2015 NCAA Tournament Preview: Notre Dame vs. Northeastern

This season doesn’t happen without them

Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

This “magical” season of 29 wins, an ACC Tournament title and high expectations? It almost didn’t happen. After being dismissed from the team due to an undisclosed academic matter, Jerian Grant‘s future was up in the air. He could have transferred, or tried to take his talents to the NBA. But in the end, he got his affairs in order and returned to help lead this team.

Connaughton was a question mark as well after being taken by the Baltimore Orioles in the MLB amateur draft. We saw Jeff Samardzija make that difficult decision with football, choosing baseball instead.

But Connaughton felt there was unfinished business as well. Last year wasn’t Notre Dame basketball. Neither of these two wanted their last season to be one without seeing postseason basketball. So they returned, and boy has it worked out.

Next: Second round, here come the Irish