At long last, the Notre Dame hoops season has returned, and it got off to a fun start on Saturday afternoon with an 89-64 win over the Bryant Bulldogs. There were some encouraging signs, some questionable ones, and a couple of suspicions seemingly confirmed in the 25-point win.
As a bit about the Bulldogs, KenPom has them at 311th in the country, so the quality of opponent disclaimer is alive and well with all this analysis (although they are the preseason 3rd place team in the Northeast Conference and may very well be a NCAA Tournament team).
We will probably be a bit different with regards to post-game commentary over here at 18S and probably vary from writer to writer. I’ll be a bit more stream-of-consciousness, just providing some of my larger thoughts from the games that I feel are worth commenting on. Here goes:
Boys Among Men
This biggest story of this game was the dynamic duo of VJ Beachem and Bonzie Colson, which will probably be a common refrain this season. VJ set a career-high with 22 points, while Bonzie scored a game-high 23 to go along with a team-high 7 rebounds. Bonzie was mega-efficient (156 ORtg from KenPom!), while VJ was the go-to guy to calm things down every time Bryant made a mini-run.
Both guys flashed their all-ACC potential, so even though it came against an over-matched opponent, it was a very encouraging sign that, at the very least, a star duo is in place for the Irish this season.
Is the Martin Geben Experiment Over?
The junior big man earned the start but only logged 12 minutes in this one. For all the talk about how far Geben was coming along last spring, how good he was this summer, how key he is going to be this season, that seems awfully low with a chance to give Geben some live action to bring him along. I can’t say he really passed the eye test, either, and I have been reasonably optimistic about him entering the season.
But after he was subbed out a few minutes into the first half, he barely played afterwards despite contributing a couple buckets and rebounds in those minutes. Is Mike Brey done with him already? Will Geben inevitably see his role reduced and find himself out of the lineup by ACC season? It’s only one game, but it sure seemed like it today.
Feel the Burns
A look at the box score doesn’t reveal much, although three trips to the FT line was nice, but Elijah Burns certainly looks the part. He has a great physique, good athleticism and mobility, and enough skill to be able to develop into a nice forward. If Geben is already working his way out of the lineup, does Burns find a way into a lot of those minutes, or even eventually into the starting lineup?
I am all-aboard the Burns bandwagon. Doesn’t a Beachem-Colson-Burns sound like a nice ACC frontline? That’s the length and athleticism that I think we really need to make it through the ACC slate as a NCAA Tournament team. It seems like there is a bench player every year that Irish fans want Brey to unleash, and I have a feeling Elijah Burns will be that guy before too long.
The Point Guard Position
Again, the box score story doesn’t really reflect this, but I would expect the minute distribution between Matt Farrell, TJ Gibbs, and Rex Pflueger to shift throughout the non-conference season. Farrell contributed with a career-high 6 assists, but he was a bit too quick to shoot (including off-the-dribble) and doesn’t appear to be much better than last season, and he was atrocious defensively. He never at any point gets himself into a sound defensive position and was easily blown by these Bryant guards on multiple occasions.
I’m not sure if the starting lineup will change anytime soon or at all this season, but some of Farrell’s 28 minutes have to go to Gibbs (18 minutes) and Pflueger (17). Both of them are substantial upgrades defensively and can actually get to the rim to great effect. They may not be much better shooters (although I think Gibbs will be), but they certainly are better athletically and have already shown to be more effective in breaking down the defense.
Upcoming Schedule
The Irish have two more tune-up games against Seattle (Wednesday, 7pm) and Loyola Maryland (Friday, 7pm) in South Bend before heading to Brooklyn to participate in the Legends Classic (Monday, 11/21). There is a very real chance that two NCAA Tournament quality teams will meet the Irish there, starting with Colorado before playing Texas or Northwestern the following day.
Obviously, how the Irish perform in those games will really start to shape how we feel about the lineup this season and the chances Notre Dame will be celebrating come Selection Sunday. But these next two games should provide some more insights as to where Mike Brey’s head is at with his personnel and lineup. He has the chance to be really creative with this roster, despite starting with the most traditional lineup possible. He was very creative against Bryant, so we’ll see what he has up his sleeves this week against Seattle.
I would not read much into Geben’s PT. He did have 7 boards in 12 minutes. My belief is he would be at 18-20 minutes per game. IMO Brey just figured this was a game they could play small. If it was a tight game and that Townes truck was having his way, you might have seen more of Geben.
I also am not going to write Farrell off, but I would be shocked if he is a starter at the mid-point of the season. Brey really seems to like him, so he sees something. He should be no more than 15 mpg by ACC play.
