ND Men's Basketball 2015-2016 season

Ignats

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What can I say? No DJ led to the annual road blowout that we usually have regardless of how good the team is. Time to move on.

This team is actually really solid when DJ is healthy. Pflueger and Bonzie are great momentum guys off the bench and we spread the scoring around a bit more than last year's team. On top of that, we were apparently #1 in the nation in not turning the ball over which amazes me.

On the other hand, when you don't have a PG let alone your NBA first round caliber floor general the offense is going to sputter especially against that disciplined defense. Tom Noie seemed to hint that DJ may be returning against Wake on Sunday based on his movements in practice but I would imagine we are very conservative with an injury like that.
 

Henges24

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Brey stated today that Jackson is very 50-50 on going pro or staying

If him staying gets Thon Maker in the door I think he should definitely stay. ND could make a run in the tourney with DJ, Maker, Stevie, VJ, BC and the two freshman.

If Maker doesn't sign with ND then I think he should leave. DJ suffering that hamstring injury has to have him thinking of the risks of staying though. That can't be playing in ND's court.
 

NDGOLDEN

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If him staying gets Thon Maker in the door I think he should definitely stay. ND could make a run in the tourney with DJ, Maker, Stevie, VJ, BC and the two freshman.

If Maker doesn't sign with ND then I think he should leave. DJ suffering that hamstring injury has to have him thinking of the risks of staying though. That can't be playing in ND's court.

I agree with all of that. I think it could also depend on how far we get this year some what. Would be crazy to have him come back. Still won't have a big man unless we get thon or a transfer.
 

Ignats

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If him staying gets Thon Maker in the door I think he should definitely stay. ND could make a run in the tourney with DJ, Maker, Stevie, VJ, BC and the two freshman.

If Maker doesn't sign with ND then I think he should leave. DJ suffering that hamstring injury has to have him thinking of the risks of staying though. That can't be playing in ND's court.

A team that adds Maker and keeps DJ would be a lock for a top 10 team. Do we have the scholarships for that though? We only lose Auguste and Burgett and have 3 guys signed already.

DJ isn't currently on the radar of a lot of mock drafts but most around this time are a crapshoot outside of the top 5 or so. There are a few Point Guards who I can see going ahead of him though.
 

sportallyr

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A team that adds Maker and keeps DJ would be a lock for a top 10 team. Do we have the scholarships for that though? We only lose Auguste and Burgett and have 3 guys signed already.

DJ isn't currently on the radar of a lot of mock drafts but most around this time are a crapshoot outside of the top 5 or so. There are a few Point Guards who I can see going ahead of him though.

I've found the opposite. I've seen him going late first in almost every mock I've read this year.

Man, it's been a tough season to watch after such a great season last year. I think the team is playing well, but losing Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton was just so much to lose in terms of scoring, rebounding and leadership. Keeping DJ one more year and adding an impact big like Thon Maker would be incredible and would likely give the team a big boost for several more years. Fingers crossed!!!
 

IrishLion

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I've never quite understood basketball recruiting, so can someone explain what the deal is with Thon Maker? Why is he not signed when the rest of that class has basically signed their LOI's?
 

Henges24

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I've never quite understood basketball recruiting, so can someone explain what the deal is with Thon Maker? Why is he not signed when the rest of that class has basically signed their LOI's?

It's very common to have b-ball recruits hold on until months after NSD. It happens more with 5* players. It is much more laid back than CFB recruiting. Decommits are a rarity, and a lot of under the radar guys will get offers after their seasons are over (see Matt Farrell).

The CBB NSD is in an odd part of the year making it much more confusing compared to CFB. Now after looking into it a little bit more, CBB has an early signing period which is a week long process in November.

Maker has until May 18th to sign with a team.

NLI Signing Dates for Prospective Student-Athletes Signing 2015-16 and Enrolling 2016-17
 
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Ignats

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Do we actually stand a legitimate chance at landing Thon?

Surprisingly yes. His camp hasn't tipped his hand too much but this article from a couple of weeks ago seems to imply that ND has a lot of what he is looking for. Would be nice to get him up for a visit especially for the Saturday tilt against UNC or Louisville in a week.

Thon Maker recruiting update: Five-star center will make decision in April | SI.com

I've never really understood why some elite prospects choose to go to schools with less exposure (Simmons at LSU, Zimmerman at UNLV, many more). Even at a non-traditional blue blood program like ND, you get a hell of a lot more national exposure than at those schools.. though if you're Simmons and are a freak talent then that'll get your team on TV even if you're as mediocre as LSU basketball.
 

