Notre Dame Basketball: Irish Rank No. 14 in Coaches Poll
By Chase Eyrich
The USA Today Preseason Poll has been released and the ACC is being represented well.
With five ACC teams in the USA Today Preseason Poll, the Notre Dame basketball team has claimed the 14th spot in the nation. The Irish are returning a lot of experience and has a powerful one-two punch with Bonzie Colson and Matt Farrell leading the team.
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A respectable ranking for Notre Dame. Just a few weeks ago the Blue Ribbon poll placed the Irish as 19th in the country. While a lower ranking than USA Today, Blue ribbon tabbed Colson as the preseason national player of the year.
It hasn’t been a secret, the ACC is difficult and fully loading. This season the ACC leads all conferences with five teams making the preseason poll. Duke, North Carolina, Miami, Notre Dame and Lousiville represent the ACC in the poll. Four more ACC teams also received votes. Just outside of the top 25 is Flordia State, Georgia Tech, Virgina Tech and Virgina.
Notre Dame’s experience will not only include Colson and Farrell, Junior Guard Rex Pflueger, Graduate Student Forward Austin Torres, Sophomore TJ Gibbs and Senior Forward Martinas Geben will be right along with them. Freshman DJ Harvey could be in the mix as well this season.
No easy road ahead
It will not be an easy road for the Irish in 2017-18. What year isn’t difficult playing in the ACC? This year Notre Dame will face Duke (1), Michigan State (2), North Carolina (9) who the Irish will play twice, Miami (12) and Louisville (16)
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Notre Dame finished last year 26-10 and making it to their second ACC championship game in just 3 years in the league. Only four ACC teams finished with less than ten losses. The Irish were right there among them with three teams having nine losses.
This is the second highest preseason ranking for Notre Dame in the Mike Brey era. Highest would be the 2008-09 team who ranked ninth in both polls.
There are some high expectations for the Irish this season. Not many teams will be surprised when this team comes out seeking a deep tournament run.