This week’s column was ready to post when news of Zach Auguste’s suspension broke. So much for a positive tone.

The first report that included comment from Notre Dame was Angelo DeCarlo’s, posted on WNDU.com at 10:30 AM on Wednesday. The spokesman said that the length of the suspension had not been determined yet and that Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey would address the situation after the game against Georgia Tech.

There will be plenty of time to assess the situation, evaluate Notre Dame’s support system for athletes, and offer opinions about what, if anything, should be changed. In the meantime there is a basketball issue. The Irish have a game at Georgia Tech Wednesday evening, the same Georgia Tech that took them to two overtime sessions 11 days earlier, the same Georgia Tech that had a 46-31 rebounding advantage over the Irish, the same Georgia Tech that puts three bulky 6’8” guys on the floor most of the time compared to Notre Dame’s four guards and Auguste.

Will this be a brief suspension or a long one? If it’s the latter, it’s time for Martinas Geben to be a hero in the Tory Jackson mold.

Jackson was Kyle McAlarney’s backup at point guard when he was a freshman in 2006. He was a regular in the playing rotation who, while not ready to be the main man at the point, was progressing nicely when McAlarney was suspended as 2006 rolled into 2007. Thrust into the starting role, Jackson had one game against Stony Brook to get himself ready for a Big East schedule that began with Louisville, Georgetown, and West Virginia.

Jackson scored 3 points against Stony Brook and had 5 turnovers. It was a shaky start, but he rose to the occasion. He scored 14 points and had 4 assists with 4 turnovers in a 78-62 win over Louisville. He did not play well in a road loss to Georgetown; but he followed with a solid effort, 6 assists and only 2 turnovers, in a victory at the expense of WVU.

Jackson got nothing but better from there. He finished the conference schedule with a 9.4 points scoring average and a 2.1 assist/turnover ratio, and the Irish finished fourth in the Big East with an 11-5 record.

Can and will Geben respond similarly? It isn’t a fair expectation, but he has a lot going for him. I believe he already is a better post defender and a better screener than Auguste is; but Auguste is the better scorer, especially rolling to the basket after setting a screen, and a better rebounder (measured per minute). The most important improvement Geben must make is to stop rushing easy shots, a common malaise for a freshman who hasn’t caught up to the speed of college competition. The easiest way to to that is, as a wise friend of mine likes to say, to dunk the damned ball.

Geben’s progress is now the story of the season. He doesn’t have to be great, just solid, for the Irish to continue their success. Remember how good Tory Jackson wasn’t immediately but became as the season advanced. Geben is talented enough to make the same kind of progress no matter how raw he seems against Georgia Tech on Wednesday and Miami on Saturday.

Really?

My kids learned at very early ages that when they go to a game with their dad, we won’t be leaving early. We will never be the fools who missed Jerian Grant’s 2013 closing minutes explosion to force what turned out to be a five overtime Irish victory in an attempt to beat traffic. Remarkable finishes don’t happen often, but that’s all the more reason to avoid missing them by leaving before a game is over.

That’s why my daughter was so surprised when, with 10 minutes left in last season’s Notre Dame loss to Virginia, I looked at her and said, “Let’s go, Amy. I don’t need to watch this (poop) any more.”

Her reaction was one word. “Really?”

The Irish were not competitive against Virginia a year ago, and it wasn’t just the Cavaliers’ margin of victory. Demetrius Jackson remembered it like this. “Mainly they kicked our butts. They beat us on the glass, we had turnovers, and we couldn’t really guard them.”

Notre Dame was an incompetent basketball team that day. Notre Dame was intimidated. Notre Dame was unwatchable.

Win or lose vs. Virginia, how Notre Dame competed was the most important measure of Saturday’s game. In that regard, the Irish acquitted themselves well; but there remains an intimidation factor to overcome.

ND made only 10 of its 35 two point shots, a woeful 28.6%. Many of those missed shots were layups that were rushed in anticipation of defenders that weren’t there. Virginia is a great defensive team, so strong defensively that opponents expect them to contest every shot whether they actually do contest them or not.

The Irish actually defeated the Virginia defense regularly. They executed well enough to earn layups but didn’t have the confidence to recognize that they had done so. In the words of Patrick Connaughton, they did not make winning plays.

“I think we did a majority of things right, but we didn’t do enough things right,” Connaughton said. “I liked the offensive rebounds, and we won the rebounding margin overall. Those are things we have been working on and want to build on.

“They made the winning plays,” he said. “We have to execute a little bit better.”

V.J. Beachem said, “We know we can fix those things. Just to learn from this game, to move forward, I think that’s what is important for us.”

Irish fans should hope for another shot at Virginia in the ACC Tournament. Notre Dame has come a long way from “Really?” but still has to develop the confidence to make the winning plays no matter who the opponent is. They need a second Virginia measuring stick before the postseason starts.

Tom Hawkins

Notre Dame will honor Tom Hawkins with induction into the Ring of Honor at halftime of Saturday’s game vs. Miami. Few deserve it more.

A 6’5” forward who played at Notre Dame from 1956 to 1959. He was the only African American member of the basketball team at the time as well as in his entire graduating class.

“If being black was a problem to other people, it was their problem,” Hawkins told UND.com when he was selected to Notre Dame’s All-Century Team in 2004. “I had an education to get, I had basketball to play, and I enjoyed myself. I enjoyed the city of South Bend and I became a two-year All-American there.”

Indeed, Hawkins was on the AP’s All-American third team as a junior and second team as a senior. The Minneapolis Lakers selected him in the first round of the 1959 NBA draft, and he had a 10-year career that included two stints with the Lakers surrounding four years playing for the Cincinnati Royals. When his playing days were over, Hawkins became a broadcaster, a baseball executive, and finally an author.

My first memories of Hawkins came from his broadcasting work. Likable, insightful, and a good story teller, Hawk’s tales of playing with teammates like Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Oscar Robertson gave rare insights into life in the NBA.

To this day, Hawkins holds Notre Dame records for rebounds in a season (499) and for a career (1,318 in three seasons), records that have stood for 55 years. Luke Harangody probably is the best rebounder in most Notre Dame fans’ memories, but Harangody’s four year rebounding total fell 96 short of Hawk’s three year total.

Hawkins averaged 16.7 boards per game for his college career, a record at the time that fell to second behind Walt Sahm’s 16.9 in the early 1960s.

There are a few seats left for Saturday’s game. If you can, get yourself to Purcell Pavillion to honor one of Notre Dame’s all-time greats.