While this is my first season covering Notre Dame sports, I have been a Fighting Irish fan all my life. I have also been a fan of overtime basketball. Tuesday night’s game against Louisville allowed me to combine those two of my favorite things.  Coming into Tuesday night’s match-up, these teams had played nine overtime games, including the incredible five OT game back in February 2013. Candidly, I was hoping for something similar at the end of Tuesday’s game, which was already shaping up to something special with the announcement, earlier in the day, that Matt Farrell was returning to the Fighting Irish line-up.

DJ Harvey opened up the Irish scoring with a huge three-pointer and brought Purcell Pavilion to a loud thunderous roar. Those three points ended up being his only points for the evening. Harvey was helped off the court with 8:25 remaining in the first half. Prior to Harvey’s exit, Matt Farrell was putting on a clinic that electrified the majority of the 9,076 fans in attendance. He scored 15 points on 6-11 shooting from the field, including 2-5 from three-point range in 18 minutes of play. The three-pointers were back-to-back and the fans showed him the love he deserved. After one half of play the Cardinal took a 30-28 lead into the locker room.

TJ Gibbs was the star of the second half. The Louisville defense determined to shut down Matt Farrell, who they held to 5 points in 20 second-half minutes. Still, Farrell’s very presence opened the door for Gibbs, who contributed 10 points, including 2-3 shooting from three-point range. John Mooney got in on the three-point parade, sinking two of his own. With Farrell and Gibbs leading the way, Martinas Geben quietly worked his way into a night to remember. He scored twelve points, including 2 monster slam dunks.

At the end of regulation, the score was tied at 62. I got my overtime wish! Martinas Geben flourished in the extra frame, adding six more points on perfect shooting. He also blew up the Pavilion with a mighty slam dunk. Nikola Djogo did his part to excite the crowd. His three-pointer in between Geben’s points forced the game to a second overtime.

In second overtime and the score knotted at 71, Geben continued to have the hot hand. His four points in the second overtime set him up for a career performance: a double-double, 22 points and 17 rebounds, and 42 minutes of play. Matt Farrell’s three points brought his evening total to 23. In his first game back from his ankle injury, Farrell logged 48 minutes, he shot 8-25 from the field including 4-14 from three-point range. Unfortunately, for all the good, The Irish came up short, falling 82-78.

Following the game, Coach Brey addressed the media. “I feel for our guys, cause there’s another night we just really battled and we couldn’t get over the hump.” “I love our group, we were shorthanded again, we got twelve league games left thank God.” Coach was asked about DJ Harvey’s injury. “we are just hoping its cartilage, he will have an MRI on Wednesday, hopefully it’s not an ACL.”

Next up for the Fighting Irish are the Clemson Tigers. The game can be seen on Saturday on ESPN at 4 PM EST.

Go Irish!

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During the pre-game introductions, the Fighting Irish introduced Sophomore John Mooney into the starting line-up for the first time. He made the most of his first start by putting the first Irish points on the board with a three pointer.

In general, the Irish and the Tar Heels got off to a slow start. The offenses exchanged shots for a portion of the opening minutes. The Irish stuggled on the offensive side of the ball, shooting 11-31 from the field including 5-12 from three-point range in the first half. Further, the Irish defense failed to shut down Tar Heels forward Luke Maye, who felt like the entire Tar Heels offense and defense in the first half, with 13 points and 9 rebounds.

For the Irish, it was more of a whole team effort. T.J. Gibbs led all Irish scorers with 9 points, including a three pointer, and 3 rebounds. Martinas Geben followed in points with 8, including a three pointer, and 4 rebounds. The Irish spread the wealth when it came to shooting from beyond the arc with John Mooney, Rex Pflueger, and Nikola Djogo all cashing in from downtown.

The Irish started the second half with a quick 4-0 run. Most importantly, they were scoring points in the paint, which they failed to do in the first half, notching only 6.

The Irish were scoring but not from the foul line. After the Irish hit 10-12 free throws in the first half, the Tar Heels played more disciplined ball and the Irish were only 2-3 from the charity stripe in the second half.

