ND Men's Basketball 2014-15 Season

[JD Irish]

We might have to bench Auguste in favor of Colson moving forward.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

"This is a good loss, show deficiencies and we can work on them to get ready for tournament "- No One

Haha perfect.

 

[NCDomer]

Nothing is going for them. Should've passed on that one.

 

[NCDomer]

This game really shows you what happens when the offense doesn't get going. It's also a reminder that being one dimensional makes it really difficult if that one dimension never kicks in. Usually, ND's offense only says cold for one half.

 

[Circa]

well the whistle blows two ways and this one was a mess from 2mins in

 

[IrishSteelhead]

The metamorphosis into a gutless Brey led team will be complete just in time for the tourney if today is any indication. Hope they can bounce back.

 

[Cali_domer]

McDonald's All-Americans versus McDonald's employees

This is ND so at least make them Future McDonald's Franchise owners.

We Are ND

 

[ResLife Hero]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>MBB: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotreDame?src=hash">#NotreDame</a> remains 10th in the country in the AP poll despite losing 90-60 at Duke on Saturday.</p>— Andrew Owens (@BGI_AndrewOwens) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGI_AndrewOwens/status/564832452372615168">February 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
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[irishfan]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>MBB: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotreDame?src=hash">#NotreDame</a> remains 10th in the country in the AP poll despite losing 90-60 at Duke on Saturday.</p>— Andrew Owens (@BGI_AndrewOwens) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGI_AndrewOwens/status/564832452372615168">February 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
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We got lucky with so many teams right behind us also losing.

 

[Irish#1]

We got lucky with so many teams right behind us also losing.

Not only that, but losing that big actually probably helped as well. Voters look at that final score and figure it was the Prefect Storm since the other losses were no where that bad.

 

[heygipper]

McDonald's All-Americans versus McDonald's employees

Well, the employees are 1-1 against the All-American's in the last two weeks

 

[RDU Irish]

First half, we didn't drive to the hoop at all. Really disappointing to see a team take away the three that aggressively and our guys didn't drive to the hoop much at all in the first half. We have the horses to do that; Pat, DJ and Grant can all make you pay for that but only Vasturia (probably the weakest slasher) really tried to. I know aggression is not a natural Brey trait, but dammit! We should have been living on the foul line and getting their front line in foul trouble. Refs can only eat the whistle so much when you go in drawing contact. As for zone D, well that hasn't gone well for us hardly ever this year so no surprise Duke had an opportunity for a legendary offensive efficiency day.

Grant didn't look like he had a good handle on the ball all game. Fluke game for him handling the ball which was unfortunate b/c it was just the day he needed to bring that part of his game.

Duke was firing on all cylinders and showed why they are so dangerous. Their problem is they are young and will be inconsistent. When shots aren't falling they can fall apart. You can't count on shooting 80% in a half and Okafor is easily drawn into foul trouble. Lucky for them they have a good shot at a #1 seed which means almost a bye into the sweet 16. As a two seed they better show up for their second game or they could be surprised. Most likely, I think they lose in the Elite Eight. I don't think they can play good consistently enough to make a real run in the NCAAs.

Looks like a typical Brey team that has bright moments in the regular season and fades into tourney time. I think we already peaked and/or other teams are figuring us out. I think it is on us more than anything b/c we have been a thin margin of victory all year. Brey has never had his team peaking at the right time and I suspect this year is no different.

 

[Ndaccountant]

First half, we didn't drive to the hoop at all. Really disappointing to see a team take away the three that aggressively and our guys didn't drive to the hoop much at all in the first half. We have the horses to do that; Pat, DJ and Grant can all make you pay for that but only Vasturia (probably the weakest slasher) really tried to. I know aggression is not a natural Brey trait, but dammit! We should have been living on the foul line and getting their front line in foul trouble. Refs can only eat the whistle so much when you go in drawing contact. As for zone D, well that hasn't gone well for us hardly ever this year so no surprise Duke had an opportunity for a legendary offensive efficiency day.

Grant didn't look like he had a good handle on the ball all game. Fluke game for him handling the ball which was unfortunate b/c it was just the day he needed to bring that part of his game.

