SOUTH BEND - Tommy Ahneman spent last season learning what it means to be stuck on the outside of college basketball, and that made this summer feel like a breakthrough.
The Notre Dame sophomore power forward finally got back into pickup runs on the Rolfs Hall practice court in late June, and the return came with a jolt. His body had to remember everything all over again.
The pace hit hard. The conditioning hit harder.
But the feeling of being back on the floor outweighed all of it.
Ahneman had not moved or sweated like that since his high school days in suburban Minneapolis, when he averaged 16.3 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.7 blocks per game. After spending last season sidelined by fall surgery on his left knee - his second surgery on that knee - he was back to doing what he came to Notre Dame to do.
“When you’re out, you realize how much you miss it and how much you love what you do,” Ahneman told the Tribune in an exclusive conversation in mid-July. “It’s really hard, being on the sideline. Once you get back, you put your head down and just go.
“It’s like, ‘Let’s just play.’”
That was a very different life from the one he lived a year ago, when he watched weekday practices from the side in Rolfs and spent games at the end of the bench, home and away. He was still around the team on road trips and through ACC play, but injury made the whole experience feel distant.
Now, just being part of the action again has changed everything.
“It’s like you’re not an island anymore,” Ahneman said. “Just being able to participate, you feel closer to everything because you’re out there putting in the work and grinding it out. You get the full feeling of what college basketball is like.”
Last winter, Ahneman had to make do with whatever progress he could squeeze out of rehab. He put time into his upper body in the weight room, stayed on top of his classes and went back to his dorm to hammer the leg-raise work assigned by trainer Courtney McNamara Martin. That routine became his season.
“Anything I could do to help speed up the recovery process,” Ahneman said. “It didn’t, but it just felt good in the moment. That was beneficial.”
Even while he couldn’t play, he still tried to learn from what was happening around him. He watched former graduate transfer Carson Towt battle in the post.
He paid attention to what life is like for an ACC big man. By the time spring and summer arrived, he had a better sense of the job waiting for him in 2026-27.
“College basketball is hard,” Ahneman said. “It’s physical.
It’s a grind. It’s a long season.
It’s a roller coaster.”
He also came away with a stronger feel for what it means to be part of a team through the hard stretches. That bond mattered even more with six players leaving for the transfer portal in the spring and 10 newcomers arriving in the summer.
“You can really connect with the dudes on your team,” Ahneman said. “Those are the dudes you need to talk to when something’s not going your way and times are tough.
They can help you with what you’re thinking. This is a family.”
On the floor, the tools are obvious. At a recent open practice, Ahneman showed size, touch around the rim, rebounding ability and the kind of frame that can set screens and open space for others. The rust is still there, but it has been coming off a little more each time he gets up and down.
“He’s had a good summer,” said head coach Micah Shrewsberry. “He’s competitive.
He can score the ball around the basket. He can go and rebound, and he’s physical.
“College basketball is still new to him. He was here (last year). He saw it, but playing is a different deal.”
That difference matters now because Notre Dame has a clear starter at power forward in graduate transfer Logan Duncomb, who came through the summer bridge program and brings experience, size and the chance to be a steady double-double presence. Behind him, there is room.
Ahneman can fill it if he keeps trending the way he has this summer. He is big enough to matter inside, physical enough to rebound and block shots, and still young enough to keep growing into the role.
“I just have to keep doing what I’m doing,” he said. “Logan’s taught me a lot; Coach has been great. Hopefully, I can contribute whatever I can.”
That contribution will be bigger than what he could give a year ago. For Ahneman, that alone is progress.
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