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Notre Dame hoops chat - February 2022
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AvatarThomas Noie
11:51
Bozo, is that you again? Remember what we talked about when using the computer?grinning
Ed,Greensboro
11:51
Tom, great to have you and the chats back! Where in the world would we be without Atkinson? He has been spectacular.
AvatarThomas Noie
11:53
Ed: Probably where the program was the last couple seasons. He just gets it. He's an old guy who knows that he's not the most physically imposing guy out there but that doesn't meant that he can't influence games. He shoots a ridiculously high percentage. He competed his backside off against Louisville. There have been times this year when you look at Dane Goodwin and think, team most valuable player. Same with Blake Wesley. At times, Nate Laszewski was trending that way with what he was doing for a stretch. Second half of last night's game, I started thinking that of Atkinson. Guy just gets it.
Victor K.
11:53
Also, Tom, what are your top three ND basketball halftime shows? If the list does not have Red Panda at number-one, you will have invalidated yourself.
AvatarThomas Noie
11:55
Victor feeling frisky today? No doubt, Red Panda is the halftime GOAT, but honestly, if your world travels have ever taken you overseas and you've been to Beijing to see a performance of the Beijing circus (no, really), they make Red Panda look like she's riding a tricycle and using paper plates. But I digress. It's 1. Red Panda, 2. Jesse White Tumblers (if you know, you know) and 3. The professional Simon Sez guy. Let's see you beat that troika.
Jason
11:55
Is a 7(now 6) man rotation smart or sustainable? Every year Breys teams look worn down. Is there really no one else on the bench that could play 5-10 minutes? I remember when J Grant and Pat C were sitting on in the bench and those guys both ended up in the nba
AvatarThomas Noie
11:57
Jason: For this group, it's both smart and sustainable. As long as all seven are healthy. Smart in that those seven think like one. You lose a lot of that, which results in too many empty possessions or missed defensive assignments with a Matt Zona or a Tony Sanders or a J.R. Konieczny, even for a few minutes. Those are chances that Mike Brey doesn't want to take. And the whole worn down narrative is sooooooooo stale. Look at the ACC league leaders for minutes. Notre Dame has one guy (Dane Goodwin) in the Top 10. Only two (Blake Wesley) in the Top 25. There's your tired legs for you.
Danny
11:58
Love the content Tom! Quick question, what ever happened to the gold jersey? I know you brought up the gold (mustard) uniforms a few weeks ago. Is it the players who decide which uniforms to wear, or do those jerseys not even exist anymore?
AvatarThomas Noie
11:59
Danny: Mustard gold uniform references will get you in good with the chat host every single time. It's the players who decide what uniform to wear, but I also think the mustard golds were retired. They went through a run there with several alternative unis - black, gold, green - but have not gone that route. The mustard golds scream 2015. I'd make those permanent. But that's just me. The black and green also were sharp.
Ed,Greensboro
11:59
Tom , looks like Brey’s staff shakeup is producing great results.Have the players indicated to you that they are happy as well?
AvatarThomas Noie
12:00
Ed: not really, they're not the kind of guys who are going to go down that road, but it was obvious that they needed to be pushed/taken in a direction that the previous staff couldn't tap. This staff has tapped into it. Maybe some of it was just a matter of time, but they've been pushed in ways they weren't in the past.
Chris, DC
12:01
How will the Irish defend PJ Hall on Saturday?   Do you think the 3 PT shooting eilll
AvatarThomas Noie
12:02
Chris: Just like guys like Dereon Seabron and Tequarvion Smith were defended. Don't think anyone at Notre Dame is going to lose sleep worrying how to defend P.J. Hall. He's a good player. The Irish have seen their share of good players. Just dig in and defend.
Jeff - Fort Wayne
12:02
I was at the game last night, and if it wasn’t for the student section, the place could pass as a library. You can see Coach Brey almost begging the crowd to make noise, and it wasn’t until the very end that there was any energy in the building. How does this get fixed?
AvatarThomas Noie
12:03
Jeff: That's a question that has been asked since I started covering Notre Dame hoops in 1998. It's a fair-weather fan base (students included) who can be counted on for maybe one or two games a year. They like to complain when it's going bad, and find reasons to stay away when things turn. Here's the thing - they've moaned and moaned and moaned about wanting a better product on the court for the last three years. Now they have it. Where they at?
