That was the most poignant post in a long thread about the abomination that Texas A&M put in that has reduced their 12th man to the 11.25th man. To be clear, fans hate it because it replaces genuine fan participation and experience with an artificial one.

For an excellent take on Notre Dame’s unique place in college football and decisions, see CJC’s The case for one subjective preference over another (long)

Or listen to a Tennessee fan,

“There is something I am encountering every time I walk into Neyland Stadium these days, and it may just make me give up football and head for the nearest golf course It’s called . . . the Jumbotron. First, it converts the thrill and pageantry of a college football game into drive-in movie theater. After every play, 100,000 fans at Neyland face south and watch the instant replay on the Jumbotron. The second problem I have with the Jumbotron is that during time outs you have to turn your attention to the Jumbotron to watch a race between hot dogs”

Or a Texas fan,

“I don’t hate the advertising as much as I hate the noise, it detracts from the gameday experience.”

What’s clearly evident to the rest of the college football world, Notre Dame seems either purposefully or calculatingly deaf and blind to. They do seem determined to make sure you’re not deaf or blind to advertisements and promotional videos in the future.

Most know that I think Jack Swarbrick has done a heck of job bringing changes to the program, from the training table to medical staff, the program is finally a program. That written, the recent Swarbrick comments somehow implying Rockne would want a jumbotron are absurd. Nothing in Rockne’s past implies that he would want something to interrupt the authentic experience of the game. And to be clear, what Rockne  was great at was recognizing uniqueness and using it to his advantage, he was not about aspirational mediocrity.

Rockne was a salesman for sure, but he sold Notre Dame’s disadvantages in a way that inspired people to do better. Rockne used innovation to turn disadvantages into advantages (like barnstorming).  It’s not of little note that Rockne had to try new things in his era as he was building the audience back then, he was not acting as the steward of the shrine of college football created 90 years earlier by Rockne himself as Swarbrick is.  Swarbrick’s mission is to “First Do No Harm.”

Here’s where this whole argument that “Notre Dame needs to get with the times” falls apart. Notre Dame could get rid of the scoreboards and announcer and would still pack the stadium for a winning team. So let’s kill this canard that Notre Dame has to stay “current”… it has to stay true to the experience, which at Notre Dame is more intimate than at any school in the country. Rockne would sell that, not trade that.

Recruiting? We just hauled in what is arguably a top 5 recruiting class in the country. A jumbotron would just be a sell out for dollars under the guise of “modernization”. And to degrade the one unique experience in college football to be like everyone else would  constitute both stupidity from a branding perspective and a long-term dollar mistake. Ultimately more dollars will be made from keeping the brand unique than could ever be made by pummeling fans, already inundated by video and audio in every part of their lives, with more overkill at Notre Dame stadium.

In a world full of manufactured experiences, what people crave now is an authentic and intimate experience. The mistake would be to try to be like everyone else and kill the one unique experience left in college football . I’ve met many great people by turning and talking to my neighbors in the seat next to me about plays rather than having us all mindlessly cheering and yelling for Jumbotron replays. It’s not the mission of Notre Dame to fill in any open mental spots with video stimulus. Chatting with your neighbors is far more valuable in allowing people to connect (and far more likely to make them want to come back.) The real question that Notre Dame has to answer is, “how is the Notre Dame experience unique and how can we keep it to that it endures as a symbol that stands out rather than become a trend chasing follower ?” And make no mistake the new designs for Notre Dame stadium will serve up jumbotrons in the experience. And that would be mistake.

Jumbotrons are an assault on the senses that detract from the experience. The argument that “Rockne would do it” is an insult to the intelligence of the community.

Here’s how to clear out the noise around the issue. As I wrote in 2007:

Much of the debate over Jumbotrons and other ideas that could kill the Golden Goose of the Notre Dame brand could be answered very simply by defining exactly what the mission of the Notre Dame experience was, is and should be. From this all options should flow.

This whole notion of “everything being on the table” shows a complete lack of understanding of the special place that Notre Dame is. Most companies would kill for the unique branding that ND owns in the world of college football. In fact, attaining Notre Dame’s level of uniqueness is the hardest branding issue that exists and Notre Dame owns it almost by default. Yet, if you listen to some, Notre Dame needs to “get with the times”, “keep up with the competition” and “keep all options open.”

Here’s where emphasizing tradition and experience pays off in both the revenue and branding: Once you commit to this thought process, it raises your level of thinking and creates more and unique options. If one only looks at the landscape that is revenue generation based on current methods, then you, by default, will be picking an option that dilutes the brand. If you focus on enhancing the game day experience, there are a myriad of corporate opportunities that will flow from taking this approach that will ultimately have greater value as a marketing channel for corporations and build the brand that will create still greater value. Building the brand yields greater and unique options for marketing. Having unique options allows you to enhance the brand. Enhancing the brand…

ND needs to think outside of the toilet bowl. Many companies are forced into bad choices by the market or private equity pressure. Notre Dame doesn’t have that liability.

Focus on improving the game-day experience. Expound and resurrect traditions that are unique.

ND is now the lone steward of the authentic game day experience, it would be a travesty to give that away for dollars or trends or just because it “seems like we should. If you want to internalize this, think of this Kevin White’s old school, ASU. This article is the ghost of Notre Dame’s future.

“The band strikes up the school fight song.
The crowd roars with anticipation.
But not for long.

The PA system combines with the giant electronic video board to quash the cheering with a blaring, 30-second commercial for Biddulph Oldsmobile.

The natural tension of the moment evaporates.
For the ASU athletic department, the only tally that appears to matter is the more than $2 million it rakes in each year from “corporate partners” whose jingles, slogans and come-ons bombard Sun Devil football fans.

