Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/234294
IRISH IMPROVE AGAINST BIG TEN OPPONENTS Following a 73-69 home loss to North Dakota State Dec. 11 that dropped Notre Dame to 7-3 on the season, and with the team's two most daunting non-conference contests still to come, it had the early looks of a long campaign for head coach Mike Brey's squad. However, Notre Dame played its two best games in a 79-72 win over Indiana Dec. 14 and a 64-61 loss to No. 3 Ohio State Dec. 21, with only a home game against Canisius Dec. 29 between the Irish and Atlantic Coast Conference play. In the win over the Hoosiers, the Irish led the entire contest and received important frontcourt contributions from fifth-year senior forward Tom Knight and sophomore forward Zach Auguste in the low-post rotation alongside fifth-year senior center Garrick Sherman, who led the way with 16 ACC Overview When Notre Dame traveled to Madison Square Garden to face Ohio State Dec. 21, it marked the lone trip to the world's most famous arena for the Irish this season. Due to the program's admittance to the ACC, conference tournaments will be spent in Greensboro, N.C., instead of New York. That, however, is hardly the sole change the Irish will get accustomed to during their maiden voyage in the ACC. Here are some items to know about the conference before Notre Dame officially begins conference play Jan. 4 when Duke invades Purcell Pavilion. Most Surprising Team: The media ranked Wake Forest 13th among 15 ACC teams in the preseason poll, but the Demon Deacons got off to an impressive 10-2 start in non-conference play. Although they have yet to beat an elite opponent, Wake Forest played Kansas tough in an 87-78 loss at the Bahamas, where it beat USC. The Demon Deacons' frontcourt has impressed and was ranked ninth in the country with 44.0 rebounds per game through Dec. 22. Most Confusing Team: North Carolina easily earns this distinction. The Tar Heels in many ways played to the level of their opponent during an 8-3 start. They handed then-No. 3 Louisville its lone loss (9384) Nov. 24, topped then-No. 1 Michigan State (79-65) on the road and also beat then-No. 11 Kentucky (82-77). No team in the country has a more impressive résumé as far as victories go. However, the Tar Heels somehow lost to Belmont (83-80) at home, at UAB (63-59) and again at home against an unproven Texas team (86-83). The team will be without talented junior guard P.J. Hairston, whose NCAA eligibility was revoked during the summer. The program said it would not pursue reinstatement for conference play. Most Likely To Win A Championship: While this honor could easily go to No. 2 Syracuse (10-0), we'll go with No. 8 Duke (9-2) at the conclusion of non-conference play. The Blue Devils have a lot of new faces contributing and have encountered the peaks and valleys of a team with such inexperience. That's to be expected after losing a trio of all-conference seniors a year ago. However, it's hard to find a team with as much firepower as Duke. Freshman forward Jabari Parker was averaging 22.1 points and 7.8 rebounds in 31.2 minutes per game through Dec. 22. One aspect of his game he needs to work on is protecting the ball. He turned the ball over 2.6 times per game in Duke's first 11 contests. — Andrew Owens