Junior guard Markus Burton, freshman guard Jalen Haralson and sophomore guard Cole Certa have announced they will be joining sophomore forward Garrett Sundra, sophomore guard Sir Mohammed and freshman guard Ryder Frost in the transfer portal. The losses of Burton, Haralson and Certa should trigger an alarm for anyone with an interest in Notre Dame men’s basketball.
The trio would have clearly been the three top players on the Irish roster next year. It goes without saying that Burton’s injury this past season was completely devastating for the Irish. Burton earned preseason first-team All-ACC honors, and Notre Dame simply was unable to make up for his lost talent throughout conference play. The only players who came close to filling Burton’s large shoes were Haralson, whose athleticism and scoring ability made him a legitimate force to be reckoned with in his first year of college basketball, and Certa, whose remarkable shooting allowed him to post three 30-plus-point performances against ACC opponents. Burton, Haralson and Certa were Notre Dame’s top three scorers by average points per game, though Burton only played in the first 10 games of the season. Only Braeden Shrewsberry, who will return to play his senior season alongside his incoming-freshman brother, otherwise averaged more than six points per game.
However, aside from the impending drop-off in scoring ability, there is another reason that Burton, Haralson and Certa all entering the transfer portal scares me. That reason can be found by looking at their hometowns.
Micah Shrewsberry has developed a well-earned reputation as a great recruiter in his time at Notre Dame. The current freshmen class, which Haralson headlined, was the highest-ranked in program history. Shrewsberry particularly targets — and, to his credit, gets — local talent. Top players from Indiana and the rest of the Midwest have chosen to play at Notre Dame, often despite offers from higher-ranked programs in other parts of the country. The incoming class of three recruits is proof of that, as guard Nick Shrewsberry and center Gan-Erdene Solongo will be coming to Notre Dame from in-state, and guard Jon Sanderson, the No. 68 recruit in the class according to SCNext, hails from Michigan. Solongo, Sanderson and Haralson all went to the same high school only 30 miles from Notre Dame.
If Notre Dame loses its Midwestern talent, it is not likely to find replacements of the same caliber from anywhere else in the country. Burton, Haralson and Certa are all players, who, in accordance with recent recruiting patterns, might never have chosen Notre Dame if they were raised elsewhere. With Mishawaka native Burton, Haralson from Anderson, IN, and Certa from Le Roy, Ill. all transferring, it leaves me wondering: If the Irish lose the “locals,” what will the program have left? Where are Notre Dame’s best players going to come from, if not from Indiana and Illinois?
Overall, the one thing that even Micah Shrewsberry’s harshest critics will grant him credit for is his ability to attract top Midwestern players. Now with those players transferring, prospects for the program look increasingly grim.
This offseason will certainly test Shrewsberry’s ability to recruit transfers like never before. This year, he only brought in Carson Towt through the transfer portal; the other roster additions were former NAIA player Matthew MacLellan and five freshmen. That is not an indication that Shrewsberry cannot recruit well in the portal, but rather that he has not done so yet. Now, as a majority of Notre Dame’s key players look for opportunities elsewhere, the incoming freshmen alone are not going to cut it. Shrewsberry has his work cut out for him, and it will be interesting to see how well he is able to make up for the lost talent.
I am certainly not yet ready to count the Irish out for next season, and I am excited to see what incoming transfers the Irish manage to land. I am alarmed, however, to see the Midwestern talent leaving the roster for other opportunities considering these local players have been the best thus far in the Shrewsberry era.
