​We’re almost there, almost back to the grind of another Notre Dame basketball season. Before you know it, there will be a foot of snow on the ground, temperatures will be below zero and another Atlantic Coast Conference game will be going up and down the court inside Purcell Pavilion.  To get you ready for those nights and get you ready for a Notre Dame season that starts in Rome on November 1 against Villanova in the Eternal City Tip-off, we’ll take a numerical player-by-player look — from 0 to 51 with several stops in between — at the 2026-27 Notre Dame basketball team over the next 16 days (Monday, October 12 thru Friday, October 30). Who are these guys? What did they do last year? Where do they fit in this one? And what does fourth-year head coach Micah Shrewsberry think of them? Your snapshot of the 2026-27 Irish starts here. ∎ (23) Ethan Roberts Hometown (High School/previous schools): (Arlington, Heights, Illinois/Hersey/Penn/Drake/Army) Dimensions: 6-foot-5, 190 pounds Projected position: Starting wing guard Class: Graduate student Notable number: Roberts has a career scoring average of 15.0 points in previous playing stops at Army and Penn. He also spent one redshirt season at Drake 25-26 stats: Averaged a team-high 16.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.3 steals in 30.4 minutes over 23 games, all starts, for a Penn team that finished 18-12, won the Ivy League and went to the NCAA Tournament. Roberts shot .401 percent from the field, .404 from 3 and .799 from the foul line. 26-27 outlook: Bring toughness, experience and scoring to the wing guard spot, where he should be a starter from Day One. Roberts is a known scorer, but also brings a certain don’t-back-down-mentality that might be most needed for this program. Shrews on Roberts: “If you’ve never watched him and you watch him walk out on the court, (you think) he’s a shooter. Ethan’s a scorer. He’d rather drive than shoot. He’d rather shake somebody and put it on the deck and go do some other things, which is unique. He scores in a lot of different ways.” Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.comThis article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Scouting Ethan Roberts ahead of 2026-27 Notre Dame basketball season