{"id":578152,"date":"2026-02-02T21:45:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/578152\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T21:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:45:17","slug":"what-might-final-full-month-of-regular-season-mean-for-notre-dame-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/578152\/","title":{"rendered":"What might final full month of regular season mean for Notre Dame basketball?"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOUTH BEND\u00a0\u2013 When\u00a0a\u00a0college basketball\u00a0season<\/a>\u00a0officially\u00a0opens\u00a0every\u00a0fall and optimism is everywhere, one particular mile marker feels forever away.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s\u00a0so\u00a0much to do,\u00a0so\u00a0many games to play to look far down the\u00a0college basketball road and\u00a0wonder\u00a0what the final full month of the regular season might look like.\u00a0Feel like. Be like.<\/p>\n

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Then, suddenly,\u00a0February\u00a0is here. Finally.<\/p>\n

That means\u00a0the clock is ticking loudly on many of the 365 Division I college basketball programs. For\u00a0most,\u00a0February\u00a0is the last full\u00a0month for most\u00a0to practice and play.\u00a0Soon, it\u00a0will be March. It will be spring break. It will be\u00a0bye-bye\u00a0college\u00a0basketball.<\/p>\n

Noie: Could Notre Dame basketball find its way on the road against Syracuse?<\/a><\/p>\n

Noie: Remembering the top 25 Notre Dame basketball games over the last 25 seasons<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0hard to\u00a0imagine\u00a0February in\u00a0October\u00a0and\u00a0November\u00a0and December.\u00a0Even January\u00a0feels like it\u00a0lasts\u00a0eight weeks.\u00a0When you\u00a0get\u00a0there,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0hard to imagine\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0back\u00a0in what\u00a0feels\u00a0like\u00a0the bounce of a ball.<\/p>\n

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From\u00a0October to February … like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe season\u00a0has blown by,\u201d Notre Dame\u00a0basketball\u00a0<\/a>head coach Micah Shrewsberry said Monday during his 10-minute window on the\u00a0Atlantic Coast Conference\u00a0Coaches Zoom call. \u201cJanuary blew by\u00a0despite\u00a0it being one degree\u00a0(not really)\u00a0and\u00a0(what felt like)\u00a0a\u00a0billion inches of snow out here.\u201d<\/p>\n

January\u00a0blew by\u00a0despite Notre Dame going 1-7.<\/p>\n

Shrewsberry wishes February\u00a0drags\u00a0to\u00a0a\u00a0point where it feels like\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a068 days\u00a0and not 28. After all the practices and the games and\u00a0travel\u00a0and the\u00a0ups and downs\u00a0and twists and turns a college\u00a0basketball\u00a0season\u00a0brings,\u00a0the finish line is in sight.<\/p>\n

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Notre\u00a0Dame\u2019s\u00a0nowhere near\u00a0ready to cross it, not even as the\u00a0Irish limp into February\u00a0at\u00a011-11 overall, 2-7 in ACC play heading into Wednesday\u2019s game at No.\u00a023\u00a0Louisville. It would be different\u00a0if this\u00a0was\u00a0a\u00a0program stocked\u00a0with\u00a0upperclassmen\u00a0who\u00a0are ready\u00a0for the next chapter in their basketball lives.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0old. The Irish are still\u00a0finding their way.\u00a0They want to keep learning, keep playing, keep\u00a0growing. February\u00a0offers\u00a0a\u00a0chance\u00a0to do\u00a0that, regardless of the record.<\/p>\n

Wing guard Jalen Haralson is among the handful of elite\u00a0freshmen\u00a0in the country, but\u00a0few have noticed. Sophomore\u00a0Cole Certa is coming of age as a college guard.\u00a0Same for\u00a0freshman\u00a0Brady Koehler as a forward.\u00a0Sophomore Garrett\u00a0Sundra looks to have figured some stuff out.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s\u00a0a good\u00a0team in there\u00a0somewhere.<\/p>\n

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Each day, somebody does something in practice, and\u00a0then\u00a0sometimes in games, that offer Shrewsberry something too few see.\u00a0Or have.<\/p>\n

Hope.<\/p>\n

Something about a lost season to date can still be found in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to find ways to have that\u00a0positivity\u00a0during\u00a0this time,\u201d Shrewsberry said. \u201cEven in the tough moments,\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0got to find positive\u00a0things that you can grow from and build from.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the moment when teams either go full steam ahead because\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0confident in how their\u00a0season\u2019s\u00a0going or they start quitting because\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0not confident in how their\u00a0season\u00a0is going.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0the biggest thing in going full\u00a0steam ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Notre Dame lost seven of eight\u00a0after\u00a0opening league play on December 30 at Stanford. It has lost its last three league road games by double figures. It\u00a0will be a\u00a0tough\u00a0ask to\u00a0match\u00a0the eight league games it won last year,\u00a0maybe even\u00a0the seven it won in Shrewsberry\u2019s first season.<\/p>\n

Still, he believes there are more positives than negatives to\u00a0focus on\u00a0through February.\u00a0Such as?<\/p>\n

\u201cOur growth as a\u00a0group, our connectivity\u00a0as a group,\u201d Shrewsberry said. \u201cThere are\u00a0little things that I still think we can get better at that will make a\u00a0difference\u00a0in the rest of our season.\u201d<\/p>\n

An old\u00a0team that might be where Notre Dame is, Shrewsberry said, is \u201ccooked\u201d\u00a0in\u00a0February.\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0no ceiling for that group.\u00a0Zero\u00a0hope. This team\u00a0and what it can be is still simmering. Hope\u00a0remains, no matter what the record says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe still have guys that have growth\u00a0left,\u00a0and you\u2019re seeing it in these steps,\u201d\u00a0Shrewsberry\u00a0said. \u201cThat gives you something that you can lean on and build from.\u201d<\/p>\n

One day at a time. One game at a time. And\u00a0one final\u00a0month at a time.<\/p>\n

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Micah Shrewsberry stresses steps in an Irish season of steps back<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOUTH BEND\u00a0\u2013 When\u00a0a\u00a0college basketball\u00a0season\u00a0officially\u00a0opens\u00a0every\u00a0fall and optimism is everywhere, one particular mile marker feels forever away. There\u2019s\u00a0so\u00a0much to do,\u00a0so\u00a0many…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,56322,1975,33800,231,772,1544,635,66945,8512],"class_list":["post-578152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-college-basketball","tag-jalen-haralson","tag-louisville","tag-micah-shrewsberry","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab","tag-notre-dame","tag-shrewsberry","tag-stanford"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116003230873656608","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}