SB Nation Notre Dame Basketball
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Feb 15, 2012 - Exactly one month ago Thursday, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish traveled to Rutgers to take on the Scarlet Knights, and the Irish looked like a young, inexperienced team who we had seen in the non-conference portion of the schedule. ND shot just 44% from the field, and were an abysmal 5-13 shooting free throws in a 65-58 loss. This came two days after Connecticut ended their 29 game home winning streak in blowout fashion by 14 points.
These two losses seemed to bring the Irish back to earth after a surprising 3-1 start to the Big East season, including beating defending champion Pittsburgh and 11th ranked Louisville on the road, their first win there in thirty years. But Pitt opened conference play losing their first seven games, and the Cardinals lost five of seven, so coupled with the two straight losses by the Irish, it looked like the hot start might have been a fluke.
Coming into the year the expectations weren't very high for the Irish, losing Big East Player of the Year Ben Hansbrough, as well as two other seniors in Tyrone Nash and Carleton Scott, but had Preseason first team all-conference Tim Abromaitis back to lead the way. Abromaitis played in just two games, a 29 point loss to Missouri and a loss to Georgia, before he came down on his right knee wrong in practice, tearing his ACL and ending his season. Suddenly Notre Dame lost 15-20 points per night, and they struggled even with him in the lineup.
After a loss at Gonzaga, pushing their record to 5-3, head coach Mike Brey tempered his expectations even more on his team, publicly saying he just hoped his team could tread water in conference play to make the NIT, needing a .500 record to do so. His Irish hadn't played well against any of the three "power conference" teams, and would lose its other two such matchups to Maryland and Indiana.
After that ugly night in Piscataway, Notre Dame sat at 3-3 in the conference, with a daunting schedule ahead of them. Five games, all against potential NCAA Tournament teams, three of which on the road, and the two home games against the best two teams in the conference. This is where the inexperience would really come into play, especially after blowing a game which seemed like their most winnable until they hosted DePaul in three weeks.
Instead, the Irish became the hottest team in America.
They started by beating 20-0 #1 Syracuse at home, never leading by less than 5 the final 34 minutes of that game and holding them to just 34% shooting. It is still the Orange's only loss on the season. Then they went to Seton Hall, held them to just 26% shooting and won by 12. The Irish have always been good at home, being the only team in the country to be undefeated at home three of the last five seasons. For years it has always been an adventure on the road, and against Seton Hall they shot just 35% themselves, almost always a certain loss, especially away from South Bend.
But something was different about this team. They don't have the lights-out shooter they've had nearly every year, and they have only one "big" underneath, but for the first time in Brey's tenure, he's got the athletes to play defense and actually be successful at it. After that loss to Rutgers, Brey decided it was time to slow the game down, play great defense, and the offense will come, like it always seems to do for Notre Dame. Two games isn't enough for a trend however.
Next up was a trip to Connecticut and the return of highly-touted Freshman Ryan Boatright, who didn't play in the 14 points Huskies win just two weeks earlier. The new-look Irish held them to just 36% shooting, were visibly frustrated at the "Burn" offense run by ND, and the Irish stole a 50-48 victory. Now the Irish got to return home to face Marquette, winners of seven straight and in second place in the Big East. The Eagles shot a little better than the last three Irish opponents, 39%, but shot just 2-13 from Three Point range, and Freshmen Pat Connaughton had 23 points and 11 rebounds as Notre Dame rolled 76-59, hitting 11-23 from beyond the arc. This was the type of offense we've come to expect from ND, but couple it with the defensive effort and you get a suddenly hot team.
But the Irish weren't done yet. Last year's 27-7 team won 12 out of 13 games in Big East play, but that lone loss was by 14 points at West Virginia, their next opponent. While WVU had their way on the interior, they shot just 2-16 from Three, and leading scorer Darryl "Truck" Bryant was held scoreless, but they held a lead over the Irish late, something that ND hadn't faced in this four game resurgence. How did they respond? Three consecutive triples that turned a three point deficit to a six point lead, and Jack Cooley hitting four of six free throws to ice it, winning 55-51.
Five straight wins, all of which Notre Dame was the underdog. They added a sixth straight win Saturday, a 84-76 win over DePaul, where the Blue Demons shot 9-16 from three, but decided that they wanted to make the Irish run, so they gave them open layups and dunks all game long, something ND gladly took advantage of. It was a certain trap game that the Irish survived.
Nobody, including Brey, could have seen this coming, but for a guy who has won three Big East Coach of the Years, and will assuredly be among the favorites this year, and the defending National Coach of the Year, this shouldn't come as a surprise that he figured out how to get this team to click.
Unlike last year's team, however, this team has lots of room to grow. Everyone from this team could be back next season, and they are adding one of the best recruiting classes Brey has had in South Bend. Coming back to this season, it's not a stretch to say the Irish could finish the season 5-1, with a trip to #9 Georgetown easily the toughest remaining game. The last third of the conference season kicks off Wednesday night against the team that seemingly kicked them into gear, Rutgers, this time in South Bend. Something tells me Brey will have his guys ready this time around.
Mike Brey has gotten his team from a hopeful NIT entrant to an almost certain NCAA Tournament bid, ranging anywhere from a 6 to a 9 seed right now. Even the biggest ND homer wouldn't have said that after the loss at Rutgers a month ago. The players bought in, just like Brey knew they would, and they will be a handful to beat going forward.
Or maybe this was all because he's ditched that mock turtleneck for several of these games...
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