Everything Notre Dame's Micah Shrewsberry, Markus Burton, Braeden Shrewsberry said at ACC Tipoff

Head coach Micah Shrewsberry and junior guards Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry represented Notre Dame men’s basketball at ACC Tipoff on Wednesday. Here’s everything they had to say.

Note: Questions are often paraphrased. Answers are verbatim.

Notre Dame head men’s basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry

Opening statement:
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.

In an era in which continuity is almost nonexistent, what’s the secret to keeping all these guys?
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.

We’ve seen college coaches get so frustrated with NIL and the transfer portal that they step down. How do you deal with those situations?
Yeah, I signed up to be a college basketball coach, alright? 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.

What can you say about valuing relationships and connections in the transactional era of college sports?

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.

A familiar face is walking the halls again in South Bend, Pat Garrity?
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.

Junior guards Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry

Being from the area, did you pass by Notre Dame’s campus thinking one day you’d play there?
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.

What can you say about the trust Coach Shrewsberry has had in you since Day 1?
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.

Last year, you shot 46 percent from two-point range. Coach gives you the green light all the time?
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.

Coach talked about continuity and character. How do those things go hand in hand?
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.

What’s it like playing for your dad?
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.

How have you developed from last year to this year?
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.