Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com APRIL 2018 53 MEN'S BASKETBALL "The first thing I said to our guys was, 'We're back,'" Brey said after the narrow defeat. "Like, they felt like the team that was in Maui. Looked like it. Felt like it." Notre Dame (18-13, 8-10) entered the ACC Tournament as the No. 10 seed, knowing two wins would give them a chance to sneak into the NCAA Tournament while three would put it comfortably in. The Irish took a 16-point lead versus 0-18 (in ACC play) Pitt in the first half, but shot 16.7 percent in the second 20 minutes and had to hang on for a 67-64 triumph. During the opening 25 minutes against No. 7 seed Virginia Tech, it appeared Notre Dame would be run out of the building. The Irish trailed by 21 points, but rallied for the larg- est comeback in its program history over the final 15 minutes to take down the Hokies 71-65 and earn a shot at No. 2 seed Duke. Notre Dame's potential run to se- curing an at-large bid at the ACC Tournament came to a crashing halt, though, when the Blue Devils shot nearly 70 percent in the second half to pull away for an 88-70 victory. "I hope they can get in because they can beat anybody," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the game. "Mike has that team together all year? Forget it." 'JUST NOT ENOUGH' At that point, all the Irish could do was hope that getting Colson back would be enough for the selection committee to put them into the 68- team tournament field. When it was all said and done, though, the Irish found themselves on the outside looking in. "They just didn't have enough on their résumé to be an at-large," Creighton athletic director and selec- tion committee chair Bruce Rasmus- sen told a national television audi- ence on TBS. As if the Davidson gut shot wasn't enough, Syracuse was deemed to be the last at-large team by the committee. The Irish (20-14, 8-10 ACC) and the Orange (20-13, 8-10) had similar résumés, with each posting an 8-11 mark in quadrant one (home games versus teams 1-30 in the RPI, neutral site against 1-50 and away versus 1-75) and quadrant two (home against 31-75, neutral site versus 51-100 and away against 76-135) contests — but Notre Dame won the head-to-head matchup on the road without Colson and Farrell. "I don't want to get into compar- ing," Brey stated about Syracuse. "I know we beat them on their floor. I guess they had a better strength of schedule and that got them in. I don't have the energy to kind of us/them, up/down … it's almost kind of a fit- ting end to how our season went." Notre Dame wound up as a No. 1 seed in the National Invitation Tour- nament and was slated to play No. 8 seed Hampton (19-15, 12-4 MEAC), the runner-up in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in the first round of the 32-team tournament. "No excuses," Farrell said. "The committee made their decisions, we didn't do enough to get in — some- times life sucks. "It wasn't our goal, but we have a championship ahead of us that we can win. We can play together and keep putting the uniform on. That's some- thing we're going to strive to do. It's about our group, the culture here. We really enjoy being around each other." Marquette (19-13, 9-9 Big East) was the No. 2 seed in Notre Dame's eight- team region, while Oregon (22-12, 8-10 Pac-12) and Penn State (21-13, 9-9 Big Ten) rounded out the top four seeds. The winner of each of the four eight-team regions will advance to Madison Square Garden in New York for the semifinals and championship games March 27-29. ✦ 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! W, 88-59 Nov. 7 Cardinal Stritch! W, 90-46 Nov. 11 at DePaul W, 72-58 Nov. 13 Mount St. Mary's+ W, 88-62 Nov. 16 Chicago State W, 105-66 Nov. 20 vs. Chaminade# W, 83-56 Nov. 21 vs. LSU# W, 92-53 Nov. 22 vs. Wichita State# W, 67-66 Nov. 30 at Michigan State& L, 81-63 Dec. 3 St. Francis Brooklyn W, 71-53 Dec. 5 Ball State L, 80-77 Dec. 9 at Delaware W, 92-68 Dec. 16 vs. Indiana^ L, 80-77 (OT) Dec. 19 Dartmouth W, 97-87 Dec. 21 Southeastern Louisiana W, 86-50 Dec. 30 Georgia Tech* W, 68-59 Jan. 3 NC State* W, 88-58 Jan. 6 at Syracuse* W, 51-49 Jan. 10 at Georgia Tech* L, 60-53 Jan. 13 North Carolina* L, 69-68 Jan. 16 Louisville* L, 82-78 (2OT) Jan. 20 at Clemson* L, 67-58 Jan. 27 Virginia Tech* L, 80-75 Jan. 29 at Duke* L, 88-66 Feb. 3 at NC State* L, 76-58 Feb. 6 Boston College* W, 96-85 Feb. 10 Florida State* W, 84-69 Feb. 12 at North Carolina* L, 83-66 Feb. 17 at Boston College* W, 84-67 Feb. 19 Miami (Fla.)* L, 77-74 Feb. 24 at Wake Forest* W, 76-71 Feb. 28 Pittsburgh* W, 73-56 Mar. 3 at Virginia* L, 62-57 Mar. 6 vs. Pittsburgh$ W, 67-64 Mar. 7 vs. Virginia Tech$ W, 71-65 Mar. 8 vs. Duke$ L, 88-70 Mar. 13 Hampton% (ESPN) 9 p.m. ! Exhibition; + Maui Jim Maui Invitational regional matchup; # Maui Jim Maui Invitational at Lahaina, Hawai'i; & ACC-Big Ten Challenge; ^ Crossroads Clas- sic at Indianapolis; * ACC game; $ ACC Tournament at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.; % National Invi- tation Tournament at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend The Irish Will Rely On Young Players In 2018-19 Head coach Mike Brey has been known for leaning on his veteran players. Next year, how- ever, youth may be served. Notre Dame was led by four seniors this season — forward Bonzie Colson, point guard Matt Farrell, forward Martinas Geben and forward Austin Torres — plus two juniors in guard Rex Pflueger and forward Elijah Burns. Next season will look quite a bit different with Pflueger and Burns being the lone se- niors, and just Pflueger's eligibility running out after the 2018-19 campaign. Point guard T.J. Gibbs, forward John Mooney, guard Nik Djogo and big man Juwan Durham (who sat out this season after transferring from Connecticut) will form the junior class, while wing D.J. Harvey will be the lone sopho- more, if he is cleared to play health-wise. That means that five freshmen — guards Robby Carmody, Dane Goodwin and Prentiss Hubb, plus forwards Chris Doherty and Nate Laszewski — will make up 41.7 percent of the roster. The good news is the quintet is currently rated as the No. 11 class nationally by Rivals. Pflueger and Gibbs will likely take on the leadership role next season, but the Irish will still need a strong contribution from their youngsters if they want to get back to the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19. — Corey Bodden