2024 Notre Dame Men’s Basketball Team Data Review

The Notre Dame Men’s 2024 season is officially wrapped. Even before the first official whistle, we all knew that this season would be a pivotal one for the program. The 2023 ended with head coach Mike Brey letting go of the reigns after a long run dating back to 2001. It wasn’t a particularly great last hurrah for Brey. The team ended with a 0.34 (11-21) record and more than a few questions personnel going into 2024.

Micah Shrewsberry was selected to take over the program and figure things out. Shrewsberry most recently coached at Penn State before coming on board with the Irish. His departing record was 0.62 (23-14) with the Nittany Lions. There were a lot of mixed reactions to his relatively short career as a head coach at the collegiate level and a general lack of consensus on what Notre Dame fans should expect out of his first season in South Bend.

Now that we can look back, I think we’re still left with a lot of questions. The men didn’t’ have a particularly successful outing, wrapping up with a 0.394 (13-20) record and a second-round exit to Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament. They tallied up two more wins than in 2023 but I don’t feel like I’m going too far out on a limb by writing that most fans were disappointed. But if you tracked the team’s progression as well as some of the conversation on the interwebs you pick up on some bright spots. A lot of it is more qualitative/feel in nature but let’s through the team-level numbers to see what we can pick out.

Season Summary

The season’s first month of play yielded mixed results. Of the 6 games played that month, the Irish won 3 (50%). The start didn’t give indications of an amazing season to come but

The going got a lot tougher during December and January, though. ND won 45% of its seven games played in December and only 13% of the eight games played in January. Things would eventually trend upwards in February and the Irish rallied up wins in 57% of its 7 games played.

Point Differentials

In terms of point differentials, November and December were feast and famine for the Notre Dame men’s team. November’s differentials ranged between -24 and +20 and in December they ranged from -20 to +22. Generally, when the Irish did win, they won by notable margins.

January was the team’s really rough stretch, by this metric. The team only won one game during the month and did it with a +7 margin. The differential range in their seven loses spanned from -12 to -2.

February yielded much better results for the program, with the point differential in the four wins ranging from +3 to +22. The differential in the month’s first two games (losses) were -10 and -18, respectively. ND would drop another outcome in the month’s second to last game but only by a -3 differential.

Field Goals

November: The team got off to a decent field goal shooting start in November. They had the advantage in field goal efficiency in three of their six games played (50%). When they had the advantage they won all of their games.

December: The season’s second month of play didn’t prove as fruitful in terms of field goal efficiency. Notre Dame had the advantage in two of the seven games played (28%). They won both of the games they had the advantage in but had significant efficiency deficits in their losses.

January: While January was overall a bad month for the team, they did do ok in terms of field goal efficiency. They had the advantage in six of the eight games played (75%). The margins were typically slimmer and their only win during the month was characterized by a + 1.8% field goal efficiency difference.

February: This month’s field goal efficiency generally resembled December. The team had the advantage in three of the seven games played (43%). They won two out of the three games they had the field goal efficiency advantage in. ND also managed to pull off with wins in games that they had notable disadvantages in (- 14.2 % and – 4.5%).

3PT

November: The men’s team had the 3PT efficiency advantage in three of their six games played in November (50%). They won two out of the three games they had the advantage in and managed to pull off a win in the season opener despite a – 23.6 3PT efficiency difference.

December: The team had the 3PT efficiency advantage in three of their seven games played in December (43%). They won all three of the games they had the advantage in but had some pretty significant deficits in their losses.

January: The Irish had the 3PT efficiency advantage in half of their eight games played in January. They had a + 1.9% advantage in their one victory that month but generally kept things close throughout.

February: In their final month of full play, the team had the 3PT efficiency advantage in four of their seven games played (57%). They won half of the games thy had the advantage in but also managed to pull out wins in games where they had a – 14.1% and – 5.4% efficiency disadvantage.

Assists

The 2024 team experienced some pretty notable challenges in the assists department throughout the season. They performed best in November but struggled to carry the success over. They had the assist advantage in nine total games during the season and won eight of those games. The team only won four games when they had an assist disadvantage.

Total Rebounds

The team had a relatively strong season in terms of total rebounds. There was a generally mixed trend through the first 3 months of play but things stabilized in February. In total, the team had the total rebound advantage in sixteen games and won 9 (56%) of those games. They squad only won two games where they had a total rebound deficit and those came very late in the season.

Blocks

The team’s block numbers weren’t that great in November but improved throughout December. However, things fell off in mid-January and trended in the wrong direction throughout the remainder of the season. The data doesn’t indicate that the blocking deficits had significant impacts on the final game outcomes towards the end.

Fouls

The team experienced a log of foul challenges throughout the season. January’s games had the most pronounced issues. In two of the month’s losses, the Irish had a +8 foul disadvantages. They only won one game in February where they had a foul disadvantage (+4).

Turnovers

In terms of turnovers, November and December were somewhat level. In January, though, things got off the rails. Notre Dame had the turnover disadvantage in six of their eight games played (75%). During this month of play, they won one game with a +5 turnover disadvantage and loss their only game with a turnover advantage (-1). Things got much better in February. They only had the turnover disadvantage in two of their games. Of their four wins that month, the turnover differences were -4, -4, -4 and -6.

Final Thoughts

It wasn’t always tough sledding the 2024 men’s team but they rounded out the season in a form that I think we can all be cautiously optimistic about. Stay tuned for a player-level breakdown that I imagine will push us more out of the “cautiously” territory.

Cheers and Go Irish!!