Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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in the 12 years Mike Brey has coached at Notre Dame. With a combined 14-20 record in the H A Tiring Passage Of Spring UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE eartache and head scratching have become the norm during the men's basketball postseason Big East Championship and NCAA Tournament, Brey's teams have never been particularly formidable once the regular season ends. But the troubling dismissals for the Irish the last two seasons in both the Big East and the NCAA tourneys have raised the an- nual question of what — if anything — Brey can do to fix the recurring tour- nament collapses? When No. 15 seed Lehigh pulled the huge upset over No. 2 Duke in the round of 64, the road was neatly paved for the seventh-seeded Irish to advance into the Sweet 16 for only the second time in the last 25 years. With Duke already dispatched and an opening- round date for Notre Dame against No. 10 Xavier, the Irish were the high- est seed remaining in their four-team pod in Greensboro, N.C. Hold serve in these two games the Irish were ex- pected to win, and pack up for Atlanta and the Sweet 16 in a round where anything can happen. Instead, Notre Dame fizzled again coaches has won either a Big East Tour- nament title or an NCAA Tournament title, or reached the Final Four of the Big Dance. From the outside looking in, a level Consistently outstanding during the regular sea- son, Mike Brey sports a combined 14-20 record in the Big East and NCAA Tournaments. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND impressed with the consistency Brey has shown in the regular season. They say the postseason is what matters, and failing to even reach the champi- onship game of the Big East Champi- onship in 12 years and making only one Sweet 16 appearance in eight trips to the NCAA Tournament fall short of realistic expectations. And it's becom- ing hard to argue. Brey's teams are 0-5 in the semifinal with tough academic standards in ar- guably the best basketball conference in the country. The detractors aren't even mildly in Chicago in the round of 32 to No. 10 seed Florida State. In 2010, the No. 6 Irish were bumped out of the round of 64 by No. 11 Old Dominion in New Orleans. And in 2007, No. 11 Winthrop beat No. 6 Notre Dame in its opening contest at Spokane, Wash. This trip down Futility Lane serves as a backdrop and some historical perspective on how difficult it has be- come for Notre Dame fans to digest the latest premature postseason exit after another magical regular season. The postseason failures help to fuel the polarization of Brey among the Irish fan base. The supporters argue that Brey does more with less by developing mid- level recruits and winning consistently 4 APRIL 2012 in the postseason, losing a 10-point lead with 12 minutes left in the game, and finding themselves upset (in terms of seeding) for the third straight sea- son and the fourth time in the last five NCAA Tournament appearances dat- ing back to 2007. In 2011, No. 2 seed Notre Dame lost round of the Big East Tournament, and they have been bounced in their open- ing game of the NCAA Tournament three times in the last five trips. Brey counters with the fact that Notre Dame went 10 straight years without even an NCAA Tournament appearance until his arrival. So the question becomes, are the Fighting Irish overachieving or under- achieving? With only two losing seasons in his 12 years of Big East regular season play, Brey has become the model of coaching consistency in the league. He ranks fifth all time on a distinguished list of Big East coaches with 133 career league wins, and his 59 regular-season wins in the last five seasons are second only to Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (64). Not even Jim Calhoun at Connecti- cut, Jamie Dixon at Pittsburgh, Rick Pitino at Louisville or Jay Wright at Villanova can surpass Brey's regular season win count during the last five seasons. It's a superb achievement. But ultimately the regular sea- son gives way to March Madness. And each of the five aforementioned of satisfaction always creeps into the Notre Dame program both before the start of the Big East Tournament and when the NCAA Tournament invites are handed out on Selection Sunday. And while the top programs consider these starting points to the most im- portant part of the season, the Irish carry themselves as if they clocked out immediately after the regular season ended. Brey proves annually he can defeat the best teams in the country. His Irish beat eventual national champion Con- necticut both times in 2011. And this season, his Irish defeated three Sweet 16 teams — Syracuse, Marquette and Louisville — by an average of 9.3 points per game. With the increase in parity through- out the NCAA landscape, and the quality of Brey's program, there is no reason his teams shouldn't embrace the challenges of the postseason, in- stead of continually looking behind, referencing regular season results, and resting on the laurels of another dou- ble-digit win total in league play. Butler made the NCAA Tourna- sages to his players is not to think too much, stay loose and "just let it rip." It's time for the coach to follow his own advice, finally realize the value of his program, don't be afraid of post- season success and expect a trip to the Sweet 16 and the Big East final, not just hope for one. You achieve what you believe, and ment title game in back-to-back years. Marquette has made the Sweet 16 the last two seasons, and six different Big East teams have reached the Sweet 16 in just the last three years. The coach needs to figure out why Notre Dame isn't the seventh team on that list? One of Brey's favorite pregame mes- Brey has provided plenty to believe in from November through February, and not nearly enough beyond that. ✦ Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED