Three games in, it has been a mixed bag for a Notre Dame men’s basketball team that is facing its highest pre-season expectations since the Farrell/Colson era. On the plus side, the team has shown flashes of what could be a truly elite offense, with a rotation that goes 7 deep with legitimate weapons. On the other hand, the defensive effort has been lackluster, forcing the Irish into some unnecessary late game situations against subpar opposition.

The Team

Let’s start with the good – this team is showing clear signs of being an offensive juggernaut. Despite a middling performance against Southern Indiana, this team is shooting the lights out from every area on the floor. Most impressively, the Irish are shooting 62.4% from 2-point range, showing an ability to score at the rim and from the midrange despite frequently undersized personnel. The 3-ball, a reliable staple of this offense, has been falling as well, with the Irish shooting 40% from deep.

The Irish are getting to the free throw line at 43.6% rate, a top-40 figure nationally and a drastic increase over last year, when ND languished toward the bottom of the ACC with a 27.3% FTR. Of course, with ND’s cadre of shooters, they are capitalizing on these trips to the line at an elite rate (85%). Sustaining this ability to snag easy points at the line will ensure that the Irish will remain highly efficient with the ball.

One more note on the early offensive structure – the usage has been staggeringly spread out, with all six rotation players currently running a usage of between 18.3% and 21.3%. This comes on the heels of an Irish team last year that featured one of its highest-usage players in recent memory in Blake Wesley. This will surely change as the Irish face tougher opponents, but honestly, I think Mike Brey loves the even distribution between the 4 grad students and the 2 talented frosh.

Quickly, we can touch on the negative, which is essentially the defense. The Irish did not look fully locked in at all against Radford or Youngstown St, with the veterans coasting for long stretches and letting the opposition get some pretty easy looks. As a result, ND’s adjusted defensive efficiency has slipped to 98.8 – 137th in the country per KenPom, and the second worst of any team in his top 100. Notre Dame has continued its stylistic trademark of sacrificing turnovers forced in order to not foul, but easy shot opportunities have come far too often. Brey mentioned that Coach Solomon was not happy with the effort in the first two games, and ND responded with a noticeably improved performance against Southern Indiana. USI big Jacob Polakovich still went off for 16 and 10 in 22 minutes, issuing a reminder that ND may struggle to contain low post players with Laszewski at the 5.

The Players

Trey Wertz

The resurgence of Trey Wertz has been my favorite storyline of the beginning of the season. At the end of last year, Wertz’s future with the Irish looked uncertain. He was playing fewer minutes per game than he had in his first season with ND, was the last man in a 7-man rotation, and was stuck behind a 1st round NBA pick with another stud guard on the way. He stayed the course, and the departures of Blake Wesley and Prentiss Hubb along with an injury to Marcus Hammond suddenly cleared up the starting point guard role for him.

Boy, has he taken advantage. Wertz has been unconscious shooting to start the season. He’s leading the team in 3 point attempts and knocking down 44% of them. More incredibly, he is an astonishing 11-12 from 2-point territory, getting to the rim and finishing with both smooth lay-ups and smart floaters. Wertz has been a well below average finisher in his two years at ND, and these numbers will certainly drop off against bigger competition, but his ability to penetrate has been huge for this team.

Wertz also just looks incredibly comfortable out there. Mike Brey told him he doesn’t have to cede the starting job back to Hammond, and he legitimately might just not. Wertz was prone to over-dribbling in the Radford game and still can take things quite slowly, but his drive-and-kick game and low turnover rate are huge assets to this team. With JJ Starling playing more of an off-ball role to start the year, Wertz may lock himself in as the Irish primary ball handler.

Nate Laszewski

I may be burying the lede by waiting this long to discuss Laszewski. Nate has been an absolute animal to start the season, averaging 20 and 11 en route to ACC Player of the Week honors for the first week of the season. Laszewski had a strange year last season, shooting a lights-out 46% from 3 but facing a reduced role with Paul Atkinson as a larger focus of the offense. Early murmurs suggested that Ven-Allen Lubin would start at the 5 for the Irish, but a facial injury resulted in Laszewski starting the season as the lone Irish big.

