag]Matt Zona[/autotag]’s 34 points and [autotag]Alex Wade[/autotag]’s single free throw and divide them by the 2,227 points the Irish scored during the season, the math checks out. [autotag]Tony Sanders Jr.[/autotag] was scoreless in five games, and [autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag] didn’t play at all.

While none of this technically means anything for the upcoming season, it does illustrate how it might take even the most diehard Irish fans some time to get to know this new team. No one is projected to make a big splash right away either. Time for some of the new guys to prove those projections wrong.

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Indianapolis native Tae Davis transfers to Notre Dame

Add another forward to the roster.

Consistent with his goal of tapping into the state of Indiana’s talent pool, [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] has struck again.

Although the news was made known June 1, Notre Dame finally announced the addition of Indianapolis native and former Seton Hall forward [autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag]. This marks the fourth player with Indiana roots on the Irish’s roster, joining [autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag], [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] and [autotag]Logan Imes[/autotag]. The program hasn’t had this many players from the Hoosier State on their roster since the 2015-16 season.

In Davis’ lone season with the Pirates, he averaged 2.8 points and 2.8 rebounds over 32 games. He started twice and achieved his season scoring high of 11 points during his first collegiate game against Monmouth. He also had 10 points and seven rebounds in a win over Division II Lincoln.

Davis becomes the 11th player on the 2023-24 roster and the fourth forward for a program that continues to be guard-heavy. Here’s hoping Shrewsberry and his staff can add one more big before the season tips off.

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Look at Notre Dame’s current 2023-24 roster

Do you have confidence in this group as it stands?

There still is time for Notre Dame to add to its 2023-24 roster, but don’t count on a game-changer suddenly emerging onto campus. Barring an unforeseen circumstance, the players the Irish have now figure to make up the core. That’s not a strong vote of confidence for Irish fans, but remember that first-year coach [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] practically has to start from scratch after the program lost all of its rotation players to graduation and the transfer portal.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this is going to be a very bad season for the Irish. The few holdovers from [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag]’s tenure have played very little. While Shrewsberry was able to bring his 2023 Penn State recruiting class and one of his Nittany Lions starters from the 2022-23 season, that’s not a lot of college basketball experience coming in. He must be in one of, if not the least envious position in the country.

Hopefully, the day will come when Shrewsberry has built the Irish back into a winner. Until then, try and get behind these players who are just there to do their jobs and play basketball:

Notre Dame loses forward Ven-Allen Lubin to transfer portal

That exit door has gotten quite a workout recently.

Already lacking size, Notre Dame has lost yet another forward. This time, the transfer portal is responsible, and it’s Ven-Allen Lubin who is taking his talents elsewhere. Lubin released the following statement on social media Monday:

The Irish now are down to [autotag]Matt Zona[/autotag], [autotag]Tony Sanders[/autotag], [autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag], and incoming freshman [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag]. That means [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] needs to be very aggressive in the transfer portal, even if the Irish’s current targets mainly consist of guards. At this point, it will be an accomplishment just to get a team together.

Lubin’s first collegiate season and his only season in South Bend saw him average 6.2 points and 4.4 rebounds a game. Despite preseason indications from [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag] that Lubin would start, facial injuries during fall camp contributed to that not happening until February. So did an ankle injury that he suffered during a game and bother him over the course of a month. Ultimately, he started seven of the 28 games he played.

We respect Lubin’s decision and wish him well in his future endeavors, but it would be a lie to say that he’s leaving the Irish in a tougher spot than they already were. After this past season, we warned you of dark days ahead for the program. This latest news makes you wonder just how low things can go.

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Opinion: Dark days ahead for Notre Dame men’s basketball

Don’t expect any winning for the Irish in the near future.

It’s no stretch to say this past season was the worst for Notre Dame in recent memory. Its 3-17 conference record was the worst in program history, and its 21 losses tied the 1965-66 Irish for the most in program history. The Irish’s 11 wins kept them far away from the program’s worst winning percentage, but that’s little consolation to the fans who had to watch this team.

With only [autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] and [autotag]Paul Atkinson Jr.[/autotag] as key departures from last season’s team that won two NCAA Tournament games, the veteran core appeared perfectly positioned to at least duplicate that success. Instead, everything that could go wrong did, and [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag]’s mantra of getting old and staying old proved nothing more than hot air. As a result, the Irish will be shut out on Selection Sunday for the fourth time in five tournaments.

