(Editor’s note: South Bend Tribune columnist and Notre Dame men’s basketball beat writer Tom Noie holds a monthly chat about Irish hoops during the college basketball season. Following are highlights from Thursday’s session. A complete transcript of the chat can be found at ndinsider.com. Questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity and length).
Q: What’s going on with the attendance? It’s beyond time that Notre Dame lowers ticket prices in the upper arena. Sell them for $5 a seat and maybe have a promotion of two kids get in free. Someone in a seat is better than an empty seat. — Chris from Washington D.C.
A: I’m not sure how much effort is put forth by the Notre Dame athletic/ticket department to address the attendance issues. Like, look, we have a problem. How do we fix it? Instead, it’s lather, rinse, repeat. Hey, let’s have a musical chairs contest and a DJ and an in-game host to get the crowd going. Let’s dim the lights in advance of the team coming out of the tunnel and then have to wait more than a minute with the house lights off before the team actually appears. It all seems so stale and stodgy. Like, this is the way we’ve done it for x amount of years so this is what we’re going to do.
Projecting Markus Burton’s return to Notre Dame basketball
Q: What is your best guess for when guards Markus Burton and Sir Mohammed return? — Jet from Evansville, Indiana
A: This is only a guess since I’m not a doctor and didn’t spend last night at a Holiday Inn Express. We do know that Markus Burton has an MCL injury to his right knee. No surgery was needed, which means it likely falls somewhere between the moderate and severe sprain categories. Moderate sprain recovery is two to four weeks, severe is four to eight weeks. Micah Shrewsberry has said that they’re going to be very patient and very deliberate with Burton’s return/recovery. I’d say if he’s back for the North Carolina game, that’s a win.
Sir Mohammed as well. Shrewsberry has not specifically said what ails Mohammed (lower body injury), but we know he was bothered by a left knee issue all summer/early fall. He did have surgery by team doctor Brian Ratigan. The hope was he could return to some basketball activity by early January. Again, he might be able to shoot and stuff, but what about running and moving and cutting? Maybe two additional weeks? Three? Both situations are murky at best.
Q: Will Markus Burton’s return (whenever it happens) be enough to make a run at the NCAA Tournament? — Chad from Toledo, Ohio
A: The Markus Burton injury for the men’s basketball program is parallel to the NIU loss by the football team. You couldn’t plan for a CFP playoff spot after that game. There was too much work to be done on the field and behind the scenes and everywhere else to believe that Irish team was a playoff team. Then look what happened — they became one. The NCAA tournament was always a lofty (unrealistic) goal for hoops this season. Too big of a step after 13-20 and 7-13. Remember, they lost at home to Elon WITH Burton. Next year was the realistic chase down an NCAA bid team. This year was about growth and development and the next step. The Irish were on their way there. Then Las Vegas happened.
Q: Did you feel that Julian Roper was outside of the regular rotation early in the season, but now is back in it due to injuries? What do you see his role? — Chad from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
A: Julian Roper had become the “break glass in case of emergency” rotation guy. Had everything held true to form, he would’ve been the eighth, ninth, 10th man. Markus Burton’s injury changed all of that. He’s now starting, which is not his role. He’s not a point guard. He’s not a shooting guard. He’s a defensive specialist who’s best in quick bursts of playing time where he can disrupt the other team’s perimeter. D up. Get some steals. Some rebounds. Bring toughness. He’s out of his element as the starting point guard, a role that he’s required to play until Burton returns.
What happened to Notre Dame basketball’s defense
Q: Has the defense slipped since last year? It feels like we haven’t been as focused on that end. —Mike from San Diego
A: The defense was going to slip based on everything we heard from Micah Shrewsberry in the offseason. In the summer it was basically, nah, we haven’t done anything defensively, we’re going to score. Post-foreign tour, same response. Even into fall camp, this was a program that put such an emphasis on offense that the defense was bound to slide. Then the engine to everything goes down and now, you’ve got issues. You can’t score enough to win. Now you have to go back to your defensive roots. That’s a hard ask.
Q; Is Carey Booth kicking himself right now for leaving Notre Dame? Is he really in a better position at Illinois? — Tim from Chicago
A: Think Carey Booth ceased kicking himself when it was basically decided for him that he would seek the proverbial greener pastures after one year at Notre Dame — a year in which he insisted that he was going to follow Micah Shrewsberry wherever the coach decided to go after originally signing with Penn State. Booth was all in with MS, until others in his circle weren’t. He’s the ultimate player development prospect. There’s a lot there, but it needed to be grown, nurtured. Patience had to be part of the plan. Until it wasn’t. Booth played in all 33 games with 19 starts last season. He averaged 6.4 points and 4.3 rebounds in 19.9 minutes. He shot 39% from the field, 29.7 from 3 and 63.4% from the foul line. He showed flashes, but man, his game was so … untapped. Underdeveloped.
How he — or anyone in his circle — believed he was ready to be something more at Illinois is baffling. He’s appeared in seven games with no starts and is averaging 2.3 points and 1.4 rebounds in 8.3 minutes. He still has no shot — 26.3% from the field, 26.7 from 3, 50% from the foul line. He played a lot last year like the ball was a grenade that would go off if he didn’t do something with it. Should he have stayed? Absolutely, but it’s easier to cut and run than to stay and work.
Q: I don’t see much love in this chat for Tae Davis. I very much appreciate him and what he’s done this season. With Markus Burton out, he’s basically the only one who can go create a shot on his own and he’s done really well at it. How much of a surprise has Davis been? —Justin from Fort Wayne
A: Tae Davis might not believe this after I wondered earlier this year why — if he can get to the basket and finish and get to the free throw line — he would ever bother to shoot a 3-pointer, but I love, love, love what Davis has offered in Burton’s absence. He can be an All-ACC type of talent (not a first- or second-team guy) but one of the league’s better talents if, if, if he keeps it simple. Straight line drives to the rim. Dunks. Layups. Defend. Rebound. Get fouled. Get to the line. Switch out on anyone from one to five. There’s zero reason for him to shoot a 3 other than to prove that he can be a three-level scorer at the next level (that’s not who he is). Someone on press row wondered Wednesday who the player (besides Burton) that Notre Dame cannot afford to lose for any time the rest of the way. It’s Davis. Clearly. Not even close.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
