Notre Dame men's basketball officially started practice on Monday. On Tuesday, Inside ND Sports was present for the Irish media availability before practice and the first 15 minutes of practice.
Head coach Micah Shrewsberry, junior guard Julain Roper II and sophomore guard J.R. Konieczny were made available to the media before practice started at 4 p.m. EDT.
I pulled three quotes from each interview that I thought were important. I'll have more quotes in my story afterward.
Shrewsberry on the excitement of starting fall practice:
"Because of the college basketball and the rule changes and how everything is, you're on the court and you're doing stuff," Shrewsberry said. "You lose that feel [on] the first day of practice a little bit because you're doing stuff in the summer, stuff in the fall but the excitement for us, it does change. Yesterday's practice was different than the workouts that we've been doing. But you also felt a sense of excitement. I know I was excited. I know our staff was excited. Our players were excited and that's the beauty of it, now we get a chance to really work. It falls on a Monday and our first game is on Monday, six weeks later so that gives us a timeframe [and] a timetable. Here's what we need to get in. Here's what we need to get done. And it starts today, which was yesterday."
Roper on his defensive identity and how that will create offense:
"Well, coming from Northwestern, you know, just in the Big 10, defense is like the main thing in the Big 10," Roper said. "So just taking that from there and taking it here ... I know I have to be sound defensively. Defense is probably one of the biggest things that will lead to our offense especially [for] us this year. Really just being sound on defense, fundamentally sound [and] not gambling a lot ... trying to get stops every play [and] every time down, not necessarily a steal, we're just trying to get stops every time. That's one of the biggest things."
Konieczny on his journey:
"I want to say I just like kind of redefined my whole kind of thinking when it comes to basketball," Konieczny said. "You know, I've taken two years off of playing basketball. Deep down, you know, I'm thinking to myself I just love playing basketball but you know, I had to step back. You're thinking about that and really ... I love playing basketball. I just want to go out there on the court. I want to be playing again ... I have a new hunger for the game. I have a new love for the game. New respect for the game, especially these new coaches, they've shown me a lot so I'm just excited to get ready."
Some observations from practice:
• Sophomore forward Tae Davis looked the part. At 6-foot-9, his ball handling was the most impressive on the team during drills orchestrated by assistant to the head coach Tre Whitted. Assistant coach Mike Farrelly was also in Davis' ear with encouragement during the box drill, where three defenders are placed in a box and must follow and attempt to deflect or steal passes made by four offensive players on the outside of the box.
• Roper and sophomore forward Kebba Nije look to be the early vocal leaders of the team. I was impressed by their effort in the short time I saw them. I was not able to judge too much of their potential impact because of the types of drills we saw, but I think both project as starters on opening night.
• Konieczny threw down at least one dunk in a drill. There was no defense being played other than by development and recruiting coordinator Grady Eifert, but Konieczny looked sharp in his cuts and movement from one spot on the court to the next. He might have the highest ceiling on the team with Davis. Associate head coach Kyle Getter was someone closely coaching Konieczny.
• Of the three freshmen guards, Markus Burton's ball handling is noticeably more developed and quicker than Logan Imes and Braeden Shrewsberry, which could be expected. Imes and Shrewsberry were listed as shooting guards by Rivals while Burton was a point guard/ Still, Imes played point guard for Zionsville (Ind.) High and on the grassroots basketball circuit with Indiana Elite. I think Shrewsberry will bring shooting to the Irish while Imes may be more of a distributor and defender.
• Size could be an issue for the Irish once the season comes around. Nije and freshman forward Carey Booth are both the tallest at 6-10. From a physical standpoint, Nije and forward Matt Zona look to be the two players best suited to match up with an opposing team's big man and handle the offensive and defensive glass. Booth has a thin frame and may be the most gifted athlete on the team, but I think he needs some time at the college level before he's trusted on the interior.
I'll have a full notebook later.
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