LAPORTE, Ind. — Last week, five-star guard Jalen Haralson committed to Notre Dame over Indiana and Michigan State. One of those basketball programs finished with a losing record three times in the past four years. Another has a coach who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame eight years ago. And the third got the national prospect to campus “a hundred times” by Haralson’s estimation, the local school with five championship banners and a former NBA coach on the bench.
After Haralson said “Notre Dame” out loud, three days after quietly deciding for family, the text messages started to come in. One came from Gary Harris, the 10-year NBA guard who starred for Tom Izzo in East Lansing. Another came from Trayce Jackson-Davis, the former Indiana All-American now integral to the Golden State Warriors.
Both said basically the same thing. Not about Notre Dame. About Micah Shrewsberry.
“Gary texted me, ‘Man, you picked the right coach to play for,’” Haralson said. “TJD, he’s an IU guy, told me Coach Shrews is gonna get me to where I want to go. That’s how much respect he has. Hearing that from them reassured me I’m in the right spot.”
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The 6-foot-7, 210-pounder in the 2025 class didn’t exactly need the affirmation. He’s comfortable making an unpopular decision, whether that was leaving his hometown of Anderson, Ind., to play high school basketball at Fishers High School or leaving there for La Lumiere before his junior year. Haralson can play off two feet. He can stand on them, too.
But Notre Dame had to give Haralson reason to take this kind of chance, to become the highest-rated prospect to commit to the Irish in the modern history of the program. And that’s where Shrewsberry fits. It’s why Notre Dame has the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in men’s basketball, according to Rivals and 247Sports, with On3 slotting the Irish fourth behind Kentucky, Arkansas and Houston. Alongside Haralson, Notre Dame has landed center Tommy Ahneman (St. Paul, Minn.), forward Brady Koehler (Indianapolis) and guard Ryder Frost (South Hamilton, Mass.). All are four-star prospects, save Haralson, who’s something better.
Notre Dame doesn’t land a talent good enough to play on the FIBA U17 World Cup team without a coach with credibility on those courts. Haralson didn’t care much about proximity or destination. He cared about the coach with an NBA background and a direct line to Boston Celtics president Brad Stevens, whose son Brady is on Shrewsberry’s roster.
Basically, Haralson made a basketball decision by picking a football school.
“I trust Coach Shrews. It really wasn’t much about Notre Dame. I really don’t know much about Notre Dame,” Haralson said. “I’ll go to any school to get me where I want to go. I don’t care what people think about me.”
This might not be exactly what former athletic director Jack Swarbrick banked on when he pulled Shrewsberry away from Penn State. But it’s close, considering the program felt lost in college basketball’s new world order under former coach Mike Brey. For Notre Dame hoops to get where it wants to go, it still needs to develop talent across three and four seasons. But it needs talent like Haralson, who is unlikely to see his sophomore year of college no matter where he spent his freshman one.
Shrewsberry offered Haralson while at Penn State, but the two didn’t build a connection until Shrewberry returned to his home state almost 18 months ago. By that point, Haralson already held offers from Maryland and Indiana, both offered on the same day of his freshman year. Duke and Gonzaga got involved during his sophomore year.
The move to La Lumiere got Haralson closer to Notre Dame, but he said geography had nothing to do with the final decision. His high school coach is Pat Holmes, a Notre Dame alumnus whose father of the same name is the basketball program’s academic adviser. But Haralson’s older brother attended Indiana. And Jaren Jackson Sr., whose son Jaren Jackson Jr. starred at La Lumiere before a year at Michigan State and going in the lottery to Memphis, is an assistant coach for La Lumiere.
Familiarity was wherever Haralson wanted to find it. The ideal NBA development program was not.
As a Boston Celtics assistant (2013-19), Shrewsberry coached Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. When the franchise won the NBA title last summer, Shrewsberry was in the locker room to celebrate. Those resume lines gave Shrewsberry credibility with Haralson that more experienced coaches lacked. And Notre Dame’s coach flexed that as he got to know Haralson during the past year, so well that he could critique his game while everybody else praised it.
“He really didn’t sugarcoat it with me. He told me my game is pretty good right now, but you have a lot of stuff you need to work on,” Haralson said. “It’s funny, all the film sessions besides him, it was all positive film. It was all things I’m great at. With Notre Dame, it was hardly any positives. It was, ‘Yo, you need to work on this.’”
If all goes to plan, Haralson will enroll next year at Notre Dame with a top-10 recruiting class, joining a deep roster that includes juniors Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry, plus a three-man sophomore class that includes top-100 prospect Sir Mohammed. If Shrewberry’s second season is a step forward, his third with Haralson could be a leap.
“Elite 8,” Haralson said. “We’re gonna make some noise.”
On the night Haralson committed, he called Notre Dame, Michigan State and Indiana about 30 minutes in advance. The five-star prospect had controlled his entire recruitment to that point, so he wasn’t going to stop short of the finish line. When he got to Shrewberry, Haralson heard what a three-year investment sounds like when it pays off.
Shrewsberry screamed into the phone, told Haralson he’d be right over at La Lumiere, then hung up.
“Dang, I thought I was supposed to hang up the phone,” Haralson said with a laugh.
About 35 minutes later, Shrewberry was in the La Lumiere parking lot for a bro hug with the biggest commitment of his coaching career. Notre Dame’s coach had convinced Haralson to make a basketball decision, committing to a program where the basketball needs work.
Of course, that’s why Shrewberry is here. A year from now that will be true for Haralson, too.
“Obviously, I believe in him as a coach. I believe in his playing style. And I believe in the ACC,” Haralson said. “A lot of people know Notre Dame basketball is not the sexiest. I’ve made a lot of unpopular decisions. I don’t care what people think about me. I don’t care if people think that this is a bad decision. I’m the one that’s gonna be going through it. It’s me grinding, every day, working my butt off.
“I’m always going to listen to my gut, and this was a gut feeling.”
(Top photo: Altan Gocher/ AFP via Getty Images)