Duke was firing on all cylinders and showed why they are so dangerous. Their problem is they are young and will be inconsistent. When shots aren't falling they can fall apart. You can't count on shooting 80% in a half and Okafor is easily drawn into foul trouble. Lucky for them they have a good shot at a #1 seed which means almost a bye into the sweet 16. As a two seed they better show up for their second game or they could be surprised. Most likely, I think they lose in the Elite Eight. I don't think they can play good consistently enough to make a real run in the NCAAs.

Looks like a typical Brey team that has bright moments in the regular season and fades into tourney time. I think we already peaked and/or other teams are figuring us out. I think it is on us more than anything b/c we have been a thin margin of victory all year. Brey has never had his team peaking at the right time and I suspect this year is no different.

Disagree with the bolded. The games they have played this year against NC State & Miami show that they cannot play poorly and still expect to win the second round game.

 

[nsideirish]

BracketMatrix has us as the top 4 seed.

 

[heygipper]

Still in the Top 10. Win tomorrow and we should be 25-4 (Wake, @BC, Syracuse) heading into Louisville 3 weeks from Wednesday. If we lose tomorrow then we can be considered fading

 

[RDU Irish]

Also watched enough L-Ville vs Virginia in order to not be overly scared of either of those teams. Think we match up just fine against them and don't see either of them applying curb stomping on us like Duke did. Dukes largest weakness is immaturity.

 

[RDU Irish]

Still in the Top 10. Win tomorrow and we should be 25-4 (Wake, @BC, Syracuse) heading into Louisville 3 weeks from Wednesday. If we lose tomorrow then we can be considered fading

If we can't beat ranked teams at this stage of the season we are fading, IMO.

 

[heygipper]

If we can't beat ranked teams at this stage of the season we are fading, IMO.

Because we lost to the #4 team in the country 10 days after beating them? We are 9-3 in conference play, with wins @UNC, @NC State, over Miami, and over Duke. A close loss to UVa at home wasn't surprising, a let down loss @ Pitt is the one road mulligan on the year, and I think a lot of people were expecting a Duke loss convincingly Saturday (although not quite that convincingly).

 

[Woneone]

Because we lost to the #4 team in the country 10 days after beating them? We are 9-3 in conference play, with wins @UNC, @NC State, over Miami, and over Duke. A close loss to UVa at home wasn't surprising, a let down loss @ Pitt is the one road mulligan on the year, and I think a lot of people were expecting a Duke loss convincingly Saturday (although not quite that convincingly).

Yup. It's amazing how many people are ledge jumping at this point.

3/8/2014 UCONN 48 - L'ville 81

UCONN fared pretty well after a late season beat down to a ranked team.

Just saying. Getting blown out by a good team, when many expected us to lose anyway, isn't exactly the end of the season.

I think people are jumping the gun a bit on what that game meant.

 

[RDU Irish]

3-2 the last five games, of which one win was a complete miracle gift from NC State. A loss to Pitt and an embarrassing loss to Duke. Not exactly an awe inspiring stretch. We are known for winning big games at home, we are expected to suck on the road. Unless you are NIT bound, home wins don't do so much, how you hold up on the road has real street cred.

Louisville is the only ranked team left on the schedule. It is easy for me to see us finish 5-1 (losing to Louisville) and then drop the first game of the ACC tourney. Sure our overall record would be 25-5 but we would have to feel pretty limp walking into the NCAAs.

Duke big "pay back" game over Irish. Iowa State, another example of a "pay back" curb stomping over Texas Tech. These are teams that are upping their level of play at the right time. Both teams have had some fluid roster management and shown the ability to really take people out behind the woodshed and demoralize them, teams that previously beat them.

We will see how our guys bounce back from this. They have a few weeks to get their crap together and find a higher level before going to Louisville and a month before the ACC tourney. They should have two more shots at ranked opponents and if they can't win at least one I don't see them making the Sweet Sixteen.

 

[heygipper]

3-2 the last five games, of which one win was a complete miracle gift from NC State. A loss to Pitt and an embarrassing loss to Duke. Not exactly an awe inspiring stretch. We are known for winning big games at home, we are expected to suck on the road. Unless you are NIT bound, home wins don't do so much, how you hold up on the road has real street cred.

Louisville is the only ranked team left on the schedule. It is easy for me to see us finish 5-1 (losing to Louisville) and then drop the first game of the ACC tourney. Sure our overall record would be 25-5 but we would have to feel pretty limp walking into the NCAAs.

