Notre Dame MBB coach Micah Shrewsberry emphasizes building habits, culture

There are clean slates, and then there’s what Notre Dame men’s basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry has this offseason.

The Irish enter this season with only three returning scholarship players and only one — sophomore forward Kebba Njie — whom Shrewsberry has coached before. When asked Tuesday afternoon if anything about his team has surprised him during summer practice, Shrewsberry said no, because he didn’t enter it with any expectations.

“We took the first two weeks to look at it and decide, ‘What does this guy do best? What does this guy do best?’” Shrewsberry said. “I can recruit them all I want, but I want to work with them to see it up close and personal.”

Now that Shrewsberry and his staff have a good sense of their players’ strengths and weaknesses, the focus has turned to teaching and building a culture. 

The teaching has focused on small concepts. Notre Dame hasn’t played much, if any, five-on-five this offseason as the players work on the little things.

“There are things that not necessarily our guys, probably everybody across college basketball or high school basketball, things that they aren’t talking about or emphasizing that [our players] need to work on,” Shrewsberry said. “I don’t want to help every team in America. They can figure that out for themselves.”

Shrewsberry didn’t specify what those things were, but he said many of them make the team better offensively. He’s been repeatedly running drills that can build the habits he feels his team needs to build.

More: Observations from Tuesday’s Notre Dame men’s basketball practice

There have been days when the former Penn State coach has seen his team make great progress, as well as days when he fears his team is “back to square one.”

“That’s where the habits have to come,” Shrewsberry said. “We gotta do it more. We gotta drill it more.”

For similar reasons, Shrewsberry hasn’t focused on big-picture aspects like installing his offense. Even when he does, his offense will give the five on the floor freedom to make their own decisions, much like former coach Mike Brey’s offense did.

The Indianapolis native said he’ll run some set plays, but he doesn’t have a true playbook like some other coaches do. To the extent that he’s drilling schematic concepts, it’s been largely about teaching players to make the right reads in different offensive situations.

“I try to teach what’s gonna happen, and then we react to that,” Shrewsberry said. “We’ll get there.”

Off the court, Shrewsberry has tried to build a culture by bringing the team together, not necessarily by spending time with each other outside the facility. It’s more about how the team operates during practice, bringing energy every day, encouraging and teaching each other.

While he has a reputation as a players’ coach, and one of his strongest traits is connecting with prospects on the recruiting trail, Shrewsberry has high expectations for the way they conduct themselves once they’re inside Notre Dame’s facility.

“Guys are taking classes, and classes are really hard,” Shrewsberry said. “Somebody might have broken up with their girlfriend and somebody’s car might have broken down. I respect all of that, but when you walk in here, you better have some energy. That’s what we’re trying to establish. That’s what I want this to be. It’s fun, but you gotta enjoy what you’re doing for us to learn, for us to be at our best.”

Have those energy levels been where Shrewsberry wants them to be?

“At times,” Shrewsberry said. “Nobody’s perfect, but we’re gonna get there. This is about establishing what it’s gonna be on a daily basis.”

Conditioning has been a big part of what Shrewsberry is trying to establish. He’s been pushing his team through some difficult days this summer, which he believes is building camaraderie as well as the physical fitness necessary to compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Shrewsberry has seen the determination to get through all of that — and learn all the small concepts he’s trying to teach them — stand out.

“If you see some of them, you’re probably gonna notice their bodies have changed in a short amount of time,” Shrewsberry said. “That takes a lot of effort. … We’re putting them into the fire and making things tough to see how they’re gonna get through it.”