Inequity. That was the first word that came to mind Saturday as I watched Notre Dame drop their fifth straight ACC contest. Each of the five losses have had their own special brand of heartbreak. The 80-75 home defeat at the hands of Virginia Tech stung because it simply felt unfair.
Unlike the UNC game that was acutely and unabashedly stolen by crooked officiating, the VT game felt different. There’s not an atom in my body that feels like VT is the better team or the better program. I’m convinced that the Buzz Williams Coaching Show ™ can’t hold a candle to Mike Brey’s program building. Notre Dame had all the pieces in place to build an ACC contender, yet there was Virginia Tech walking off the Purcell Pavillion floor victorious. The Hokies were the one getting every bounce and roll in South Bend while the home team couldn’t buy a break.
Virginia Tech shot the lights out. They had 3 players shoot 50% or better from behind the arc on four or more attempts. Senior Justin Bibbs made all four of his attempts from deep. The Hokies shot 14-25 from behind the arc (56%) to win their first game over Notre Dame in nearly a generation. That, frankly, stings too.
It stings because it never felt like a fair fight. As the father of teenagers, “Life isn’t fair,” escapes my lips on a regular basis. Honestly, it is the only equitable assessment of the 2017-18 Fighting Irish basketball squad.
You can try to get mad at TJ Gibbs’ five turnovers or 3-10 shooting inside the arc. You can want Elijah Burns to be better than 0-2. You could lament Rex Pflueger missing two big FT’s late. All of these are valid complaints. However, you’d be missing the big picture.
No team in America is built to withstand the kind of punishment Mike Brey’s squad is taking. Even the one-and-done factories, like Duke, can’t absorb three of their top guys going down. Maybe if it those injuries left the top guy or top two guys in place, you could make it happen. Sadly, that isn’t the case for ND. Bonzie Colson, Matt Farrell, and DJ Harvey’s 42 points per game have been converted to cheerleading. They’re cheering for guys that no one was expecting to play the roles they’re forced to step in to.
Unsung Heroes
TJ Gibbs entered this season fitter, faster, and hungrier. He also came in expecting to play a supporting role to the ACC Preseason POY. He expected to work off the ball next to a proven senior leader. Instead, the sophomore has carried a much heavier burden. Here are TJ’s minutes in ACC play: 36, 38, 40, 39, 48, 40 40. That’s right, he’s averaging 40.13 minutes per game in conference play. He can’t realistically come off the floor. For a guy who seems to love to play tough defense, the wear and tear of carrying the offensive load every night has to be a grind. TJ is doing all of this and telling his coach that he’s upset that he can’t do more. He’s going to be a great leader on the ball for ND, and this experience is valuable. He’s been a lion for this team.
Rex Pflueger’s foul trouble against Louisville kept his minutes behind TJ’s, but the effort has been just as admirable. Another guy who was planning on moving the ball, hitting a few open shots, and playing great defense has been asked to do, and be, so much more. It is hard to imagine a guy wanting it more than Rex. He plays so hard. He’s Connaughton-like in his effort and leadership, and that is exceedingly high praise. He’s an almost perfect glue guy asked to play a leading role. You can almost see his wheels spinning a bit on offense. You want nothing more than for him to play loose and free, but in a desperate attempt to find any offense at all, he’s forced to press. He’s a warrior, and when he looked like he might be the latest victim Saturday, my heart nearly stopped. Criticize his shooting form or finishing on offense, and I’ll listen. Breathe a word of criticism of his effort, and I will seriously fight you.
Before this season tipped off, you could be forgiven if you expected little out of Martinas Geben. Brey’s recent success in “downshift” line-up’s, and the inevitable rise of DJ Harvey looked as though they might squeeze the senior out of the main picture. The big Lithuanian’s play, however, has cast him in a central role. Geben is grabbing nearly 11 rebounds per game in ACC play, second only to Duke’s Bagley. He joins Bagley, Doral, Carter and Maye as the five ACC players averaging double-double’s in conference play. Most importantly, the confidence and effectiveness Geben has shown serves as testament to Brey’s coaching ability. Geben’s progression from an bit part to a pro prospect is remarkable. Brey and his staff should print Geben’s story on recruiting brochures around the world.