But missing out on March Madness yet again isn’t the worst part. That distinction goes to the fact the Irish will be very inexperienced next season and probably beyond. With almost every rotation player having exhausted their NCAA eligibility this season, this was the season to make one more run. That goal came up woefully short. Now, the Irish will be reliant on younger players and guys who didn’t crack the departing Brey’s eight-man rotation.

[autotag]JJ Starling[/autotag], [autotag]Ven-Allen Lubin[/autotag], [autotag]Dom Campbell[/autotag] and [autotag]Matt Zona[/autotag] hardly seem like a core that will put much fear into anybody. It’s not like much known help is coming either with [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] the only one of three committed freshmen not to decommit from the Irish after Brey announced his departure. And who really expects [autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag] to step in as an impact player right away? Plus, if you’re counting on much help coming from the transfer portal, your optimism is admirable.

It’s hard to be envious of whoever takes over Brey’s job. That person will have to work with a group that has little collective game action, and that inexperience will show when those games are played. No one can look at next year’s Irish and convincingly say there is one trusted veteran leader. Starling hasn’t proven himself a leader despite having NBA aspirations, and if Zona is supposed to be one, well, the Irish will need all the luck they can get.

With a new core and a new coach, it will be some time before the Irish are worthy of attention again. No one likes to think of a program rebuilding, but that’s the reality. When a bunch of veterans lose and don’t leave much of a foundation behind, a lot more losing is in the future. The only hope is that Brey was sitting the players who could have made this past season a better one.

It goes without saying that the next Irish coach needs to be a strong recruiter because that’s the only way this program will return to respectability. There is nowhere to go but up after a season like this past one. Well, actually, the depths might sink further over the next year or two while the new group tries to figure things out. Either way, time to embrace the suck.

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Mike Brey meets with media ahead of Notre Dame’s 2022-23 season

Here’s what we heard when we traveled to the Irish’s local media day.

[autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag] is coming off his best season coaching Notre Dame over the past few years. Irish fans will be anxious to see how his team will be able to build off last season’s success. Until they learn how or if that happens, words from the longtime coach will suffice. And he has plenty to say about it.

Fighting Irish Wire accepted an invitation to attend a media day for local media at Purcell Pavilion and was with the assembled group when Brey spoke. He addressed everything from the outlook of this year’s team to the ACC’s reputation to players old and new. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone by now, but he knows his team very well and is as much of an open book as you can imagine for a college basketball coach.

Here is some of what Brey had to say to the local media:

Watch: Guard recruit Markus Burton announces commitment to Notre Dame

The Irish go local again.

[autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag] and his staff have done a terrific job recruiting local talent to come to Notre Dame lately. South Bend natives [autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] and [autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag] were freshmen on this past year’s team. Wesley was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs after this past season, and Konieczny is about to play in a Dream Team anniversary event in Barcelona. The Irish now hope to get big returns out of Mishawaka’s [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag], a Penn student who has announced his commitment to the program:

Take a look at Burton’s offer timeline. Notre Dame was by far the biggest school to make an offer, and he needed considerably less time to think about it. He helped his own cause by playing well this summer, and the Irish obviously decided to strike while his stock was high.

It’s been a long time since the Irish had a player who was only 5-foot-10, which is Burton’s height. You have to go back to [autotag]Tory Jackson[/autotag] (5-foot-11) in 2010 to find the last Irish player under 6 feet. However, Brey obviously didn’t take height into account when recruiting Burton. As long as he can bring something to the team, which Brey thinks he can, he’ll be a success with his hometown school.

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Notre Dame roster for 2021-22 season

Who will be hooping it up for the Irish this season?

It feels like college basketball remains far away, but Midnight Madness just happened, so it’s closer than you think. To that end, we should look at who makes up Notre Dame’s roster for the upcoming season. Many believe this is the team that can get the program out of the doldrums and back on track towards respectability. A major step in getting people to believe that would be the Irish’s first NCAA Tournament selection since 2017, which also was the last year they finished above .500 against ACC opponents.

This will be the 22nd iteration of the Irish with Mike Brey as coach. Despite having more wins than anyone in program history, he has two losing seasons in the past three and three losing conference records over the past four years. If he isn’t able to get this group to reach its full potential, questions about his future in South Bend certainly will arise. Here are the players who could determine where both Brey and the program headed going forward: