ACC Preview #9 - Notre Dame

Jan 28, 2019; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey signals to his players in the first half against the Duke Blue Devils at the Purcell Pavilion. | Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Last year was a tough one. This season should be much better

Since joining the ACC, Notre Dame has for the most part been very successful. There have been two exceptions: the first year when Jerian Grant was suspended for the season and last year, when 6-6 senior Rex Pflueger was injured early, falling to an ACL injury in December. He returns as a grad student.

In 2013-14, the Irish finished 15-17. After that they racked up 32-6, 24-12, 26-10, 21-15 and last year’s 14-19.

Does Mike Brey get a mulligan on 2018-19?

We think so but Notre Dame has a problem coming that may not be easily solved. We’ll circle back to that later.

The Irish probably weren’t going to have a phenomenal season last year but losing Pflueger really hurt. He might have pushed them towards .500 if not over. We’ll never know obviously.

As is customary with Brey’s program, there is a lot of continuity. The only major loss from last year is DJ Harvey, who transferred to Jerry Stackhouse’s Vanderbilt program and he’s not really a critical loss. Pflueger’s return will more than make up for Harvey’s defection.

Aside from Pflueger, senior 6-9 forward John Mooney is back and he was terrific. He averaged 14.1 ppg, 11.2 rpg and hit 37.4 percent from three point range. He and Pflueger epitomize the two key virtues of Brey’s program: patience and time to develop.

TJ Gibbs is also back. The 6-3 senior guard averaged 13.7 ppg and 3.4 assists. He’s solid and experienced and knows exactly what Brey wants.

Sophomore guards Prentis Hubb (6-3), Dane Goodwin (6-6) and Robby Carmody (6-4) all showed potential although Carmody was injured in December and redshirted. The son of a coach, he will probably prove to be a very smart player.

We were impressed at times last season with 6-10 sophomore big man Nate Laszewski (rhymes with Krzyzewski) and expect him to continue to improve. He had a typically erratic freshman year but he’ll be stronger this year and increasingly useful.

Juwan Durham transferred from UConn and at a minimum the 6-11 senior will give Notre Dame depth and defense inside.

Nikola Djogo, a 6-7 senior, will also provide depth as will 6-5 sophomore Cormac Ryan, a transfer from Stanford. He was good enough to start there and Brey has praised his intelligence.

So Brey certainly has a good base to work with. Pflueger made his bones at Notre Dame as a defender and he’ll lead the Irish there. Brey has a lot of options at guard and small forward.

Notre Dame is deep at almost every position and has significant experience and reasonable talent. That’s typically a winning formula for Brey. He doesn’t always get as much credit as he should for his skill as an offensive coach but if you want to compare him to someone, you could do worse than former Michigan Coach John Beilein, now coaching the Cleveland Cavaliers. Brey’s offense is similarly difficult to guard, as Duke has found out the last few years. Virginia has struggled with Duke during its rise but Brey’s Irish program, when healthy, has just given Duke fits. Watching the ball whiz around the perimeter and how Duke struggled to catch up to it can be dizzying.

Part of the reason why Brey’s teams do that so well is because he prefers to season his rosters. Young players sit and learn, typically, and older players step into expanded roles, fully trained in the system.

Last year was a disruption due to injuries, especially to Pfleuger. This year it’s back to normal.

Afterwards?

Brey may be in long-term trouble.

He has no freshmen on his roster this year and so far has two commitments for next year.

Given the way his program is structured, having this kind of disruption is a huge problem. Presumably he will sign more players later this year, but the guys he’s signed so far - 6-8 Elijah Taylor and 6-9 Matt Zona - are probably not going to come in and make a major splash as freshmen. They’ll need time to develop and he may not have much.

We’ve seen this sort of situation in the ACC before. Bobby Cremins liked seven-man rotations at Georgia Tech, six when he could get away with it, but when his players started leaving early, it caused havoc. It’s not exactly the same at Notre Dame but Brey’s system relies on an orderly acquisition and development of malleable talent.

We have great respect for Brey. However, there is a difference between a one-year dip due to injury and a drop in talent. That tends to feed on itself. This year should be solid but the future is looking murky.