Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM APRIL 2022 5 ENGEL'S ANGLE PATRICK ENGEL Patrick Engel has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since March 2020. He can be reached at pengel@blueandgold.com M ike Brey summed up the goal of his 22nd season as Notre Dame head coach with a few catch- phrases. "Line in the sand," he offered on a postgame Zoom last March as he la- mented the end of Year 21, which pro- duced an 11-15 record. Another? "365-day chase." This one was his favorite in recent weeks as Notre Dame neared that line in the stand: the NCAA Tournament. The Irish had to show up in that bracket, or else. They began the chase on Selec- tion Sunday 2021, gathering at Brey's house to watch the reveal of a bracket they knew wouldn't include them. A year later, they convened in the same spot, hopeful for a spot but nervous one wouldn't come. The invite was extended three min- utes into the selection show. L i n e c ro s s e d . C h a s e c o m p l e te . Notre Dame's March Madness drought stopped at four seasons. Ending it was a noble goal and would satisfy the bosses, but a mere tournament bid might not shift the big-picture view of where this program is headed and erase four years of momentum in the wrong direction before it morphed into full-on irrelevance. Making the First Four as the last at-large team selected to the field and bowing out there would be limping across the line, not leaping over it. What, then, would be a better goal for this year? Deliver some signs this thing can get back on the rails under this coaching staff. Return the good vibes. Be relevant in the postseason and on the recruiting trail. Notre Dame crossed off all those boxes. Closing out Texas Tech March 20 to advance to the Sweet 16 would have re- moved all doubt, but two wins in the NCAA Tournament and matching hay- makers with the nation's No. 1-ranked defense is still a strong body of work. Notre Dame didn't just show up for a medal and bounce. It outlasted Rutgers, a team known for its toughness, in a dou- ble-overtime game. It picked off No. 6 seed Alabama 33.5 hours later, 78-64. It had the No. 3-seeded Red Raiders on the ropes, before ultimately falling 59-53. The Irish were must-watch in the tournament. In other words? They were relevant. Notre Dame fans went four years without tasting that feeling. Seasons are often defined by March results, though in Notre Dame's case, its momentum reversal is the product of several months. The Irish went 15-5 in the ACC, a record that has aged better with the league's tournament success. They toppled Kentucky in December. They have a freshman guard with an NBA future in Blake Wesley, even if his most recent game was a forgettable one. "We're not where we're at unless the young man came up the road from downtown South Bend," Brey said after the loss to Texas Tech. Nor do they go 24-11 and reach the second round without a commitment to defending. The Irish finished 2020-21 with their worst adjusted defensive ef- ficiency of the Brey era, per KenPom. Opposing offenses too often resembled layup lines. Enough was enough, Brey said. He needed change. He needed help. In came associate head coach An- thony Solomon for a third stint on staff to strip down the defense and overhaul it. New scheme. New voice. New ideas. The result? A 129-spot jump in de- fe n s ive e f f i c i e n cy a n d Ke n Po m 's No. 2-rated defense in ACC play. Look no further than the final game of last season and this one for a showcase of the year-over-year change. North Car- olina ran the Irish off the floor last year in a 101-59 ACC Tournament loss. On March 20, Notre Dame held Texas Tech to 0.94 points per possession, 35.6 per- cent shooting and four three-pointers. Good work, all told. Now comes sus- taining it, the first steps of which had to happen before Notre Dame could even play a game this year. What's a tourna- ment season worth in the big picture if there's no reason to think more like it will come? The Irish's three-man 2022 signing class looks like fuel for a return. It's ranked No. 19 in the country, per the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Rank- ings, and has three four-star players. The headliner is J.J. Starling, the No. 24 overall prospect and the program's first McDonald's All-American since 2013. "It had to start with recruiting," Brey said. "I thought our recruiting momen- tum from our November signing and just blistering it in the summer through the fall to November signing to sign the three young men we got was the first step in it." A run in the tournament was the last. For the first time in four years, Notre Dame heads into the offseason having provided something other than blind faith and hope about returning to its peak under Brey — and with Brey in charge. That's the new line in the sand. ✦ Mike Brey and Notre Dame ended the year hav- ing created positive momentum surrounding the basketball program's trajectory. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS Men's Basketball Returned To Relevance — And Could Stay There