It’s 90 seconds ’til kickoff.
Jeff Munn is recognizing the 13 millionth fan to enter Sun Devil Stadium since it opened in 1958. The occasion turns into a marketing moment with striking similarities to a Jerry Colangelo-produced sporting event.

“That fan is seated in section 8, row 32, seat 1. That fan will receive round-trip tickets for two on America West Airlines, a $50 gift certificate to be honored at Don and Charlie’s Restaurant and $50 in gasoline from 76/Circle K and a bouquet of cookies from Cookies in Bloom. Congratulations!”

Sixty seconds to kickoff. A heavy-metal track called “The Zoo,” by an obscure 1980s German band the Scorpions, pulses through the PA system, obliterating any attempt by the crowd, cheerleaders or band to stir up some action….

http://www.ndnation.com/boards/showpost.php?b=faq;pid=22;d=this

There’s plenty to like about the design, provided that it doesn’t include a giant blaring television screen. I’ve never been opposed to luxury boxes, since they’re likely to draw the corporate-type, sit-on-their-hands-and-shush-you fans out of the lower bowl. I also see the value in giving the Stadium the capability of hosting a wider range of events, although I’d be interested to see what kind of events they had in mind. Nothing about the pictures looks untoward or otherwise garish, so I have no issues on a taste level.

In fact, after perusing the plans and pictures and sampling some of the discussion on Rock’s House, I really was left with only one question:

This is going to be done after the basketball practice facility, right?

You remember, the practice facility that was promised to Mike Brey and Muffet McGraw over 10 years ago? The one that replaces the cinder-box gym with embedded columns, and actually gives ND basketball players dedicated workout, meeting, training and recovery areas? The kind of place even programs who don’t have a history of success have built or are planning to build?

I have to assume the answer to my question is “yes”. After all, how could it be otherwise? How could the pictures released today be anything but a slap in the face to Brey and McGraw — McGraw especially, given her team’s three straight trips to the Final Four — if somehow the multiple millions of dollars needed to upgrade Notre Dame Stadium for the second time in 20 years are sitting around available or otherwise easily accessible, while fundraising efforts for the much-needed practice facility fly so far under the radar you’d wonder if there’s even a radar?

It has to be “yes”. How would it look if “right now, we’re nowhere close” on a basketball practice facility, with no conceptual drawings, money, or even a concrete plan, while designs like this can be brought out for public view? What would it say about Notre Dame’s actual commitment to basketball (as opposed to the talk-is-cheap version) if a major plan can be put together to buttress fundraising efforts for a heretofore unannounced plan for football but not for a going-on-15-years plan for hoops?

There’s no way it can’t be “yes”. How could Jack Swarbrick look Mike Brey and Muffet McGraw in the eyes if it were not? How could he say with a straight face to Jerian Grant, Eric Atkins, Zach Auguste, Demetrius Jackson, Steve Vasturia, and all their teammates that Notre Dame is dedicated to championship-level basketball and wants to give them all the tools they need to succeed? What would Brey and McGraw say to recruits who saw the conditions of the Pit and then saw signs with the planned football expansion hanging right outside of it if their upgrade weren’t the higher priority?

How can it not be “yes”? Plenty of men’s basketball programs make money for their schools, so an investment like that to improve the experience of the current student athletes and increase the chances of attracting more certainly isn’t unreasonable. Sure, football is the most popular sport on campus, but even the biggest football fan out there would admit a second stadium upgrade in 20 years when the basketball programs are going on 50+ in their concrete coffin is unreasonable. Non-money-capable sports like Fencing and Golf got significant facility upgrades because it was the right thing to do, not because dollars could be brought in as a result.

Gotta be “yes”. Can’t be otherwise.

Because if it is……………………

He told us that our description of our father sounded much like Father Dan, a priest who became principle of St. Rita “back in the day”. He told  stories of what a tough SOB Dan was, a man who was paralyzed in an automobile accident. My mother’s eyes lit up as Dan was, as far as we can tell, one of my father’s few close friends growing up as they both went to St. Rita elementary. To find such a connection at a cemetery hundreds of miles and decades away from where we all live now was meaningful.

He empathized and smiled and laughed as he’d known the odd combination of sting and love that comes with being tutored by a man who defined himself as tough. In those days, he told us, there was no choice.

Indeed, my father reveled in stories of playing basketball at the “Y” surrounded by supporting columns (“perfect for body checks on perimeter”,) he loved showing off his football scars and talking about playing ball in the streets. Whether it was all or part lore, it helped him define who he was just as Notre Dame defined him. Though he was proud of his Kellogg degree attained at night school, it was Notre Dame,  though he never went there, that drove him to success.

As much as Notre Dame’s lore was partly built by subway alums across the country, subway alums were built by Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish might as well been the Fighting Italians, Germans, Pols and Irish, for they all seemed to be fighting through life and clinging to a vision of hope that the Dome represented. Besides he used to say, only half joking, that with a name like Wally you had to fight.

To guys like my father, faith, excellence, toughness and ND went hand in hand. Later, when the family moved east, and we’d drive to visit the family in Chicago, we’d always drive by the dome and stop. When it came to Saturday’s, football wasn’t optional, but football also wasn’t always the point. Never a game would go by that my father wouldn’t remind me that he would guarantee college funding if I got into Notre Dame. It was a great disappointment to him that he never got to spend that money at ND. But he would always pepper games with stories and lessons that, at least in his mind, Notre Dame stood for and at the core of those principals was that you had to fight for excellence.

Indeed, you could hit that man with a bat and he wouldn’t back down. Not just because he was tough, but because he believed, he had a conviction, that you never gave in and he held on to that idea of fighting through life like a PitBull locked down on a thrown branch.

My father in an odd way saw himself as a little Rockne. Despite “40 years never missing a day of work as an engineer”, he prided himself on the championships he used to win coaching Little-League baseball and Pop-Warner football. Hell the man even won the Pinewood derby twice. We’d like to claim credit, but we know the truth. We played tougher than every other team, hustled every play and outworked them because he made us.

Pardon my bringing a personal story to you and I don’t expect any sympathy for a man who lived to his age, but it’s safe to say NDNation would not exist at all as is does if not for old Wally.  And I don’t think old Wally would have been as successful without Notre Dame. When people used to wonder why I worked on “that damn website” all the time (back before Kabong came on and helped automate the site I used to hard code everything which almost got me fired several times), I’d just smile.

And it was worth every minute.

My father’s tough view on life eventually led to my mother divorcing him, a searing red mark of shame on a Roman Catholic from the South side of Chicago. His response was to get tough on himself to the point where he didn’t like life very much. Taking him to Notre Dame games and talking Notre Dame was really the only enduring connection we had.

He fought a little too hard against life, but he fought to the end because it defined him and, in many ways, his generation. It’s been over five years since they gave him a week to live and a year since they gave him days. In the end, he went down fighting as the man he saw himself to be, the Fighting ____________ who dreamed of Golden Domes, Chicago streets and trying, imperfectly, to give his family a better life.

In that way, we are, as a family, indebted to and imbued by Notre Dame.

I got the opportunity to ask five … er, three questions of Keith Arnold over at Inside the Irish, who provided his responses below. I was, in turn, queried by the guys at Her Loyal Sons, where I provided my thoughts. Rounding out the group for this issue are the guys at Subway Domer, so be sure to check their article out as well.

EK: While watching the game, which (if any) non-early-admit incoming freshman’s name popped to mind with the thought “He’s definitely going to make a difference when he gets here because we need the help”?

KA: Probably two names, one on offense the other on defense. Running back Greg Bryant should be really interesting to watch. With his pedigree, he might be the type of natural talent that can walk in and get some carries. It’d be fairly unprecedented in the Kelly era (even Aaron Lynch and Stephon Tuitt were part-time players), but I’m not sure George Atkinson is a work-horse type back, and while I really think Cam McDaniel is going to be a productive college player, I’m not so sure he’s a guy that’ll keep the ball out of Bryant’s hands. (Saying that, watch Tarean Folston walk in and make an instant impact…)

On defense, as much as I want to say Max Redfield or Jaylon Smith, I really think Eddie Vanderdoes is going to play a lot up front. While it was nice to see Kona Schwenke and Tyler Stockton have nice spring games, I think Vanderdoes walks onto campus ahead of those two veterans on the depth chart. We haven’t seen a guy like Vanderdoes along the front of a Notre Dame defensive line. I’m curious to see if he’s the type of guy ND thought they were getting when Shaun Cody stood the Irish up at the altar. Vanderdoes is a freaky athlete, and without Chase Hounshell, you’ve got to think he’ll see even more time than Sheldon Day did last year.

EK: Speaking of early admission, we have a lot of examples to point to as players have been admitted in the January of their senior year in high school and have matriculated through Notre Dame. Some have stayed, some have not. Some have succeeded, some have not. While the need to “keep up with the Joneses” likely makes the program impossible to change, do you think the program has been successful for college football in general and Notre Dame in particular, and why or why not?

KA: Notre Dame’s track record with early-enrollees hasn’t been entirely sparkling. Watching guys like Gunner Kiel, Tee Shepard, and Aaron Lynch leave school after showing up early reminds you that it’s a complex decision. Calling a program like this successful for college football — or even Notre Dame in general — is almost beside the point. It’s happening. And like so many other things that come down the NCAA pipeline, it really doesn’t matter if it’s good for the kid/school/process.

At Notre Dame, I do think the university does their best to make sure that the kid has a shot to succeed. In situation’s like Shepard’s, what that means gets far more complicated, but in other situations that don’t work out (Kiel, Lynch, Spencer Boyd), it likely would’ve ended the same way if the student-athlete enrolled in summer like everyone else.

EK: There have been a lot of changes in the makeup of the Blue/Gold game in the past 10 years – scoring method, personnel groupings, etc. What change do you think has been the most beneficial, and what change would you like to see eliminated?

KA: I gave up a long time ago on hoping that the Blue-Gold game would fulfill all of our dreams. At this time of year, who doesn’t get over-excited to see their favorite team play? While the marketing department doesn’t want you to believe it, the Blue-Gold game is probably the 15th most important practice of the spring to the coaching staff. For the most part, there are two goals: 1) Don’t get anyone hurt, and 2) Don’t show anybody anything interesting on tape.

I think all the scoring/personnel tweaks are a direct result of having some roster deficiencies that are almost cleared up. But for my money, I’d love to see a draft incorporated, something like what USF did this spring. (Cue Springsteen) Back in my day on the baseball team, we did a Blue-Gold fall series of baseball games, and the draft was always a ton of fun.

Pitting Bob Diaco’s Blue Team vs. Chuck Martin’s White Squad would be wonderfully entertaining. But I think the competitive nature of all parties involved would likely end up showing far too much schematically, if only to end up with bragging rights through the summer.

So what to expect from this box of chocolates this Saturday given that you have to take your chocolate with a grain of salt? Not a bad combo, btw.

The big news out of spring is that Kelly has handed over play-calling duties to Martin. Last year Kelly said that Martin would give him choices and Kelly would call the plays, but many suggested Martin was fully in charge by the end of the year. Regardless, Martin will be calling plays this Saturday. Of the few notes from spring, the offense has been practicing the fade and running option plays.