The Irish Defense, on the other hand, was able to solve the mystery of Luke Maye holding him to just 5 points for the half. After the Tar Heels converted on two free throws, the Fighting Irish took possession of the ball with seven seconds remaining on the clock. Gibbs came up short on a game-winning layup attempt and then a put-back as the final buzzer sounded.

The Irish lost a heart breaker at home to the Tar Heels 69-68. T.J. Gibbs led all Irish scorers with 19 points, including 3-6 from three-point range, and 5 rebounds. Martinas Geben followed with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Nikola Djogo had a career night with 12 points, including 3-6 from three-point range, and 4 rebounds.

Coach Williams made an opening statement on the Tar Heels win. “I feel the luckiest maybe I’ve ever felt in my life at the end of a basketball game…It’s a frustrating game, we had so many things and yet Notre Dame played so hard. I thought they played harder than us. I thought they played smarter than us.”

Coach Williams went on to talk about Djogo and his team’s efforts in defending him. “[Djogo has] made four threes all year and he made three of them today, but the thing that was frustrating me was that we didn’t have him picked up properly.”

I asked Coach Williams about his team’s slow start and how he planned to address it going forward. He replied, “Get some toughness out there—I’m gonna question; I’m gonna challenge ‘em. I mean, by golly, if you’re gonna step up and take a shot, make the sucker…Truthfully, our best five players are going small. But, if we can’t get a dadgum rebound, I don’t care how small we wanna go, I’m going to put some guys in there to get a rebound…and offensively, I think we’re sort of–in my opinion–we’re standing too much watching one guy dribble the ball.”  After his answer, Williams turned his frustration into laughter among the media as he looked for his security detail and asked him if he wanted to switch places, stating his guard likely had “as good an idea of what the crap just happened as I do.”

Coach Brey came into the post-game and made his opening statement. “Man, I feel for our guys. We battled so hard. It’s a tough one. That’s a tough one to swallow, ‘cause you feel you’re gonna get it today. Again, I loved our mental and physical toughness throughout. Some of our younger guys are being thrown into some real tough game situations and making some really impressive plays. That can only help us in the long-term.”

Coach went on to talk about Matt Farrell potentially returning on Tuesday, saying that he needs to get him “back in practice on Sunday and Monday. If it goes well, start him. It’s time for him to come back. We have done a heck of a job without him. but we need him.”

Despite the fact that Irish won the second half, something that Brey had previously pointed out that his team needed to do, I was more interested in the first half and how the Irish could reduce second chance points from their opponent. Coach’s response, “They’ve got great size. They’ve always been a great rebounding team/program. You’re going to give up some put backs against them. For the most part we absorbed it. We absorbed it. We had a couple of our own. So, I’m am not losing any sleep because we rebounded well against a big team and 20 offensive rebounds is impressive…We need to keep encouraging that.”

Next up for the Fighting Irish are the Louisville Cardinals this Tuesday at 7 PM on ESPN2. #GoIrish

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You could feel that something special was going to happen Wednesday night at Purcell Pavilion. Those in attendance were hoping to see if Coach Brey could lead the Fighting Irish to magical win 394, topping Irish coaching legend Digger Phelps. Among all the excitement, there was a sense of concern as well. The day before, we learned that the Irish would be without Captain Bonzie Colson due to a broken foot.

However, ACC play stops for no one. So let’s jump into the game recap and see how the team fared against the NC State.

The Fighting Irish had a reversal of sorts on Wednesday night. Typically, the Irish get off to a slow start in the first half, that wasn’t the case last night. T.J. Gibbs started the Irish off with a quick 3-pointer, followed by a monster slam dunk by Martinas Geben and a 3-pointer by D.J. Harvey.

Despite the strong start, it wasn’t as easy a game for the Irish at it appeared. NC State played a stifling half court pressure that the Irish needed to figure out. Then, half way through the first half, Matt Farrell went down with an apparent foot injury. He went to the locker room for the remainder of the half while the Irish built a lead as high as 15 points in the half. All things considered, this was one of the best halves of basketball by the Irish to date this season.

