BURLAGE: Shrewsberry’s post-Louisville rant sums up a frustrating season 

Longtime Notre Dame men’s basketball coach Mike Brey liked to share a familiar mantra with his players and recruits during the 23 years he led the Irish program.

“Go to class and don’t turn the ball over, and we’ll get along fine,” Brey often said. 

That simple message helped Brey to nearly a 100-percent graduation rate, nearly 500 wins, 13 NCAA Tournament trips, and two Elite Eight appearances, as his teams routinely ranked among the nation’s best at sharing and caring for the basketball.

Under Brey, Notre Dame finished top-10 in the country in fewest turnovers 13 times and top-20 in assist-to-turnover ratio 14 times. 

Hell, even in the 11-21 season in 2022-23 that pushed Brey into retirement, his Irish finished third in the nation in fewest turnovers at 8.8 per game. 

Well, be it through lost messaging, a different coaching style under Notre Dame skipper Micah Shrewsberry, or a personnel deficiency, the new Irish play nothing like the previous Irish. And based on attendance, that isn’t sitting very well with the locals, or with the second-year head coach.

Following a lackluster 75-60 home loss to Louisville on Sunday — Notre Dame’s fourth defeat in its last five games — Shrewsberry launched into a 2-minute, 40-second post-game rant that showed the frustration he’s feeling with only 11 wins in 25 games this season.

Following a state-of-the-program question from BGI’s own Jack Soble, Shrewsberry took on everything from the naysayers questioning his ability to lead this program, to the robust number of Louisville fans who were boisterous Sunday night inside the Purcell Pavilion echo chamber, to the WNDU desktop microphone. 

“I sat there and watched more Louisville fans in here than Notre Dame people, and that’s embarrassing,” Shrewsberry said in part. “That’s embarrassing for me because I’m the head coach here. And yes, I got us into this predicament. But don’t come back when we’re losing, or when we’re winning. Because we’re turning this around, man. You better believe that.”

Unfortunately, at least at the moment, that turnaround seems light years away. 

What’s the problem?

We mentioned earlier the importance of sharing and caring for the basketball, and this team has struggled with both.

Notre Dame is tied for 220th in the country out of 355 teams in assist-to-turnover ratio at +1.08. Amazingly, that mark is still a 115-spot improvement from last year when the Irish finished No. 335 in assist/turnover ratio. 

Additionally, Notre Dame’s 10.24 forced turnovers per game this season is tied for 317th nationally, and its 11.8 assists per game rank only 301st, not exactly a winning formula. 

“As a group, as a team, we’re gonna keep fighting,” Shrewsberry vowed. “We’re gonna keep trying to get back to the drawing board.”

But beyond improving the on-court product the rest of this season, this program also needs to improve the sagging attendance that’s coming with the sloppy play. 

The Irish rank 13th in the 18-team ACC in attendance at 5,303 per home game. Only Florida State, Boston College, Georgia Tech, and conference newcomers California and Stanford draw fewer fans.

The top-ranked Notre Dame women’s team draws 8,205 fans per home game, 36 percent more than the Irish men.

And as another unfortunate comparison, the men drew 5,437 fans Sunday against Louisville. Less than 24 hours later, the Irish women packed in 9,063 fans for their home matchup against No. 11 Duke. 

During his rant, Shrewsberry begged fans to not give up on his kids, “because we’re going to get this thing rolling,” he said. 

And it can be done because other second-year coaches around the country with less-renown programs are doing it. 

Chris Beard at Ole Miss (19-7) has his team ranked No. 24 this week. 

Rick Pitino at St. John’s (22-4) has the Red Storm at No. 10.

Grant McCasland (20-6) ranks No. 9 with Texas Tech, and George Mason (21-5) under Tony Skinn is receiving top-25 votes.  

“A lot of people have given up on this team. They’ve given up on me. I don’t really give a damn,” Shrewsberry added. “I believe in myself, and I believe in these guys. So, like, don’t give up on these guys. Don’t give up on these kids.”

Assuming that sophomore guards Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry, as well as junior forward Tae Davis are all back next season — and that might be a dangerous assumption — Notre Dame will also add three top-80 players to its roster from the 2025 recruiting class. 

So, all hope is not lost. 

But the problem during this transfer-happy era of college athletics is the teams that don’t win and don’t win quickly are becoming feeder schools for the teams that are winning.

And that’s the slippery slope and black hole that Shrewsberry needs to keep his program far away from.