It’s going to take a while for the sting of Florida State loss to subside.  When it does, how will you remember Notre Dame’s 2010-11 basketball season?

I’ll remember the postseason disappointment, of course; but I’ll remember the great moments I enjoyed throughout the season just as much.  The Old Spice Tournament, the chase for the Big East regular season championship, the comeback victory against Marquette, beating Pitt on the road running “Burn” the entire game,  sweeping UConn… Denying the accomplishments of the season because of the tournament loss would be like denying the fun of a great vacation because I crashed the car on the way home from the airport.  I can be angry about the latter without thinking the former was worthless.

The Non-Conference Season

The first four games were, essentially, scrimmages leading to the Old Spice Tournament over Thanksgiving weekend.  These games don’t tell us much most of the time, but the dozens of us who attended these games could tell that this team was different from those we’ve watched in recent seasons.  There were more scoring options.  There were no specialists, guys who do one thing, on the floor for ND.

The Old Spice Classic in Orlando was the first test of how different this team would be, and it passed with victories over Georgia (in 2 overtimes), California, and Wisconsin.    The tournament championship told us what this could be.  It also showed us this team’s bane – cold shooting.  A 3-10 three point performance in the first half vs. Georgia left the Itish with a 12-point halftime deficit.  A 1-20 three point game vs. Cal didn’t hurt much because the Bears were pathetic as they scored just 5 points in the first half.  28% three point shooting against Wisconsin, 1-7 in the second half, had ND down by 10 points with 10:00 to play before Mike Brey went to a smaller, quicker lineup that flustered the Badgers.

ND survived its three game shooting slump because the opponents weren’t hitting on all cylinders.  The Kentucky game showed what would happen if the slump came against a talented team playing well, but first it also showed us that the Irish could match game against an extremely talented team when it was playing its best.

Notre Dame made 56% of its shots in the first half at Freedom Hall including 5-10 from three point range.  The score was tied 40-40 at the half after ND led most of the way.  Then Kentucky extended its defense and disrupted ND’s offensive rhythm.  The Irish started to rush their shots, and a 6-30/1-13 shooting half ensued.  Kentucky didn’t exactly get hot, but it had the size and athletic ability to dominate the boards; and cleaning up the defensive boards against a cold team almost always means victory.

Gonzaga was next, and ND recovered from its first loss with a tidy victory that was closer than it needed to be.  The Irish had a 7 point lead with 0:58 to play, but they missed the front end of one and one three times before Ben Hansbrough made four in a row in the last 11 seconds to ice the game.

A couple of scrimmage quality games remained before the 11-1 Irish would start a Big East schedule front loaded with top teams.

The Big East Regular Season

Georgetown, at Syracuse, Connecticut… A lot of Irish fans worried about an 0-3 start before getting a breather against conference bottom feeder St. John’s.  Well, ND won its first two home games, lost at Syracuse, and beat St. John’s which was showing that it was better than most expected.

Poor outside shooting reappeared in the Syracuse game.  The Irish hung in the game, down just a point at halftime, until Syracuse took control of the boards and got its running game going.  More significant than the loss was Carleton Scott’s hamstring injury with about 7:00 to play.  After he was evaluated, Scott was pronounced out of action for 3-4 weeks.

4-1 Notre Dame went to the Bradley Center to play Marquette, but the Warriors did most of the playing.  The Irish couldn’t make an outside shot, and Marquette couldn’t miss.  As Kentucky had done in the second half, MU extended its defense, harassed the ball, and disrupted ND’s offensive rhythm.  It was a game on the scoreboard at halftime, but Notre Dame needed to start making some open shots to stay in it.  That didn’t happen.

St. John’s duplicated Marquette’s defensive game plan when ND went to Madison Square Garden and got the same result.  The Irish were 6-31 from three point distance in the two games.  We all knew Notre Dame was still in pretty good shape for an NCAA Tournament bid at that point thanks to the successful non-conference season; but at 4-3 in conference play, who would have guessed that there would be only one more loss in the regular season?

The thing we should have realized at that point was how Notre Dame’s season would end.  This was a team that did a lot of things well, but it needed everything working to beat the more talented teams it would play in almost every conference game as well as in the postseason.  Defense, rebounding, passing, and executing the offense could be constants, but shooting came and went; and when it went, the Irish were in trouble.

Upon return from New York, Brey had his team practice against 6 defenders to simulate the intense pressure that was disrupting the team’s offense.  He knew the Irish would see it until they beat it.  Sure enough, Cincinnati showed Notre Dame more of the same.  ND worked hard at defeating pressure on the ball and getting into the lane for scoring opportunities.  The inside game drew attention away from the shooters, and they started to get better opportunities.  It wasn’t art yet, but ND’s 66-58 victory was a better performance against the defense that had been giving it fits.

Not clear on the concept of 3-4 weeks, Scott made a surprise return for the Cincinnati game.  He played 15 minutes, put notches in just about every column of the box score, and pronounced himself ready to return to full time duty.