The Irish took a 48-36 lead into the locker room. Harvey led all scorers with 13 points (3-4 from 3-point range), Gibbs was next with 11 points after a full 20 minutes. To backup the teams play here are some other great stats for the Irish: 18 points in the paint, 10 points off of turnovers, 19-31 from the field and 9-18 from 3-point range.

The second half was completely opposite from the first as the typical Irish quick start out of the locker room was non-existent. The defense, however, stepped up. John Mooney and Geben hand some great blocks on defense. To showcase the defensive effort, the Irish did not allow the Wolfpack to score until 4:53 into the second half and allowed only eight points through the first twelve minutes. The Wolfpack tried to apply the same half court pressure from the first half, but the Irish would have none of it.

The Purcell Pavilion roared to life with 1:00 remaining as those in attendance knew they were witnessing a great moment of ND Basketball History. The Irish won this game 88-58 and Coach Brey would win his 394th game as Notre Dame Men’s Basketball Coach. T.J. Gibbs led all scorers with 22 points, 7 rebounds, 3-6 from 3-point range and played 38 minutes. D.J. Harvey had a career high 17 points along with 3 rebounds in 30 minutes of play. Pflueger had a great night as well. Pflueger came up short of a career night with 16 points, 4 rebounds.

Farrell would not return to the game after the intermission, instead vocally leading his team from the bench along with Colson.

Following the game there was a ceremony at half court to honor Coach Brey accompanied by a video presentation about this career at ND. Coach Phelps presented Coach Brey with the game ball an AD Jack Swarbrick presented Coach Brey with a replica banner of the banner to be forever hung in the rafters of Purcell Pavilion.

The post game interview was one of joy and sorrow. The media gathered in the press room knew the joy of what was Coach Brey’s win, but they were wondering behind all of that, what was going on with Farrell and his injury. Coaches opening statement to the press “What a way to get to get there, to 394 and to 2-0 [in the ACC]. And what I told our team was, when I think back, the record breaking game we lost Bonzie Colson the day before. We lost Matt Farrell half way through the first.  And our group just responded. Just really proud of them. We got 394 off the board. We can keep chasing some ACC stuff and love the position this team is in.”

The discussion shifted to talk about Bonzie Colson’s broken foot. Coach said “Bonzie’s injury happened at practice on Friday. He felt he strained something. He moved around fine and scored 22, unknown it was a broken foot. I feel sorry for Bonzie. I feel for college basketball. Bonzie Colson is the most popular player in college basketball and maybe the best. Coaches love him. Media loves him. He is a great story. College basketball lost a great story and I am hurting for him. I told his father we will not rush him back. I am really sensitive to being healthy and fresh for him to make the NBA.”

Next up for the Irish is Syracuse. the Irish will be on the road Saturday with a 3:15 start. Congratulations to Coach Brey on 394, and best wishes and a speedy recovery for Colson and Farrell. Cheers and #GoIrish!!!

The post Notre Dame Men’s Basketball: A Huge Win and Another Loss appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

As discussed in past articles, the Fighting Irish tend to get off to a slow start at the beginning of a game. Yesterday’s contest was no different, but that doesn’t mean that GT got off to a quick start either. A first possession turnover, missed lay up, and a missed jumper by the Irish, coupled with two missed jumpers and a turnover for GT, showed early sloppy play by both teams.

T.J. Gibbs started the Irish scoring with a three-pointer, but ball control and missed shots by both teams made for a long half. Swinging the ball quickly allowed GT to create a 7 point in the first half. The GT Zone defense lived to their mascot’s namesake, swarming the Irish offense, preventing the Irish from making any real run of significance.

Trying to find a spark, the Irish used a nine man rotation while GT only rotated six.

The Fighting Irish needed to get to halftime and discuss what adjustments need to be made as GT went into the locker room with a 28-23 lead over the Fighting Irish. GT was 10-26 from the field, 3-8 from three-point range, and 5-11 from the free throw line and seven points from the bench. The Fighting Irish were 9-27 from the field, 3-10 from three-point range, and 2-3 from the free throw line. Bonzie Colson led all Irish scorers with 8 points and 6 rebounds and Matt Farrell followed close behind with 6 points (2-4 from three-point range).

