ND Men's Basketball 2014-15 Season

[NDgradstudent]

This is my first post here! I enjoy reading these forums very much.

I just got back from the game- a few observations:

(1) The student section -which I was in- was not making a peep until there were 5 minutes left in the game. I tried to make noise and other students acted as though I was unusual. This is a basketball game, not the opera.

(2) Obviously, ND cannot go shoot 14% from 3 and expect to win.

(3) The calls against ND late in the game were awful- but when you shoot terribly all game, you make yourself a hostage to fortune in this way (similarly with Cooney hitting two inexplicable shots late with a few seconds left on the shot clock two sequences in a row).

 

[RDU Irish]

True. They'll probably go 1-1 in the ACC tourney. The key will be who they draw in the first round of the NCAA Tourney. Outside of KY, this is anybody's tournament to win. Hell, Sparty may be an 8-9 seed...how would you like to bust your ass all year, make the Tourney & get them in the first round?

I've been over it before but huge advantage to being a 3 seed versus 4/5 (which are pretty interchangeable). 14 seeds are a different animal by a large margin than 12 and even 13. Odds of getting upset go way down and 5/12 matchups are almost a coin flip anymore. Wisconsin and UNC losing takes a lot of headlines off of us tonight and I think we get a pass on a bad shooting night if we can bounce back decently.

Only route I see to a #2 seed is winning the ACC tourney now.

 

[Redbar]

This is my first post here! I enjoy reading these forums very much.

I just got back from the game- a few observations:

(1) The student section -which I was in- was not making a peep until there were 5 minutes left in the game. I tried to make noise and other students acted as though I was unusual. This is a basketball game, not the opera.

(2) Obviously, ND cannot go shoot 14% from 3 and expect to win.

(3) The calls against ND late in the game were awful- but when you shoot terribly all game, you make yourself a hostage to fortune in this way (similarly with Cooney hitting two inexplicable shots late with a few seconds left on the shot clock two sequences in a row).

EXACTLY!

 

[Bubbles]

I wouldn't necessarily say it was poorly officiated.....just not really officiated at all.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Agreed. Despite the deplorable shooting performance, that should have been a W for us. That was definitely one of the most disgraceful officiating jobs I've seen in some time on the hardwood. Just flat out pathetic, and I hope those guys get reprimanded. I don't think anybody expected ND to EVER shoot that poorly from behind the arc.

 

[Crazy Balki]

I wouldn't necessarily say it was poorly officiated.....just not really officiated at all.

That's actually worse. If a game is poorly officiated, at least the ref is doing their job, albeit poorly. What happened tonight was just flat out laziness on their part.

 

[Ndaccountant]

I still am nervous about the match ups. Nd is a good shooting team, but they get those looks off dribble penetration. Can they drive effectively enough against the zone? We will see. But on d, Christmas is a beast that will cause problems all game. For ul, its about being able to beat their suffocating man defense. We had problems at duke with it, but ul will not score the same way duke did. Harrell will be tough to stop. If we can limit him to 20 or below I will feel good.

The answer to the first question is "not tonight". I am now very curious to see if ul goes zone.

 

[NDGOLDEN]

Teamranking.com has us at a 5 seed now just as I thought. That Louisville game is now even bigger then before

 

[Irish#1]

Three ways to beat the zone. You need an entry pass into the middle of the zone to make them collapse, which in turn opens the outside shooters. The second, is in order to get dribble penetration your passes have to be sharp and quick to catch the zone overplaying to create the opening for dribble penetration. The third is to have a Rick Mount, Steve Alford, Reggie Miller type of guy that can hit from way out to pull the D out and open it up.

Curious to see how we rebound from this.

 

[irishfan]

Lunardi has us a #4 seed now....

Bracketology - NCAA College Basketball Brackets and Predictions - ESPN

My guess is a 2-0 finish and a win in Quarters keep us at a #4. A win in Semis would get us to a #3, and #3 is our best-case scenario even if we win out. Probably looking at a #5 if we lose to Louisville then lose before Finals.

