Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com PRESEASON 2021 57 MEN'S BASKETBALL ciples as X's and O's. He wants Notre Dame to be capable, prideful and will- ing on-ball defenders. He's trying to instill intensity and urgency, two traits not often detectable in the Irish's de- fense last year. He preaches commu- nication. "You're going to have one person on the ball, and the other four have to be covering, communicating and being in positions to help their team- mates," Solomon said. "We always say we don't want them to think they're on an island by themselves. But you have a responsibility to guard the ball and not allow your opponent to just drive directly by you. We're working on that." "We can't let guys on the other team think they're going to bully us or when they see Notre Dame think they're go- ing to get their career highs against us," senior guard Prentiss Hubb added. "We're trying to emphasize and get in our heads that we're going to stop everybody. Our mentality is to keep the guy in front of us." No detail is too small for Solomon. How to align your feet and arms in an off-ball defensive stance? He covered it. How to fight through a screen? That was addressed, too. So were other in- tricacies of ball-screen defense, a weak- ness a year ago that's critical to playing effective no-middle defense. "You get through a season and 90 percent of the teams you play against are going to have some ball-screen at- tack," Solomon said. "You have to be great at defending ball screens and be committed to getting control of that segment." He has also harped on rebounding. Defensive stops mean less if they're too infrequently followed by defensive rebounds. Notre Dame's last game of 2020-21 was a case study in it. North Carolina built a 50-point lead in an eventual 101-59 ACC Tour- nament Irish loss in part because it grabbed 61 percent of its missed shots. Notre Dame's first-shot defense in the first half was satisfactory. It didn't mat- ter because the ball usually ended up back in the Tar Heels' hands — and in the hoop after an easy put-back or kick-out jumper. On the season, Notre Dame finished 247th in defensive re- bounding rate. "We've really tried to emphasize the ability to rebound the basketball," Solomon said. "I just got here, but they know we need to improve upon that area and ball-screen coverages." Irish players have primarily heard his voice reminding them, and less of Brey's. That will change when pre- season practice begins in October, but for now Solomon is the most talkative coach in practice and the hands-on in- structor. Brey, meanwhile, roams the sidelines with pen and notepad in hand. He chimes in occasionally, talks to players individually and listens. It's by design. "One of the things I said to him was, 'You need to be the voice this sum- mer,'" Brey said. Brey is the good cop, he joked. Solo- mon and fellow assistants Ryan Hum- phrey and Antoni Wyche have the lee- way to be the bad guy with tough love. All told, Solomon is a new voice. And welcomed change. "It's a stark difference," Brey said. "We needed that. That was the mis- sion, and not just starting in the spring. My mind was thinking about this since we were an [assistant] down from No- vember on. We have to come back with something and really shake it up. "I feel like we're in that position now and our kids have received it great." ✦ First Maui Invitational Matchup Set Notre Dame will head to the 2021 Maui Invitational in November looking for an encore to its 2017 title. The Irish begin play in the tournament against Saint Mary's on Monday, Nov. 22 at 11:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ESPN2. The winner of that game will play either Oregon or Division II Chaminade, the host school, on Nov. 23. Butler, Houston, Texas A&M and Wisconsin are the other four teams in the 2021 Maui field. Notre Dame's non-conference schedule also includes games at Illinois Nov. 29 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, vs. Kentucky Dec. 11, vs. Indiana in Indianapolis Dec. 18, vs. Western Michigan Dec. 20 and at Howard in January 2022. There are three more openings in the Irish's non-conference slate, which is expected to be announced in late summer or early fall. — Patrick Engel Pat Connaughton, a 2015 NBA Draft pick and 2021 NBA champion with the Milwaukee Bucks, said of Solomon, "Coach Slo was someone who had a tremendous influence on my basketball career both on and off the court." PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS "His biggest thing is, 'Notre Dame is going to be a defensive team.' We're going to come out and set the tone and dictate what our opponents are going to do." SENIOR GUARD CORMAC RYAN ON SOLOMON