He has responded brilliantly. Without Atkinson clogging up the lane, Laszewski has returned to a shot profile approximating two seasons ago, when he first pivoted away from pure shooter to multifaceted weapon.

More than half of Nate’s shot attempts this year have come at the rim, and he is finishing 75% of them. He’ll never be a back-to-the-basket post presence, but he has improved as a roller and as a crafty finisher at the rim. While he is shooting the 3 at a career-low frequency, he is knocking down half of them, making him an impossible guard for opposing 5s. Laszewski sacrificed a lot for the team last season, and he might be rewarded with a potentially special final college season.

Ven-Allen Lubin

While JJ Starling deservedly received most of the hype from the incoming freshman class, Ven-Allen Lubin has flashed skills that will be hugely impactful in determining the ultimate success of this team. Last year, Notre Dame was in the bottom 15 teams nationally in shots blocked. Lubin will immediately help there, offering rim protection the Irish haven’t had since Juwan Durham despite his 6’8” frame. Lubin has shown plenty of bounce and instincts in blocking 4 shots so far, although his aggression may have him frequently in foul trouble.

Offensively, Lubin is unpolished but flashes a ton of exciting potential. He’s a perfect 8-8 from 2 point range, going at defenders down low and finishing strong. He has also shown the willingness to hoist a 3 when unguarded. He’s just 1-4 from deep, and the deep ball is probably something to keep defenders honest more than an option to pursue with volume, but it hints toward the well-rounded player Lubin may become.

There have been freshman moments for Lubin. He’s turned it over 7 times already, sometimes getting a bit eager putting the ball on the floor in traffic. These mistakes can stand out on a veteran team, but in such a short rotation, Lubin will have plenty of leash to work through them.

Watching him play, I can’t help but think Lubin is the perfect addition to this veteran guard-heavy team. While Laszewski has been solid on the defensive boards, he has been nonexistent on the offensive glass, where Lubin has pulled down 4 OREBs, a team high. Defense, rebounding, and energy may have been the three areas of greatest concern for this team, and those are exactly what Lubin brings. He may not be in many crunch time lineups for ND this year, but I find myself looking forward to his minutes for his pure activity.

The Others

Dane Goodwin has had an uneven start to the season, but he’s not a guy to worry about. One interesting trend to monitor has been his increased usage in the post. Goodwin has always had that tool in his bag, but without a traditional big, he’s been using it a bit more. Results have been mixed with some awkward possessions, and while I appreciate that Goodwin can score from each level, I’d like to see his 3 point attempts (only 8 so far, ranking 5th on the team) tick up.

Would you believe that Cormac Ryan is leading the ND rotation players in usage? It sure surprised me, although getting to the free throw line 16 times so far has helped. Cormac hasn’t shot well to start the season, but he came up clutch with the aggressive cut to grab the lead against Radford. It was tempting to dream on seeing more of the Cormac we saw light up Alabama in the NCAA tournament, but I think a more realistic expectation is for Ryan to just remain a really, really solid 3-and-D guy.

JJ Starling has had a mixed start, flashing jaw-dropping burst with the ball, but forcing some bad shots. He looked very deferential to start the season, playing off-ball for long stretches but coming up with big plays when needed. He’s already growing into a more active role, but his 2 assists through 3 games shows that he’s been a bit head-down with the ball in his hands. That said, I have no concerns whatsoever that Starling will develop into a stud. You can’t teach his ability to shake defenders. One area I’d like to see Starling show a bit more is using his athleticism to create some chaos on the defensive side of the ball. Blake Wesley played an underrated free safety role for the Irish last year, and while JJ might not quite have Blake’s length, his explosiveness can be of use on both sides of the ball. He flew in for some impressive rebounds against USI, and the more he gets involved on defense, the more he might grow into a further role on offense.

All shot location from barttorvik.com.