Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM FEBRUARY 2023 41 MEN'S BASKETBALL BY PATRICK ENGEL E ven Mike Brey, the ever-upbeat leader who has orchestrated his share of in-season turnarounds, can see Notre Dame men's basketball is quickly taking on water. And he's not sure he has enough plugs for all the holes. Notre Dame stepped into 2023 with a stumped head coach, a scuffling ros- ter and more questions than can fit in the cargo hold of the team plane to North Carolina Jan. 7. The Irish were 8-7 overall and 0-4 in the ACC head- ing into that road swing. They own zero victories over teams ranked in the NET top 65. Five losses to teams ranked 120th or worse are blotches on the résumé. "We're in the hole now," Brey told re- porters Dec. 30. A chance to add a top-35 NET win came that day when Miami rolled into Purcell Pavilion. The Irish displayed some ur- gency and held a one-point halftime lead. Then two familiar bugaboos arose: A de- fense that struggles to guard the dribble and an increasingly turnover-prone of- fense. They walked off their home floor with a 76-65 loss added to their ledger and a prime opportunity gone. It all has combined to sink Notre Dame to 169th in the NET as of Jan. 2. "We're digging, man. We're digging out of it," Brey said. "But fellas, we turn that ball over [17] times, you're going to be free for spring break. You're going to be able to go to Florida." And not to Orlando, Fla., which is one of eight first- and second-round sites this year. Notre Dame, with its rotation that is older than a few of the starting lineups employed by an NBA team this year, set its sights beyond the first weekend af- ter tasting a March Madness run last season. The Irish are running short on time to pull the wheel around and even shorter on answers. "They're disappointed," Brey said. "I'm disappointed, and responsible. I don't know if I'm helping them enough. That part of it is real. We accept it. "But we have to have some hope, too. Let's go see if we can win one. I've been in some weird situations coming out of a hole where all of a sudden, you win a game and feel something. But we're searching for it now. Flat-out searching for it." Perhaps Notre Dame has a fix for help- ing its guards stay in front of ball handlers or a way to provide more resistance in the post. Maybe there's a fix for an offense that has coughed up the ball at least 15 times in two of its last three losses. But defen- sive issues and stilted stretches on offense aren't exactly new problems. They've been around all year. If they haven't been fixed in 14 games, how likely is it Notre Dame can create an antidote now? Brey isn't throwing his hands up in defeat. But he's down to what ought to be the last motivational ploy he wants to use: selling hope. Showing his team examples of turn- arounds requires them to be, well, in a slump. He's right that this group pulled it together before. The core of this year's roster started 2-6 in ACC play three years ago. So did Virginia Tech, last year's ACC Tournament winner. The margin for error is thin, though. The 2019-20 Irish weren't bound for the tournament before it was canceled. Virginia Tech likely would not have earned an at-large bid if it lost in the ACC Tournament. "It's not like these guys haven't been in the hole," Brey said. "They were 2-6 as sophomores and finished 10-10. You have to give them some hope. But we're struggling, confidence-wise, no ques- tion about it." Notre Dame has also been here be- fore with its on-court issues, though. Shouldn't it be better equipped to han- dle tight on-ball defense and pressure? Last year's team found a way to generate enough stops with personnel that wasn't conducive to an elite defense, part of which can be attributed to a 2-3 matchup zone. Yes, on-ball stalwart Blake Wesley is gone, but regression to a No. 205 rank- ing in KenPom's defensive efficiency is beyond the worst case anyone envisioned. Forget ball security or defensive prob- lems for a moment, though. Shouldn't a team with five fifth-year players in its seven-man rotation be beyond bouts with a lack of confidence? "Yes," Brey said. "We're very disap- pointed we haven't been more consistent." And because of it, he wants Notre Dame to play its last 17 games as if it has nothing to lose. Because it doesn't — un- less that's a spring break trip to Florida. "We have to play like that, not 'Oh my god, we have 17 games left,'" Brey said. "That's when we get uptight. We have serious kids who hate to fail. They get uptight. I'm trying to balance between 'loosen them up' and 'hold them ac- countable.' I have not walked that line very well to date." ✦ Head coach Mike Brey and the Fighting Irish had an 8-7 record as of Jan. 4. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Notre Dame Starts 2023 Far Off NCAA Tournament Radar