Notre Dame Basketball: Old rival could provide the next transfer target

While his season for Notre Dame basketball couldn’t be considered an actual “success,” the Fighting Irish made some baby steps progress toward getting where new head coach Micah Shrewsberry wants them to go.

One of the biggest strengths of this version of the Notre Dame basketball team is that they have quite a bit of youth. Markus Burton showed that he’s going to be a star in this first season. He only got better as the campaign continued.

If there’s one piece of the puzzle the Irish need to add, is some veteran leadership. Someone, or a couple someones who have played big boy basketball for a couple of years. And while Shrewsberry is still very much in rebuild mode, the transfer portal is one way to shorten that process.

Enter a player like Michigan’s Dug McDaniel. The guard entered the transfer portal on Monday, on the heels of one of the worst seasons for Michigan Basketball in quite some time. 

On the one hand, it might seem unlikely that McDaniel would want to leave a bad Wolverines team and hook up with a Notre Dame Fighting Irish squad that posted a losing record. But there are things that Shrewsberry can point to that could be used as a selling point.

Notre Dame basketball could pull from rival squad for help

The rivalry between Michigan and Notre Dame basketball isn’t anywhere near the rivalry that it is in football. But one has to wonder if McDaniel getting a chance to stick the dagger in against her old team might not be at least a little attractive.

Getting to play alongside Burton could be attractive as well.

It seems clear that the Notre Dame basketball team is going to be shopping in the transfer portal this offseason. A sophomore guard who averaged 16.3 points and 4.7 assists this past season should be on that shopping list.