Tourney Q&A Preview: The Notre Dame Fighting Irish

ND team
Who: Notre Dame Fighting Irish 30-5
Where: Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh, PA
When: March 21st at approximately 9:40 pm
TV: CBS
Radio: 1070 AM/107.5 FM (No webstream)
Odds: Notre Dame (-4.5)

After a meat grinder of a win against the massive size and length of the Texas Longhorns in their first game of the NCAA tournament, the Butler Bulldogs must now focus their attention on a completely different challenge in taking on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who finished 3rd in the ACC regular season, and then went on to win the ACC tournament in impressive fashion, beating both Duke and North Carolina in Greensboro. Notre Dame has the 3rd most efficient offense in the country, and while their defense isn’t stifling, it has been improving steadily over the course of the year, and the Irish are able to get stops when they need to. In order to get a better handle on the Irish, I spoke with Joe Schueller, a writer at One Foot Down who covers the Irish basketball team throughout the year. As always, here…we…go.

BH: One thing that’s always baffled me while living in South Bend is that while Notre Dame has had a successful program in some of the best conferences in college basketball for many years under Mike Brey and plays a brand of basketball that’s fun to watch, they don’t draw in crowds, especially at neutral site games. Can you put your finger on why this is?

OFD: Such are the joys of being second fiddle. Even during the ACC Championship and this NCAA run, you can probably find more people ready to talk Irish spring football than hoops. It is a football school, but perhaps Jerian Grant is starting to change that.

When you only have about eight thousand undergraduate students, it is tough to fill the arena consistently unless you have strong alumni and community support. As you know living there, sometimes the relationship with the broader South Bend community can be fickle. The real issue is that the alumni base is so spread out. Like me, a lot of ND basketball fanatics live an unreasonable distance to get back to South Bend during basketball season (despite the lovely weather).

BH: One guy who has really turned into something special this season (not that he’s the only one) after having somewhat of a disappointing Freshman campaign is Demetrius Jackson. What’s been the key to his development this season?

OFD: DJ is the only McDonald’s All-American on the roster. Despite that resume, he walked in to a tough situation. As a local guy, he had the pressures and trappings of family and friends on top of him. Academically, the transition in to ND is challenging for any freshman, particularly one with athletic demands at that level. On the court, his role was ill-defined. Mike Brey runs a very seniority-driven program, and last year, it was Eric Atkins’ team to run. Minutes were more difficult to come by before Grant’s separation from the team, and when DJ was thrust into the grind of the ACC season as a 2 guard, it wasn’t a great fit. He struggled finishing at the rim against bigger competition and admittedly slipped in to a bit of a funk. Calling that season disappointing is a little unfair to DJ — he did manage 6 points per game, and nearly 2 assists while shooting over 40% from behind the arc.

This season, Mike Brey talks about the importance of the team’s summer trip to Italy. Notre Dame’s cycle in the NCAA’s schedule for allowing teams to go abroad came up perfectly this year. It allowed Brey to reintegrate Grant and get guys like DJ and Zach Auguste in the mindset of key contributors. In Jackson’s case, it was about giving him the ball and letting him run the team this summer. It was about turning loose his stifling ball pressure with teammates that were willing to defend along with him. The summer was about getting DJ comfortable, and he’s blossomed into a spectacular guard in his second season.

Jerian GrantOFD: Everything. Well, maybe not everything, but for all the discussion of the development of Jackson and Auguste, much of that was driven by having a more mature, focused Jerian Grant back in the picture. He drives his teammates and brings a high level of competition to every practice. He brings a pro’s mentality to the floor and the locker-room, and it has been great for this team.

On the court, his presence gives Notre Dame confidence and swagger. Jerian combines rim attacking athleticism with a basketball supercomputer of a mind. A few weeks back, I compared his contribution to ND to James Harden’s for the Rockets. He sets up the majority of our made 3’s, he picks people apart in the screen-and-roll game, and when he decides to lock in, he’s a very disruptive defender. We, obviously, thought he was the ACC player of the year.

BH: Pat Connaughton has the best fastball in the NCAA tournament, and despite being undersized at the forward spot, is one of the better defensive rebounders in the country. How has he been able to accomplish that over the last couple of seasons?

Photo Credit: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

Photo Credit: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

OFD: Pat is a four-year starter that’s done a little bit of everything in his ND career. Brey has consistently asked Pat to show off his considerable athleticism by defending bigger players throughout his time in South Bend. You can’t hit 95mph on the gun without a solid core and strong legs, and Pat is way more athletic than people give him credit for. He’s a quick and explosive leaper with a good wingspan. He plays with a really low base and fights for position very well. Most of all, the guy just competes. He’s a very driven leader for this team and does a lot of the dirty work for the Irish.

BH: Who are some of the key guys coming off the bench for the Irish, and for those who haven’t watched a lot of Notre Dame hoops this year, what should we expect from each of them?

OFD: You’re allowed to have a bench? Mike Brey isn’t familiar with this concept.

I joke (kinda) because Brey is known for a pretty tight rotation and I assure you that unless there’s foul trouble or an injury, Grant and Connaughton will play all 40 on Saturday while DJ plays at least 38. Brey only goes 7 deep unless his hand is forced.

The first guy off the bench has become freshman Bonzie Colson. Listed at only 6’5″ and 220 lbs, he’s become a front court force for the Irish. In the ACC semi-final win over Duke, Bonzie played 26 minutes, defending Okafor for most of that, while putting up 17 points on 5-9 shooting from the floor and 7-8 from the stripe. He’s got a high motor and an old-man game for a young guy. He’ll play the 5 for us when we go small, but he’ll occasionally be paired with Zach Auguste in Brey’s 2-big line-up.

BH: What do you think the keys to the game will be on Saturday?

OFD: Butler’s ability to defend ball screens. Against man defenses, the Irish will use a healthy variety of NBA-style ball screens and spread the floor for both Grant and Jackson. If you have to help to stop Grant or Jackson from turning the corner, Auguste has proven very effective on the roll. If you rotate to that, the Irish fill behind the pick on the strong side and drift a shooter to the weak side corner. This puts incredible pressure on your rotations when guys like Connaughton and Steve Vasturia are knocking down shots. If Butler can frustrate the Irish by jumping the ball screen and/or getting back to tag shooters, they could hold the scoring down and make it a very long night for ND.

BH: Linebacker Lounge – Historic Landmark, or sludge-filled hole where innocence goes to die?

OFD: Yes

I really want to thank Joe for taking the time to answer our questions, especially with the short turnaround between games. So what do you think the keys to the game are? How do you see it playing out? Let us know in the comments section or the message board.

Go Dawgs.

Front page photo Credit: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

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One thought on “Tourney Q&A Preview: The Notre Dame Fighting Irish

  1. Thanks for the great questions. I’ll try to check back here a few times before tomorrow if anyone has additional questions.

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