12-29-2025, 03:53 PM
The headline for this preview is that Notre Dame will be missing their best player. Markus Burton suffered a left ankle injury on Dec. 5 in a game at TCU. He underwent surgery the next week and is out indefinitely. Burton led the ACC in scoring last season and was 2nd team All-ACC. He was pre-season 1st team All-ACC this season and averaged 20 ppg in the nine full games he played.
Stanford is favored by 3.5 and the over/under is 149.5. Implied score is 76.5-73. The Irish are 9-4, 1-1 on the road. They are 1-3 vs. Quad 1 opponents, 3-0 vs. Quad 3, and 5-1 vs Quad 4. The Quad 1 losses were all competitive games vs. Ohio State, Kansas, & Houston. Burton played in all three. He was hurt in the first half of the Quad 1 win at TCU. Since the injury, Notre Dame has beaten Idaho & Evansville, before losing their most recent game to Purdue Fort Wayne.
The irish are young with a roster of 7 freshmen (including Mark Zachary IV - a CB from the football team recently added to the roster), 3 sophomores, 3 juniors (including Burton), 1 senior, & 2 grad students.
Likely starters are:
#10 Jalen Haralson (6'7/220 Fr G) A McDonald's All-American and the highest rated ever for UND in modern (not sure exactly what thai means) program history. Leads team with 14.7ppg. Has taken over as point guard since Burton's injury, leading the Irish in that stretch with 4.5 assist/game, but also 3.75 turnovers/game;
#11 Braeden Shrewsbury (6'4/205 Jr G) Son of 3rd-year coach Micah Shrewsbury. Scores 12.2ppg, including 42 3s on 48.8% shooting from 3.
#33 Carson Towt (6'8/250 Gr F) Spent 6 years(!) at Northern Arizona as a starter for most of 4 seasons, one red shirt year, and one year out injured. goes back to the 2019-20 season, so I suppose Covid factors into his ongoing eligibility. Led the nation in rebounding last season (12.4rpg), was 2nd team All-Big Sky, and unanimous 1st team Defense All-Big Sky. Leads team with 10.2rpg. Scores 6.6ppg on 61% FG shooting and 45% from the free throw line. Averages 3 fouls/game with 1 DQ.
#12 Garrett Sundra (6'11 230 So F)
#5 Cole Certa (6'5 205 So G) Has averaged 12.2ppg with 45.5% shooting from 3 in the past 5 games. Has connected on all 22 of his FT attempts this season. Hit the 3-pointer from the corner with 18 seconds remaining to get the 56-54 victory over Stanford last season.
Acouple of guys who started vs. Stanford last season now come off the bench - #13 Sir Mohammed (6'6/215 So G) and #14 Kebba Njie (6'10/255 Sr F).
In my previous post, I stressed the importance of this game. There are several reasons for that belief. First, this is the first ACC experience for half of Stanford's 8-man rotation - Okorie, Rohosy, Dent-Smith, & Giltay. Second, it should be one of the "easier" games on the schedule - Quad 3, at Maples, and playing as the favorite. And third, the way the schedule sets up, I think that how they play in this game could have a big impact on the team mentality in the coming weeks. Following this game Stanford faces a gauntlet of 5 Quad 1 games - Louisville, @ Va Tech, @ UVA, UNC, & Duke. Other than Va Tech, those are probably the 4 best teams in the ACC. If Stanford loses to Notre Dame, they face the very real possibility of being 0-6 whan Cal comes to Maples on January 24. A start like that would be tough to bounce back from. I'm hopeful that a win vs. Notre Dame would give them the belief and grit to compete through that stretch, maybe eke out a win somehow, and keep the spirits up until the schedule "lightens up" a bit.
In any case, I'll be there tomorrow trusting that Kyle & staff will have them ready to go.
Stanford is favored by 3.5 and the over/under is 149.5. Implied score is 76.5-73. The Irish are 9-4, 1-1 on the road. They are 1-3 vs. Quad 1 opponents, 3-0 vs. Quad 3, and 5-1 vs Quad 4. The Quad 1 losses were all competitive games vs. Ohio State, Kansas, & Houston. Burton played in all three. He was hurt in the first half of the Quad 1 win at TCU. Since the injury, Notre Dame has beaten Idaho & Evansville, before losing their most recent game to Purdue Fort Wayne.
The irish are young with a roster of 7 freshmen (including Mark Zachary IV - a CB from the football team recently added to the roster), 3 sophomores, 3 juniors (including Burton), 1 senior, & 2 grad students.
Likely starters are:
#10 Jalen Haralson (6'7/220 Fr G) A McDonald's All-American and the highest rated ever for UND in modern (not sure exactly what thai means) program history. Leads team with 14.7ppg. Has taken over as point guard since Burton's injury, leading the Irish in that stretch with 4.5 assist/game, but also 3.75 turnovers/game;
#11 Braeden Shrewsbury (6'4/205 Jr G) Son of 3rd-year coach Micah Shrewsbury. Scores 12.2ppg, including 42 3s on 48.8% shooting from 3.
#33 Carson Towt (6'8/250 Gr F) Spent 6 years(!) at Northern Arizona as a starter for most of 4 seasons, one red shirt year, and one year out injured. goes back to the 2019-20 season, so I suppose Covid factors into his ongoing eligibility. Led the nation in rebounding last season (12.4rpg), was 2nd team All-Big Sky, and unanimous 1st team Defense All-Big Sky. Leads team with 10.2rpg. Scores 6.6ppg on 61% FG shooting and 45% from the free throw line. Averages 3 fouls/game with 1 DQ.
#12 Garrett Sundra (6'11 230 So F)
#5 Cole Certa (6'5 205 So G) Has averaged 12.2ppg with 45.5% shooting from 3 in the past 5 games. Has connected on all 22 of his FT attempts this season. Hit the 3-pointer from the corner with 18 seconds remaining to get the 56-54 victory over Stanford last season.
Acouple of guys who started vs. Stanford last season now come off the bench - #13 Sir Mohammed (6'6/215 So G) and #14 Kebba Njie (6'10/255 Sr F).
In my previous post, I stressed the importance of this game. There are several reasons for that belief. First, this is the first ACC experience for half of Stanford's 8-man rotation - Okorie, Rohosy, Dent-Smith, & Giltay. Second, it should be one of the "easier" games on the schedule - Quad 3, at Maples, and playing as the favorite. And third, the way the schedule sets up, I think that how they play in this game could have a big impact on the team mentality in the coming weeks. Following this game Stanford faces a gauntlet of 5 Quad 1 games - Louisville, @ Va Tech, @ UVA, UNC, & Duke. Other than Va Tech, those are probably the 4 best teams in the ACC. If Stanford loses to Notre Dame, they face the very real possibility of being 0-6 whan Cal comes to Maples on January 24. A start like that would be tough to bounce back from. I'm hopeful that a win vs. Notre Dame would give them the belief and grit to compete through that stretch, maybe eke out a win somehow, and keep the spirits up until the schedule "lightens up" a bit.
In any case, I'll be there tomorrow trusting that Kyle & staff will have them ready to go.