Notre Dame’s disappointing basketball season will be capped off with a trip to the NIT as a #2 in the NCAA’s consolation tournament. Notre Dame received a St. Patty’s day matchup with UAB on Tuesday at the Joyce Center. While a game on St. Patrick’s Day for Notre Dame will make Irish fan’s St. Patty’s Day festivities a bit more merry, it will also serve a reminder of how truly disappointing this season has become. A pre-season top 10 ranking and talk of dreaming big from Mike Brey had expectations sky high this year.
Most college basketball observers would have characterized even a low seed for the Irish in the Tournament a disappointing season for Notre Dane, and the thought of missing the tourney completely seemed unthinkable in November.
Despite the disappointment of missing the NCAA Tournament, it will be important for Brey to get his team to play tough and build a little momentum for 2009-10. Brey shouldn’t let his team forget that a trip to the NIT, even if the Irish were to win the it, is not something to be celebrated. If Harangody returns next season, Notre Dame will have a very experienced roster which will add transfers Ben Hansbrough and Scott Martin – both of whom sat out this season.
Tuesday night’s game tips off at 9pm and will be televised ESPN2. Notre Dame joins fellow Big East schools Georgetown and Providence in the NIT. Georgetown, one of the few teams to have a more disappointing season than Notre Dame this year, will play Baylor while Providence will host Miami (Fl) in the first round. Georgetown(16-14), Virginia Tech (18-14), Northwestern (17-13), and Washington State (17-15) are the only teams in the field fo 32 with fewer wins than the Irish (19-14). For the full 2009 NIT bracket, click the image below.
Hopefully, they leave the sponge-bob defense at home.
Prediction: 1 Irish win 2 games before bowing out, or
2. The realization of a dream lost sets in. Harangody and McAlarney challenge the rest of the team to actually show up. This fails and the IRISH lose in the 1st round.
ND needs 5 players on the floor.
A big disappointment. And they must go far or it will be an even bigger disappointment. What’s worse is you look at some teams that got in the NCAA tournament and you relaize, had the Irish taken care of business in just 3 more games during the regular season, and they’d be there. However, you look at this team and you realize that besides Harongody and McAlarney, there is no mental toughness. McAlarney becomes defendable because there is no reliable 3rd goto guy. You see guys standing around a lot both on defense and offense. One has to wonder if Brey is capable of working with a full group or only with a few guys at a time. Brey is s good coach, but his teams characteristicaly, do not match up well with the classic top team, are 3 point hungry, and weak on defense. Every team with a legitimate shot to go deep in the NCAA has great defense. I think cycles of NCAA bids and bowing out in the 1st or 2nd round with other times goign to the NIT are about what we can expect. Not the end of the world, but now I know why I haven’t been as excited about ND hoops since the 70s.