But not on the team where one of the mottos is “challenge everything”.

Offensive line coach Joe Rudolph has moved some of the pieces around this spring, moving left guard Guerby Lambert to right tackle, sliding starting left tackle Anthonie Knapp to left guard and moving backup guard Will Black to left tackle. Instead of things looking out of place, all the puzzle pieces seem to fit just right.

“Guerby has a real comfort on the right side of the line,” explained Rudolph after Notre Dame’s seventh spring practice on Wednesday. “Knapper, we felt has done a great job playing left, but we thought to get each guy into the spot that would allow them to shine the most, would be to move Knapp in and create a good competition on the left tackle, which Will has done a great job.”

“What you don’t know is how the guys will embrace it,” continues Rudolph. “There’s a lot of differences. Anthonie has just embraced it. He wants to know the intricacies of the position, the differences.”

“The biggest difference is things happen quicker,” admits Knapp, who was highly successful as a tackle, starting there in the opening game of his freshman year. “When you’re that deep in the box, the linebackers, the leverages and shifts, they happen quick. I feel at tackle, you have a little bit more finesse. You have a little bit more time to see things and react. You’re in a two-point stance. You can look at the whole box. In a three-point, you have to keep your eyes up, because things shift. No defense is going to play straight up. This isn’t high school anymore.”

Black was in high school in Canada just two years ago, and played primarily guard last year, but has made the adjustment well.

“I don;t know I would say I’m more comfortable,” notes the 6-7, 316-pounder. “I would just say I can use my length and athleticism to my advantage. Playing guard helped me play tackle and be a better run blocker. Going from guard to tackle is a lot different in the pass game. You have a lot more space, a lot more time and you have to be more patient with you hands.

Black certainly has earned the admiration of his teammates.

“Will Black’s ceiling is whatever Will Black wants his ceiling to be,” lauds guard Sullivan Absher. “He’s an incredibly gifted natural athlete. He’s got an incredible work ethic. He’s smart, he’s well-spoken, he studies in the film room.”

“This group of kids, they’re amazing” exults Rudolph. “To see these guys work through injuries, and issues and find solutions together, helping each other, is something I’m just proud to be a part of, because it’s something special.”

The post Tweaks made to Irish O-Line this spring appeared first on Sports Michiana.

(Mishawaka) — Steve Drabyn, who has been the men’s basketball coach at Bethel University since 2019, is leaving the school to be the new head basketball coach at Marian University.

Drabyn replaces Pat Knight, who resigned in February.

“I want to thank Bethel University for the opportunity to lead the men’s basketball program for seven years,” Drabyn wrote to Sports Michiana. “I am grateful for that experience and all the players and supporters for following us. I am excited for this new opportunity at Marian to be closer to family and build a program that the Marian community can be proud of.”

Marian University will now have two local high school products as head basketball coaches. Suntana (Granderson) Anderson is a Riley alum who led the Knights to the NAIA National Championship this season.

Drabyn, who was a star high school player in LaPorte, came to Bethel after nine years as an assistant coach at the Division I level.  In his seven years on the Mishawaka campus, Drabyn compiled a 118-61 mark. That includes a 26-9 record this season, as the Pilots reached the second round of the NAIA National Tournament.

In all, Drabyn’s teams reached four NAIA National Tournaments and won the National Christion College Athletic Association tournament in 2023.

Bethel Director of Athletics Jason Lewkowicz shared, “On behalf of everyone at Bethel, I would like to thank Steve for all he has done leading our Men’s Basketball program the last seven years. We wish him well in his future endeavors and I look forward to identifying the next leader of the Bethel Men’s Basketball team.”

A nationwide search has commenced for the next Head Coach for the Bethel Men’s Basketball program.

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The five fabulous transfers who make up coach Dusty May’s starting lineup got down and dirty with the rest of the Wolverines — coming out with the men’s basketball national championship Monday night after muscling their way to a 69-63 victory over UConn.

Michigan only made two 3-pointers all night.

The Final Four’s most outstanding player, Elliot Cadeau, led the Wolverines with 19 points, including the team’s first 3-pointer, which came 7:04 into the second half. The second 3, from freshman Trey McKenney with 1:50 left, felt like a dagger, giving May’s team a nine-point lead.

To no one’s surprise, UConn fought to the finish. Solo Ball banked in a 3 to cut the deficit to four with 37 seconds left — and after two missed free throws, UConn’s Alex Karaban (17 points) barely grazed the rim on a 3 that would’ve cut the deficit to one with 17 seconds left.

Not until McKenney sank two free throws to bring Michigan’s shooting from the line to 25 for 28 for the night could the Wolverines (37-3) kick off the celebration for the program’s second title — the other coming in 1989, a few years before the Fab Five arrived and made two trips to the championship game, but never won a title.