Coming out for the second half, the Irish knew they had to play a different game. I can tell you they did just that.

The Irish came out of the locker room and were off to the races. T.J. Gibbs shot a three-pointer that brought the 8,441 fans in attendance to their feet. The Irish went on an early 6-0 run which gave them the lead. The Irish surrendered the lead briefly, but continued to apply the pressure. John Mooney brought the crowd to it’s feet with a monster slam dunk on the home end of the court. Martinas Geben got in the the dunking spree as well with two consecutive dunks and was en-route for his third when he got fouled. The Fighting Irish lead went as high as 14 points.

With much better handled ball play, coupled with the patented Irish drive-and-score offense would lead the the Irish to it’s first ACC win of the season, improving to 11-3 overall with a 68-59 win over the Yellow Jackets. The big change was the Fighting Irish ability to break GT’s Zone defense and move up and down the court.

The Irish had 13 second chance points, 20 points in the paint, and were 13-15 from the free throw line. Colson led all scorers with a double-double 22 points with 17 rebounds. Geben was next with 12 points and 5 rebounds.

Rex Pflueger pitched in with 11 points and 7 defensive rebounds; however, Pflueger needs to figure his game out. He continued his trend of showing signs of not having confidence and indecision on what to do with the ball. Hopefully, this is something he can rectify quickly.

Irish Win!!!

In the post game presser, conference Coach Brey’s opening statement said it all. “That was a grinding ACC game and we certainly expected a hard game. I thought our defense helped us escape with a win today. We changed defenses and their zone was very difficult to deal with, especially with their shot blockers back there. It really took us a half to figure it out. I thought in the second half we got into a better rhythm. Our passing took over and to be 1-0 in league play and it will be a good New Years Eve.”

When asked about what halftime was like in the Irish locker room, Coach Brey responded that Bonzie and Matt were fabulous, hearing them before he got in there to tell his team to stay relaxed as he felt GT worked way more minutes.

In regards to second half play, Coach Brey said “that’s the half you want to play well. You have heard me say you need to play the first half to get to the second half. I just don’t want to screw up the second half.”

I closed the press conference with a question about the team’s overall health after the break. Coach responded, “Everybody came back healthy and refreshed. I think the guys that needed rest got the rest they needed and the guys that needed to get into the gym and get their cardio going did that.”

393!!!

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Lets Get This Game Started

To kick off the scoring on Thursday night, Rex Pflueger scored the Irish first points of the game. The Irish took advantage of the Lions sloppy ball handling in the first half. Whether it was a turnover, or a missed shot, the Irish defense did everything possible to capitalize on their opponents sloppy ball handling.

The Irish were not perfect either. The Lions were cleaning the glass on the defensive end.  The Lions had 17 defensive rebounds and the Irish struggled to clean the offensive glass with only five offensive rebounds.

The bonus was that the Irish were able to get to the foul line where the Irish made 8-10 from the charity stripe, scoring without the clock running. The Lions were 1-2 on their free throws.

The Irish struggled to maintain a keep the foot on the throttle mindset. The lack of aggressive consistent play allowed the Lions to go on mini 6-0 run just before the half that was stopped by a Pflueger three pointer just before the half. The Irish would go into the locker room with a 37-29 lead.  Farrell led all scorers with 11 points with 2-5 from 3 point range, Pflueger had 10 points, 2-4 from three-point range and Colson had 7.

Halftime Warm Ups

The Irish came out of the locker room and continued their drive the ball mentality. The second half started with the Irish on the charity stripe once again. Scoring with the clock not running is what this team thrives on, making 11-12 free-throws in the second half.

The big difference in the second half was the Irish was rebounding on the defensive side of the ball. This led to less second chance points for the Lions; in fact, the Lions had zero second chance points in the second half.

Martinas Geben had 2 monster rejections, along with Burns, Harvey, and Mooney each with a single rejection each in the second half.

The Fighting Irish outscored the Lions 49-21 in the second half and walked away with a 86-50 win over the Lions.

