Raise your hand if you had the Irish as 5-0 to start the ACC season. Anyone? Bueller? Well, that’s exactly what they are following Saturday’s 76-71 win over Virginia Tech. Notre Dame is now in sole possession of first place in the ACC standings, which exactly no one predicted.

A few weeks ago, JoeSchu broke down the schedule and was sounding the alarm for January. He said we’d all be “thrilled” if Notre Dame finished January at 5-5 and “greedy” if we expected anything better. Now 5-0, exactly no one would be happy with that outcome. Time to get greedy, Joe!

This game almost slipped from the Irish after a big run in the first half that saw them take a 19-point, 33-14 lead. But fatigue was certainly an issue, as we all knew it would, having just played on Thursday night in Miami (not to mention a flight delay Friday). The Hokies even briefly took back the lead late in the 2nd, but as usual, the Irish leaders just shrugged their shoulders and got to work.

Matt Farrell was again the late-game hero after a fairly forgettable first 35 minutes. What’s new? His sneaky steal of Justin Robinson and assist to TJ Gibbs to put the Irish up 5 with under a minute left just about put the game away. It’s the most Matt Farrell play of all-time.

Big-Time Bench Performance

For the 2nd straight game, the Irish bench came up huge. TJ Gibbs was the star of the Irish reserves, scoring 13 points on 5 of 7 shooting. Gibbs also added 3 boards, an assist, and a steal after an ugly early turnover in his 17 minutes. It’s notable that Gibbs’ two best games have been ACC road games. Tough kid.

Austin Torres provided another great spark in his limited minutes, converting his 2 field goal attempts and grabbing 3 boards. And Rex Pflueger was his usual self and added 7 points and a couple assists.

Brey called it a week ago when he said these minutes were adding up for his starters, especially Bonzie Colson and Farrell. Those two especially certainly looked like it, but 24 points off the bench is a great way to make up for it and still come out with a win. Game ball to those guys.

Vasturia Continues Great Run

The team MVP race seems to be settling in on one guy right now, with another star performance from Steve Vasturia. The senior had 20 points, 4 boards, and 4 assists and helped jumpstart the offense after a slow start.

His deep three late in the game after the Irish had relinquished their lead was one of the most important shots in the game. Notre Dame needed to stop the bleeding, so here comes Vasturia with an NBA three to do exactly that. What a clutch player.

I suspect he will be an after-thought for most ACC voters, but it’s time to start putting Steve Vasturia on the list for all-ACC first team. He’s the best and certainly most clutch player on the conference’s best team (heh), so let’s give credit where it’s due, voters.

Time to Rest Some Legs

Bonzie Colson finished with yet another double-double, 14 points and 12 rebounds. Still, Bonzie looked tired. He was rejected a few times and was quite slow defensively. It says a lot that he had such a productive day when he looked so off at times.

You can probably say the same for Matt Farrell. These guys are in uncharted territory as far as minutes and usage, especially Farrell. The Irish can’t continue to have their point guard play middling ball for 35 minutes and then just expect him to keep winning games in the final 5. Yes, that’s what’s happened a couple times already, but it won’t work all season.

Farrell still finished with 14 points, 5 assists, and 3 steals. But a bunch of that was salvaged late, and he was a non-factor for way too much of this game.

VJ Beachem’s 34 minutes weren’t great, either. He was 2 of 8 in a building that has been unkind to him, including a bunch of open misses that could have tipped the game’s scales in favor of the Irish.

Hokie Comeback

Chris Clarke is a damn good player. Buzz’s prize recruit in his Virginia Tech tenure was great today with a game-high 21 points and 9 boards. His energy was key for the Hokies to overcome their big first half deficit. Some shooting runs from Seth Allen and Justin Robinson were also crucial.

Still, it looks like Buzz has some work to do. His team was really sloppy down the stretch and has a few Achilles’ heels. They are a horrible free throw shooting team (10-18), aren’t good from three (29%), and don’t really pressure defensively like you would expect a Buzz Williams team to do. Everyone was all aboard the Virginia Tech bandwagon, and to some extent that’s a good one to be on, but I’m not sure they are ready for primetime yet.

Conference Leaders

Florida State lost at North Carolina on Saturday, so the Irish find themselves in first place all by themselves in the ACC standings. In fact, only FSU and UNC have just one loss, so Notre Dame is two or more games up on most of the best conference in the land.

There are some warning signs, made apparent by the fact that all five wins have been so close, but the Irish are legitimate contenders. Let’s not understate how impressive 3 road wins already is, so it’s not like this is just an aberration with an easy schedule.

In fact, I thought for sure the schedule screwed them over before this game even started. Road game Thursday, one day rest, flight delay, and an opponent who has been at home all week in pajamas? They had every excuse to let this one go. But great teams don’t cave in to excuses and find ways to win. Notre Dame is the “finds ways to win”-iest team in the country right now.

If they really want to be considered contenders, the Irish have a huge opportunity on Wednesday night (7pm). They have to go back on the road to Tallahassee and take on a Florida State team that everyone nationally is in love with right now. The Seminoles are looking to bounce back from a very forgivable loss at Chapel Hill and have been a tough match-up over the years for Notre Dame.

If Notre Dame can find a way to move to 6-0, I think the college basketball world will be taking the Irish very seriously.