Not trying to sugar coat a disappointing season, but a few things to keep in mind:
Of the Final Four, ND beat 2 of the 4 and if you throw out the last game anomaly (hope it was an anomaly), lost to a third on a last second goal.
Bottom line: as in prior years, we are as good or better than any of the top teams in the country when healthy.
That being said, our FOGO has been abysmal and obviously needs to improve, our man up and man down was poor this year (usually a strongpoint), there was no apparent speed dodger who could go one on one and score - Garnsey, when healthy , was crafty. Byrne has the speed, but can't seem to put it in the net. Others - Gleason, Costibile, Collins - showed flashes but only occasionally. No one seemed to be able to initiate the offense and find the open shot. And finally, when we found ourselves against the top coaches, we seemed to get outcoached - they made adjustments, we didn't.
Then we are destroyed by Denver, at a neutral site, in the tournament. There's the problem. We don't appear to improve during the season, as others here have pointed out. I think that is what is frustrating to people.