Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM PRESEASON 2026 65 BY JACK SOBLE A sk anyone on the 2025-26 Notre Dame men's basketball team about the seasons that came before it, and you'd likely get a different answer than you were expecting. There was little acknowledgment of what went wrong in the previous two years under head coach Micah Shrews- berry, only optimism about what could lie ahead. Markus Burton told Blue & Gold Illustrated that the Irish had ev- erything they needed. Players touted a winning culture, despite little winning having come of it. The piece of evidence they often pointed to — the number of players who stayed — no longer applies after six left via the transfer portal. Optimism, in and of itself, is fine. Ev- eryone believes they're a tournament team in July. But in hindsight, the "trust us, we got this" approach looks misguided. The Irish had their worst year of Shrewsberry's tenure, finishing 4-14 in ACC play and failing to qualify for the conference tour- nament. In the ensuing weeks, their three biggest building blocks in the backcourt — including Burton, a native of nearby Mishawaka — walked out the door. This time around, returners like se- nior guards Braeden Shrewsberry and Logan Imes aren't hiding from Notre Dame's past. "I've been here for three years, and we haven't won s---," Shrewsberry said. "We've underperformed the last three years," Imes said. "Everyone knows that. It's not a secret." It's a stark change, and one that starts at the very top. Micah Shrewsberry spent one of Notre Dame's first team meetings with its roster, which includes 10 new players, spelling that out. "The last three years haven't gone like we've wanted them to go," Shrewsberry said. "Some of them have experienced it and some of them haven't, but we all bear responsibility now." Ironically enough, some of those bear- ing the most responsibility are the ones who had significantly more success last season and beyond: Notre Dame's three key transfer additions. Center Logan Duncomb, point guard Braeden Smith and wing Ethan Roberts have taken on leadership roles this year, due to their age and experience but also because of their history of winning basketball. Smith has made the NCAA Tourna- ment every year he's played in college, twice with Colgate and twice with Gon- zaga. Roberts helped lead Penn to its first tournament appearance since 2018. Duncomb's Winthrop team fell one game short of March Madness, but he played the Big South Tournament on a broken foot and lost only to High Point, which advanced to the round of 32. The three of them have found a team that needs not just experience, but win- ning experience, and they're happy to be the ones filling that void. "I want to reiterate how open they've been to us finding leadership roles, vocal roles as guys who have won and been to the tournament, have that experience. That says so much about them," Roberts said. "Allowing people to come in and be themselves too, and not be so, 'It's my way or the highway,' it's been amazing." NEW CULTURE AT NOTRE DAME? The tone out of Rolfs Athletics Hall this summer is less "trust the process" and more "the process didn't work; we need a new process." That's something the newcomers, such as Duncomb, sensed right away. Instead of lauding the culture that ex- isted, he recognized his returning team- mates' efforts to build a new one. "I think the older guys know how frustrating losing is," Duncomb said. "They're not dumb. The older guys know what problems they had the years before. I feel like the culture they're try- ing to build here is a positive one, where winning can happen." Duncomb didn't see the previous three years of Notre Dame men's basketball for himself, but he can tell something is different about the current group. So can Roberts, who didn't play in the tourna- ment last season due to a concussion but contributed heavily to Penn's run. "All the guys on the team, basketball is their No. 1 priority," Duncomb said. "That's something that I'm not sure was the case last year. I know that this year, all the guys on the team are about the right stuff. I see Braeden and all the older guys in the gym every day. They don't want to lose again." "That's where I've seen it," Roberts said. "Their true passion and spark are still there. I didn't see the years before, but it's more than enough. I think that's all that matters." Each major transfer addition, in addi- tion to their age and experience, brings something Notre Dame lacked in the past. For Duncomb, it's consistent post scoring. For Smith, it's an elite assist- to-turnover ratio and calm leadership that can help the Irish when things go awry. "One of our standards is being dis- ciplined in chaos, and I thought we've struggled there in the last few years," Micah Shrewsberry said. "His voice rings louder than others during those moments. Like, 'Hey, we're fine.' He is the calming voice that gets everybody back on track." Roberts is a scorer on the court — how well his game translates to the high- major level is one of the biggest swing factors for the Irish. His most impor- tant trait might be that he grew up a die- hard Notre Dame fan. His care factor is extremely high. To succeed this season would mean, for the rest of his life, look- ing back and saying, "I'm part of the group that turned this thing around." "I'll get chills," Roberts said. "I would get a clover tattoo, and I don't even have a tattoo. That's how much it means to me." ✦ Irish Not Hiding From Past In Effort To Change Future MEN'S B A S K E T B A L L Transfer point guard Braeden Smith, who has made the NCAA Tournament every year he's played in college, is among a trio of newcomers that have assumed a leadership role to help the Irish attempt to revamp their culture. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS