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Notre Dame Basketball: The Irish Are Greedy Again

By Ryan Kelley

Feb 6, 2016; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey celebrates in the second half against the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Purcell Pavilion. Notre Dame won 80-76. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 6, 2016; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey celebrates in the second half against the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Purcell Pavilion. Notre Dame won 80-76. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
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After two straight gritty wins over North Carolina and Clemson, the Notre Dame men’s basketball team finds itself in familiar territory, climbing the ranks of the ACC late in the season.

The Fighting Irish are 8-4 in ACC contests and 17-7 overall, standing at fifth place in the conference. At this point in their ACC championship season last year, they were only a game better at 9-3 in league play.

Their inspired play as of late has head coach Mike Brey feeling greedy again, as he told his players in the locker room after upsetting the second ranked Tar Heels. The win sent the Notre Dame students storming onto the floor to celebrate with their classmates, and the Irish followed it up just two days later with a road win over the Tigers.


“When the lights are bright, and the stage is big, the freakin’ Irish deliver,” Brey told his guys.

He’s got that right. Notre Dame now has three wins over BPI top ten teams in North Carolina (3), Iowa (4), and Duke (7). With the 21st strongest schedule in the nation and an RPI ranking of 25, the Irish should have no problem getting into the NCAA Tournament, barring a total collapse through the last six games of the season.

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The Irish have relied on balanced scoring and limited turnovers to get to this point. Each member of the starting five is averaging double figures in points per game, and they commit the fewest turnovers per game in the country. Notre Dame also ranks in the top ten in assist-turnover ratio and personal fouls per game, which says a lot about their efficiency.

Defending their ACC Tournament title is starting to seem like a real possibility. Despite being in fifth place, the Irish are only two games out of first, and one game behind the other three teams. The order of those top five teams could shuffle with every remaining game.

The upcoming matchups are pretty favorable for Notre Dame too. While they have to play Louisville twice, the Cardinals are coming off a loss to Duke, and there’s no telling how well they’ll play now that they’ve banned themselves from the postseason. The Irish have three road games against Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Florida State, some of the weakest teams in the conference. Their only other challenge will come from Miami, who came away with a win in their first meeting last week. This time, however, the game is in Purcell Pavilion and the Leprechaun Legion will be there in full force.

If Notre Dame can finish 4-2 or better, it should end up in the top five still, and in great position to make another run for the title. It could just as easily go the other way, though, in a league as competitive as the ACC. The Irish will look to keep playing with an edge, toughness and greed when they welcome Louisville to their floor on Saturday.