 

[CarrollVermin]

Last night is a reminder of why I don't think we make it out of opening weekend in the Tourney. I would be surprised if they make it out of the first round. There is no inside game, too weak and too soft. When the outside is cold, there is nothing left for this team. Defensively Brey was passive and allowed SU to milk the shot clock at the half court line and not press them to make a mistake. Terrible plan by Brey.

This is a typical ND team. I hope I am wrong, but they are soft, play average defense, and if its an off night, its a really off night.

 

[CarrollVermin]

Lunardi has us a #4 seed now....

Bracketology - NCAA College Basketball Brackets and Predictions - ESPN

My guess is a 2-0 finish and a win in Quarters keep us at a #4. A win in Semis would get us to a #3, and #3 is our best-case scenario even if we win out. Probably looking at a #5 if we lose to Louisville then lose before Finals.

That new projection...we would not make it out of that first pod. Need to win out and hope for a three seed.

 

[irishfan]

That new projection...we would not make it out of that first pod. Need to win out and hope for a three seed.

Yep. Very worried about a 4/13 matchup. They'd 100% put us with Murray State or Stephen F. Austin.

 

[RDU Irish]

Last night is a reminder of why I don't think we make it out of opening weekend in the Tourney. I would be surprised if they make it out of the first round. There is no inside game, too weak and too soft. When the outside is cold, there is nothing left for this team. Defensively Brey was passive and allowed SU to milk the shot clock at the half court line and not press them to make a mistake. Terrible plan by Brey.

This is a typical ND team. I hope I am wrong, but they are soft, play average defense, and if its an off night, its a really off night.

Syracuse's zone has beaten more than a few teams into submission. A poor shooting night from outside is a freaking death nell vs. those guys. We were flat across the board, DJ missing two free throws bad and his body language surrounding was a perfect example. Could be them choking under the weight of rising expectations or it could just be one of those nights. Louisville will probably tell us which it is. I will hope our battle to make a game out of it is a better indication of our resolve than our cold shooting.

The value of a #3 or better seed is that you can come out flat and still win. Shoot like we did last night and we lose to most #13 or #12 seeds unless they are so weak inside Bonzi and Zach can bail us out. A lot of 14 seeds on a good night would give last nights team an L as well.

 

[RDU Irish]

Anyone care to link the Grant vs. Lloyd HORSE match on here? Or is that better suited for the ladies BBall thread since Jewell took Jerian to school.

 

[NDGOLDEN]

We haven't had that bad of shooting in forever. We most likely will not shoot that bad again this year. For shooting so bad from the feild and only losing by 5 is actually kind of amazing. We should have lost by 20 with that bad of shooting. We have a good defensive night and then we blow the offensive end.

 

[anarin]

As long as they dont face a zone team with a big man in the tourney they'll be fine.

 

[Ndaccountant]

As long as they dont face a zone team with a big man in the tourney they'll be fine.

Clemson forced a bad shooting night on ND too, so it's not just the zone (though they did win by a hair). The book has been written on how to slow ND......force a half court game and play Grant on the pick and roll to pass to the roll or corner three.

The antidote is a scoring threat in the paint, which is now BC and not ZA, and for DJ to be the creator to free up Grant. DJ cannot play as passive as what he has the last few weeks. He has spurts of aggressiveness which is fun to watch, but they are the exception and not the rule at this point. ND will struggle if Grant is the only reliable creator on the floor in the half court set.

 

[irishfan]

Bracketology - NCAA College Basketball Brackets and Predictions - ESPN

I believe these will be daily or near-daily updates by Lunardi until Selection Sunday. Here is the new Bracketology as of this morning. Despite our horrible loss, it's been an okay week for us, with #12, #15, and #22 losing already behind us. There are some big games for our 3/4 seed compeition coming up later this week on Saturday.

