Notre Dame Men's Basketball offseason updates

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Catching up with Coach Shrewsberry about his new additions surrounding 2023 ACC Player of the Year.

Heading into his second year at the helm, Shrewsberry added four freshman and three graduate transfers to last year's core.

"You have to find you have to find a positional fit and then you have to go for, I guess, a cultural fit, as well. So I think we found that," Shrewsberry said.

The biggest pieces for the Indiana native have been Burke Chebuhar, Nikita Konstantynovskyi, and Matt Allocco.

"Like we knew about Matt Allocco for a really long time, right? Everybody in the country knew he was leaving Princeton, right? Like last year," Shrewsberry added.

Because Ivy league schools don't offer athletes a fifth-year eligibility, all eyes were on Allocco.

The guard was the only player in the country to shoot 50% from the field, 40% from three, and 90% from the free throw line, while averaging over 30 minutes per game.

"The other two guys, Nikita (Konstantynovskyi) and Burke (Chebuhar). Like as you go through, and you watch and you study what you're looking for, and what they can add. And then you meet them as people. You're like, okay, these dudes fit like they fit what we want to do," Shrewsberry mentioned.

Those core transfers are the perfect fit for returning guard and last season's ACC Player of the Year, Markus Burton, back for his sophomore campaign after declaring for the NBA draft.

"The players that we got in the transfer portal are pretty good. Like Nikita, Burke, Matt, I don't know if I'm missing anybody. But those three right there are just like, they help us out a lot and it's just real fun playing with those guys," Burton said.

Although there isn't a ton of action in the summer, the Irish are gearing up for a 10-day trip to Spain to play games in Barcelona, Valencia, and Madrid.