Irish#1

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Do we actually stand a legitimate chance at landing Thon?

A friend of mine who follows IU closely isn't sure how good of a chance IU has, but Crean seems to be able to pull in these guys on a regular basis. Really surprised UNLV is heavily in the mix.
 

Ndaccountant

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Last night was one of the most frustrating games I have watched this year. I like Brey and think he is a good coach for us. I just wish he had it in him to push more on defense. Last year's team was lights out offensively, but they could also get stops. Not this year. That 2-3 last night was downright pathetic.

Brey also made comments about "liking" where he stands in conference right now, but realizes the "back 9" of the schedule will be much tougher than the "front 9". Even if ND manages to go 9-9 in conference, the committee will take note that most of our wins came against the bottom dwellers. I think we need to win 10 to feel somewhat confident, but that will require stealing one at home if we slip up on the road. Either way, if this team makes the tourney, it screams one and done.
 

NDGOLDEN

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Last night was one of the most frustrating games I have watched this year. I like Brey and think he is a good coach for us. I just wish he had it in him to push more on defense. Last year's team was lights out offensively, but they could also get stops. Not this year. That 2-3 last night was downright pathetic.

Brey also made comments about "liking" where he stands in conference right now, but realizes the "back 9" of the schedule will be much tougher than the "front 9". Even if ND manages to go 9-9 in conference, the committee will take note that most of our wins came against the bottom dwellers. I think we need to win 10 to feel somewhat confident, but that will require stealing one at home if we slip up on the road. Either way, if this team makes the tourney, it screams one and done.

And it's a very loud scream. I couldn't watch the whole game cause I was so mad. That 2-3 zone was absolutely horrible. We are the number 1 offense but the 227th defense according to kenpom. That just amazes me. I don't remember the last time we had a decent defense. Last year wasn't great but we made stops when we needed to. This year we can't stop anyone

This is actually breys worst defense he has ever had according to kenpom. His best was 2008 which we were ranked 46. Defense wins championships especially in basketball. Unless you shoot lights out for 6 games straight which doesn't happen
 
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irishfan

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On top of not being able to get a stop, I don't think I've ever seen so many close misses at the rim. We couldn't finish to save our lives, and our 3-point shooting was also horrendous.

Two straight road games where we've brought the C game. Need to step it up. I still think we can get to 12-6 in the conference, but this team needs to start playing defense on an average level. 10-8 in ACC play is probably more realistic and that should get us in the Tournament...maybe it would help to be an 11 seed and be under-the-radar for once.
 
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yankeeND

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On top of not being able to get a stop, I don't think I've ever seen so many close misses at the rim. We couldn't finish to save our lives, and our 3-point shooting was also horrendous.

Two straight road games where we've brought the C game. Need to step it up. I still think we can get to 12-6 in the conference, but this team needs to start playing defense on an average level. 10-8 in ACC play is probably more realistic and that should get us in the Tournament...maybe it would help to be an 11 seed and be under-the-radar for once.

I will add to it. Auguste misses 4-5 gimmes a game. He should average 20 and 10 with the talent he has. He is probably my favorite Irish player of all-time, but he could be so much better. He is a fiery guy, and when he goes so does the rest of the team. We need him to come up big down the stretch like he did last year, or his Sr. year is going to finish with an NIT invitation.
 

irishfan

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I will add to it. Auguste misses 4-5 gimmes a game. He should average 20 and 10 with the talent he has. He is probably my favorite Irish player of all-time, but he could be so much better. He is a fiery guy, and when he goes so does the rest of the team. We need him to come up big down the stretch like he did last year, or his Sr. year is going to finish with an NIT invitation.

I hate his hot-potato phases where he goes through where he seems to have no control at all. He's best in the pick-n-roll game and pretty much I'm resigned to the fact that he should only be a #3 or #4 scoring option on a real team. He has games where his low-post stuff is great, but they usually come against the conference bottom-feeders.

I don't really know what the lineup solution is. Auguste/Colson really only play well together about 25% of the time. We really need that guard who can play the 4 on D like Pat could last year, but that's tough to ask for. We can't go with Colson at the 5 for a majority of minutes unless the other team has a mediocre Center. He just doesn't have the size. We need to get Burgett out of the starting lineup IMO. Use him off the bench if need be, but he shouldn't be getting 20+ minutes unless he's hot from 3. At this point I'd rather let Matt Ryan play more and work this his cold-shooting streak.