The biggest question mark heading into 2013 is how much Everett Golson’s evolution will affect the offense. The coaches have focused on aligning Golson’s immense talent with his decision-making. As Kelly mentioned last year, Golson has always had the art part of the QB equation and the physical skills, the key to a great versus a good offense will be how he executes the science of the position. Kelly operates an offense predicated on unconscious competence (repping plays until you can perform them unconsciously) which is a key element in being able to dictate tempo. Notre Dame used very little tempo in the first three years due to the QB situations, but expect that to change this year. If Golson can master the science he is simply fantastic throwing on the run and Notre Dame’s putrid offense could finally ignite.

Of the backups, Hendrix has been more accurate and Rees has gained strength. I wouldn’t be surprised to see either QB look much improved on Saturday. Malik Zaire has reportedly come in as a great student of the game. He’s already built better than Golson and is an excellent runner. His passing is fairly accurate even with his big looping Tebow-motion. QB seems to be fully stabilized.

Perhaps the biggest surprise at running back has been the chatter around Cam McDaniel, whose cameo at Miami last year opened some eyes. McDaniel is very quick, runs low, works well in traffic and catches the ball exceedingly well out of the backfield. He’s been pushing George Atkinson, who’s starting to look more like a running back, but some seem to still doubt whether or not he’s enough of a true running back to carry the load as an every down back. He has caught the ball well and has blazing open field speed.

The front line wide receiver corps looks strong, but thin. TJ Jones is a very polished and consistent receiver. DaVaris Daniels still has the big P (potential) label, but has made some noticeable strides in the weight room and has made some spectacular grabs. There still seems to be some doubt about his heart and head, but little about his ability. CJ Prosise has been working in the slot and in a few short clips has caused more than a few jaws to loosen and descend. He’s a big kid with great speed, but still very raw after shifting from safety. Hopes seem to be very high for Amir Carlisle, but Carlisle is injured again and won’t play on Saturday. Of the backups, Corey Robinson has been performing “admirably”, the 6’5” son of David Robinson has made spectacular catch after spectacular catch and his catching radius (new term) is off the charts. He’s reminding many of Maurice Stovall.

Thor Niklas has been the story at Tight End. The giant former California Lineman of the Year shifted from linebacker to Tight End last year and has emerged as both a blocking and catching threat with Eifert moving on. Word is that he’s going to be next in the line of Irish greats and at 6’7” 265, he’ll give the staff fantastic options. Ben Koyack has also looked very good in the few clips I saw and has decided that blocking is a Tight End’s job. Alex Welch is back. He brings a strong blocking element and has made some great catches in practice. In sum, the tight end position is strong and deep.

There is a lot of concern about the offense line, which lost Braxton Cave at center and Mike Golic at guard position. Nick Martin and Matt Hegarty are running 1-2 at center and while it’s usually difficult to measure yourself against yourself, Martin and Hegarty have been going against Nix (who looks like he ate Cave) and doing well. Overall, some good noise coming from the OL, but tough to make much of it at this point. With Martin, Lombard and Watt returning the Irish have three big seasoned OL to build around. Let’s hope no one gets hurt. A lot of eyes are on Elmer and Stanley, two potential stars. Stanley is recovering from elbow surgery, but is a big kid.

Speaking of Irish Chocolate, the DL will be enormous on one side with Nix in the 360 range and Tuitt at 322. Sheldon Day is a bit undersized but brings a honey badger quality to defensive end. Kona Schwenke is bigger and has been more aggressive. If they stay hungry (and apparently Lou and Stephon have) this Notre Dame line will again be among the best in the country.

Linebacker is intriguing. Only Shembo at Cat seems set in stone. Ishaq Williams is bigger, but is he better? He’s been playing some defensive end in passing situations. Spond and Councell both bring excellent athleticism to the Dog position and are reportedly battling like cats and dogs. With heralded Jaylon Smith coming in, the Dog, traditionally the most difficult position on the field to recruit for, looks stacked. No one will replace Teo’s intangibles, but the Irish bring a lot of experience back on the inside with Fox and the under-appreciated Carlo Calabrese (needs to get his people on that – I kid Carlo, I kid). It’s a luxury to bring back two talented experienced kids like Fox and Calabrese to pair with werewolf Jarrett Grace (whom the coaches are very high on) and the talented enigma, Kendall Moore.

The big surprise at defensive back has been the emergence of Elijah Schumate who’s been registering big hits. Keivarae Russell, despite getting roasted by CJ Prosise in practice, has matured into his frame and looks ready for a great year two. I’m reminded of Diaco’s quote, pre-Miami, “He’ll probably be the best corner in the country before it’s all said and done”.

If you’re worried about punt returns and I know you are, word is that if Amir Carlisle stays healthy he might get the nod next year. I wouldn’t be surprised if Collinsworth does well there.

By that I mean does more than fair catch it.

Go Irish

The Irish played a terrible first half thanks primarily to 14 turnovers that began with their first possession. Nevertheless, Jack Cooley grabbed an offensive rebound and put it into the basket to cut ISU’s lead to 10 and, presumably, send his team to the locker room feeling like it was in the game.

But no.

The ball wasn’t through the net before Cyclones Head Coach Fred Hoiberg called timeout to stop the clock and give his team one last chance to score. When the game resumed, Will Clyburn took the inbounds pass in the backcourt, dribbled the length of the court, and laid the ball into the basket ahead of the buzzer to send ISU to the locker room on a high note.

Notre Dame didn’t force the ball to the sideline, didn’t step forward to stop the ball, and didn’t contest the shot.

