2015-16 conventional wisdom considered the ACC weaker than usual, a conference with several good teams but no outstanding teams. Therefore Notre Dame’s 11-7 record was unimpressive, akin to 9-9 most seasons.

Well, if the ACC is weaker than usual, college basketball is weaker than usual; and I don’t think that’s the case.

We’re used to having one or two super teams every year, one or two prohibitive favorites vs the field to win the championship. A year ago, it was Kentucky. It was Florida in 2014 with undefeated Wichita State trying to prove that its Missouri Valley pedigree didn’t make its record less significant and Arizona sporting a gaudy 27-2 record.

None of those teams won the championship.

This season is a little different. #1 Kansas has four losses, and the next four teams in the national polls averaged six losses. There isn’t a super team in the field if the measuring stick is the record, but that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been as many great players and deep teams competing throughout the season. There are plenty of teams as good as eventual 2014 champion UConn and 2015 champion Duke were as they entered the NCAA Tournament.

In that context, it’s hard to consider the ACC weak when it has a record six teams alive in the round of 16. Thanks to its self-imposed postseason ban, Louisville is the only team in the ACC’s top six not still alive in the championship hunt.

Notre Dame finished fifth. The Irish had a 4-4 record against the teams that finished one through four. That’s a very good season by any standard and an excellent season given (a) the strength of the conference and (b) the roster losses from the prior season..

Mike Brey is on a heck of a coaching run 16 years into his time at Notre Dame.

Forks on the left, spoons on the right

If the tournament is about match-ups, I don’t know that the table could have been set more to Notre Dame’s liking. The Irish got to open against Michigan, one of the last teams to make the tournament and, truth be told, a team that did not belong in the field. Meanwhile, Stephen F Austin eliminated #3 seed West Virginia; and as well as SFA acquitted itself in both the opener and the second round game vs Notre Dame, any ACC team should be happy to get a game vs a Southland Conference team. In the last 90 seconds of the game, ND’s major conference talent advantage overcame SFA’s guts and skill.

On the other side of the East Regional bracket, #7 seed Wisconsin took #2 Xavier’s spot vs the Irish in the round of 16. The Badgers are eminently capable of winning the game, but they are a much better match-up for the Irish than Xavier would have been. If #6 Notre Dame if fortunate enough to advance on Friday, it will be in a regional final having played and beaten three lower seeds.

More importantly, not one of those teams was or is a nightmare match-up for the Irish. They don’t have the kinds of big, athletic front lines that can neutralize Zach Auguste and create mismatches against Bonzie Colson, VJ Beachem, and Matt Ryan. When the Irish can play four around one without paying a substantial match-up price, they are tough to beat.

I was wr…

Last week I listed a series of keys to success for the Fighting Irish vs Michigan – Auguste and Colson combine to grab 25 rebounds, a non-starter scores in double digits, make 40% of their three point shots, get to the free throw line 25 times, get off to a good start.

Well, they made 8 of their 15 three point shots. Otherwise I was wr… I was wr… I was not quite correct.

This week I’m out of the punditry business as it relates to Notre Dame’s success. The Irish are a team that has done many things well over the course of the season, but seldom has it done many of those things well at the same time.

Now would be a good time to gel.

16×3

To say it’s a big weekend for Notre Dame winter sports is an understatement. In addition to the men’s basketball team, the Irish hockey and women’s basketball teams are in their sports’ final 16. Has Notre Dame ever experienced a March weekend with so much potential?

Who says Notre Dame is a football school?