The one-sided loss at Maryland looked and felt like a point of no return without any buttons to push or resources to rely upon to pull #NotreDame basketball back to the level it was a few years ago. The program is broken.
Tim Prister
Eh, I'm all for dogging on the team for playing like crap, but this may be a bit of an over reaction. Maryland is going to do that to a bunch of teams this year in their own building. We saw this same type of game play out all over the country these last few days (MSU, Michigan, UNC) where a top 10 home team laid the wood to someone. In UNC's case, being the home team.
All that said, we still played awful. After sleeping on it, I came to a few conclusions:
1.) I don't think we have a pure point guard on the team. I said this last year about Hubb, but I believe he only played the point after Chris Lykes graduated. He can make some extraordinary passes, but right now he has tunnel vision. Someone needs to sit him down and show him video of Eric Atkins just probing the defense and finding an open shooter.
2.) On the Hubb front, I'm honestly ok with giving him a pass yesterday. Playing back home, I'm guessing he was nervous, then frustrated. But, he's falling back into bad habits. Watch his UNC game vs yesterday. I know I harped on it last year, and it seems subtle, but the arc of his shot is back to being a rainbow. Honestly, go watch the first 3 he shot against Maryland. It had to come close to hitting a rafter (and as soon as he shot it I groaned). Then watch the UNC game. It's not a small difference. He will not be a good shooter with his release point and that arc (even with a higher release point, you rarely see good shooters with that much arc on the ball).
3.) I'm not sure what you do with Gibbs. I really don't. He does this too frequently to lend him the benefit of the doubt anymore.
4.) Rex can not compete with high-major athleticism. He struggled even making entry passes. There were at least 2 back cuts I saw where he was burned (I quite watching late in the second half) and the end of the 1st half play where he ran directly into a screen, didn't challenge, didn't box out.
5.) I'd give John Mooney a big huge if I saw him, stroke his hair, and tell him he'll have more help in Europe next year.
6.) From what I've seen, the two guys who are the most reliable (and that isn't saying much) beating their guy off the dribble are Laz and Djogo. Yes, Laz and Djogo. Laz has been pretty good off the dribble (he beat his guy last night and got it stripped by a help defender due to our spacing being pathetic) and Djogo has shown that he can do it previously (although, what he does when he gets to the paint is an entirely different situation). Yes, Carmody is probably the best at it, but we don't have him any more.
Let that sink in. Our two best off the dribble offensive players are the 6'9 shooter and the 6'7 guy that isn't in the rotation.
7.) Brey has to come to a realization: You can't win scoring 50 in the ACC (if you're not playing Virginia). Run more sets instead of motion. Play small and run Goodwin more in the post (he's pretty good at getting position against smaller guards). Do something different, because this isn't working.