Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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MEN'S BASKEBALL BY ANDREW OWENS T oo many times last year, Notre Dame did not display the type of offensive efficiency the pro- gram has become accustomed to during head coach Mike Brey's tenure. A missed shot here, a turnover there. Outside of missing scoring opportuni- ties, the real detriment came on de- fense when issues on one end of the floor followed the Irish to the other end. "At times, before when we weren't in a great offensive rhythm, it af- fected our defensive focus," Brey said. "Maybe we only had three guys guarding because two guys were [up- set] about not shooting it well or not getting a shot, which is really high school stuff. "We've made great progress in that area through the summer, where we can rely on guarding even if we're not doing well on the other end. I need to stay on that all year because it's really important." Blowout wins over Binghamton, Navy and Coppin State will turn few heads as an indication that the pro- gram has rebounded. But the play in the three season-opening wins many times contrasted the performances from a year ago, when even perceived easy nights would turn into a struggle. "It's methodical," senior captain Pat Connaughton said of the team's de- fensive effort in November. "It was something we've built throughout time. We only had an eight-point lead at halftime [against Navy], and one of the things we talked about during the half was to be a team to come out with energy in the second half and see how much we could extend the lead to. "This is something this team has more than in years past. We're not sat- isfied with having a lead. We want to extend the lead." The easiest method to do so is by registering "kills," a statistic the pro- gram tracks to log defensive efficiency. One kill consists of three or more de- fensive stops in a row. "It's something that we've come back [to] as we started to put our group to- gether in June and knew we needed to get better defensively, that it would So Far, So Good Notre Dame's depth pays off in season-opening wins