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Notre Dame Basketball: The Irish are Now in Trouble of Missing NCAA Tournament

By Noah Strackbein

Feb 5, 2017; Greensboro, NC, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Rex Pflueger (0) dribbles the ball around North Carolina Tar Heels forward Isaiah Hicks (4) during the first half at Greensboro Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 5, 2017; Greensboro, NC, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Rex Pflueger (0) dribbles the ball around North Carolina Tar Heels forward Isaiah Hicks (4) during the first half at Greensboro Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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Notre Dame basketball has lost four in a row, have fallen out of the top 25, and are in serious trouble of missing the NCAA Tournament.

After losing four straight and now sitting at 17-7 overall, Notre Dame is on the outside of the top 25 looking in for the first time since December 6, 2016. But if the Irish can’t start finding a way to win, they could be in trouble of turning a successful start into a missed NCAA Tournament appearance.

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After being first in the ACC through a 5-0 start, Notre Dame is now 6-5 and three games back from conference leader, North Carolina. Right now, they sit behind six other ACC teams and are one loss away from dropping to the bottom five in the conference.

Notre Dame has a lot of talent. To say this team is overhyped isn’t right. No one expected them to be where they were, and no one has expected them to drop this far. But looking at their roster, it’s easy to see why the Irish aren’t winning. If they can’t solve it, though, they’re going to be in a lot of danger of missing the tournament.

This team is built for a NCAA Tournament run. They have scrappy players who have more hustle than most in the country. Given a chance, with the opportunity to go 100% every game, Notre Dame will prove a lot of haters wrong.

The issue isn’t necessarily to fix their depth troubles anymore. At this point, if the Irish are going to win it’s going to be through their four or five stars carrying them. All they need to focus on right now is working their way into the NCAA Tournament. Preferably, higher than the bottom half of the bracket.

You can’t say that Notre Dame has done enough to earn a seed in the tournament. Even with their 9-0 start, the Irish have only beaten one top 25 team all season. On top of that, they’re on a four-game losing streak and are on the verge of a losing record in the ACC.

With only two ranked opponents left on their schedule, Notre Dame is in real trouble if they keep losing. Without beating at least one of the two top 25 teams they play, the Irish are left with the task of winning the rest of their non-ranked games. That means that they can’t suffer another loss to either Wake Forest, Boston College, NC State, or Georgia Tech during five of their last seven regular season games.

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None of this is certain. In fact, whether Notre Dame will or will not make the NCAA Tournament is still unknown. But right now, the Irish’s future looks dull. All they need to do is get to the tournament. From there, Notre Dame has the team to win, but first, they need to get there.

With seven games left, the Irish have found themselves in a tight situation. Their future is up in the air but in their own hands. Without turning this losing streak around, though, Notre Dame is on the verge of missing the NCAA Tournament.