2017-2018 Notre Dame Men's Basketball

[NDGOLDEN]

We did enough to keep in the conversation. If we're the 10 seed I think we need 3 wins to be in for sure. At minimum 2 wins and a close loss. 2 wins and we're still hoping for others to shit the bed.

Got to shoot the 3 better.

We are defiantly the 10 seed that’s confirmed. It will be Pitt first round and then Virginia Tech the next round which would be a quality win

And yes if UNC wins they will be 2nd place. Go tar heels

 

[Buster Bluth]

That's a frustrating game because Bonzie was a monster. Just makes the "what if" more frustrating.

 

[sportallyr]

Man, this game was winnable. TJ hits 4 free throws (instead of going 1-4) late and we may have pulled it out. Didn't play well enough the last 3 minutes, but we played with Virginia the entire game. Gotta take care of business the next 2 games and then either pull out a 3rd win or get some help. I still believe!!!

 

[Irish YJ]

UNC lead till 7 min to go. Fading now. Looks like Pitt - VT - Duke...

 

[NDGOLDEN]

UNC would have been a good matchup for us but we always play duke hard. Next Sunday might be the most nerve racking day in a long time lol

 

[NDGOLDEN]

So the road we are looking at assuming top seeds win:
15 Pitt
7 VT
2 Duke
3 Miami
1 Virginia

 

[Irish YJ]

UNC would have been a good matchup for us but we always play duke hard. Next Sunday might be the most nerve racking day in a long time lol

VT is gonna be a tough game. Gotta get past that one for sure before anyone can begin to be nervous about Selection Sunday.

 

[Irish YJ]

 

[NDGOLDEN]

VT is gonna be a tough game. Gotta get past that one for sure before anyone can begin to be nervous about Selection Sunday.

Ya I know that. I’m trying to stay positive my friend

 

[Irish YJ]

Ya I know that. I’m trying to stay positive my friend

I hope they rest BC and a few others for the Pitt game. Not the whole game, just watch the minutes. VT having a bye and Duke having a double bye will be fresh.

Can't believe UNC dropped to a 6 seed after that loss lol.

 

[NDGOLDEN]

I hope they rest BC and a few others for the Pitt game. Not the whole game, just watch the minutes. VT having a bye and Duke having a double bye will be fresh.

Can't believe UNC dropped to a 6 seed after that loss lol.

I wouldn’t doubt if brey did decide to not play BC. Ya crazy how far they dropped.

 

[ab2cmiller]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Notre Dame 12-4 with Bonzie Colson, 6-9 without him, 0-4 with neither Colson nor Matt Farrell. Bonzie's back now, and was great against Virginia today in a close loss. Irish will be the single most fascinating topic for the selection committee.</p>— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) <a href="https://twitter.com/YahooForde/status/970072766274818048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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[Irish YJ]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Notre Dame 12-4 with Bonzie Colson, 6-9 without him, 0-4 with neither Colson nor Matt Farrell. Bonzie's back now, and was great against Virginia today in a close loss. Irish will be the single most fascinating topic for the selection committee.</p>— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) <a href="https://twitter.com/YahooForde/status/970072766274818048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
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We've got great "excuses", and we looked the part today...... now we need to show the committee in Brooklyn. Two wins and we are still relying on generosity. Three wins and it's a done deal.

Go Irish!

 

[NDGOLDEN]

I’m confident this team will bring intensity to Brooklyn. They know their backs are against he wall.
Farrell had a pretty rough day today and I think he will play with a chip on his shoulder in Brooklyn.
Virgina did a great job of keeping the ball out of bonzies hands the second half. I don’t think most teams can double team as well as they do. When bonzie has the ball he can do some special stuff. Give him the ball and let him go to work.

 

[Irish YJ]

I’m confident this team will bring intensity to Brooklyn. They know their backs are against he wall.
Farrell had a pretty rough day today and I think he will play with a chip on his shoulder in Brooklyn.
Virgina did a great job of keeping the ball out of bonzies hands the second half. I don’t think most teams can double team as well as they do. When bonzie has the ball he can do some special stuff. Give him the ball and let him go to work.

If we can shoot the 3 effectively, we're a tough out (playing anyone). I'm sure Brey's plan is all about prep for VT at this point with a little geared towards Duke. Having just played Pitt, and being Pitt sucks, I think it's OK to look ahead....

VT - No superstars, but very balanced starting 5. Not much scoring beyond their 6th man. Both Farrell and Bonzie were out when we lost to VT at home by 5. Not too worried, just need to be solid.