John Mooney is a guy some fans will occasionally pick on. Yes, there are times he struggles on defense. There are other times the Florida sophomore looks a little sped up on offense. Saturday night, however, Mooney seemed to settle in to the pace of the game and contributed his first career double-double. I wanted Mooney to preserve his eligibility last year. Based on some of his early performances, it looked like it would have served him well to have an additional year of seasoning. However, if Mooney can continue his arc of improvement, he could be a key cog in the next two campaigns. Mooney is both learning, and demonstrating, the kind of effort and intensity required to be successful in ACC play. His future seems bright.
A month ago, Nik Djogo had to figure he was going to spend 2018 biding his time. With four DNP-CD’s on his season resume and little more than mop-up duty in his appearances, his primary role was to run the blue team. Over the last five games, the Canadian in his first year of eligibility averaged over 27 minutes per game. He’s shown flashes of athletic brilliance and moxie. He’s also shown rough edges and inexperience. Like everyone associated with the program, he’s doing everything he can to right the ship.
Emptying the Tank
That’s really the thing, isn’t it? They’re all working their asses off. Guys are playing roles they were never meant to play. Bonzie Colson is a great radio co-host, bench presence, and fashion icon. He’s a lot better basketball player, and his place is putting up double-doubles and antagonizing ACC blue-bloods. Matt Farrell’s swag and love for his team looks much better in an Irish uniform than street clothes. EVERYONE in the ND program is doing EVERYTHING they can with this crappy hand they’ve been dealt.
Listen to this and tell me they’re not going as hard as they can.
Inequity. It is that feeling when the results don’t seem to match the effort. You just can’t shake the feeling that these are good guys working hard, and the breaks haven’t gone their way. Despite that obvious injustice, not a single player or coach has been seen hanging their head. They aren’t complaining. They aren’t making excuses. Not once. There’s not a single instance you can point to of a guy dogging it or giving less than 100%. Think about that before you let a whisper of frustration towards Brey, the staff, or any player cross your lips. It is easy to be pissed off that the ACC looks there for the taking this year, and ND won’t be competitive. It is simple to look at the national picture and wonder if a full-strength ND could make an unprecedented run. It is easy to let all of that frustrate you. Just don’t let that frustration with the situation migrate its way to anyone associated with the Notre Dame basketball program. They don’t have time for complaining. It is obvious they’re using every fiber of their beings to figure out how to win. That deserves our admiration and respect, even if the results aren’t what we dared to dream earlier this season.
Good stuff Joe. It hurts to be so close for every one of the last 5 games but watch each slip away. There’s that coaches platitude about guys learning how to win, how to pull out the close ones — if that’s real, hopefully we get that learning out of the way this season and it pays us off in spades in March or next year, but man does it suck right now. Also, f*** Duke.
That might merit an entire other post.
I think that Pat, DJ and Onions leaned in 2104 just how valuable and important intensity was in conference play. They learned you couldn’t just match your opponent, but you had to bring it at an even higher level – particularly on the defensive side. That payed massive dividends in 2015. Those 3 defended like hell and dragged that team along when they really needed a stop. No one will call 2015 a defensive stalwart, but they could put a kill together when they really needed one.
Mooney, in particular, is going to benefit from this. TJ and Rex (much like Pat, DJ and Onions) will let it improve their leadership skills and realize just how hard it is to be at the top of this league.
For me, the very interesting thing to watch is the amount of fight this team puts up. If they can sustain the effort level and brotherhood they’re showing, that’s nothing but momentum in to next year. I’ll admit I felt pretty dark last night. I do seriously wonder if there are 3 more ACC wins out there for us. I also really questioned how this core minus Marty, plus Durham and the frosh can really be expected to be that much better next year. After writing this, however, I started to feel a lot better about that. These guys are working out new roles and style of play issues in the middle of the ACC season. With a full year to prepare, develop and mature, the future could be very bright — even if I still worry about where the shooting is going to come from.
