For the third consecutive year, Mike Brey’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish earned a double-bye in the ACC Tournament. Late Thursday night, for the third consecutive time, his team advanced to the semi-finals. This recent run of Irish success has been filled with stirring firsts, and Thursday was no exception. Brey hadn’t beat Tony Bennett, and the Irish hadn’t defeated the University of Virginia since the Reagan administration. That changed in Brooklyn, as Notre Dame topped Virginia 71-58 in the final quarterfinal of the evening.

It was a stirring, near wire-to-wire victory for the Irish. They continued their run of great play in Brooklyn and shook the Virginia/Bennett monkey off their backs. Virginia scored on the opening basket and led for 37 seconds until Rex Pflueger made an open three. From there, the Irish put together a master performance on both ends of the floor. The defense was fantastic, forcing Virginia in to 10 turnovers and 39% shooting from the floor. No one will confuse Virginia with an offensive juggernaut, but holding them to 26 in the first half and 58 overall continues an excellent trend for the Irish. Notre Dame played great defense in Louisville, and it continued Thursday.

Offensively, the balanced Irish attack finally found ways to unlock the vaunted pack-line defense. The Big Four all finished in double figures, and Notre Dame only committed 8 turnovers while notching 9 assists.

Overall, it was a great demonstration of scrappiness, grit and execution. The Irish were great on 50/50 balls, closed out hard on shooters, team-rebounded, and were crisper than the Caveliers for 40 minutes. It was a complete performance.

Numbers

From a four-factors perspective, it begins and ends with FG shooting and FG defense. Notre Dame shot 58% eFG despite not having a scorching night from behind the arc. The 5-17 performance from behind the arc is the worst the Irish have shot from three in the Barclay’s Center. The headline was holding Virginia to only 44% eFG. Notre Dame held a 14% to 17% edge in turnover percentage. Virginia had a slight edge on the offensive glass, collecting 35% of their misses to 27% for ND. Notre Dame had a distinct edge in FT rate, with a 54% FTA/FGA showing versus only 21% for Virginia. The only “troubling” thing was that the Irish only made 72% of their 25 FT attempts. We’re so spoiled when that’s a bad night.

This is a case of the numbers telling the story. Notre Dame was so much crisper on the offensive end than they’ve been in the previous meetings with Virginia. They drove the ball with purpose, moved themselves and the ball, and executed wonderfully. The 9 assists are evidence of that, as is the 21 personal fouls committed by Virginia.

Performances

Never underestimate the power of an eff-you performance. Bonzie Colson, and his NSFW language, played hard and set the tone all night. He finished with a team high 21 points on 6-14 shooting and 10 rebounds. He had 2 blocks and was the most assertive (and foul mouthed and chippy) player on the floor. He’s 6’5″ and an ACC double-double machine. Third place, my ass.

Who doesn’t love March V.J.? March V.J. is the best V.J. The smooth midrange jumper he made in the 2nd half to squelch ideas of a late Virginia run was masterful. He was a beast on the boards with 7 total to go with his 12 points on 5-9 shooting from the floor. Most impressively, V.J.’s defensive effort is visibly picking up. That’s leadership and it is a great way to see him closing out his illustrious career.

Speaking of wanting to write a great ending – Steve Vasturia is doing his best to end as he began: making critical plays. Whether it was coming up with a loose ball of defensive slide, he did it. When his team needed a bucket badly, he drove hard and found a way. Another wonderful performance with 12 and 5 with 5 assists from Onions.

I wonder if Farrell could be an All-American if we moved the Joyce Center to Brooklyn? Perhaps we could buy the naming rights from Jay-Z or something? Once again, Farrell was spectacular in Brooklyn. He was great with the ball, committing a single turnover and put up 14 key points, 4 assists, and 2 steals. Mostly, it was a remarkable floor general night from the Jersey junior.

We know Rex Pflueger is mostly asked to not screw up the Big Four, but he did far more than that Thursday. His defensive performance iced out Virgina’s London Perrentes. The perennial Irish killer was held to just 3 points on 1-9 shooting with 2 assists and 3 turnovers. That’s a win for Rex even before he decided to do a little highlight reel work:

From the bench, the Irish once again got solid performances from both T.J. Gibbs and Martinas Geben. Geben picked up 3 points 3 boards and a block. He set fantastic screens and gives the Irish another physical presence up front when it is called for. Gibbs was 2-3 from the floor with 4 points and 2 boards. He sure doesn’t seem like a freshman and has a wonderful sense of how to contribute. Matt Ryan and Autin Torres both saw the floor in the first half. Limited action for both felt about right. I know the running chat we had going with our 18s writers was relieved when the media TO came and Brey went back to the starters.