 

[NDGOLDEN]

If we can shoot the 3 effectively, we're a tough out (playing anyone). I'm sure Brey's plan is all about prep for VT at this point with a little geared towards Duke. Having just played Pitt, and being Pitt sucks, I think it's OK to look ahead....

VT - No superstars, but very balanced starting 5. Not much scoring beyond their 6th man. Both Farrell and Bonzie were out when we lost to VT at home by 5. Not too worried, just need to be solid.

Agreed I’m not afraid of VT. The only thing that scares me a little about VT is they can hit 3s like crazy. But like you said no bonzie or farrell in that game and only lose by 5... give me the Irish on that one.

I agree if we can make our shots from 3 (which has been pretty good most of the year) we can beat anyone.

I might be crazy for saying this but I don’t see a team in front of us that we can’t beat with this team. Bonzie is back and him and Farrell are gonna make sure we make the tourney

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Farrell is being neutralized by lengthy, athletic opponents... Need him to find a way to take over against them, or at least spread the load with TJ more, allowing him to get pass from Gibbs instead of only dribble/pick and rolls.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[NDGOLDEN]

Amazingly we moved up to “first four out”. We are right there my friends

 

[irishfan]

#74 on Bracketville too.

 

[NDGOLDEN]

I think we win 2 games we will be seating pretty good. Win 3 automatically in.

 

[IrishLax]

I think people are overly optimistic. The bubble always shrinks as conference favorites lose. I think we need 3 wins to get in, I don’t think 2-1 even gets us close.

 

[Irish YJ]

I think people are overly optimistic. The bubble always shrinks as conference favorites lose. I think we need 3 wins to get in, I don’t think 2-1 even gets us close.

I think 3 is the number too, but I do think 2 + help COULD get us there. I'd rather not have help.

Michigan is looking like the real deal. Not final, but handling PU with about 7 left.

 

[RDU Irish]

Farrell shooting 3-15 with zero trips to the FT line - this is the "ride the senior" BS that kills us. Kid can be so hot and cold with no self awareness for what kind of night it is. 15 shots and only 9 points on the night? Will we see Matty Ice or the guy who forces too much putting us on thin ice?

Bonzie and Geben BOTH had double-doubles. Yet Geben seems almost forgotten with Bonzie back.

Really don't like to see Mooney with 4 minutes and Djogo with 16 - wish there was a way to reverse that but would require us to go 3 bigs instead of 2 for stretches - may be a way to combat the length getting thrown at Farrell? God knows Mooney does more to stretch the D than Djogo and he can shoot over tons of folks with that high release.

Time to put up or shut up. Need TJ and Matt to dial it in and shoot better than 5-22, part of that is better choices and working the O. Pitt will tell us nothing - walking over VT, not that impressive either. Beating Duke would tell everyone out there we are back.

Maintain my position that 2 wins are needed to get in - 3 three a lock. Much easier path at #10 seed than if FSU lost and put us at #9. For that I am thankful.

 

[irishfan]

Computer numbers as we head into the ACC Tournament:

RPI: #65 (SOS is #43)
BPI: #31
Kenpom: #28
Sagarin: #24

I still think we need 3 wins to be a lock. I think if we beat Pitt and VT and then play Duke close then we will be completely 50/50 to make it. I don't think we have an argument if we beat VT and then aren't competitive against Duke since the "eye test" is pretty much going to decide if we are in or not.

 

[SoDakDomer]

3 straight is almost an impossible task if we need to rely on Bonzie the way we have the past two games. His legs are going to be shot with 3 games in 3 days. Our pick and roll offense continues to struggle as Matt has struggled with the high show. It's also getting frustrating how many times we are down to a few seconds in the shot clock with the ball in Rex's hands throwing up desperation step backs. Need Matt and TJ to step up in this tourney. Come on fellas March Madness won't be the same without the boys in the field!

 

[irishfan]

3 straight is almost an impossible task if we need to rely on Bonzie the way we have the past two games. His legs are going to be shot with 3 games in 3 days. Our pick and roll offense continues to struggle as Matt has struggled with the high show. It's also getting frustrating how many times we are down to a few seconds in the shot clock with the ball in Rex's hands throwing up desperation step backs. Need Matt and TJ to step up in this tourney. Come on fellas March Madness won't be the same without the boys in the field!

Unless the game is somehow close, I hope 20 minutes is the absolute max that Bonzie is out there. Apart from keeping Bonzie rested, I'd like to see our guards hit some 3s tomorrow and get confident shooting on these rims before VT on Wednesday.