Yea, Mooney has really come around in the last few games. Still has a few out of control moments where the game happens faster than he expects (the tip in last night that probably finally sunk us is an example, he didn’t get a body on anyone was just kinda looking around), but I’ll be the first to admit that he’s grown up way faster than I expected from just a few games ago, and looks like a legit future asset.
The gap from 20-25 minute off ball guard to >40 min per game primary O focal is huge. As is 4 min per game mop up guy to starter getting 27 (Djogo Island prices went up significantly with that block last night). Rex’s O concerns me because his efficiency drop seems like more than just a high volume discount, but some of it just has to be in his head. After his 0 pt performance whole battling the flu, he hadn’t been right. As you said, there’s no knocking his fight (esp after he came back in last night…really hoping we don’t find anything after the fact like they did with Bonz and now Farrell).
Trying to figure out after the last 2 games that Mooney can still be a whipping boy with you. Let’s check the stats on those 2 games: in 55 minutes action 10 fo 16 shooting with 5 for 8 on treys. Also 18 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Still has a few out of control moments where the game happens faster than he expects (the tip in last night that probably finally sunk us is an example, he didn’t get a body on anyone was just kinda looking around)
Mooney played a career high in minutes versus VT (32). He played 46 garbage minutes as a frosh. Normally he does a good job blocking out. Here’s something to consider, he was gassed at the end of the game and Clarke is much quicker than him. It’s not like Mooney is a senior all american candidate who chose not to block out twice on the FT line versus (the great Zach McRoberts and) a mediocre IU team that led to two 4 point plays and an embarrassing loss. I must have missed your “sunk us” critiques on that.
I typically agree with most everything Joe posts, but the treys ND allowed were due to a pathetic zone defense in which almost all 25 of their attempts were wide open. With that said, I understood why Brey played a lot of zone with 7 guys and no perimeter guys on the bench versus a smaller team.
Spare me the ax grinding over whether or not I’m being effusive enough with the Mooney praise after yet another loss. He played very well, still has more growing up to do, but the future looks solid. And if it makes you feel better, when I say “finally sunk us”, I don’t mean to put blame of the L on him, just that it was the play that finally nailed our coffin shut. As always, there are any number of game changing plays that are made or not made.
And yes, every guy on this team is currently being stretched beyond what we thought possible/wise in minutes, so lapses are likely, even expected, but it doesn’t change that it happened and we lost.
The writers slack game chat was lamenting that VT is the worst team to play shorthanded because they’re not ideal for a zone, and that thought proved accurate. Just not sure what else you can do when your 8th man is a walk-on that basically can’t see the floor. I suppose that goes back to the unfair pt from above.
I’m also not going to go back and relegislate who was to blame for Indiana, but if I recall, everyone was pretty hard on both of our senior captains for all 3 of the December losses.
Joe’s article was as usual well written and cast absolutely zero blame on 7 guys who played their tails off and came up short and yet you were compelled to take a shot at one of the 7 (who just happened to have played a very efficient career high game in points and rebounds). There is a difference between being over the top effusive and making a player critique that had absolutely no merit for this particular game. Once again- note the article title “Hate the game, not the players” and think about what that means. Seriously how hard would it have been to type some thing like “it was unfortunate in a game where John Mooney played his tail off (along with career highs in points and rebounds) that he missed a block out on Clarke- in fairness he was likely gassed after playing a career high 32 minutes”. Instead you went with “still a few out of control moments” punctuated by a missed block out.
I’m also not going to go back and relegislate who was to blame for Indiana, but if I recall, everyone was pretty hard on both of our senior captains for all 3 of the December losses.
Actually there was not even an 18s article linked for the IU game.
For the MSU game- the general consensus was ND just ran into a more talented team on their home court (and that Farrell may have been under the weather).
For the BSU game, a general team effort was questioned in the comments on the 18 stripes article- but it was kind of dismissed that the team took BSU for granted and would learn from it. I did not see any comments that were going hard after Bonzie and Farrell. IMO the (if you have to point a finger) disgust for this game should have been more directed at Brey for not putting Rex on Persons sooner.