Duke big "pay back" game over Irish. Iowa State, another example of a "pay back" curb stomping over Texas Tech. These are teams that are upping their level of play at the right time. Both teams have had some fluid roster management and shown the ability to really take people out behind the woodshed and demoralize them, teams that previously beat them.

We will see how our guys bounce back from this. They have a few weeks to get their crap together and find a higher level before going to Louisville and a month before the ACC tourney. They should have two more shots at ranked opponents and if they can't win at least one I don't see them making the Sweet Sixteen.

That "3-2" includes a 25 point win over a VTech team that had UVa down to the wire days later and was sandwiched between two Irish wins over teams who blew Duke out. It always includes a win against the #4 team in the country, who won @ UVa days later, and a 8 point conference win. Calm down

 

[RDU Irish]

Sorry, I'm sure a Brey lead team will finish strong and prove me wrong.

 

[irishfan]

Sorry, I'm sure a Brey lead team will finish strong and prove me wrong.

LOL. I like Brey, but he is easy to make jokes about.

I do agree, that pretty much anything beyond a 5-1 finish and a trip to ACC semis will be a very, very dissappointing end to the season. The NCAA Tourney is more about matchups than seeding, but I'm not going to like our chances if we can't finish well this next month.

We HAVE to beat Clemson on Tuesday. It wont be easy on the road, but I really think we're in free-fall mode if we can't win that one.

 

[RDU Irish]

I will be going to our ACC tourney games and hope I see more than one. We really need to up our game if we want a strong enough seed to give us a better shot at the Sweet Sixteen.

HUGE difference between a 3 seed and a 4 or 5 seed. Start vs a 14 seed, followed by 6 or 11 versus the four/fives that play each other after opening versus 13 and 12.

Three seed probably doesn't face a top 25 team in the first weekend and the 4/5 probably does. You also put off a game against a #1 seed until the Elite Eight. #2 seeds are dramatically weaker than #1s typically.

I also think the selection committee tends to put us in really crappy match ups early on which is part of the reason we tend to drop out early. Other teams like Duke and UNC tend to be protected.

 

[ResLife Hero]

The ND MBB team's PR group has been on point this year.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Together ...
... we will improve.
... we will compete.
... we will succeed.

#10 ND @ Clemson
7pm - ESPN2 <a href="http://t.co/L9ygNKJEH7">pic.twitter.com/L9ygNKJEH7</a></p>— Notre Dame MBB (@NDmbb) <a href="https://twitter.com/NDmbb/status/565190493278322690">February 10, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Loved the "Fights through picks" one they did before the FSU game.

 

[irishfan]

Massive game tonight. We've got a full week off after this one, followed by two games that should be easy wins (Wake and BC). We abosoutely have to finish 5-1 minimum down the stretch. We need to get the #2 or #3 seed in the ACC tourney. This league is so top-heavy with the Top-5 teams, it would suck for us to be the #4 or #5 seed in the tourney and get a crappy quarterfinal matchup against UNC/Duke/Louisville. We're going to have to play them and UVA at some point, but I'd rather not deal with them until the semis.

 

[CarrollVermin]

No excuses down the road. This team should finish 6-0 down the stretch...yes, I realize that there is a trip to PitinoVille in there. No excuses. You want to win in March, act like it. Starts now. If this team struggles or finishes with less than 6 wins, I can't take them seriously in the post-season.

 

[NDGOLDEN]

No excuses down the road. This team should finish 6-0 down the stretch...yes, I realize that there is a trip to PitinoVille in there. No excuses. You want to win in March, act like it. Starts now. If this team struggles or finishes with less than 6 wins, I can't take them seriously in the post-season.

I agree but honestly i wouldnt complain if we finished as a 4 seed in the acc tourney. yes i know it would most likely end up playing the likes of lousiville or NC but id rather play virginia in semis then playing duke in greensboro. Just my opinion. I think we finish 5-1 rest of way and we always play lousiville well anywhere so thats a toss up game but since their home id give them he nudge.

 

[RDU Irish]

We make the ACC finals and we are sitting pretty regardless of how we finish the regular season. If we beat Louisville we can afford to lay an egg in the ACC tourney.

How about we just win the next nine games and go from there?

 

[House16]

Huge game tonight. Win and we're back on track. Lose to Clemson? Downward spiral