And I agree completely here. I'd take a play-in game in Dayton over a guaranteed NIT Championship if I had the choice.

 

[Ndaccountant]

At this point, ND should be evaluated as if Bonzie isn't there. In that case, ND is a sure fire no go. Pending on how he looks, ND could get some benefit. To me, Bonzie needs to be the 20-10 guy that we all know he is, for at least 3 games. That is the only way ND gets the benefit of the doubt w/r/t convincing the committee that they are more of the Nov/Dec team and not the Jan / Feb team.

So we have one game down, two left to go. I think the UVA game did more good than harm.

Pitt will count for nothing. VT is a must win and I disagree with those who are minimizing that game. VT is rated only 3 slots below ND by Kenpom, which means they are higher than NCSU, Lville, FSU and Miami. I think if ND wins against VT and shows okay versus Duke, they are going to sneak in. At that point, it would confirm that ND is back to being the team in Nov/Dec, which is clearly worthy of one of the 36 at large bids.

I do think Brey cannot keep the rotation he had at UVA for both the PITT and VT games. ND will get mauled in the 2nd half against Duke if he tries to play his starting 5 30+ minutes a game for 3 straight days. ND will need their legs to both rebound and hit perimeter 3's, hopefully Mooney in the corner as that is generally wide open against Duke's zone D.

 

[RDU Irish]

3 straight is almost an impossible task if we need to rely on Bonzie the way we have the past two games. His legs are going to be shot with 3 games in 3 days. Our pick and roll offense continues to struggle as Matt has struggled with the high show. It's also getting frustrating how many times we are down to a few seconds in the shot clock with the ball in Rex's hands throwing up desperation step backs. Need Matt and TJ to step up in this tourney. Come on fellas March Madness won't be the same without the boys in the field!

More worried about Matt's legs than Bonzie's. Bonz doesn't rely on legs as much as Farrell - Bonzie's style is positioning and arms to dominate, not raw athleticism. Totally agree that TJ needs to get in a groove - lesser foes will not have two perimeter defenders to stop TJ AND Matt - one should have a match up allowing them to create against VT. Then Duke doesn't believe in defense which helps combat the higher talent level. I think we are fine for three games - after that I think conditioning becomes a concern and more for the backcourt than the front court given our rotation available.

This is still a game played by kids though. If 'Cuse can win five in a row, no reason we can't.

Mooney should flirt with a double/double Tuesday if we are playing this right. More important to me is finding bench time for Rex, TJ and Matt though. That one is tricky without going 3 big - Pitt we may be able to dink around with that though.

 

[RuntheBall]

So we have one game down, two left to go. I think the UVA game did more good than harm.

Pitt will count for nothing. VT is a must win and I disagree with those who are minimizing that game. VT is rated only 3 slots below ND by Kenpom, which means they are higher than NCSU, Lville, FSU and Miami. I think if ND wins against VT and shows okay versus Duke, they are going to sneak in. At that point, it would confirm that ND is back to being the team in Nov/Dec, which is clearly worthy of one of the 36 at large bids.

I do think Brey cannot keep the rotation he had at UVA for both the PITT and VT games. ND will get mauled in the 2nd half against Duke if he tries to play his starting 5 30+ minutes a game for 3 straight days. ND will need their legs to both rebound and hit perimeter 3's, hopefully Mooney in the corner as that is generally wide open against Duke's zone D.

The benefit here is that PITT is the first game. I would be surprised if Bonzie plays more than 15-20min. In the KenPom rankings, Pitt is sandwiched between Cal St. Bakersfield (the 2nd best Cal St. branch) and Louisiana Monroe. We should be able to handle Pitt just fine without him.

 

[Ndaccountant]

The benefit here is that PITT is the first game. I would be surprised if Bonzie plays more than 15-20min. In the KenPom rankings, Pitt is sandwiched between Cal St. Bakersfield (the 2nd best Cal St. branch) and Louisiana Monroe. We should be able to handle Pitt just fine without him.

It's not just Bonzie though, as I said the starting the 5. Against PITT just a week or so ago ND won by nearly 20 and had control the entire 2nd half. Yet, Gibbs & Farrell both played 37 minutes and Rex played 31. They simply cannot do that again. To me, this is a perfect time to get a lead early, and make sure Burns, Torres, Mooney, Djogo each play 15 minutes. Keep the starting guards to under 30 minutes with a solid rotation.