Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 13, 2017 49 MEN'S BASKETBALL the NCAA Tournament last season. Facing a Michigan squad that reached the Sweet 16 last year would be better for Notre Dame's résumé and is why this game falls in the bubble section. A matchup against LSU would likely move this game to a "must have." A championship run would be the best-case scenario for Notre Dame, especially if the projected final of the Irish against No. 7 Wichita State comes to fruition. Both Marquette and VCU made the NCAA Tournament a year ago, though, so Notre Dame will have a chance to pick up multiple quality wins in Hawai'i. Knocking off Virginia has proved difficult for Notre Dame since enter- ing the ACC, but the Cavaliers must replace London Perrantes (12.7 points per game) off a team that averaged only 66.0 points per game. Road con- tests at Georgia Tech and Syracuse will also provide tough tests for the Irish. Home games against No. 13 Miami, No. 16 Louisville and Virginia Tech won't come easy for Notre Dame, but the Irish finished 14-2 at home last sea- son and will have a good chance to win at least two of those three contests. STEALS Here are the games that could elevate Notre Dame toward the top 10 nation- ally and a chance at a special regular season. Non-conference (one): at Michigan State (20-15) ACC (three): North Carolina (33-7), at Duke (28-9) and at North Carolina. Arguably Notre Dame's tough- est non-conference matchup will be against preseason No. 2 Michigan State in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Poten- tial NBA lottery pick forward Miles Bridges (16.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game) returns along with sopho- more big man Nick Ward (13.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest) to lead a Spartans squad that is projected to make a deep run come March. Head coach Tom Izzo also added five-star big man Jaren Jackson and Ri- vals100 big man Xavier Tillman this past recruiting cycle. Michigan State will be frontcourt heavy, and will be a challenging matchup for the Irish with its talent and depth. Notre Dame will be underdogs in at least three of these four games with a chance to be favored against North Carolina in South Bend. The Tar Heels do have to replace plenty of talent, in- cluding first-round picks Justin Jackson and Tony Bradley, and will be carried by senior point guard Joel Berry and a hungry sophomore class that will get its chance to shine. Duke returns star guard Grayson Al- len to go with three of Rivals' top-10 2017 recruits in big man Marvin Bagley (No. 2), guard Trevon Duval (No. 5) and big man Wendell Carter (No. 7). The Blue Devils and Tar Heels are pro- jected to finish one-two in the ACC. A win in any of these four games would do wonders for Notre Dame's overall résumé. SEASON PREDICTION How Notre Dame supports Colson and Farrell will be the top storyline for the Irish throughout the upcoming season. Brey will rely on upperclassmen — junior guard Rex Pflueger and senior forward Martin Geben — to take the next jump in their development offen- sively. Sophomore guards T.J. Gibbs and Nik Djogo, and freshman forward D.J. Harvey aim to fill in the missing pieces along the perimeter, while ju- nior Elijah Burns and sophomore John Mooney could prove vital up front. Colson and Farrell will likely have to carry the team on some nights while the rotation gets situated and Pflueger, Geben and company adjust to their new roles. We predict the Irish to finish 17-2 in its "must haves," 6-2 in its "bubble games," and 1-3 in its "steals," which would give the Irish a 24-7 record during the regular season and a good chance at a top-four seed in the ACC and NCAA tournaments. ✦ Irish Host 2018 Official Visitor Notre Dame seemed to be done with recruiting in the 2018 class after landing a pledge from Northfield (Mass.) Mt. Hermon forward Nate Laszewski in late September that gave Mike Brey four commitments inside the top 105 nationally — Laszewski (No. 69), Washington (D.C.) Gonzaga point guard Prentiss Hubb (No. 83), Mars (Pa.) High shooting guard Robby Carmody (No. 86) and Upper Arlington (Ohio) High shoot- ing guard Dane Goodwin (No. 105). But the Irish hosted Marlborough (Mass.) High Rivals three-star power forward Chris Doherty for an official visit the weekend of the Wake Forest football game. The 6-7, 225-pounder held offers from Boston College and Rutgers, among others, before the trip. He is a summer travel ball teammate of Laszewski. Doherty would be a complement to the sharpshooting 6-10 Laszewski, providing more of a post pres- ence offensively and as a rebounder. Given the Irish brought him down for an official visit, it is likely the staff pushes for Doherty to be the fifth member of the 2018 class. In other news, Hubb reported on his Twitter account that he has undergone successful surgery after tearing his ACL in October, an injury that will sideline him his senior season. — Corey Bodden 2017-18 NOTRE DAME MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Oct. 20 Holy Cross College! W, 97-57 Nov. 3 Bethel College! (ACCNE) 7 p.m. Nov. 7 Cardinal Stritch! (ACCNE) 7 p.m. Nov. 11 at DePaul 4 p.m. Nov. 13 Mount St. Mary's+ (ACCN) 7 p.m. Nov. 16 Chicago State (ACCNE) 7 p.m. Nov. 20 vs. Chaminade# (ESPNU) 9 p.m. Nov. 21 vs. Michigan or LSU# (ESPN/2) 8 or 10:30 p.m. Nov. 22 vs. Cal, Marquette, VCU or Wichita State# TBA Nov. 30 at Michigan State& (ESPN) 7 p.m. Dec. 3 St. Francis Brooklyn (ACCNE) 2 p.m. Dec. 5 Ball State (ACCN) 7 p.m. Dec. 9 at Delaware 7 p.m. Dec. 16 vs. Indiana^ 2:30 p.m. Dec. 19 Dartmouth (ESPN2) 7 p.m. Dec. 21 SE Louisiana (ACCNE) 7 p.m. Dec. 30 Georgia Tech* (ESPN2) TBA Jan. 3 NC State* (ACCN) 9 p.m. Jan. 6 at Syracuse* (ESPN/2) 3:15 p.m. Jan. 10 at Georgia Tech* (ESPNU) 7 p.m. Jan. 13 North Carolina* (ESPN/2) 6 p.m. Jan. 16 Louisville* (ESPN2) 7 p.m. Jan. 20 at Clemson* (ESPN/2) 4 p.m. Jan. 27 Virginia Tech* (ESPN2) 8 p.m. Jan. 29 at Duke* (ESPN) 7 p.m. Feb. 3 at NC State* (ESPN/2) 12 p.m. Feb. 6 Boston College* (ACCN) 8 p.m. Feb. 10 Florida State* (ESPN/2) 4 p.m. Feb. 12 at North Carolina* (ESPN) 7 p.m. Feb. 17 at Boston College* (ACCN) 4 p.m. Feb. 19 Miami (Fla.)* (ESPN) 7 p.m. Feb. 24 at Wake Forest* (ACCN) 3 p.m. Feb. 28 Pittsburgh* (ESPNU) 7 p.m. March 3 at Virginia* (ACCN) 4 p.m. March 6-10 ACC Tournament$ TBA ! Exhibition; + Maui Jim Maui Invitational regional matchup; # Maui Jim Maui Invitational at Lahaina, Hawai'i; & ACC-Big Ten Challenge; ^ Crossroads Classic at Indianapolis; * ACC game; $ at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.; ACCN — ACC Network; ACCNE — ACC Network Extra