One team was in the moment – ready to call timeout immediately to get one last chance to score and ready to attack the basket. The other team was unprepared and confused about what to do. That was the entire game in a nutshell. That has been Notre Dame’s NCAA Tournament performance since 2003 in a nutshell.

Systematic Failure

Winthrop, Washington State, Florida State, Iowa State… That’s four first weekend blowout losses in the last six trips to the NCAA Tournament, three to lower seeds. The other two tournaments featured close first weekend losses to lower seeds, Old Dominion and Xavier, with ND contributing generously to its own demise.

This is not a record that can be explained by bad match-ups, bad luck, or bad officiating. This is systematic failure.

Mike Brey acknowledged the failure after Friday’s game. “I really would think it’s the next step for our program,” he said. “We’ve been so consistent in the regular season, and we haven’t been able to do much here. That’s what keeps me up at night and keeps me trying to figure out how we can be better at it.”

It sounds like Brey hasn’t been getting much sleep over the last ten years and won’t be sleeping much any time soon.

Why?

It’s baffling that a team can perform so well year in and year out in a conference considered among the best, often the best, in college basketball only to be outclassed by teams from less renowned conferences in the NCAA tournament. I have three possible reasons:

1. The team is tight.
2. The team is poorly prepared.
3. The team is both tight and poorly prepared.

I tend to believe #3 because a team that is not prepared is likely to be tight. If it isn’t tight going into the game, it will be as soon as it realizes that it doesn’t have answers for what its opponent is doing.

Preparation for the NCAA Tournament is different from preparation for conference games. Notre Dame plays the same coaches and therefore the same styles of play year after year. It sees mostly the same players on each team from one year to the next. Game plans are not created. They are revised.

Come the NCAA Tournament, opponents’ tactics, tendencies, and players are new. Game plans must be prepared from scratch, and they must be prepared on short notice. Given the results, given how poorly the team has played in tournament after tournament, it is awfully hard to believe that Mike Brey and his staff possess competency in this critical aspect of college basketball coaching.

Confidence is a result of preparation. Players who expect everything they see and know what to do about it will play with confidence. Players who believe their teammates are as prepared as they are will trust each other to be in position and carry out their assignments, thus allowing them to execute without hesitation. It has been a long time since Notre Dame has been prepared for an NCAA Tournament game. It has been a long time since Notre Dame basketball players acted like they felt prepared for an NCAA Tournament game.

If Mike Brey wants to succeed in the NCAA tournament and get some sleep at night, he better hire some assistants who excel at scouting, breaking down game film, and preparing game plans. I appreciate loyalty, but Brey will cost himself a job if he doesn’t make significant changes; and he will deserve it. He is just as responsible to the guys on the team as he is to his staff, and he has been doing disservice to the guys on the team by failing to prepare them for the tournament.

Hire one or more assistants from teams that succeed in the postseason. Do it now, Coach Brey, or your successor will.

And in 1989, I watched Doug Collins get fired as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls.

When Collins took the Bulls job, it was not one a good coach might want to take. Stan Albeck was 30-52 the previous season, and Kevin Lougherty had been just as awful the previous two seasons. But Collins got the Bulls’ feet under them, and in three years, had them up to 50 wins and solid conference finishes.

By the same token, though, the post-season was predictable. Every year, the Bad Boys from Detroit would come calling. Every year, the Bulls would go home empty handed. So after those three years, Jerry Reinsdorf decided it was time for a change, canning Collins and elevating assistant Phil Jackson to the head job.

I’ve never been one to make an emotional investment in the attrition or lack thereof of coaches in the professional ranks, because business is business. But I do remember the Collins-to-Jackson transition because of the consistent theme of those writing about it. Collins, the pundits said, was the Point-A-to-Point-B guy. The Bulls, with young Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen on the roster, needed someone to take them to Point C. Reinsdorf took the risk that Jackson was that Point C guy, and two years later, the Bulls were hoisting the first of their six championship trophies.

I couldn’t help but think of Doug Collins as I sat in a neighborhood watering hole and watched Mike Brey’s Fighting Irish get absolutely dismantled by Iowa State. An also-ran in an average conference, the Cyclones took ND to school, wiping them out by 18 points in a game that wasn’t that close, continuing a string of under-performance in the NCAA tournament by Brey’s teams. I thought about what Notre Dame was when Mike Brey took the job. I reflected on what has and hasn’t changed in the years since. And I wondered whether or not Jack Swarbrick should take a page out of Reinsdorf’s book.

After some prayerful meditation, I concluded he should not. But we’re closer to that point than we’ve been in the 13 seasons since Brey arrived in South Bend, and its time for both sides of the equation to prepare themselves to fish or cut bait.

The conditions of the Notre Dame job and the circumstances under which Brey accepted it back in 2000 are known to all, and it’s obvious much has changed for the better since then. Big East performance, both in the regular season and tournament, has outpaced all but the elite programs in the conference. Recruiting is on an uptick, especially recently. Home crowds have watched more wins than any time in the program’s history in an arena that actually looks like a Division 1 program and not a YMCA. And NCAA bids once again are de rigueur after a decade of going without them.

The Fighting Irish have arrived at Point B and unpacked their things, to the credit of everyone who worked hard to get them there.

But as that strong foundation sets, the irritation of the apparent ceiling grows. Once again, Notre Dame was bounced from the postseason by a team not as highly regarded, at least as determined by seeding. Mike Brey’s 13 seasons have seen only one game in the second weekend of the tournament, and if Dylan Page had made a layup, that number would be zero. As strong as the recruiting uptick has been the last couple of seasons, it has been matched by a performance trough. The last couple teams, while made up of outstanding young men, have been frustrating as hell to watch as they crater at the most inopportune of times.

I would love to live in a world where a coach was judged on the entirety of the season. But in the desert of the real, that’s just not an option. Like it or not, people judge college basketball coaches on how they perform in the NCAA tournament. And the tournament performance since ND’s last Sweet 16 appearance has been mediocre at best. Complaints about the lack of student support have been strong the last couple of years, but rightly or wrongly, such support is earned in games like last night’s, and time and time again, the opportunity is squandered. There’s a lack of excitement in Purcell Pavilion. People want to emotionally invest in this program, but even with the wins, they see listless teams and results like last night, and they turn away.

We seem to be stuck. And assuming everyone associated with the program is dissatisfied with that state of affairs, unless all of them decide to do something different, we’re going to stay stuck.

The players need to invest in their own success. So many times this season, I saw five guys on the court seemingly waiting for someone to take control of the game. Instead of someone grabbing the reins, they were left to drag on the ground, and the wagon ended up in the ditch. I would rather see five guys trying to take that control than none. They need to find their emotional fulcrum. If the upperclassmen still aren’t willing, I hold out hope the talented underclassmen, including a very highly-regarded freshman class, isn’t afraid to do so.

Mike Brey and his staff need to shore up the program’s shortcomings on the court. Just like in football, a one-dimensional team will get beat by an opponent who can stop what they can do well. We saw an example in Wisconsin’s loss to Ole Miss. As good as the Badgers’ defense can be, the Rebels’ offense could overcome it, and Wisconsin’s stagnant offense wasn’t up to the task. This team needs balance. 13 years in, a philosophy of outscoring the opponent isn’t acceptable, and if it’s a function of what he can do with “the guys he can get into the program”, that has to change too, both in the people making the admission decisions and the coaches trying to attract those players. Two good recruiting classes must be followed up by a third to create the strong nucleus.

Jack Swarbrick and his folks need to take the hurdles down. As someone said on the Pit, a new practice facility isn’t going to make Mike Brey a better coach, but it sure will make Notre Dame a more attractive program. That applies not only to the players we need to succeed, but if Jack finds MB not to be the Point C guy, we’re going to need to attract him. The lack of said facility grows more embarrassing by the year, as program after program invests financially in their own success. Meanwhile, an arena clean-up a decade late is followed up by rumors of a Rolfs Center re-purposing, creating a “we don’t want to but we’re being forced to” atmosphere. Being one of the lowest investors in men’s basketball barely got by in the Big East. In the ACC, it’ll be a millstone several orders of magnitude larger. If Notre Dame has decided it’s not worth it to them to invest in men’s basketball, they should be honest about it and let the people who spend hundreds of hours and dollars every season supporting the program factor that decision into their own plans.

Enroljas said it best: It is time for us all to decide who we are. We’ve got excellent underclassman talent on next year’s team. Mike Brey needs to show us he can be a Point C guy. Jack Swarbrick needs to prepare Notre Dame for the possibility he is not. If we want packed houses in Purcell Pavilion and reasonably frequent games in the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, it’s the only way to go.

Take, for example, the 2010-11 team that was the #2 seed in the Southwest region. The Irish entered the tournament having won 12 of 14 games.

That team relied on three point shooting more than its predecessors. 38% of its attempts from the field came from beyond the arc; and it made 40.4% of them during the conference season, the best in the Big East. Tim Abromaitis’ 47% and Ben Hansbrough’s 43% led the way.

When that Fighting Irish squad was making its shots, it was tough to beat. However, its losses provided the blueprint for its defeat. For example:

• The Irish made only 19% of their threes against Marquette’s aggressive perimeter defense when they met in Milwaukee. The Warriors made 71% of their long range shots, and Notre Dame lost 79-57.
• ND made 20% of its threes against St. John’s aggressive perimeter defense in the teams’ first meeting in New York. SJU, a poor three point shooting team, made 44% of its long range attempts that night, and the Irish lost 72-54.
• Playing Louisville in the Big East Tournament semi-final game, Notre Dame went cold in the second half when the Cardinals challenged the perimeter more aggressively. A 20% three point half led to UL’s 40-26 scoring advantage in the second half, and ND lost in overtime.

How Notre Dame would lose in the tournament was, therefore, predictable. Florida State, a tall and athletic team, challenged ND’s shooters. The Irish made only 23% of their threes for the game, only 10% in the first half. The Seminoles made 47% of their threes, 58% in the first half. ND fell behind early, never quite got back into the game, and lost 71-57. All according to the blueprint.

Last year it was a different bane – the dry spell. For example:

• ND trailed St. John’s 56-54 with 3:20 left ito play when the teams met in Madison Square Garden. The Irish made only two of seven shots down the stretch and lost a game that was well within its reach 61-58.
• The Irish scored only two 2 points in the last 7:34 of the first half against Louisville in the Big East Tournament semi-final. They trailed by two points, 19-17 when the dry spell started. Louisville led 35-19 when the first half ended, and the final score was 64-50.
• Five points in five minutes mad the late season victory over providence more interesting than it needed to be.
• Scoring just six points in the last 5:20 at Connecticut caused the Irish to sweat a 50-48 victory.
• Four points in six minutes turned a 10 point second half lead over West Virginia into a one point deficit before ND re-took the lead and won by four points.

Based on that history, a dry spell somewhere in the NCAA Tournament was inevitable. Unfortunately it came against Xavier in the first round. Leading 48-38 with 12:20 left to play, Notre Dame scored only three points over the next 6 minutes, and the game was tight the rest of the way. We all remember Eric Atkins going to the free throw line with two seconds left and a chance to force overtime only to have the made front end of one-and-one erased by a lane violation. It wouldn’t have been an issue without the second half dry spell.