Pflueger, though not the highest scoring player of the night with 17 points and 3-6 from beyond the arc, had a career night. Pflueger, who had been struggling a bit, found the inside of the bucket and appeared to be at ease with his play, not putting pressure on himself when he missed. TJ Gibbs led all scorers with 18 points and 5 rebounds, Matt Farrell had 17 points and 2-6 from three-point range, and Bonzie Colson had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Once again, the starters were putting quality time in the match. Pflueger had 33 minutes, TJ Gibbs put in 32 minutes, Farrell put in 31 minutes, and rounding out the group was Bonzie Colson with 28 minutes.

WIN 392 for Coach Brey

Coach Brey’s post game conference opened abruptly and the opening statement was straight forward. Coach said “It was neat to see all three of our guards in a good offensive rhythm. We are going to need to see that on a number of nights in ACC play. We have been pretty good offensively the last two games on our floor and hopefully we can feel good about that when we come back and play a home and away games.”

There was a statement made about Pflueger and how he just needs to shoot the ball. Coach responded “don’t over analyze it. We want him to take open shots and make plays. One heck of a night for him, he is a weapon for us and he is doing everything for us on the other end of the floor. He is rebounding and getting his hands on stuff, he is such a winner. He deserves it. He was a little calmer, we tried to get him to play with a smile a little bit more, not to get tied up in knots if he missed a shot, and hopefully that will help him. I hope he can build on this. I think Mooney gave us some good stuff tonight.”

Coach discussed the guys getting away from the team and recharging. “We have traveled a lot together, 7 games away, we have together and we are like an old married couple, we need a little break. I will see you Tuesday night.”

The next question to Coach was what do you want them to do at home? Coach emphatically states “No pick up games, no one-on-ones. Don’t you dare get involved in a pick up game and get in a one-on-one. This an experience at Delaware in which a player got high ankle sprain and wasn’t the same after that. Most importantly listen to your body.”

I asked a question to Coach about the 5’9″ guard from SLU who led his team with seven defensive rebounds, who he would match up with in the ACC? Coach Brey’s response, “A seven rebounding guard, I don’t know if we have anyone. The guard at Duke rebounds, he is really athletic, he can really rebound. What helped us was not guarding him man-to-man. If we had to deal with him man-to-man on ball screens, that’s when he has a field day. He had to run zone offense and it changed the rhythm a little bit.”

Next up for the Fighting Irish is Georgia Tech at 2 PM at the Purcell Pavilion. Coach Brey gets win 392 and goes for win 393 to tie Digger Phelps in career wins at Notre Dame. Merry Christmas and Go Irish!!

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We are underway

The start of the game was very slow. Both teams struggled to find themselves early on. Most would have expected the Fighting Irish to get off to a quick start against Big Green of Dartmouth, but that definitely was not the case on Tuesday night for the Irish. The challenge of taking the shot or dishing it off continues to surround Rex Pflueger. Early on Pflueger had some good looks but chose to to dish the ball to teammates almost resulting in turnovers.

Enter #35, Bonzie Colson.

Colson was a beast on the defensive glass with six rebounds in the first half. Colson also started to pick up his game on the offensive end of the court as well. The Irish went on a run of 13-6 run to end the first half. Colson had 10 of the 13 points scored including two three pointers. At one point in the first half, Colson was playing so hard on defense, he came out of his sneaker and continued to push the ball down the court. Much like Jessica Shepard for the Lady Irish on Sunday night, the Irish needed every one of the 10 points to take a 46-39 lead into the locker room to end the half. Matt Farrell, not to be left out of the conversation, had 13 points, including 2-4 from beyond the arc as well in the first half.

The second half start had a “deja vu” type of feel to it. Like the first half, both teams struggled to get a start out of the gate. There was a stretch of time where the basket seemed to shrink for the Fighting Irish. Without warning, Colson took control of the offensive side of the ball and went into #BeastMode. Colson would explode for 21 points in the second half and set a new career high with 37 points. Colson and coupled his points with 11 rebounds, 9 of which came from the defensive end.

Matt Farrell would not be denied his points either. Farrell’s contribution to the cause was an additional 22 points. Farrell drained four three pointers. Both Pflueger and Geben had 13 points The Irish appeared to have better ball control in the second half. There is a back story to all of this. The minutes put in by four the five players. Pflueger and Farrell both had 39 minutes, and Colson and Gibbs had 37 minutes. The Irish would go onto beat Dartmouth 97-87.

