Notre Dame Men's Basketball hosts first official practice

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame basketball back on the floor for the first official practice.

Basketball fans throughout Michiana didn't have a ton to root for last year and for good reason. First year Notre Dame Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry knew that his hands were tied, when it came down to roster talent, when he inherited the position.

After his first season, things are becoming a little easier to root for as the Irish prep for year two under Shrewsberry. He's got his ACC Player of the Year Markus Burton, four freshman, and three transfers, in addition to last year's lineup.

With just over one month until the start of the season, Shrewsberry couldn't hide his excitement.

"I love this. Like, this is the favorite, like, my favorite thing to do is being on the practice court with these guys. When you enjoy it, like, I'm enjoying it every day, these guys have high energy, even though, like, this is a tough part of the academic schedule for these guys right now, Shrewsberry said. "Like, a bunch of dudes got tests and papers and everything else, and it's like, it's hard on them right now at this moment, but they'll still have energy when they walk in here today," he added.

Shrewsberry's love for his players and the season hasn't exactly given him to do other things. Such as looking at this season's schedule.

"I haven't stopped and looked at it not one bit like, I don't even care. I don't care. Like, you're going to play 10 people at home, you can play 10 people on the road, like you're going to play 20 good teams," Shrewsberry mentioned.

With new additions, the excitement makes sense. It also changes the approach in year two.

"At this point last year, there's so much stuff that we had, we had no idea what to do. And you know, like they can coach themselves on some certain things. Older guys are coaching younger guys," Shrewsberry said.

While a handful of things have changed, one thing that remains the same is work ethic of Mishawaka native and last season's ACC Rookie of the Year, Markus Burton.

"When I leave here and I see him down there, right? That's after he's coming here during the day and gotten some work on the court with guys. He's been at practice. He stays after practice. He's got a routine that he shoots with. He shoots with Garrett and Tae after every single practice, immediately after, right on the same basket, like they have a routine that's down. Then he's coming back at night like, he's working," Shrewsberry added.

Notre Dame will face Purdue Fort Wayne October 30th in their exhibition matchup, before their first home game on November 6th.