Grammar fanatics say that “New and Improved” is an impossible condition. Don’t tell Mike Brey. His Fighting Irish are both. After losing four games in a row, Brey committed to playing a small lineup full time. That wasn’t new. Brey has used the small lineup as a change of pace throughout the season, but this…
The Schneid… Is there anything worse than being on the Schneid? According to The Word Detective: “Schneid” is actually short for “schneider,” a term originally used in the card game of gin, meaning to prevent an opponent from scoring any points. “Schneider” entered the vocabulary of gin from German (probably via Yiddish), where it means…
I wrote an article titled “Tick Tock” a little more than a year ago. At the time, Notre Dame was missing free throws. The team suffered through scoring droughts in every game. Defensive lapses were frequent. The close game toughness that was a hallmark of the 2014-15 Fighting Irish had not shown itself by January…
David Rivers scored 2,058 points during his college career, sixth on Notre Dame’s illustrious list; and he is fifth on the assists list behind Chris Thomas, Tory Jackson, Jerian Grant, and Eric Atkins despite playing in an era when 30-game seasons, including the NCAA Tournament, were rare. Rivers also ranks among Notre Dame’s leaders in…
One might argue that there have been coaches who fit Notre Dame as well as Mike Brey has, but it would be hard to make a case that anyone has been a better fit. He embraces what Notre Dame is, quirky as that might be at times; and he wastes zero energy telling his bosses…