In the comments sections for BSU and MSU, there were none from you. Your “everyone” recollection is perplexing to say the least.
BTW I went back and watched the Clarke tip in play that made it 76-72. ND was in MTM. Mooney was understandably playing off on 6’5 Hill. Geben had Clarke at the top of the key and was beat badly off the dribble (he probably should have been have been shading him for a left handed dribble). Clarke drove in and missed, but made a great play to stay with it. Mooney (who was coming off his man) was actually behind Clarke and Geben.
7:08 mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVJniKYKATU
FWIW Chris Crowder Faried Clarke is an interesting player- he appears to be a right handed shooter, but is more comfortable dribbling with his left hand.
Jesus dude, give it a rest. You’re embarrassing yourself.
This season has shades of that ’05-’06 one where we had the most possible heart-breaking losses. It’s a shame for the players because they really are pushing themselves to the limit, but I respect that they aren’t giving up despite the injuries. At least, hopefully the younger guys will get the experience to be better next year. At best, we can get some bounces our way and still make the tourney.
ACC finally seems to be the league we expected coming in…tough teams, top to bottom.
Yea… The wins are still out there to claw our way to the tournament, but given that we have Duke/Virginia/UNC road tilts still to come, we’re already looking at 8 likely Ls (I think we can steal UNC, but who knows. Eff them too). I think I’m just hopeful we start notching a few wins to get the team some crunch time confidence and let them have the experience of some “need this game” wins down the stretch, even if they ultimately fall short. It’s not just “ACC minutes” that helps our young guys, it’s high intensity, pressure’s on ACC minutes that are valuable.
I think the “snake bitten” nature of this season merits the comparison to 2006, where not a single late game anything went our way.
Here’s the big difference:
I think Brey’s evolved light years beyond who/what he was with that team. There was a lot of endgame panic and a general “tightness” that plagued that team. It might have finally been the season that convinced Brey that the loosest coach character would be a valuable asset in his toolbox.
Those teams were also completely reliant on having to toss it down on the block when things got tough. Brey’s teams have been more apt to look at ball screens to get bigs involved than simple post entries. When we had guys like J and DJ, hero ball at the end was also a legitimate strategy. With this team, I’m hoping that Brey sees that transition and simply running our stuff is a great way to close games.
Most of all, the talent cupboard of this team vs. that team are night and day. The talent on this roster is impressive and the reinforcements set to saddle up this summer look excellent. That’s why I like the 14 analogy better than the 06 one.
Soooo close on so many of these while being undermanned is maddening.
Edit: So we need to win 6 more to get to 9-9 to get in the tourney.
Which means we need to beat BC twice, Wake, and Pitt to give us 4.
Next tier there is Miami, NC State, UNC and FSU. — Somehow we need to win 2 of these unless we do something crazy and beat Duke).
And: Duke, Virginia.
Ow, my (basket)balls
I am so impressed with the heart and guts this team is playing with. Regardless of what happens this year, I am very optimistic about 18-19.
2-3 would have been fine with me in this stretch, well not fine but less painful. We are currently sitting at 341 out of 351 in Kenpom’s luck rating, feels like we are 10 spots too high.
The Louisville and UNC games were the killers. I thought VT looked like the better team and deserved to win. They were hitting a lot of 3s, but a lot of open 3s. VT was also defending fairly hard, albeit against an offense that had no flow.
The Irish are playing so hard and are so wounded, I have nothing bad to say about this squad. Proud of this team, but also kind of dread watching this team the rest of the year, given the #5 ranking they earned earlier this season.
Per KenPom, this team is still 42nd defensively. That’s at worst one of Brey’s top 3 defenses he’s ever had. And that’s despite the fact that Gibbs/Pflueger essentially can’t come off the floor at all. They can’t come off for rest, and they can’t come off for foul trouble. That’s incredible. I still think next year’s team is going to have to really fight to be an NCAA Tournament team, but the defensive ability of Gibbs and Pflueger gives me confidence that they can get there.
Words cannot express my hate for Duke…well, at least not the words allowed on this site.
Would be great to play them again in the ACCT with a full roster. My God do I despise Grayson Allen.