NOTRE DAME, Ind. (WSBT) — Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry and Notre Dame men’s basketball is in full swing with summer practices, coming in with familiar faces and a few new ones.
The Irish return 85% of its scoring from a season ago, the highest percentage in the ACC.
Shrewsberry was also active in the transfer portal, grabbing three graduate seniors: big men Nikita Konstantynovskyi (Monmouth) and Burke Chebuhar (Lehigh), as well as an experienced guard in Matt Allocco (Princeton).
“We definitely have a lot more talent. The talent level is way higher than it was last year and the competition level is very high so it’s fun every day at practice. So it’s just a better look,” ACC Rookie of the Year and now Notre Dame sophomore Markus Burton said. “The talent level around me is going to help me become a better player but I’m also going to help my teammates become better players too. It’s going to make a lot more things easier.”
The team says the goal this summer is to continue to learn how to win and with much more returning pieces, it’s been easier to grow this summer compared to in year one.
“It’s summer. It’s July so we approach things a little differently. I don’t get upset as much,” Shrewsberry remarked. “There’s a lot of learning and a lot of teaching. We’re doing some new stuff and even for the guys that are coming back, there’s still some new stuff thrown at them so it’s not monotonous. I’m trying to figure out the best style for this team. What you see from one year to the next might be different because each team is different. I have to adjust to our team and that part has been fun.”
The Irish will get to evaluate that talent in just a few weeks when they go to Spain in August to play scrimmages against Spanish teams.