Big Picture

Thursday’s victory is satisfying on a number of levels. The Irish were the only better seed not favored by Vegas or the KenPom projections. In fact, Pomeroy only gave the Irish a 34% chance of winning. Not only was it important to get the Bennett monkey off the program’s back, but the win solidifies the Notre Dame’s place among ACC contenders. While most ACC and national media treat the Irish as a novelty, using 3 straight double-byes to make 3 straight semi-finals is a big accomplishment. Now the Irish can shake the mental lock Virginia had on them. More importantly, they can begin to eye a trip to another ACC Tournament final.

Florida State stands in Notre Dame’s way after they dispatched Virginia Tech in the earlier game. We here at 18s will have more on that match-up later today (or in the discussion here), but for now, let’s appreciate one of the most satisfying wins in this magical 3 year run.

Semifinals Preview – alstein

We’ll keep the preview stuff in the same post so we can keep the conversation in one place.

3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. 2 Florida State Seminoles

Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY

ESPN, 9pm (approx. – probably after 9:30)

Familiar foes at it again. FSU and Notre Dame have battled each other twice this season, splitting their season series with each picking up victories at home. In Tallahassee, the game was back-and-forth, but the Seminoles looked to have the game in hand in the game’s final minutes. The Irish mounted a furious late comeback but ultimately came up one shot short. In South Bend, the Irish blew out FSU, and the 12-point margin does not really do that performance justice.

Florida State was a great, and I mean top 5 in the country great, team at home this season, with wins over Notre Dame, Minnesota, Florida, Duke, and Louisville, among others. Away from home, they haven’t been quite as impressive, although probably not as bad as the conventional wisdom seems to state. Last night’s win over Virginia Tech was their first tournament-quality win away from home since Februrary 1st, however.

The Seminoles are led by the trio of Dwayne Bacon, Jonathan Isaac, and Xavier Rathan-Mayes, each of whom isaveraging over double-digits and liable to go off in any given game. A big part of Florida State’s success, however, is their depth, as head coach Leonard Hamilton routinely goes 12-deep in a game. There is a lot of size all over that roster, which presents a difficult challenge for most any lineup, especially one that runs as small as Notre Dame’s.

Keys to the Game

Ball security – Notre Dame had a season-high 18 turnovers in their trip to Tallahassee earlier this season when they needed to shoot over 70% from three just to stay in the game. They’ve shown in recent weeks that a repeat shooting performance like that isn’t going to happen again, so they must protect the ball better this time around. They did that in South Bend, as even with 13 turnovers, a few of those were just sloppiness late with the outcome already decided. The Irish have shown they can score against these guys twice, but the ball-control, efficiency-inside script seems like the more replicable one.

Hiding Farrell – When you play a team with this much length, it sometimes gets difficult to keep Matt Farrell from getting exposed defensively as the shortest guy out there. Even a guy like CJ Walker had some success against him off the bench. So who do you put him on? XRM? Mann? Do you perhaps go zone a bit more than usual to try to neutralize that factor? And can Farrell himself do enough to pressure the ball and stay with his man through screens? I don’t like to single out a guy, and I’m not going to doubt him putting together a strong game either, but the mismatch between him and most of Florida State’s lineup options stand out. Brey is likely going to have to throw a few different looks at the Noles.

Getting in the lane – Both of these teams can have a tendency to drift and settle for long-range shots, but each is at its best when they have ball-handlers going to the bucket and making things happen that way. You feel good about Farrell doing so with some PnR action with Bonzie. Can that duo have the same success (or even close to it) that they had when these teams met in South Bend? And can FSU commit to doing that with more than just isolated 1-on-1 plays? More guys going to the basket for them means easier shots and more offensive rebounding opportunities. Interesting to see how both teams approach this one and are able to execute consistently.

Final Take

Both teams should have a chip on their shoulder, as this game is clearly in the shadow of the bluebloods that will precede them tonight in Brooklyn. Both can play the “they don’t respect us” card, but neither can really say that about one another, just the ACC world. Still, these players need to summon some fire and energy after some of that gets taken out of the building when the Duke and UNC fans hit the exits before the late one tips off. FSU has a nice revenge factor after turning in one of their worst performance’s of the season in South Bend. We also saw Notre Dame’s chippiness and grit last night. But can they bring that same intensity again tonight?

I think this is a fascinating watch, even as most of college basketball nation turns their attention elsewhere before tip-off. I think these two teams that clearly want a shot to prove that they belong at the top of this crazy ACC pack and will show us all a lot of intensity, passion, effort, and maybe even some more chippiness. I’m not going to do a formal prediction, although I stand by my pick in the ACC Tournament preview post that ND will get through their semi as long as they could knock off Virginia. I’ll probably keep going back-and-forth about how I feel all day on this one. But more than anything, I think this is just going to be a great, high-scoring college basketball game. I can’t wait.