#10 Northern Iowa vs. #11 Wichita State (doesn't really matter who wins)
#19 Baylor vs. #20 WVU (WVU winning would be better since they should lose at KU next week and Baylor has better RPI)
#1 Kentucky vs. #18 Arkansas (we need Kentucky to win big)
#7 Arizona vs. #13 Utah (we need Zona to win)

Things that will be big for our computer numbers down the stretch IMO are:
1) Duke and UNC ending the season well. These are by far the best two wins we have. We need Duke staying in Top-5, and ideally UNC can end the season in the Top-15.
2) We need Michigan State to keep climbing up the polls and Purdue to secure their tourney bid. Our OOC schedule was so weak.
3) Providence, Pitt, and Cuse need to finish strong. These are the only questionable losses we have. Providence is already in. We need Pitt to secure their spot. Cuse is obviously not making the tourney, but a strong finish for them looks better for us.
4) NC State and Miami to make the tournament field. NC State seems to have wrapped up their bid. We need Miami (and Pitt^) to get in as well to help out the conference strength. I really think getting 8 teams in would be huge for us, especially if we can finish in 3rd in the regular season and make the Conf Semis.

 

[NDGOLDEN]

Bracketology - NCAA College Basketball Brackets and Predictions - ESPN

I believe these will be daily or near-daily updates by Lunardi until Selection Sunday. Here is the new Bracketology as of this morning. Despite our horrible loss, it's been an okay week for us, with #12, #15, and #22 losing already behind us. There are some big games for our 3/4 seed compeition coming up later this week on Saturday.

#10 Northern Iowa vs. #11 Wichita State (doesn't really matter who wins)
#19 Baylor vs. #20 WVU (WVU winning would be better since they should lose at KU next week and Baylor has better RPI)
#1 Kentucky vs. #18 Arkansas (we need Kentucky to win big)
#7 Arizona vs. #13 Utah (we need Zona to win)

Things that will be big for our computer numbers down the stretch IMO are:
1) Duke and UNC ending the season well. These are by far the best two wins we have. We need Duke staying in Top-5, and ideally UNC can end the season in the Top-15.
2) We need Michigan State to keep climbing up the polls and Purdue to secure their tourney bid. Our OOC schedule was so weak.
3) Providence, Pitt, and Cuse need to finish strong. These are the only questionable losses we have. Providence is already in. We need Pitt to secure their spot. Cuse is obviously not making the tourney, but a strong finish for them looks better for us.
4) NC State and Miami to make the tournament field. NC State seems to have wrapped up their bid. We need Miami (and Pitt^) to get in as well to help out the conference strength. I really think getting 8 teams in would be huge for us, especially if we can finish in 3rd in the regular season and make the Conf Semis.

Good write up. I agree with all of it. We are gonna need some help still to get into that 3 seed or even to stay at a 4 seed. I personally think if we lose to Louisville then we are starring down a 5 seed ( unless we win the acc tourney). I'm still really confident in this team going forward. There's no way we are gonna have that bad of shooting again this year( at least i hope so). There is only 4 more guaranteed games left for these seniors to play with each other. There's no reason for them to not come out strong and finish this season on a good note. Getting to the second weekend would be a good ending to their careers at ND i would think.

 

[NDGOLDEN]

Lunardi has us still a 4 seed but put us in the west region. If that happened it would be against Murray st which would be very hard game then Wichita state and then possibly zags.

 

[irishfan]

Lunardi has us still a 4 seed but put us in the west region. If that happened it would be against Murray st which would be very hard game then Wichita state and then possibly zags.

Bracketology - NCAA College Basketball Brackets and Predictions - ESPN

Crappy 1st round matchup, but not the toughest path to the Elite 8 all things considered.

 

[irishfan]

Bracketology - NCAA College Basketball Brackets and Predictions - ESPN

I believe these will be daily or near-daily updates by Lunardi until Selection Sunday. Here is the new Bracketology as of this morning. Despite our horrible loss, it's been an okay week for us, with #12, #15, and #22 losing already behind us. There are some big games for our 3/4 seed compeition coming up later this week on Saturday.