It was the first men’s hoops title for the Big Ten since Michigan State in 2000. Including UCLA’s women’s basketball title Sunday, the conference swept the football (Indiana) and basketball titles this year.

Michigan won this one with defense, holding UConn to 30.9% shooting — the fourth straight game the Wolverines held their opponent to a season-low field-goal percentage.

“These guys have done it all year,” May said. “When one side of the ball has let us down, the other side has picked it up. Our togetherness defensively ultimately got us over the hump.”

All five Wolverines starters played college ball elsewhere, and all but Nimari Burnett came to Ann Arbor this season. That’s a product of the transfer portal that May has shown no reluctance to use since he arrived from Florida Atlantic two seasons ago.

The post Michigan wins NCAA basketball title appeared first on Sports Michiana.

Burton wrote on his account “After much thought and prayer, I’ve decided to enter the transfer portal. I’m beyond thankful to Coach Shrews for giving me a chance, and to my teammates and coaching staff for believing in me from the beginning. South Bend will always be home to me and it’s been a blessing to me to be able to represent my city. I’ll forever be grateful for the love, support and experiences this city has given me. I’m looking forward to what’s ahead and thankful for everything that has brought me to this point.”

Burton is expected to have offers from other schools which far exceed what he mas making from Notre Dame.

The 2023 Mr. Basketball in Indiana made an impact immediately on the Irish program, earning ACC Rookie of the Year honors in his freshman season.  As a sophomore, Burton was an Associated Press All-ACC selection, leading the conference in league scoring with a 23.5 points per game average.

Burton led the Irish in scoring average (18.5) for the first 10 games of his junior year. In the 10th game of the season on December 5, Burton injured his left ankle against TCU and did not play again the rest of the season.  Dynamic defensively, Burton still finished fourth on the team in steals, despite missing the last 2/3 of the year. Notre Dame plummeted from a 7-3 start to a final record of 13-18.

Burton is among six players to leave the program since the end of the season, including fellow starters Cole Certa and  Jalen Haralson, part-time starter Garrett Sundra and reserves Ryder Frost and Sir Mohammad. All of them have two or three years of eligibility remaining.

Head coach Micah Shrewsberry currently has eight players on the 2026-27 roster. Returning players are Tommy Ahneman, Logan Imes, Brady Koehler, Braeden Shrewsberry and Brady Stevens. Incoming freshmen are Jonathan Sanderson, Nick Shrewsberry and Gan Solongo. Notre Dame could add as many as seven players through the transfer portal, which officially opens Tuesday.

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While everything else is ready, the field is not.

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The 6-7, 220-pounder from Anderson, Indiana becomes the fourth Irish player to enter the portal this off-season, but certainly the most highly-regarded.

Haralson averaged 16.2 points and four rebounds per game in his initial season, often carrying the offense in the absence of the injured Markus Burton.  He shot 53.6% from the field, which ranked 5th in the Atlantic Coast Conference.  He was one of just six freshmen in a power conference to average at least 16 points, 4 rebounds and 2.5 assists. He produced double-digit points in all but three games this season.

Haralson is expected to be a coveted player in the portal. Some reports say that he will get NIL offers from schools that exceed what Notre Dame’s entire basketball roster made last season.

South Bend Tribune reporter Tom Noie says more transfers are expected from the Irish when the portal opens officially on Tuesday.

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And that’s just fine with the Fighting Irish head coach.

“If we don’t have a scuffle, a tussle…I don’t think I’m going to define it as a fight…then we’re probably not as competitive as I aspire to have our team to be,” states Freeman. “We do have a simple rule. Two guys fighting is the max. We’re not gonna have full team melees. We’ve got so much work to do, we can’t waste two minutes breaking up a fight.”

It’s all part of a competitive edge that Freeman continues to build into his team this spring.

“You need one every day,” emphasizes Freeman. “If not, you’ll get complacent, you’ll get comfortable and you won’t improve. It’s my job to create that. We have to struggle. Nothing great is achieved without hard, tough struggles, but you have to sacrifice.”

Part of the though process behind putting his team through conflict, is it also builds a closeness, that’s particularly evident to the newcomers to the program.

“You’ve got two captains returning who continue to uphold a high standard,” notes Freeman. “You have a returning quarterback and returning coordinators. When you have strong leadership, from the top, there’s no other option to have a close brotherhood.”

Quarterback CJ Carr has taken advantage of his starting role to do some on-field experimenting during the spring, which Freeman lauds.

“I don’t want our guys practicing or playing with fear. The worst thing that’s gonna happen is your coach is going to yell at you. You can’t worry about that. You have to accept that coaching, learn from it and get better, but I want our guys to be aggressive, and try different things that are ultimately going to help us.”