IMO the guy who showed little was Torres. I realized he had a health scare, but he was constantly out of position. It seems inevitable Burns will take his minutes (IMO more so than Geben’s).
Look forward to the recaps on this site.
Great observations, agree with many of them.
1.22ppp is a great way to start the season, even if it was a 300+ KP team (despite Brey calling them “hard”).
Defensively, Brey was quick to point out that they can make 3’s and ND limited them to 5. That’s actually encouraging. Perhaps this team won’t give up as many trey’s this season.
Winning when shooting 18% from the arc is a very good sign. 70 possessions is good and the 3 turnovers is great. The offense versus a poor team was absolutely fantastic, and they did it putting the ball on the floor and moving around people.
I was shocked to hear Brey talk about liking what he got from Torres. I just didn’t see that. I’m with you Alstein, I think those minutes need to go to the stretch 4’s and Burns. Of course, that’s not the only thing I disagreed with Brey on. He was talking about offensive glass on a night we shot 50% from the floor. There’s a lot to worry about on the glass overall, but we’ve been saying that for 3 seasons now.
Farrell is a curious case. I think teams are going to quickly dare him to finish at the rim, and that could really spell the end of his productivity. The thing he has going for him is facilitation in transition. He runs the floor with his head up and moves the ball in the open court. I don’t think Gibbs can go 30+ all season, and I’m not sure Rex/Steve will get long stretches bringing the ball up, so Farrell is at least 15-25/night all year. We keep talking about who will be the starting PG. I’m way more interested in who will be the closing PG in a tight one.
I really really really think this is going to be a fun team to follow. Vasturia has been a steady, solid guy for so long, and the emergence of Beachem as he develops “I’m the man” level confidence is great to watch. Colson is that guy you’re thrilled he’s on your team because he’d be aggravating as all hell as an opponent. Burns and Rex (and Torres) bring infectious energy. Farrell has gym rat Jersey swagger and TJ Gibbs just might end up being the straw that stirs the whole drink. This is a likable group that appears to like playing together. I hope that holds up when the real bullets start flying in NYC.
4 Factors:
EFG 51.6/44.9
TO% 4.3/18.6 (of the 240 teams with numbers from games Fri/Sat, 4.3 was HALF the next best team)
OREB% 21.2/28.9
FTA/FGA 47.5/28.8
That turnover disparity drives a 25 point win. The OREB numbers aren’t a huge concern when you’re shooting better than 50%. The nice surprise was the FTA. It is a legitimate worry that this roster would settle for too many 3’s, but they did a great job attacking with movement and off the bounce. That leads to fouls (esp. early in the year while they’re calling them tight). They got in the bonus early and shot nearly 90% from the line. That’s a VERY good thing.
Similar turnover numbers were one of the biggest reasons our offense hovered in the top 3 in the country for about 3/4 of last season. We started cratering when we started turning the ball over. Can we keep those turnovers down with more ball-handlers who look comfortable and capable, as opposed to heaping all of the responsibility on one guy like we did with DJ last year? I like that we have Farrell, Vasturia, Gibbs, and Rex that all look like they can handle it for stretches, not to mention Beachem and Colson whose usage in the half-court is going to be pretty high. Hopefully we can be a bit more consistent in that regard this season.
Great to be back, really excited for this season.
I want to echo some of the thoughts above regarding the minutes between Farrell and Gibbs. I think Brey keeps Farrell as the nominative starter for the first half of the season to keep him motivated and feeling like he runs the team. He definitely brings something to the table with his passing, but when he shoots as poorly as he has thus far in his career, that combined with his defense makes him very limited. Gibbs didn’t even have a particularly amazing game, but I am already loathe to see him come off the floor. He looks very comfortable and in control, which is fantastic.
I feel like Geben’s situation isn’t dissimilar from Farrell’s. Brey spoke about how Geben considered transferring after last year, and now he’s our starting 5. While I think it is evident that he is not one of our best five players, I think Brey continues to start him, if only to keep his head right. After the first few minutes, I see us going small a lot this year, just like we did tonight.
It was great to see Rex’s defensive intensity back, and while his 3-point shot still needs work, at least he is showing some confidence on the offensive end. Once Ryan gets back to normal, having him, Rex, Gibbs, and big (looking like Burns) will be one of our better bench units in recent memory.
Good signs early!
I still don’t get what Brey sees in Farrell.
Also, Mooney played! Maybe Brey will go with a bit more of a deeper rotation this year.
CW’s been making jokes about this. Brey’s inner turmoil about depth might be the story line of the season. He’s always going to favor offensive firepower on the floor and will only react otherwise if there’s obvious defensive bleeding.