The Notre Dame Fighting Irish were trying to improve on their 13-20 record from the 2023-2024 season going into the season. With sophomore guard and last year’s acc freshman of the year Markus Burton along with Junior forward Tye Davis the Irish were feeling they could really improve this season. But injuries and inconsistent play cause the Irish to win only two more games this year (15-18).

The Fighting Irish were 6 wins and 8 losses in games decided by six points of less. Winning there last three games. There were also other games where Notre Dame had leads in the second half or big leads in the first half and still lost. Let’s look at some of those games.

The first game Notre Dame should have won was against the Elon Phoenix on November 29. The Irish led by 6 with just under 17 minutes left in the game. It became a game after that as neither team had more than a three-point lead until 26 seconds left when Elon made their layup to go up 80 to 75. The Irish lose 84-77. The Irish had the lead 75 to 74 with 1:42 left in the game.

The very next game Notre Dame had a date with Rutgers Scarlett Knights, in Vegas. This game was settled in overtime and that was with Markus Burton getting injured in the 4th minute of the game. Markus missed the rest of the game and the next six games. In the game the Irish led by 6 with 7 minutes left to go in the game (62-56). Rutgers battled back and had three-point lead until Senior Matt Allocco made a three-point field goal with 7 seconds left in the game. In overtime the Irish fell behind by six, but Irish came back and tied it up. With 11 seconds left Rutgers went up 1 on a free throw and Allocco tried a three with 1 second left but missed for the loss.

On January 4 the Irish hosted the North Carolina Tar Heels. The Tar got took a 12-point lead in middle of the first half and led by 9 at halftime. The Irish battled back and actually took the lead with 9:43 left. Notre Dame had a three-point lead until Elliott Cadeau mad a three with 4 seconds left and was fouled by Matt Allocco. Cadeau made the free throw, and the Tar Heels win by 1.

In the very next game the Irish led the North Carolina State Wolfpack by 7 (63-56) with 3:39 left to go in the game. The Irish did not score a field goal the rest of the game and wind up losing by 1 (66 to 65).

January 18, in Syracuse, Notre Dame jumped out to a 31-14 lead. And the Irish still led 40 to 24 with 2:48 left in the first half. By halftime the Syracuse Orangemen had it down to 42 to 33. The second half was all Orangemen outscoring the Irish 44 to 27. The Irish lose by 8.

On February 1st, the Irish traveled to Miami to play the conference winless (0-10) Miami Hurricanes. Everything looked good in the first half as the Irish took a eleven-point lead (36-25). Second half was dominated by Miami outscoring the Irish 38 to 21. Irish loses by 6.

Notre Dame vs the Viriginia Tech Hokies, the Irish jumps out to an 18 to 4 lead. By halftime the lead was only 7 (33-26). In the second half Notre Dame had a 48 to 39 lead when Virginia Tech went on a 19 to 6 run to take a 4-point lead. Tech would make their free throws the rest of the game and win by 2.

March 1st, Notre Dame vs Wake Forest Deamon Deacons. The Irish opened up quickly with a 20 to 10 lead. Wake cut the lead to 5 (30-25) by halftime. Just before the 10-minute mark of the second half the Irish opened it up to 9-point lead (51-42). The Deamon Deacons slowly battled back and took the lead and made there free throws to finish off the Irish 74 to 71.

Micah Shrewsberry will be in his third year at Notre Dame, but there are questions going into this offseason. Will Marcus Burton go pro, or will he stay? Are any players transferring out? Micah has 4 incoming freshmen led by small forward Jalan Haralson out of Fishers Indiana. If everyone that are not out of options stays at Notre Dame how does Micah work these 4 freshmen into the rotation.

Once he has that settled than he needs to teach his group how to win. Notre Dame had chances to win those eight games that I talked about. If he can keep all his players and with the incoming freshman and he shows them how they can overcome these obstacles I think Notre Dame can make it back to the NCAA Tournament next year.

Watching the Irish all season at times their offense gets stagnant because I believe they do too much Isolation with either Markus Burton or Tye Davis. They need to get better movement and more spacing on the floor. Micah needs to teach the Fighting Irish players how to finish off games. They did win their last three close games, so they got a taste of it. They beat Stanford by 2, California by 2 in 4 overtimes with Marcus Burton and Tye Davis both fouling out. And Kebba Njie leaving the game for concussion protocol. Then the first game of the ACC tournament beat Pittsburgh Panthers on a last second foul. Maybe that was the start. If not, the Micah Strawberry might not survive next season being Notre Dame’s Head Coach.

Sports the way I see it.