Dan
12:03
First time poster, but have followed Men’s basketball for 40 years. I think it’s time to shelved the Wesley to the NBA talk. In my opinion he is a couple years away, at least.
AvatarThomas Noie
12:05
Dan: Good to have you here. Here's the thing with Blake Wesley - he has the skills right now to GET to the NBA, but without at least another year where he can work on said skills, he doesn't have enough in the toolbox to STAY in the NBA. He's going to have to decide - is it enough for him to be the first one-and-done at Notre Dame who gets to the NBA for a cup of coffee (which is what it will be) or does he want to take the steps needed (another year) to be a career pro? It's up to him to decide.
GoIrish!
12:05
Are any games confirmed for the 2022-23 season?
AvatarThomas Noie
12:07
Notre Dame will play a 20-game league schedule, participate in the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge and start a home-and-home in Milwaukee next season with Marquette. The third and final game in the Kentucky series may not be played for mutually-decided on reasons.
Phil
12:07
Brey's strategy to run seven (and now basically six) guys deep just about this whole season has obviously been contentious among many fans (although in fairness, it's gotten the club wins). Given that Goodwin and others may be coming back, is there a chance guys like Zona/Sanders/Elijah Taylor might transfer to get playing time elsewhere (especially with the high-quality recruits coming in)? Or will the culture/the ND degree outweigh their lack of involvement?
AvatarThomas Noie
12:09
Phil: Welcome to college basketball 2022-23 and beyond. Odds are, somebody's going into the transfer portal after this year. They just are. When the transfer rules were relaxed to eliminate the sit-out season, it became the Wild West. Mike Brey understands that. Guys want to play. When they don't see playing time, they hit the reset button. But again, Notre Dame guys have seen the bigger picture and get it. Though there are some who haven't - I see you Matt Ryan. Sometimes, it's best if guys go (D.J. Harvey). Sometimes, it's not. Matt Ryan being the poster child for that. He stays, he's maybe the   career leader in program history for 3s.
Adam
12:10
Hi Tom - You mentioned in an earlier question the idea of Blake realizing he could really use another year at the NCAA level before making the jump. I absolutely think it'd benefit him to come back for one more year, but do you have any sense of the likelihood of that happening? Wouldn't blame him one bit if he decides to go - gotta get that NBA money where you can - but as an ND fan fingers crossed he takes one more year. Thanks!
AvatarThomas Noie
12:11
Adam: That's a slippery slope, to "get that NBA money while you can." No, no, no. You gotta be good enough and driven enough and focused enough to get to that second NBA contract. That's where the real money is. If it's all about the money, then yeah, Blake Wesley leaves in the spring. But if it's about being a PRO, like being a 10-year guy, he works on his game and is an even better/more finished product in 2023-24. Right?
Zach S
12:11
How much stock do you take in that horrid Duke game last week? Do you think we can realistically get them in the ACC tourney if matched up? That felt like an outlier game, but Duke notably does defend the 3 really well. Maybe it’s just a bad matchup? Curious what your thoughts are. Go Irish!
AvatarThomas Noie
12:13
Zach: Good point, but here's also a key factor - the Irish basically wet their pants when they ran out of the locker room and saw a full house and those Duke uniforms and K and the ESPN cameras on. Like, that was big-time college basketball and this Notre Dame group has never played in a big-time college basketball atmosphere. Remember, it beat Duke last year at Cameron Indoor with no fans in the stands. It was an adjustment. Notre Dame wanted it perhaps too much. They were tight and couldn't function. A rematch with Duke on a neutral court? Might be a different story. Would be nice to find out, right?
Justin, Ft Wayne
12:13
You going to be at anymore away games and the ACC tournament?
AvatarThomas Noie
12:15
Justin: Fingers crossed that we can get to the ACC Tournament. Travel these days are tricky, for myriad reasons. I miss it, but in other ways, I don't. But if there's any year to be in Brooklyn, this might be the one. Especially since there just could be more basketball to come the following week.