Backups Noah Grubbs and Blake Hebert are in a “different part of their journey”, according to the head coach. “What I’ve seen is the highest of highs and lowest of lows. They make some decisions you say ‘wow’, and they make some where you say ‘he’s got a ways to go'”.

The offensive line in front of them consists of Will Black and Guerby Lambert at tackles, Anthonie Knapp and Sullivan Absher at guards and Joe Otting at center. Matty Augustine is working at multiple positions. Freeman says the defensive line is doing a better job of staying in lanes and QB contain.

Wide receivers coach Mike Brown was also lauded by Freeman for his recruiting and development at that position.  Freeman mentioned almost every receiver by name during the gathering, but pointed out that Jaden Greathouse has regained the explosiveness he had before last year’s hamstring issues.

Asked about the national championship trophy coming to South Bend tomorrow (visiting IUSB), Freeman said  “Thinking about a national championship isn’t helping us get better in the moment. If you don’t have aspirations to win a national championship or move to the highest levels of the NFL, you’re at the wrong place. We don’t need to focus on that. We need to focus on what we have. What we have today is class. Tomorrow, it’s meet and lift. We can’t worry about the destination or outcome, we have to focus on what we have.”

Notre Dame will resume on-field practices after Easter, with the annual Blue-Gold Game set for Notre Dame Stadium on April 25

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You may not recognize the ballpark either.

Adding a second deck to 39-year-old Coveleski Stadium, the franchise is ready to show off its newly-refurbished digs Friday night when South Bend opens the season against Quad Cities.

“It clears every field by a mile. It’s elite,” says South Bend pitcher Kenten Egbert, who saw all the fields of the Midwest League during a pitching stint with the team last season. “The facilities that we have, the performance center in right, the clubhouse, the playing surface itself, the stadium, the fans…it all goes into it. It’s all miles ahead of everywhere else.”

Outfielder Kade Snell joined the team last August after being drafted in the fifth round. He knew changes were coming, but beamed as he looked around the ballpark.

It was beautiful when I got here last year, and it’s just even prettier now,” says the Dothan, Alabama native. “Adding on to the stuff…I’m actually staying over there at The Ivy, so I get a good view all the time. This is probably one of the coolest stadiums I’ve been at, and for me to be able to call this place home means the world to me.”

The ballpark isn’t the only thing with a different look. The ballclub will have many changes as well, starting with manager Daniel Wasinger, who was South Bend’s bench coach last season.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity, just so happy to be back,” says Wasinger, in his 8th year of professional baseball and third with the Cubs organization. “I was really excited when I got that phone call saying they wanted me to manage. When they told me it was South Bend, I was really ecstatic to come out here. I feel I’m prepared and ready for it.”

Wasinger already has the respect of his players.

“He’s my guy,” beams Snell, who remembers Wasinger as the first base coach last season. “I wouldn’t want to play for anybody else. I think he’s gonna handle it just fine.”

“It’s fantastic,” smiles Egbert, noting Wasinger was a catcher as a player. “THe guy gets it. He’s gonna do great for sure.”

Friday’s first pitch is set for 7:05, with Saturday’s game at 4:05 and Sunday at 2:05.

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The charges stem from an incident that occurred at Marian’s March 10th boys basketball practice, involving Jackson, Knights guard Brandon Foster and Foster’s father, Marian assistant coach Brian Foster.

Mishawaka police detectives obtained video from the practice. According to court documents, “On the video, the detective saw Mr. Jackson and Brandon Foster playing. During the game, he saw Mr. Jackson headbutt the younger Mr. Foster and then shove him by the neck. The detective then saw Mr, Jackson headbutt and shove the Coach Foster. Play resumed with Coach Foster standing on the sidelines, but near Mr. Jackson. After about a minute, Mr. Jackson went after Coach Foster again, grabbing him by the shirt and throwing him to the ground”

The incident originally led to the suspension of Marian boys basketball head coach R0bb Berger for the regional, which the Knights subsequently lost. 10 days later, Marian informed Berger he would not return next season.  Berger has said in multiple interviews that he was not given a reason for his dismissal, and Marian has offered no reason publicly.

Jackson is Marian’s all-time leading scorer with 1934 career points. He went on to a stellar career at Notre Dame, where he helped lead the Irish to Elite Eight appearances in 2015 and 2016. Jackson was drafted by Boston in the second round. He played parts of four NBA seasons with Boston, Houston and Philadelphia.

Jackson contributed money to help remodel Marian’s gym and the floor of that facility is called “Demetrius Jackson Court”. Last season, Marian retired his number, along with those of Devin Cannady and Jaden Ivey, two other Marian players who played in the NBA.

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