PG: Jackson
SG: Vasturia
SF: Beachem
PF: Ryan
C: Auguste

If we can go with this lineup, with Colson/Rex being the main contributors off the bench, I think we can still be a tough-out in the Tournament assuming that a) Ryan remembers how to shoot b) we avoid a team with a strong low-post game

I just don't see that happening since Brey seems to have lost all trust in Ryan...so we'll see.
 
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Ndaccountant

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I hate his hot-potato phases where he goes through where he seems to have no control at all. He's best in the pick-n-roll game and pretty much I'm resigned to the fact that he should only be a #3 or #4 scoring option on a real team. He has games where his low-post stuff is great, but they usually come against the conference bottom-feeders.

I don't really know what the lineup solution is. Auguste/Colson really only play well together about 25% of the time. We really need that guard who can play the 4 on D like Pat could last year, but that's tough to ask for. We can't go with Colson at the 5 for a majority of minutes unless the other team has a mediocre Center. He just doesn't have the size. We need to get Burgett out of the starting lineup IMO. Use him off the bench if need be, but he shouldn't be getting 20+ minutes unless he's hot from 3. At this point I'd rather let Matt Ryan play more and work this his cold-shooting streak.

PG: Jackson
SG: Vasturia
SF: Beachem
PF: Ryan
C: Auguste

If we can go with this lineup, with Colson/Rex being the main contributors off the bench, I think we can still be a tough-out in the Tournament assuming that a) Ryan remembers how to shoot b) we avoid a team with a strong low-post game

I just don't see that happening since Brey seems to have lost all trust in Ryan...so we'll see.

I thought Ryan was fighting a hip flexor injury?

I like Colson and the fight he brings, but you are right that he's more often than not a liability on defense. What makes him good on offense works against him on the other side of the floor. I actually don't know what is worse, Colson going man up against a big center or playing wing in the zone.
 
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RDU Irish

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Travelling from ND to Miami for a mid week game kind of sucks. Travel 1000+ miles in the middle of your school week to play the #17 team in the country and we are surprised to come out flat? 1300 miles, 4 and a half hour flight on a Wednesday for a bunch of oversized dudes.

Yeah, I'm not going to hold this one too much against them.
 

Ndaccountant

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Travelling from ND to Miami for a mid week game kind of sucks. Travel 1000+ miles in the middle of your school week to play the #17 team in the country and we are surprised to come out flat? 1300 miles, 4 and a half hour flight on a Wednesday for a bunch of oversized dudes.

Yeah, I'm not going to hold this one too much against them.

I don't think it was a "came out flat". They were tied up at 24 with 6 minutes to go in the first half. It was more the fact that they let Miami shoot 62% from 2pt range and ND simply couldn't keep up. Tough to win when you can't stop them.
 

IrishLion

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I made my case against Brey and then we went ahead and had our best season in recent history so I'm not in a position to say something. He sucks though.

Maybe you should do that again and get some good juju working. I'm going to the game Saturday night, so that'd be great.
 

BGIF

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I made my case against Brey and then we went ahead and had our best season in recent history so I'm not in a position to say something. He sucks though.

Maybe you should do that again and get some good juju working. I'm going to the game Saturday night, so that'd be great.


He made his case against Kelly and that resulted in Jack offering a multi-year extension. Can he work his magic again?
 

Ignats

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I will add to it. Auguste misses 4-5 gimmes a game. He should average 20 and 10 with the talent he has. He is probably my favorite Irish player of all-time, but he could be so much better. He is a fiery guy, and when he goes so does the rest of the team. We need him to come up big down the stretch like he did last year, or his Sr. year is going to finish with an NIT invitation.

Funny, I consider him to be one of my least favorite Irish players but you hit the nail on the head.

Cooley probably had half of the raw talent and athleticism that Zach does and he turned into a guy who made it to the NBA. Last year 6'5" Pat grabbed more rebounds than him but at least he's improved in that area this year. There's really no reason why Auguste can't give the team more offense or at the very least be the rim protector this defense needs to improve and at least be average.
 

FightingIrishLover7

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Auguste is the Golson of this team, I've said that for 3 years.

When he's hot, he's hot. But most of the time he's widely inconsistent (to bad) forces silly shots and has way too many turnovers.

Then, he gets inside his own head and can't recover from his mistakes.
 

NDgradstudent

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brey - Hope fans appreciate what it means to have <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ESPN?src=hash">#ESPN</a> College Gameday here....in other words, show up for the show more than last time.</p>— Tom Noie (@tnoieNDI) <a href="https://twitter.com/tnoieNDI/status/695401916759564289">February 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
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