Which brings us to this year’s Fighting Irish. For a change, There isn’t a formula for beating this team, at least not one that I can see.

• It has won handily after dry spells that have killed past Fighting Irish squads – at USF, at Pittsburgh, and against Marquette in the Big East Tournament.
• It has shot poorly from outside and won – at DePaul, at home against Cincinnati, and in the five overtime victory over Louisville.

The common denominator in losses through most of the season was poor defense and rebounding, but defense and rebounding have improved dramatically over the last fourth of the season. Over its last seven games, the Irish have out-rebounded opponents by an average of almost four per game; and those seven opponents have averaged 11 turnovers per game. ND’s rebounding margin had been negative through its first 14 conference games, and opponents averaged two fewer turnovers per game up to that point.

Have we seen a change in the Notre Dame program start to happen ahead of schedule? With more talent in the program, I expected defensive improvement; and I expected to have secondary and tertiary ways to win when an important aspect of ND’s game failed. Has that already begun to happen?

We will know by the end of the weekend.

Sherman’s Screens

Looking at highlights from recent Notre Dame games, I noticed something I didn’t expect to see. Garrick Sherman is setting great screens. If Pat Connaughton is open and Sherman is on the court, there is a good chance that the man who was following Connaughton is looking at the letters on Sherman’s ugly green jersey.

There are good examples 1:38 and 2:27 into the Marquette game highlight video.

Passing to the Three Point Shooters

After watching games late in the afternoon and throughout the evening on Thursday, I have developed a greater appreciation for how good Notre Dame is at passing the ball to open three point shooters. Time after time, Irish passers put the ball chest high and centered, perfectly positioned for catch-and-shoot. Time after time, I watched tournament teams make would-be shooters jump, reach, or move their feet to catch a pass giving defenders a chance to recover to the ball.

Again in the Marquette highlight video linked above, there are great passes to Connaughton at 0:35 and 2:27. That’s at least one more perfect pass to a three point shooter than I saw as I toggled around eight games on Thursday.

The answers are, in order, Iowa State, Dayton, and approximately 9:45 PM EDT on Friday. If the Irish are fortunate enough to win Friday evening, they will play the winner of Ohio State vs. Iona, most likely Ohio State.

ND will participate in the tournament for the fourth consecutive season and the sixth in the last seven years. It has not won more than one game in that time frame. Because of that, merely making the tournament is no longer a measure of success for Irish fans. Being there is not enough.

The players have to feel the same way if they expect to advance. No player on the roster has missed the tournament. There should be no awe, no “happy to be here” attitude. They have felt the sting of an early departure, and they have to channel that sting productively.

“It just changes our mentality because we have been here so many times,” said Eric Atkins after the pairings were announced on Sunday. “But last year the fact that we didn’t get out the first round ups the ante a little bit for this first round game against Iowa State for us. I think we’re all approaching it as pretty much a first round championship game,”

Pat Connaughton added, “I think when you look at it last year, there were guys going through it for the first time… or maybe not for the first time but for the first time as key guys on the team. So this time I think we’re ready, we know what to expect.

“I mean, it’s been going through the head throughout this year, summer, end of last year, whatever it was,” Connaughton continued. “I know it fuels a lot of guys on our team. That’s going to be something that’s going to be fun to play with that fuel during that first round game.”

Life is a state of mind

Landing the #7 seed in the West Regional is somewhat disappointing after bracketology pundits predicted that the Irish would be seeded more favorably. It certainly made ND’s path to the second week of the tournament challenging compared to #5 Wisconsin’s (Ole Miss and Kansas State) and #6 Arizona’s (Belmont and New Mexico).

If Mike Brey is disappointed, he isn’t saying so.

“We’re excited to show up in that bracket again,” Brey said. “ I never want to take these days for granted.”

It didn’t seem to bother Jerian Grant much, either.

“I guess when you first see it it’s like, well, it’s a seven,” Grant said. “Maybe we expected to be higher but regardless of when you play it’s going to be a tough team.”

Good. Teams that waste time complaining about their tournament placement seem to prove the committee right most of the time.

All will be well in the garden

The roots of being seeded #7 are Notre Dame’s record and its schedule.

25-9/11-7 is a fine record, but it only earned the Irish sixth place in the Big East. In that context, seventh among 16 tournament worthy teams seems about right. Simply stated, win more conference games and you’ll get a better seed. Don’t lose to Providence and you’ll finish ahead of Syracuse and be looking at something closer to its #4 seeding.

Scheduling is a budgetary issue… At least it looks like a budgetary issue from the outside looking in.

Some background:

• Notre Dame spends $4.6 million per year on men’s basketball according to its Equity in Athletics compliance report. That is lower than every team in the current ACC and lower than any of the Big East teams that are joining the ACC.
• Ticket revenue per game from season ticket holders would be $125,000 if there are 5,000 of them ($25.00 average price) and $175,000 if there are 7,000 of them. Let’s assume it’s $150,000 per game.

We’ll come back to the financials shortly.

There is little value in using the non-conference schedule to pad the victory total nowadays. We have seen the seeding consequences at Notre Dame, and we have seen the consequences for bubble teams – Tennessee (Pomeroy #113 non-conference schedule) is out and Middle Tennessee (#40 non-conference schedule) is in. Winning 20 or more games is not a path to postseason prosperity if the schedule is weak.

Notre Dame’s non-conference schedule was ranked #309. It didn’t help that Kentucky and Purdue had sub-par seasons; but scheduling Monmouth, St. Francis, Chicago State, and Kennesaw State had far more negative effect.

Why would a major conference team have a non-conference schedule that is counter to its tournament interests? Follow the money.