Marquette’s trip to Purcell Pavilion was next.  Once again, MU’s shooters couldn’t miss and ND’s couldn’t hit… until halftime.  Marquette held a 9 point lead at the break that could have been worse but for Eric Atkins’ clutch shooting.

Then Notre Dame played its best half of the season to that point.  Brey brought the Irish out in a zone that extended on the shooters no matter how deep they were, and Hansbrough took over on offense.  Hansbrough started using his strength against ball pressure, made 10-15 shots mostly driving to the basket, and scored 28 points as the Irish won 80-75.

5 more wins followed including the Burn game at Pittsburgh and an overtime victory over Louisville.   Louisville had the last possession in regulation in that game.  Most people expected UL to get leading scorer Preston Knowles the last shot, but Rick Pitino called something else.  UL had been successful playing a two man game with Peyton Siva and Terrence Jennings throughout the game.  When UL came out in that set, Brey called a switch to zone from the bench.  The team changed defenses in less than 2 seconds, the baffled Cardinals had to settle for a desperation heave at the buzzer, and the game went to overtime.  Notre Dame scored the first 12 points in extra time and won the game.

Hansbrough played his way into the Big East player of the year conversation dusting the winning streak.  The leading candidate, Kemba Walker, hadn’t been shooting well while his team wallowed in a .500 rut.  Meanwhile, Hansbrough seemed to be willing his team to victory after victory as he climbed the conference scoring standings.

The entire team had settled into roles.  Tim Abromaitis was the #2 scoring threat.  Scott led the rebounding effort and provided a shot blocking threat in defensive rotation.  Ty Nash handled the post on both ends of the floor and helped with ball handling against the press.  Scott Martin defended the better shooting guards and chipped in with occasional scoring bursts.  Jack Cooley brought physical presence off the bench, and Atkins was leading the conference in assists/turnovers ratio in his 25 minutes per game off the bench.

The winning streak ended at West Virginia.  If you don’t know what happened, you ought to be able to guess by now.  WVU played very well, especially in the second half, and Notre Dame shot poorly.  Just in case you had forgotten how the season would ultimately end, here it was again.  Good athletes putting pressure on the ball disrupted the offense.  The shooters didn’t get a lot of open looks, but they rushed their shots and missed them when they did get open looks.  About the only thing that could make us forget this lesson again was another winning streak.

Another winning streak was what we got.  The Irish won 5 in a row, most notably bombarding Villanova in a nationally televised senior night game, ending the regular season with a win at Connecticut that meant Pitt to win to prevent ND from winning the conference championship, and dominating Cincinnati in their first Big East Tournament game.

Notre Dame finished 14-4 in the conference, good enough for second place behind 15-3 Pittsburgh.  Hansbrough was named first team all-conference and player of the year.  Brey was named coach of the year, both in the conference and nationally.  Abromaitis won the Big East’s scholar-athlete award.

The Postseason

When Pitt faltered in its first Big East Tournament game while ND defeated Cincinnati handily, the Irish had a chance to grab a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.  Winning the Big east Tournament would have done it for sure, but merely advancing to the championship game probably would have been good enough.  Louisville was all that stood in the way.

It looked good at halftime.  Notre Dame had a 46-32 lead.  The Irish made 57% of their shots including 5-11 (45%) from three point range.  Then it fell apart.  Go ahead.  Guess what happened.

Louisville pressured the ball and disrupted ND’s tempo.  The shooters started missing.  Louisville owned the boards in the second half, closed the gap, tied the game late, and won in overtime.

The Irish got a #2 seed in the Southwest Region of the NCAA Tournament.  They beat Akron in their first game, a pedestrian effort that featured a subpar first half and a good second half.  Then came Florida State and a very thoroughly unsatisfying end to an excellent season.  By now, I don’t need to tell you how it happened.

I’ve had a week to think about whether I should be appalled that #2 seed Notre Dame lost to #11 Florida State or I should appreciate that the team played so far above its talent to earn a #2 seed.  I have grudgingly settled on the latter.  As much as I crave the postseason success that has eluded Notre Dame for so long, I can’t bring myself to dismiss the season’s multitude of accomplishments.

Based on its talent compared to the rest of the league, Big East coaches picked Notre Dame to finish 9th.  ND finished second and challenged for the championship through the last game.  It played 20 games against NCAA Tournament teams (not counting the tournament itself) and won 16.

Notre Dame needed to play well in all aspects of the game to beat most of the Big East teams.  There was little margin for error unless the opponent played poorly.  Most good teams are at the top of their game about half of the time.  The rest of their games are decided by raw talent.  Notre Dame was on top of its game in at least 12 of its 14 conference wins, Seton Hall and maybe Cincinnati being the exceptions.  If you aren’t good at math in your head, that’s two thirds of the time.

Unfortunately, ND didn’t play well against Florida State; and that’s what we’ll remember most about this season.

