JotCast | Notre Dame men's basketball March chat

Notre Dame men's basketball March chat

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Brian Royal Oak MI

11:05

What big time high school player would want to come sit on the bench for 2 years? NCST played 3 freshmen last night and they looked good, though 75% of time no one was guarding them.

Thomas Noie

11:05

Paul: Love your energy and enthusiasm, but when the team you cover for six, seven months out of the year isn't one of those bids, it really doesn't much matter.

Paul (Annandale, VA)

11:04

How many bids for March Madness are the ACC going to get this season? Go Irish!!! 🇺🇸❤️☘️🏀🍀🇮🇪🌎

Thomas Noie

11:04

Joe: It's a systematic failure. From top to bottom and everywhere in between. Touching every aspect of the program. The head coach got complacent, but so did the junior class. They've never gotten any better. They were the No. 15 class in the country. That wasn't Brey saying that. That wasn't me saying that. That was the national recruiting consensus. It's stunning to see them and the total lack of want-to since the second half of the Syracuse game.

joe from the south side

11:03

Tom: A few chats ago I said this team lacked three things, an offensive identity, athleticism and heart. Clearly, they have quit on Brey. Do you find this shocking? I do. Remember he is the "loosest coach in America." I mean, if you buy into the whole ND experience, how could you not want to play for a guy who wants to win 88-80 every night. Is there some thing you can point to whereby this season when into meltdown mode?

Thomas Noie

11:02

Brian: And do this whole dance five years from now? Another hard sell.

Brian Royal Oak MI

11:02

It’s time for Brey to move on. System does not work without NBA talent. John Beilein is looking for work and a perfect fit at ND. Get him now for 5 years.

Thomas Noie

11:02

Gregg: I'll have a better idea when we see how this offseason shakes out. For obvious reasons. Change is coming. How deeply does it cut at Notre Dame?

Gregg

11:01

Are we going to be a better team next year, or is going to be the same story with this group. Beat all of the average teams and not come up big against the good ones?

Thomas Noie

11:01

Chris: There's always a chance, but a realistic one given what we've seen since the second half of the Syracuse game? I'm not counting on Saturday to be anywhere near competitive. And if it is, that just adds to the frustration - if you can get up for the No. 11 team in the country, why can't you truck the last-place team?

Chris, Virginia

11:00

Tom, Any chance Irish can beat FSU? I do not see ND firing Brey, if he wants to retire that is a different story do you agree? A challenging financial year is complicating things.

Thomas Noie

11:00

Joe: It's hard to go the one-more-year route. Because what does that buy? What happens if it all goes sideways next season? And then, EARLY next season. It already seems like it's been a month since the game ended barely 12 hours ago. I can't imagine going through that for weeks on end. That one more year better carry with it a whole boatload of provisions to change up the program. It's something I don't see Mike Brey doing - these are my guys, this is how I roll. He'd rather walk away than cut those guys on the staff loose.

joe from the south side

10:58

Tom: I think there are two separate questions at play. Should Mike Brey be gone? Yes. Will he? Not so sure. Depends on who decides and what are the provisions in his contract. Personally, I think he gets one more shot. COVID, abnormal circumstances, etc......remember Wertz was not supposed to play this year at all. It remains to be seen if the administration can turn their back on such a loyal employee. Where are you on this?

Thomas Noie

10:58

Tim: No, because that's the way of the college basketball world. Remember when Notre Dame landed Humphrey? Then Miller? Transfers back then were so rare. Now, it's almost an area of recruiting separate from recruiting. Some college coaches recruit transfers more than they recruit high school kids. Just wait if the one-time transfer rule goes through this offseason. It will be Thunderdome. The Wild West. A three-ring recruiting circus. More schools will recruit transfers than high school kids. Why? Get old, stay old and win faster. That's what college basketball has become.

Tim from Chicago

10:55

No doubt Brey has had success with transfer students in the past - danny miller, humphrey, scott martin, etc off the top of my head, but these guys came in one at a time and were spaced apart from what I recall. Is part of the recent problem bringing in such a large volume of transfer students during a short timeframe and expecting them to gel right away together- Durham, Wertz, Ryan, and now the guy from Yale next season?

Thomas Noie

10:54

Paul: This season has maybe two more games remaining, so, I'd say so. Beyond this season? Wouldn't say that.

Paul (Annandale, VA)

10:53

ND men basketball did have a tough schedule since a few easy games got canceled so Coach Brey should be ok this season?

Thomas Noie

10:53

Danno: Too many to count. Or even consider. Besides, his asking price would be too high. Hard pass on that one.

Danno, Manhattan Beach

10:52

Hey Tom. I have an interesting new coach idea. Let's say Rick Pitino goes to confession. We'd have to forgive him for all he's done if we're gonna call ourselves a Catholic school. Then we got a big time hire. "Forgive me father, for I have directed staff to buy prostitutes for my prospective players." How many Hail Marys for that?