The Irish Win!!!

In Coach Brey’s post game press conference, he started of with “typically when your opponent shoots 15 three pointers, you lose. that didn’t happen tonight.” Coach would praise Colson and Farrell for their exceptional play and say “guys play like that every night. Score 50 points and don’t worry about sharing the ball.  I got to ask Coach Brey my first question which also ended being the last of the press conference.

My question to Coach was “the team came out slow in the first half as well as the second half. How do you fix that from continuing into conference play?” Coach responded with “I don’t know, not quite sure i have the answer to that. It’s always great to make some jump shots early we had some open looks we didn’t make. This team can drive it better and when we swing it and drive it and we get fouled and we got to the bonus quick because we were driving so much. I am not losing any sleep over it. I just don’t want us to getting emotionally of our rocker if we are not in a good offensive rhythm.”

The Fighting Irish are back in action to close out non-conference play against South Eastern Louisiana on Thursday night at 7 PM. Congratulations and #GoIrish.

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Sorry for digressing, lets get into the game from Tuesday night.

The ND Fighting Irish will start the 2017-2018 season off as #14 team in the country when the season opens on Saturday. Before we can get to DePaul, there is a tune-up game against Cardinal Stritch.

This game didn’t have the start I thought it was going to have. The Irish first points came from the charity strip to give them an early 3-0 lead. The first bucket didn’t come until almost 3.5 minutes into the first half from Rex Pflueger.

More expected, Bonzie Colson’s first points of the game came off a monster jam.

As the first half progressed, the Irish got their legs underneath them and then it was off to the races. The Irish would end the half with the score 41-22. Including a 3 pointer at the buzzer by TJ Gibbs. The Irish would force 9 turnovers, 2 of which were shot clock violations. Bonzie Colson had 12 points, 4-7 from the field and 8 rebounds. Rex Pflueger had 10 points, 2 from 3 point range and 4 rebounds. Matt Farrell had 7 points, 2-4 from the field and 1-2 from 3 point range.

Shoot around before the second half
Photo Courtesy of George Bashura

The second half was much like the first, but minus the slow start as if the Irish came out of the locker room with something to prove. The Irish second half started with a 15-2 run. Matt Farrell and TJ Gibbs dropped a couple of buckets from downtown to help the offensive performance.

The Irish were always a step ahead of the Wolves. Their passing was crisp on offense and were able to move in transition. The Irish were aggressive and they showed that by blocking shots and cleaning balls of the glass on both ends of the court.

The final score would tip in the Irish favor with a final score of 90-46. Colson led all Irish scorers with a double-double 19 points and 14 rebounds. Pflueger was next with 17 points and 6 rebounds and Farrell with 10 points and 6 assists.

Coach Brey post game press conference
Photo Courtesy of George Bashura

Coach Brey was very happy with his teams performance. He was excited to hear his guys talk when on defense. Brey went on to say “the season starts for real Saturday at DePaul” and wants to make sure “we stay in character for 40.”

Brey was also candid about about picking scouts’ heads, asking pro scouts about who ND is playing and if he should bother having the Irish show up to play the game (all in jest of course).

The Irish will be opening up against Depaul on the road which opens a stretch of 6 games in 11 days. Coach closes with “we have a lot coming at us, but its time to do it.”

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Notre Dame’s V.J. Beachem (3) takes a shot during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Villanova Dec. 10, 2016, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Last year I watched live the end of the Notre Dame basketball season as the Irish fell with a bid to the Final Four on the line in Philly at the hands of the North Carolina Tar Heels 88-74.  Though the Irish played hard and were in the game until about midway through the second half, you sensed all along it was an uphill struggle.

One did not get that feeling tonight though, as the Irish coughed up a second half lead and fell to Duke in the ACC Championship.

Five years ago, I may have taken this loss much worse as the Irish were rarely in games this big this late in a season. On the other hand, I may have even taken some consolation in that they took Duke to the wire.

Tonight it was mixed emotions.

This was clearly a missed opportunity and legitimate chance at a championship that Notre Dame failed to close out. There was no sense that Duke was a much better team tonight. Rather, they made a couple of big plays at the end to yank this game away from the Irish.

That said, I think Notre Dame is a force in the ACC for the foreseeable future. That in some ways (small ways) make this loss more tolerable.

More importantly, where do the Irish go from here?  I heard earlier in the week prognosticators listing the Irish as a likely five seed. Tonight, Jay Bilas had them as a three or four, but stated they are probably more likely a four (I did think this was humorous as he felt Duke could be a #1 if they won the ACC–you wonder where he would have had the Irish had they won?). Joe Lunardi (ESPN) currently has the Irish going to Milwaukee as a number four where they will play Akron. Jerry Palm (CBS) has them also in Milwaukee but as a number five.

Regardless of where the Irish land, it is important that they quickly flush the good and bad from Brooklyn this past weekend. This is where my bad sandwich (feel free to substitute your own entrée) analogy comes in. They need to treat this loss like the hoagie a traveler regretfully purchased at a gas station. The hoagie tastes awful, goes down awful, and leaves a horrible odor in its wake. That said it isn’t going to kill you. Forget Duke.

At some point, Mike Brey is going to make a Final Four run during his tenure at Notre Dame. For that to happen this season, the Irish must reboot quickly but that is a quality that this battled tested roster has demonstrated with regularity.

The post Digesting a Bad Sandwich: Irish Fall in ACC Final appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

I’ll admit as a kid, basketball always took a back seat to football in that the Irish football teams were typically better and I generally prefer football as a sport.

As I got into my teen years, the gap widened as the Digger Phelps era gave way to John MacLeod. It might be said that Troy Murphy single-handedly brought me back to Notre Dame basketball during his time at Notre Dame, which also coincided with Mike Brey’s first year on the job.

Early in the Brey era, the Irish always scored but in my opinion were suspect defensively. Nevertheless, it was during that period that Notre Dame basketball mattered again. This trend has continued for the 17 years that Mike Brey has coached.

I was skeptical that Notre Dame could compete in the ACC when the move was made. However, they have thrived in the ACC. Whether it is players leaving early (such as Troy Murphy and Demetrius Jackson), the challenge of “winning” at a football school, or the move to maybe the toughest league (ACC), Mike Brey has been a constant for Notre Dame basketball.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey smiles after Notre Dame defeated the Loyola Ramblers 81-61 at the Purcell Pavilion. Credit: Matt Cashore – USA TODAY Sports

Over his time in South Bend, Brey has compiled a .671 winning percentage, made 11 NCAA tournament appearances, and most recently, made back to back trips to the Elite 8. More importantly, he has really built a brand — particularly in the last few seasons. Last year’s tournament run highlighted the hard-working, heady, tenacious and gritty teams that he builds. Thus far it has carried over into this season. One needs to look no further than Saturday’s road test at Virginia Tech to see further evidence of this. With a raucous crowd in a frenzy and a game seemingly slipping from their grasp, Matt Farrell used intelligence, desire, and hustle to “steal away” late momentum by Virginia Tech and seal an Irish victory. Plays like this have come to typify Brey’s Irish over the last few seasons. They find ways to close games out and they find ways to win.

As an Irish football fan, we have lamented over the last few seasons games that we seemingly let out of our grasp (like Florida State 2014 and Clemson and Stanford 2015). We have griped over our inability to close! Brey’s teams of recent years are the exact opposite as they come up big when mental toughness and tenacity are at a premium. Teams reflect their coach. Passionate, tough, cool, and calm — that is the Mike Brey brand!

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The Fighting Irish 4-8: We began the 2016 season ranked tenth and widely expected to vie for a place in the Freemason’s playoff scheme. And then we lost…to nearly everybody including the Navy (again). How terribly unexpected! We can beat Duke in their beloved Cameron Multipurpose Indoor Room, but we can’t defend Notre Dame Stadium from a team with a .490 all-time record. We cast our Dutch scapegoat into the desert, but we were not ritually purified. Our conference officials didn’t help matters, though their literacy classes in the offseason might enable them to read the rule book next year, with special concentration in the sections on “The Varieties of Pass Interference,” and “Targeting: That Elusive Pixie.”

When one gazes upon the Campus CrossToBear Crossroads construction reaching its climatic conclusion, and then considers the shambolic collapse of the football team, one can only be put in the mind of the Tower of Babel. And, oh, did the Alumni babble about this season, this coach, this athletic director. Yet, nothing says ‘reasoned dialogue’ like an angry letter to the newspaper. And nothing says ‘unhinged screed’ like having to pay to get your letter printed. Note to disgruntled Alumni: If you have a serious concern you would like to bring to the attention of Father President and the men behind the Board of Trustees curtain, take a sheet of bond paper (preferable watermarked) and, using a fountain pen, in your best calligraphy, list everything you appreciate about your Alma Mater, followed by a very brief description of what currently burns your ass frustrates you, and enclose a big fat check. Better still, make the check really, really big, and take your place behind the curtain. But full-page ads designed with all the flair of a fifth-grade science fair poster only make you look petty and small-minded; in short, you look like Michigan fans.

First Championship in 108 Years: No, it hasn’t been that long for the Fighting Irish (though it might feel that way); but it was that long for a hapless baseball team from Chicago. How chronologically unexpected! It’s always nice to see a perennial loser finally grab the brass ring. I just wish we weren’t edging dangerously close to becoming that perennial loser. Perhaps we can take a page from the Cubs’ playbook. They believed in their old, and storied team no matter how bleak recent seasons had been (check); They sank lots of money into stadium enhancements (check); they devoted even more money and effort into getting the best leadership and coaching talent available (how ‘bout them Cubs!). Yes, in the Cubs I believe we can see that there is always hope for the future, no matter how interminably long that hope as to wait. We may not know the day nor the hour when victory will strike…but there are a few constructive things we can do to hasten its arrival. Above all, the Fighting Irish do share one critical characteristic with the Chicago Cubs: Both teams are owned by Catholic families.

NCAA Sanctions: You have to love a supervising authority that rewards honesty with harsher penalties than obfuscation, deception, and lies. Yet, we must ask what our administration thought would happen when they “self-reported” a purely internal and substantially inconsequential matter. This was not unexpected. And now our administration is behaving like the zookeeper who lives with lions and, despite dealing with their claws and feces for years, is still bitterly disappointed when one bites him in the neck. In the new year, we need to recall that the NCAA was created by colleges and universities to assist them, not to rule them; and in assessing punishments for bad behavior, proportionality, justice, and equality must be the guiding principles. Well, if any collegiate administration does that, it will be truly unexpected. For my part, I am going on a New Year’s diet – I’m not swallowing any more of the garbage the NCAA is shoveling.

New President: Right on schedule there was a presidential election. Nothing unusual here. But a very loud man won that election in a manner that was quite unexpected to many. I myself am rather a-political; but watching the debates between the two candidates, I couldn’t help yelling, “We want Barabbas!” Whether he was our choice or not, we should wish the new President well. To do otherwise is no better than hoping the captain of your ocean liner finds the nearest iceberg because he didn’t invite you to sit at his table. Our own Father President will have to decide if he should invite the new President of the United States to deliver the Commencement Address in the coming year. Whether he does or he doesn’t, Father President can expect several more angry letters in the newspapers and full page ads. If you are thinking of preparing either of these, see my advice above. And stop making fun of the new President’s hair; I enjoy my untamed locks that reach past my shoulders and are mirrored by my waist-length beard. Believe me – nothing is so presidential as a sick flow.

Basketball School: This may be the most unexpected aspect of the fading year – we’re pretty damn darn good at basketball. Amidst the ashes of the football conflagration, let us hold onto the warm bricks of hope that constitute another successful basketball season. Maybe bricks aren’t the best metaphors when talking about basketball, but you get my point…or my three-pointer. In any event, no matter what infelicities 2016 brought, we must all have hope for 2017. And remember, 1879 was a pretty unexpected year for all of us at Notre Dame – but what we rebuilt that very year still proudly stands today.

EFS CSC

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