Ten non-conference home games plus nine conference games means each season ticket holder pays for 19 tickets each year. Playing that many low level teams assures 18-20 home dates each season because none of them require a return date as part of the contract.

Good teams from second tier conferences like the MAC, the A-10, or the Missouri Valley would require a home-and-home contract to come to the JACC. In addition to the home game overload, low level teams cost much less to bring to South Bend than MAC, the A-10, and Missouri Valley squads.

Scheduling two fewer home games in order to play a better non-conference slate would be a revenue hit of $300,000 (give or take a little). Bringing better opponents to South Bend would cost additional thousands per game. It wouldn’t take a lot of schedule upgrading to put a 10% dent in basketball’s profit equation.

It’s time to stop doing basketball on the cheap. Joining the ACC will bring additional revenue to the program. Some of it should go to improving the schedule.

I like to watch

The best day in sports used to be January 1st. All of the major bowls were played on New Year’s Day. As a result, the college football national championship was decided on New Year’s Day. Dominoes often fell throughout the day such that a team could move from #5 to #1 as fans of the 1977 Fighting Irish can attest.

The BCS took care of that good thing. Now the best day in sports lasts 48 hours – the first two days of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. There are 16 games on Thursday and another 16 on Friday, all single elimination contests. There are three or four games in every time slot during the afternoon and evening, a challenge to even world class channel surfers.

I like to hole up at home with friends, food, and libations. How about you?

Do you like to watch in a bar with lots of screens? Have you gone to Las Vegas to watch games in a sports book? Do you prepare a favorite dish for your game watch, or do you order for delivery? Inquiring minds want to know.

I admire your good, solid sense

After successfully mesmerizing Big East Tournament opponents with highlighter green uniforms, Notre Dame will unleash an even more dazzling outfit for the NCAA Tournament.

• They scored only 11 points in the first 13 minutes vs. Cincinnati in the conference opener before winning the road game by 6.
• They played poorly and trailed halftime vs. USF in Tampa before winning by 12 points.
• They were down by 8 with less than a minute to go vs. Louisville and won in 5 overtimes.
• They were behind at Pittsburgh by a 19-3 score but won by 9 points.
• They trailed St. John’s by 4 at halftime before rallying to a 26 point victory.

There are many things this team isn’t, but perhaps its biggest positive is that it’s resilient. It’s also very hard on its fans, but I now know that there is no need to start throwing things when they play poorly early in a game. That’s a particularly good approach for those of us who attend games in person.

So… Are you surprised that the Irish recovered from an early 17-4 deficit vs. Marquette Thursday night, challenged the Warriors, and eventually won the game? I am not.

“There really wasn’t any panic,” said Head Coach Mike Brey when asked about dealing with the early deficit early in Thursday’s Big East Tournament game against Marquette. “As a matter of fact, in the huddles when it was 17-4, (Pat) Connaughton kept saying, ‘it’s just like the Pitt game.’”

The team huddles weren’t all positive strokes and good karma.

“Coach just challenged us,” said Jerian Grant. “He even asked us if we were scared, and we took that personally.”

Connaughton went on to lead all scorers with 18 points, all three point baskets as his hot shooting from the previous evening continued; and the Irish won 73-65. Grant added 17 points, and Garrick Sherman came off the bench to score 16 points.

Sherman has toggled between doghouse resident and savior throughout the season. Last night he was a savior, scoring points as Jack Cooley’s dry spell continued and being a big part of the defense that held Chris Otule and Davante Gardner to 15 points combined. Otule alone had 16 points when the teams met in Milwaukee recently.

“Garrick Sherman was fabulous. I think we found another weapon here in March,” said Brey. “Tom Knight, Zach (Auguste)… Maybe it wasn’t as much a night for Zach; but you know what, tomorrow night could be. It’s a great luxury to have all four of those guys.”

Brey also praised Cooley who has been struggling lately. “Jack Cooley, I’m really proud of him because it wasn’t a real good night, but he kept trying, and he kept plugging, and he made some big, big plays for us.”

No play was bigger than his offensive rebound with 3:37 left in the game after Marquette had cut the lead to four points. Cooley spotted Connaughton at the arc and threw him a perfect pass that was converted into a three point basket. The game was not over at that point, but the Warriors never got close enough to make Irish fans sweat again.

Who Thought That Was a Good Idea?

Before shock, before revulsion, my first reaction to Notre Dame’s new postseason uniforms was, “Who thought that was a good idea?”

In a brainstorming session, participants are supposed to come up with thirty ideas. In groups of ten, give or take an idea, the first ones are mundane, even boring. The second group consists of ridiculous ideas, jokes as much as anything, that get people into the spirit of brainstorming. Finally people get to the truly creative ideas. The last ten are new and interesting notions that get people excited to test and implement.

It looks to me like the team of people that was assigned the task of designing ND’s postseason uniforms stopped brainstorming at approximately fourteen ideas.

Someone must have stopped the conversation to say, “That’s great. Let’s go with that.” Others must have chimed in to agree. These are people who must not be allowed to vote, operate heavy machinery, or get tattoos. They should not be allowed to have careers in athletics administration or apparel design either, but apparently that ship has sailed.

Four in a Row

For what it’s worth, Notre Dame’s victory over Marquette on Thursday advanced the Irish to the Big East Tournament semifinal round. ND is the only team that has made it that far each of the last four years, but it has not advanced further.

“We wonder what it would be like to play on Saturday because our program has never played there,” said Brey.

Louisville, which has not lost since the five overtime game in South Bend a month ago, is the barrier the Irish must overcome if they are to play on Saturday. We’ve got to really control tempo,” said Brey.

Will we see “Burn” for the entire game?