MICAH SHREWSBERRY: Thank you for having us here today. Exciting times. It's good to be back here in Charlotte. That means the start of the basketball season is almost upon us.
This is an exciting time, I believe, for the ACC and our league. With a lot of teams that are really looking to make that jump and really adding to the depth of our league and our conference, we're trying to position ourselves to be one of those teams.
Continuity is the name of the game for us this season. Having Markus and Braeden here with us down here in Charlotte today, two guards that average 35 points combined. Last year they only got to play 18 games together out of our 33, so having these guys together on the floor is really important for us.
Having these guys along with we had seven total returnees and added a top-10 recruiting class in the country. Also added the nation's leading rebounder in Carson Towt from Northern Arizona.
So we've put together a group that is ready to compete, ready to really help our league take the next step.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach. In an era in which continuity is almost nonexistent, and teams have to start over from scratch basically year-for-year, what's the secret to keeping all those guys?
MICAH SHREWSBERRY: I think for us it's really come through recruiting. The guys of the seven guys that returned, they all started at Notre Dame as freshmen. That's been the key.
They know what they're signing up for when they come into the door, right? They know how challenging and difficult it's going to be academically, but they also know now after a year or after two years how they can get better.
We put a plan together for guys in player development, and I think you've seen guys make steps. I think you've seen these two guys really grow as players, and I think you'll see another crop of guys that nobody is really talking about that played for us last year make a huge step in their game.
When you treat people the right way, when you try and let them -- or do the best to give them the best student-athlete experience that they can get, if they can see opportunity and hope for their games individually. But for our program and where we're going as a team, I think that's allowed or given them a good feeling about staying.
Q. We've seen coaches in college basketball and college football in the landscape of recruiting with NIL and transfer portal get so frustrated with things as far as the recruiting situation they actually step down. How are you able to deal with those type of situations, or have you even came to that point yet?
MICAH SHREWSBERRY: Yeah, I signed up to be a college basketball coach, all right? I coached in the NBA for six years, but my dream and goal was to be a college basketball coach, and I'm living my dream right now.
But it's constantly changing. The game is constantly evolving. I don't think you can be set in any kind of ways, right? If you are, maybe that's why people are stepping down, but if you are able to evolve and adapt and do things on the fly, then you can have some success.
This is going to be my fifth year at this level as a Division I head coach, and things have been different every single year. The moment you get frustrated or the moment you start looking left and right at what everybody else has, then the moment you take your focus off of yourself and your team.
All I'm focused on is trying to make Notre Dame the best program it can be.
Q. You said just a little bit before that it comes down to treating people well and that relationship side of things. Kind of going off of what you just said, we live in a transactional world, but you seem very relational, and you've been that way, as you've stood at the podium over the years. What can you say about valuing the relationship, the connection, and the things that don't go out of style, so to speak?
MICAH SHREWSBERRY: I think that's a part of -- you've got to be who you are. We use a company that does some personality assessments, and it does a DISC assessment. One of the things it also talks about is the values, and my top five values, right? competitiveness is in there. I'm super competitive. When it's time to play games, I'm fired up as anybody and I'm trying to win.
But my other ones are family, happiness, friendship, cooperation, affection. Those things are really important to me. Those things are really important to how we treat our guys on a daily basis. Those things are really important in the locker room and the guys who they're surrounded with on a daily basis as well.
It always goes back to that, and if you do those things and somebody still leaves, that's okay. You've done everything possible in your power for them to stay, and it's a choice. It's okay. Everybody gets to make choices. I make choices every single day, but you have no regrets because of you know you're doing the right things day-to-day.
THE MODERATOR: A familiar face is walking the halls again in South Bend, Pat Garrity?
MICAH SHREWSBERRY: Yeah, it's an honor to get a chance to share an office with Pat Garrity. He's right down the hall from us on a daily basis. Somebody that really understands Notre Dame as a -- he was an academic All-American. He was an All American on the court. He was a player of the year in his conference. He was a first round draft pick. He played in the NBA for ten years. He also worked in the NBA.
So his knowledge and understanding of front office, which is what this is becoming now for us in college, of how to handle that, how to build those relationships with players, with families, with agents and such. He's really taken a lot off my plate and allowed me to really coach and focus on our team and focus on us becoming the best program that we can.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you. Questions for Markus.
Q. A couple of years ago your head coach -- and I'll paraphrase -- said that he would drive by the Notre Dame campus and just sort of look through the gates and sort of imagined himself there one day, sort of a dream. You're also from that area. Did you sort of pass by the campus thinking one day you would play there?
MARKUS BURTON: Yeah, I used to drive past Notre Dame a lot growing up as a kid. I used to go by -- they used to have court in the back where they used to host pick-up games. I used to play back there a lot.
Now I'm here playing basketball. I'm here at ACC Media Days, so it's honestly a dream come true. I'm excited, and I'm living the dream.
Q. We have seen the two years that you've been at college, and I think you started in all but one game that you played in. Just having that trust with Coach, I guess I would say, that he has in you, just what can you say to that affect that he's trusted you from day one, and obviously he's seen the leadership in you, and it's developed over time?
MARKUS BURTON: Man, honestly, I don't even know. I can't thank Coach enough. He easily could have told me when he came in, he didn't need me to be here. He could have asked me to go somewhere else, but he trusted in me.
He put in his time and effort to make me a better basketball player and he encouraged me a lot to become a better basketball player. Also he just he trusts me every single day to go out and show people what I'm capable of doing and just leading the team.
THE MODERATOR: That trust is built within your shot. Last year you shot 46% from two-point range. Coach gives you the green light all the time?
MARKUS BURTON: I wouldn't say he gives me a green light all the time, but he trusts me to go get buckets. That's all I could ask for.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Braeden Shrewsberry.
Q. Coach talked about the continuity between you guys, but he also talked about being a person of character on and off the floor. How do those two things go hand in hand in this program?
BRAEDEN SHREWSBERRY: I think it shows you he is real. The stuff he was telling us when he was recruiting us, I mean, I'm sure it's different for other guys, but what he is telling them, that's exactly how it's been when we got to college.
That's how it is on a daily basis, whether we win a game, lose a game. Everything is the same, you know, so yeah.
Q. So what's it like playing for your dad? Is he Coach? Is he dad? How does that dynamic work?
BRAEDEN SHREWSBERRY: It's definitely different. He's Coach right now. When I'm at home he's dad, but on the court he's Coach, yeah.
Q. Braeden, for you developmentally just going into the season where you've seen maybe those little nuances in your game, those little pieces that you think when a game is down to one possession, you're playing in overtime this season, they're going to come through; what are those things that you've been working on?
BRAEDEN SHREWSBERRY: I feel like this summer my biggest strides have been with my body. I gained probably ten pounds since the spring. We have we got a new strength coach. Jon Sanderson has been good with our whole team putting on weight, putting on muscle. I think that will help me defensively a lot.
I struggled my first two years guarding the ball. I feel like I've gotten a lot better at that. Then just really being a veteran now, just understanding how the game goes in those late-game situations being able to get one stop or just get one bucket at the end of the game.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports