Resourcefulness in South Bend

(Courtesy Matt Cashore)

Bill Koch, National Columnist

The current topics of conversation surrounding the Notre Dame basketball program would have been hard to imagine three months ago.

A 20-win season? A new program best for consecutive victories in conference play? A bye in the Big East Tournament? An eighth NCAA Tournament bid for coach Mike Brey since coming to South Bend in 2000?

Taken individually, each idea seemed a bit far-fetched. Taken as a whole, it seemed impossible. This was a Fighting Irish team still licking its wounds from an 87-58 whipping against Missouri on Nov. 21, a 73-53 blowout against Gonzaga on Nov. 30 and the loss of leading returning scorer Tim Abromaitis to a torn ACL in his right knee. Notre Dame counted a lone senior, Scott Martin, in its rotation and looked headed for a long season in a Big East Conference that takes no prisoners.

What’s happened since those dark days around Thanksgiving has Brey clearing some space on his mantle for more hardware. The Big East Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2008 could be in line for additional postseason honors after leading Notre Dame to a 19-8 overall record that includes an 11-3 mark in league play, an eight-game conference winning streak and what looks to be a relaxing Selection Sunday in front of the television.

An upset of then-No. 1 Syracuse sparked the Fighting Irish to life, as Notre Dame dealt the Orange a 67-58 defeat by slowing the pace and maximizing each offensive possession. The Fighting Irish took just 40 shots in the game but led wire-to-wire, crushing Syracuse by a count of 38-25 on the boards and piling up 17 assists on 20 field goals.

Brey’s decision to bring the game to a crawl was ironic given his roots as an assistant coach at Duke – Dean Smith and North Carolina’s old Four Corners look came to mind. We’re in the college basketball days where every coach seems to recite some version of a philosophy that reads something like this: ‘We’re going to run, get out on the break, push the ball, press, trap and shoot the 3.’ Notre Dame has chosen a little different route, winning a 50-48 rock fight against Connecticut and a 55-51 grinder against West Virginia. It’s not sexy, but the Fighting Irish make opponents uncomfortable by controlling the tempo as well as any team in the Big East.

Notre Dame is battling its way through the schedule after graduating Ben Hansbrough, Carleton Scott and Tyrone Nash, virtually all of its significant offensive presence – along with Abromaitis – from a team that went 27-7 in 2010-11. Sophomore Eric Atkins (13.0 points per game) and Brey’s fellow DeMatha alumnus, sophomore Jerian Grant (12.9 points per game), have led the way along with Jack Cooley, who logged just 8.4 minutes per game through his first two seasons before maturing into a junior averaging nearly a double-double at 12.2 points and 9.3 rebounds.

Saturday’s 74-70 overtime victory against Villanova might have been the Fighting Irish’s best display of toughness to date, as Notre Dame erased a 20-point deficit by allowing just five field goals in the second half. That sort of grit and resourcefulness was just the latest example of what Brey’s team has made commonplace. It was a rally as unexpected as the season itself, and the speculation about what the Fighting Irish might accomplish the rest of the way is becoming easier to envision with each passing day.  

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