Notre Dame men’s basketball: How Irish can make March Madness

Sure, it’s completely unrealistic, but there’s still a chance the Notre Dame men’s basketball team can make the NCAA tournament. The road would be extremely difficult, though crazier things have happened in college basketball leading to automatic NCAA tournament bids.

Due to their abysmal record this year, the Irish must win a true gauntlet of games in the ACC tournament to secure a bid to March Madness. The Notre Dame men’s basketball team kicks off the tournament tomorrow against the 11th-seed Virginia Tech Hokies. While they’re only a few spots higher than the Irish, who are the 14th seed, the Hokies are 5 games over .500, whereas the Irish are 9 games under. The Irish hosted Virginia Tech at home just under a month ago and lost by 6.

While the tournament will be difficult for the Notre Dame men’s basketball squad throughout, it starts with a bang

If the Irish men’s squad survives their first-round opponent, they’ll face NC State in their second-round matchup on Wednesday, March 8th, at 9:30 ET. The Wolfpack are another opponent Mike Brey’s team has narrowly lost to by a score of 85-82 earlier this year.

It doesn’t get any easier; if the Irish survive, they’ll face the Clemson Tigers Thursday, March 9th, at 9:30 ET. If you’ve been following the team close lately, you know they were just blown out by the Tigers in their regular season finale by 23 points. The schedule is much more uncertain after that point, but Virginia, North Carolina, Duke, and Miami could all be waiting if the Irish make a run to the championship.

While it’s a long shot, I’d love to see nothing more than Mike Brey make a miracle run in his final ACC tournament as head coach of the Notre Dame men’s basketball program. Don’t get your hopes up, but anything can happen if they get hot.