Thomas Noie

10:52

Justin: All true, but also the chance to maybe play right away and play in the ACC. And then, there's the education, something those in Section 115 apparently are wasting given their decision to do what they did last night. It takes a different kind of kid to want to attend Notre Dame. The challenge is to find the right ones. For the most part, Brey and his staff have done that.

Justin, Columbia City

10:51

Coach deserved better than to be on the receiving end of cancel culture from Sec 115 in the first home game with even a hint of fans in the stands. There's no doubt, everyone expected better the last few years from a program that has made us accustomed to groups over achieving, but that was embarrassing. I wish there were easy answers, but I don't see any. How does one sell this program on the recruiting trail? Sure, it's the ACC, but miserable winters, high academic standards, three straight years of under performing teams, etc.

Thomas Noie

10:51

Tim: Great point, and an ignored issue in this whole equation. Maybe it was just too much too soon for them. I can't say. But they haven't developed in the ways the staff believed and the fans hoped. That's hurt, because there were no other options.

Tim from Chicago

10:49

Hi Tom, I just can't get over how the current junior class has under-achieved during their first three years under Brey. Know that Carmody never really got his start, but it feels ironic that one of Mike's best classes on paper might ultimately push him out of coaching at ND. What went wrong, things felt so hopeful three years ago?

Thomas Noie

10:49

Ryan: Notre Dame has two graduate students in Juwan Durham and Nik Djogo who will move on to the next phases of their basketball careers/lives next season. They will not return.

Ryan mars pa

10:48

Good day Tom any players coming back next year of Covid rule or is it not for basketball go Irish beat Florida state and the acc tournament

Thomas Noie

10:48

Adam: Too early to tell on all three. All should be in the rotation, but a whole lot needs to be sorted out in the offseason. Who's the head coach? Does anyone transfer? All will factor into where those three fit. First thing's first - Wesley and Konieczny will need to devote themselves to some serious weight training to get their frames up to ACC standards. Taylor will need a big helping of pickup in the offseason to get back into game shape/conditioning/rhythm.

Adam, Joliet

10:46

Where could we expect to see Blake Wesley and JR Konieczny fall into the rotation next year? Also what could Elijah Taylor bring to this group that this team might be lacking?

Thomas Noie

10:41

Paul: He's probably not getting fired. Think of it more as a forced retirement. Thanks for the 21 years, but it's just time to go a different direction. Again, we're probably not having this conversation if the Irish looked and played differently against Louisville and Boston College and North Carolina State. But they've barely been competitive the last three games. Really, since the second half of the Syracuse game. That's on them, yes, but it's also on the head coach, who needs to know the next button to press.

Paul (Annandale, VA)

10:39

Why would coach Brey get canned? I don’t think this should happen.

Thomas Noie

10:39

Jeff: Not enough time in the day to unpack the reasons. Recruiting, player development, injuries, recruiting misses. Throw it all together and you're left with where and what this program is today.

Jeff, Fort Wayne

10:38

What happened?? Elite 8’s, then the best recruiting class in years, and now the program appears to be lost.

Thomas Noie

10:38

Dylan: Good question. A Brey reboot/teardown or time to start over? One or the other. It might be the other.

Dylan from MN

I am a mid 20’s die hard ND fan. Up until recently, I have had probably 5x more memorable ND hoops moments in my lifetime than football moments, all thanks to Mike Brey. It’s really tough to see it end like this. What happened to the home win streaks? College game day?? Ranked wins? Where do we go from here?

10:38

Tom, thanks for the continued coverage.. what a crazy year it has been.

Thomas Noie

10:37

Paul: Absolutely. Think of everything that every college coach has had to maneuver through and around and across this season. It's been a year-long headache and hassle. But.....playing hard and playing together and playing connected but still coming up short these last four games would be one thing. The way Notre Dame has lost - and looked - speak to deeper issues than just the pandemic. This is a team that's simply playing out the string. It's too harsh to say they don't care, but they don't care enough. There's a difference.

Paul (Annandale, VA)

10:35

I would like to give Coach Brey a break since the COVID it all over the world. You?

Thomas Noie

10:35

Pat: It ends with Mike Brey announcing that he's decided to retire. He's not going to be fired, nor should he be. He has his coaching faults, as we all do, but the winningest coach in program history deserves to go out with some class. He'll say that this is his decision and it's time to decompress and lead the good life in Florida. But in the end, it won't be his decision. It will be window dressing of being told that this is the way this is going to go.

Pat from Bordentown, NJ

10:34

Hi Tom - thanks for the great coverage as always. After last night and the last few weeks - one simple (?) question - how does this end, in your opinion?

Thomas Noie

10:33

Dave: Whoa, an actual basketball x and o question. Thank you! Similar to why Notre Dame doesn't defend very well. Ball screens is about want-to and execution. Know when to get to a certain spot and hold that spot, then let your basketball IQ take over. Stay with the screen or roll to the hoop? There's an unspoken communication needed between guard and big to complete the play - do A, B or C. These guys just don't have that. Do they practice it? Do they teach it? I don't know.

Dave

10:31

Can you tell me why it seems that high ball screens give us trouble to defend but our ball screens are totally ineffective?

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