Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/234294
UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE in a precarious spot at the most inopportune of times, just a few days before beginning its first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference against Duke Jan. 4. Brey has proven to be a masterful regular-season coach, and he always squeezed the most out of his players against some of the best teams in the country during his 13 seasons coaching in the Big East. But making the NCAA Tournament for a fifth straight time and the seventh in the last eight years will be the toughest coaching challenge Brey has faced during his time here at Notre Dame. Talented and experienced guard play is the key to success in college basketball. And with Grant and fellow senior Eric Atkins working together — considered one the best backcourt tandems in the country — this dynamic duo was supposed to help combat the culture shock of joining a new conference. Grant's suspension aside, maybe the higher hurdle of surviving the difficult ACC schedule falls on the Irish coaching ranks more than on the player roster. Through longevity and often overachievement, Brey became one of the best coaches in Big East history, earning conference coach of the year honors three times while becoming the fourthwinningest coach in the proud history of that league. For 13 seasons, Brey routinely beat some of the best coaches in the business, including Jim Boeheim at Syracuse, Jim Calhoun at Connecticut, Rick Pitino at Louisville, Jay Wright at Villanova, and so on and so on. When afforded a level of familiarity with an opponent and the old game notes that can be dusted off year to year, there is not a better coach in the country than Brey — see his 2011 National Coach of the Year award. But when the knowledge base of an opponent is taken away — and styles, players, tendencies and arenas become unfamiliar — Brey and his staff have struggled to find even limited success, evidenced by six losses in the last eight NCAA Tournament games. And now Brey and his staff are being asked to survive two games a week against unfamiliar opponents in the toughest conference in the country without their best player? Tall order. Perhaps Brey will work his magic and pull a similar conference miracle as he did seven years ago when standout guard Kyle McAlarney was suspended for the conference season, but the Irish still recorded 11 Big East wins and made it to the NCAA Tournament. Brey also survived the injuries and losses of star forwards and leading scorers Luke Harangody in 2009-10 and Tim Abromaitis in 2011-12 and still coached his way into the NCAA Tournament in each of those two seasons. If Brey can somehow work his magic again and find the formula to get this team to the NCAA Tournament, it would not only be his best coaching job to date, but it should put him in line for national coach of the year honors once again. ✦ Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com