#10 Northern Iowa vs. #11 Wichita State (doesn't really matter who wins)
#19 Baylor vs. #20 WVU (WVU winning would be better since they should lose at KU next week and Baylor has better RPI)
#1 Kentucky vs. #18 Arkansas (we need Kentucky to win big)
#7 Arizona vs. #13 Utah (we need Zona to win)

Things that will be big for our computer numbers down the stretch IMO are:
1) Duke and UNC ending the season well. These are by far the best two wins we have. We need Duke staying in Top-5, and ideally UNC can end the season in the Top-15.
2) We need Michigan State to keep climbing up the polls and Purdue to secure their tourney bid. Our OOC schedule was so weak.
3) Providence, Pitt, and Cuse need to finish strong. These are the only questionable losses we have. Providence is already in. We need Pitt to secure their spot. Cuse is obviously not making the tourney, but a strong finish for them looks better for us.
4) NC State and Miami to make the tournament field. NC State seems to have wrapped up their bid. We need Miami (and Pitt^) to get in as well to help out the conference strength. I really think getting 8 teams in would be huge for us, especially if we can finish in 3rd in the regular season and make the Conf Semis.

Well, Wichita State and Baylor each won. Kentucky won big. Still waiting on Zona.

Also, UNC held off Miami. Kansas State threw us a bone by upsetting #12 Iowa State. #8 Kansas is down again in the 2nd half. Pretty good day so far for our seed.

 

[Irish2155]

Not real sure where else to ask this...Anyone else see Joe Lunardi's hair piece jumping all over the place in his last segment? LOL

 

[irishfan]

Not real sure where else to ask this...Anyone else see Joe Lunardi's hair piece jumping all over the place in his last segment? LOL

Hahaha yes! I never noticed it until the other night and checked Twitter to see if I was going crazy. Lot of mentions about it. Poor Joe.

 

[irishfan]

Not real sure where else to ask this...Anyone else see Joe Lunardi's hair piece jumping all over the place in his last segment? LOL

<blockquote class="twitter-video" lang="en"><p>It's time to end the debate! <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNLunardi">@ESPNLunardi</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/milessimon">@MilesSimon</a> finish the hairpiece controversy LIVE from Bracket Bunker
<a href="https://t.co/cb6SQrWVPs">https://t.co/cb6SQrWVPs</a></p>— ESPN College BBall (@ESPNCBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNCBB/status/571794643777531904">February 28, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Just saw this....

 

[irishfan]

Well, Wichita State and Baylor each won. Kentucky won big. Still waiting on Zona.

Also, UNC held off Miami. Kansas State threw us a bone by upsetting #12 Iowa State. #8 Kansas is down again in the 2nd half. Pretty good day so far for our seed.

KU pulled it out a win, but huge for us to have Zona beat Utah.

We shouldn't drop too much this week. In addition to #9 ND losing..

#8 Kansas went 1-1.
#10 Northern Iowa went 1-1
#12 Iowa State went 0-2
#13 Utah went 1-1
#15 UNC went 1-1
#18 Arkansas went 1-1
#20 WVU went 1-1
#22 VCU went 0-2

I would imagine we will be ranked 12-14 tomorrow, and probably right on the 3/4 line for a seed in just about every Bracketology.

 

[NDGOLDEN]

KU pulled it out a win, but huge for us to have Zona beat Utah.

We shouldn't drop too much this week. In addition to #9 ND losing..

#8 Kansas went 1-1.
#10 Northern Iowa went 1-1
#12 Iowa State went 0-2
#13 Utah went 1-1
#15 UNC went 1-1
#18 Arkansas went 1-1
#20 WVU went 1-1
#22 VCU went 0-2

I would imagine we will be ranked 12-14 tomorrow, and probably right on the 3/4 line for a seed in just about every Bracketology.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I say we drop to 13 but like you said a lot of teams lost behind us which helps a lot. The Louisville game is basically gonna decide if we get a 5 seed or 3/4 seed

 

[NDGOLDEN]

CBS sports has us back to a 3 seed in west region

 

[Ignats]

CBS sports has us back to a 3 seed in west region

Would love that personally, especially if we play in Columbus. I think a win at Louisville would give us that 3 seed. Big game for us there, hopefully the shooting slump has been shaken off.