Okay, now that’s sad. While Notre Dame Fighting Irish football came off as a dominant force in the 2024 season, sadly, their other program failed to catch the good juju. We are talking about basketball, folks! The Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball suffered their worst loss of the season to the Southern Methodist University Mustangs on February 19. 97-73! Unimaginable for Micah Shrewsberry’s program, isn’t it? So, the Fighting Irish fans took an exit as they did not want to witness the mishap. But one person chose to be loyal. That’s none other than Notre Dame football HC Marcus Freeman.

Well, Freeman is often a common person to spot at any sporting event. Wednesday has been no exception. He might have gone with the hope of seeing Shrewsberry’s boys rage the basketball court just as the Fighting Irish football gang rage the gridiron. But it did not take Freeman to get a reality check. Initially, the hopes were high for the Fighting Irish basketball. After all, they were facing against SMU who were missing their best player, the Mustangs guard Boopie Miller. Sadly, it did not come to any help. Rather, Notre Dame got blown away by a huge loss in Andy Enfield’s program’s hands. The audience scene gave the real picture of how shocking has been the defeat.

Right after the game, On3 sports analyst Tyler Horka posted a picture from the stadium. There were empty seats all around. One could count the number of attendees who chose to stay till the last minute, as they were a handful. The caption said it all, “This was the crowd at the conclusion of Notre Dame’s 97-73 loss to SMU. Not a lot of people but Marcus Freeman is one of them. He stayed til the end.” The Irish (11-15, 5-10) fell behind big early and trailed throughout this one. The score was 50-25 at halftime, and that was made possible in part by the Irish collecting more turnovers (eight) than field goals (seven).

But at last, they could not stop the Mustangs from getting 14 points each from Matt Cross and Samet Yigitoglu, and 11 points came from Chuck Harris. Even though Freeman stayed loyal, being there in the audience till the end, he went home witnessing a loss. That was not the case on Monday, February 17. 

A night to remember for Marcus Freeman 

On Monday, Freeman was court-side as the No. 1 ranked Irish women’s basketball team. Unlike Fighting Irish men’s basketball, the women defeated the Duke Blue Devils, 64-49. Not just this. The team has not lost since the end of November. The Blue Devils came off as a dominant force with 18 straight victories. So, the victory tasted 100x sweeter. But what made Freeman stick to the end of the men’s basketball game? Even though Wednesday’s game came with a loss, the event has been indeed special for Notre Dame Fighting Irish football. 

The basketball game was the first time that both the Irish’s Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl trophies were on display. The Notre Dame fans were allowed to take pictures with them. The HC was there for the whole thing as his boys also got honored during the first half. 

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish players accompanied by Marcus Freeman took the court during one timeout and received a standing ovation they so very much deserved. That’s how Irish football will continue to reign in Notre Dame fans’ hearts for a long time now. With this, Freeman will have to keep their bar high. For that, they have got a sage piece of advice – consider joining a conference.