Chris in New York
12:19
Tom how do you feel about NCAA chances given the lack of Quad 1 wins and overall awfulness if ACC.  What do they need to do to be called on March 13th
AvatarThomas Noie
12:20
Chris: Notre Dame is 10-3 in the league with seven ACC games remaining - four at home, three on the road. Hold serve at home, steal a sixth league road win and Selection Sunday takes care of itself if Notre Dame finishes 15-5 in the league.
Jason
12:20
How would you describe Dane Goodwins game? He seems to be well rounded with no elite skills but good at everything. What past nd player would you compare him to or maybe he’s a combination of 2 players?
AvatarThomas Noie
12:20
Jason: Steve Vasturia on Line One.
Tim from Evanston
12:23
Did something specific happen after the bad loss to BC and/or the crossroads loss to Indiana to help turn things around?  Was there a players only meeting or something similar where the seniors finally stepped up and took accountability?  Feels like the team's confidence and play started to evolve and improve after that stretch.  They've shown flashes of this potential in previous seasons but how have they been able to sustain this level over the last 15 games or so of their current hot streak?
AvatarThomas Noie
12:27
Tim: Great stuff. Don't think anything had to be said after the Boston College game where Notre Dame never led, trailed by 23 and lost by  16 to the team picked to finish last in the league. It was more a collective decision that this #$%@ stops and it stops right now. Time to wake up and get serious about defending and figuring out who they could be. That was the end of a really brutal stretch where Texas A&M took its collective heart in Vegas the previous week before the high-intensity atmosphere/loss to Illinois, which is really good. Indiana? Notre Dame was more encouraged than deflated after that one. The Irish played well in that road atmosphere (and it was a road game) against a high-level opponent. They were closer than what many of us believed. It was just a matter of those seven guys collectively clicking. And you can't underestimate/value how much confidence matters. Once they were able to string some league wins/road wins together, that confidence was like a rocket.
John R.
12:27
We’ve all heard the hype around Wesley being a potential lottery pick. If he gets word at the end of the year from his advisors that he will be a lottery pick, how does Brey (and should Brey) bring him back? While we fans obviously want him back, I couldn’t fault the kid for going to the NBA. Of course he could always benefit from more coaching before making the jump, it just seems like a lottery pick is too much to pass up. Do you think we are in real danger of him not coming back?
AvatarThomas Noie
12:29
John: Sure, because when it comes to decision time, Blake Wesley will have to decide what he wants. Is it enough for him to be a lottery pick, because if it is, it's over. Mike Brey will shake his hand and thank him for the year and wish him well. But does he want to truly be an NBA player? Look, he won't develop in that league, especially if he goes to a bad team, the way he'd develop at Notre Dame. He just won't. Is he mature enough to work through all that at that level? One more year gives him a lot more to take with him to the league to where he's not only a lottery pick, he's a pro. There's a massive difference.
Tim from Evanston
12:30
Tom - feels like Wesley has gotten a number of critical baskets for ND this year where he simply drove to the hoop and used his superior athleticism to score (just ask Louisville both times we played them).  ND doesn't typically have guys with this kind of physical ability but perhaps from what I read about the upcoming recruiting classes, more are on the way.  Who is the last ND player that you can remember who could call his own number and go one on one like that for a big bucket when it was needed?
AvatarThomas Noie
12:30
Tim: Jerian Grant on Line One as well. Bonzie Colson too. There have been a few, but few with the overall mix of athleticism and stones.
South Bend Bob
12:30
Mr Noie:  No questions,  sir; just a thank you for your terrific work and dedication to local journalism.
AvatarThomas Noie
12:31
My man! As they say, say it louder for the people in the back! grinning
joe from the south side
12:31
Tom, Buzz showed that the press can kill ND, so that is no surprise.  The other way to beat them is to do what Duke did.  Unfortunately, only 5 or 6 teams in the country have that kind of talent makeup to play DEF the way Coach K did.  Brey can use Atkinson to receive the inbound pass off the press, since no Big DEF is ever going to play that far from the basket, Paul will be open.  You bring the inbounder, say Hubb, toward Atkinson for a pass and Hubb can rub off his defender on the Atkinson screen.
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