Noteworthy

• Seven Irish players led the team in scoring at least once during the season.  Can you name them?  The answer is below.
• 64.2% of Notre Dame’s baskets in conference games were assisted, 66.8% for the entire season.  That is the 7th straight season with an assist rate over 60%.  No other Big East team entered the season with a streak of more than two 60% seasons.  It would take more research than I’m willing to do today to see if any team extended to three in a row.
• Notre Dame was 6-0 in games decided by 5 points or less, and 2-1 in overtime games.  The overtime games were all decided by 6 points or more.
• ND lost consecutive games just once during the 2010-11 season.
• After falling for four consecutive seasons, the percentage of three point shots ND took jumped by more than 4 percentage points to 38.6%  of all shots taken.  That is the second highest percentage among the Big East’s 11 NCAA Tournament teams to Louisville’s 40.7%.  It made sense for Notre Dame which made 40.4% of its threes during the conference season.  Louisville, on the other hand, only made 35% of its three point shots.
• Replacing Luke Harangody’s rebounding was a concern going into the season.  Scott replaced a sizable chunk of Harangody’s board work by averaging 7.4 per conference game, 5th in the league.  The rest was done by committee, and the committee did a good job.  Last year, Notre Dame grabbed 73.3% of its defensive rebounding opportunities in conference games.  The percentage fell a little this year to 72.8%, but I don’t consider that significant.  3 more defensive rebounds, 429 instead of 426, would have matched last year’s percentage.  That’s 0.17 defensive rebounds per game.
• ND’s offensive rebounding actually improved a little.  Last year’s team corralled 37.4% of its missed shots.  This year’s squad controlled 39.1% of its offensive rebounding opportunities.  Again, that’s not a big difference, just 0.4 per game.
• ND’s rebounding margin improved from +1.2 to +1.7.
• Notre Dame improved its field goal percentage defense from 43.8% last year to 42.9% this season.  That isn’t close to Brey’s best defensive teams, his first two.  His first team held conference opponents below 40%, and his second team held them below 41%.    The 2003-04 team had a 42.1% season, 2006-07 was at 42.3%, and 2007-08 was at 42.4% making this Brey’s 6th best team at making opponents miss.
• Pomeroy’s statistical compilation ranked Notre Dame’s offense #3 in Division 1 and its defense #68.  That’s first and twelfth respectively in the Big East.  There are 345 teams in Division 1.
• The players who led ND in scoring?  Well, when the number of players in the rotation is 7 and the number of players who led the team in scoring is 7, it should be easy.  Hansbrough (20 times), Abromaitis (9 times), Scott (3 times), Atkins (2 times), Nash (1 time), Martin (1 time), and Cooley (1 time) were all game high scorers for Notre Dame.  Atkins and Scott shared the scoring honors vs. Wisconsin as did Nash and Hansbrough in the home game vs. Cincinnati.  Hansbrough and Abromaitis match game high totals vs. Villanova.

Next Season

Starters Abromaitis, Martin, and Scott will return as will the two bench players who were rotation regulars – Atkins and Cooley.  Atkins will move into the starting point guard rotation.  The fifth starter is TBD.

If Brey wants to go with four big guys and a guard again, Cooley is the likely fifth starter.  If he wants to use a conventional two guard lineup, the fifth slot will be up for grabs.

Junior to be Joey Brooks will get a shot at making the rotation, but he has a long way to go to earn significant minutes.  Brooks played himself out of the rotation early this season, but he carved out a niche late in the season when an eighth man was needed on occasion to provide hustle, energy, and defense.

Tom Knight and Mike Broghammer, both listed at 6’8″, will fight for big man minutes.  Broghammer had a chance to be a contributor this season, but injury limited his effectiveness and ultimately ended his season early.  Knight played sparingly after preserving a year of eligibility last year.  Knight is bigger than Broghammer and showed more offensive skills in limited playing time, but Hammer has some meaningful experience from his freshman season when he showed the kind of toughness a team needs from its fifth big man.

6’5″ guard Jerian Grant sat out to preserve a year of eligibility after an early season injury.  He has been healthy and practicing for almost half of the season, so he is in good position to add a combination of skill athleticism to the lineup that the program hasn’t had much in recent years.  Several recruiting services ranked Grant in the 90-100 range, so he is a quality recruit.  When he arrived on campus, Grant hadn’t turned 18 yet.  Had he started school a year later like most people with fall birthdays, the additional physical maturity might well have improved his recruiting ranking.  Now he has that extra year.

6’7″ sophomore to be Alex Dragicevich has a chance to earn a spot in the rotation.  A guard-forward combo, Dragicevich handled the ball well in limited duty.  He’s considered a good shooter, but he only made 29% of his shots this season.  Will he make a big step forward after a year in the program, or will he take a redshirt season to continue his development in practice?

6’4″ guard/wing Pat Connaughton will join the program in the summer and compete for a spot in the rotation.  He is rated about like Grant was a year ago; and like Grant, he brings a forward’s mentality to the guard position.

Hansbrough’s intensity had a lot to do with this year’s successes.  He will be missed as much for that as for his points.  Nevertheless, there is more than enough talent to have a successful season.  The question is whether the team can develop reliable scoring options inside so that it can withstand the inevitable droughts on the outside.

Stay tuned.

– Kevin O’Neill