Notre Dame Basketball: The Irish Need to Create History, Because They Don’t Have Any
Notre Dame basketball, like any team in the NCAA Tournament, is looking to reshape program history. But for the Irish, they need to create history to be reshaped.
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You look at some of the most historic teams in college basketball, and Notre Dame is usually in the mix. They may not be Duke or North Carolina, but they have made their mark on the NCAA. But unlike other teams, Notre Dame doesn’t have any history to look back on.
The Fighting Irish really have nothing. They have been to one Final Four, have never competed for a National Championship, and have a 37-39 record in the NCAA Tournament. For a school so rich with sports history, the Irish have nothing in the basketball department.
It’s now time for that to change. Mike Brey is turning this program into one of the best in basketball. This season, it could be the best team Notre Dame has had in decades. They have not a single player who is projected to be a future NBA Hall of Famer or even play at the next level. That doesn’t matter right now, though. How the future of these players looks means nothing when it comes to winning in college.
Not having a strong history in March isn’t a bad thing. It just leaves room to begin creating the history books instead of rewriting them. The way things have gone over the last two years, they have already started open up the first chapter. Now, it’s time to break the story open with a Final Four run.
The best part of this is their seniors. V.J. Beachem and Steve Vasturia have already won an ACC title and made two Elite Eight runs throughout their careers. One final push, a memorable run in the tournament, and these two have their name sketched in Notre Dame history.
For Bonzie Colson, if he continues his reign of dominance, he’s going to go down as one of the greatest Irish basketball players of all time. Matt Farrell leads this team like he has all season, and he’ll be in the same boat as his 6’5 forward.
This team has nothing to live up to. They came into the season as a projected seven seed in the ACC Tournament with little to no chance of making the NCAA Tournament. So far, they’ve proved everyone wrong about the conference standings, and are looking to do the same in March Madness.
Rewriting history is one of the most challenging objectives for a team to do. It adds pressure to live up to the glory of your elders. When you have nothing to look back on, though, you shape the future from ground zero. You aren’t letting anyone down when no one believes in you. You are shocking the world when you continue to win.
Notre Dame isn’t looking to continue the glory of the program or revive Irish basketball. They’re opening up the history books for the first time and writing chapter one.