Nine games into the 2015-16 basketball season with a 7-2 record, I still don’t know what kind of a season to expect. The losses aren’t egregiously bad, but both were winnable games that slipped through Notre Dame’s fingers when they had chances to win.

It’s hard to tell if this is simply last year’s team with Pat Connaughton and Jerian Grant subtracted and little added back to make up for what they did or if it’s a work in progress that will improve throughout the season. For six and a half games it looked like the former, but the last two and a half games have raised the possibility that the latter is the truth.

The starting five is becoming more cohesive after struggling to make the parts fit earlier in the season. Assuming that group continues to improve, how the rest of the rotation evolves will be a major factor in determining how high up the ACC standings the team will finish.

There are fits and starts as any group evolves. Leadership gets the group through the fits.

Replacing the Irreplaceable

Connaughton was one of the great captains in Notre Dame history. He was in lockstep with Mike Brey’s vision for the kind of team the 2014-15 Irish would be, and he had the scarce ability to demand accountability and get others to respond just because he asked. All the while, he included Grant in leadership activities because he understood the importance of having the most talented upperclassman on the team on board with the agenda.

As a senior, a professional athlete (baseball), and a four year starter, Connaughton had standing for leadership before he opened his mouth the first time during the summer of 2014. In addition, the team had a tour of Italy that gave it a head start in becoming the team it was going to be including roles off the court as well as on the court.

Given what was there in 2014 and is not in 2015, is it reasonable to expect leadership approaching what we observed last season? I’m starting to see it emerge. Time will tell how good it becomes.

Captains

Along with junior Demetrius Jackson, seniors A.J. Burgette and Zach Auguste were named captains before the season started. Brey recognizes the importance of seniors taking ownership of the program as they face their final season in Notre Dame uniforms, so he tends to name them captains; but there is a difference between being a leader and the leader.

It’s difficult for Burgett to lead because he doesn’t play very much, but he can earn the respect of his teammates by practicing hard every day. A senior makes a powerful statement when he refuses to coast despite having little chance to play this season and no next season available to him.

Similarly, Auguste has the same challenge. He isn’t the most powerful personality on the team, but he is important to its success. I asked him about his leadership role after the recent victory over Loyola.

“You gotta be able to bring it every day,” he said. “Day in and day out, you gotta be that voice; and when things aren’t going good, you still gotta encourage your teammates. I want to use my knowledge and my experience to help out the younger guys.”

Part of bringing it every day is eliminating weaknesses, and defense has been Auguste’s bane. Asked how Auguste has improved after the Stony Brook game, Brey offered, “Body position. Not getting out of position.

“We talk about putting a chest on that guy. (Stony Brook Center Jameel) Warney bounced off of him tonight. He had to take a little bit of a fade hook. He couldn’t always square people up. Contest the guy so he catches it out a little further and then get him to bounce off your chest.”

Like Grant before him, this is how Auguste can lead most effectively. Nobody should outwork him when it comes to improving his game. He’s a senior. He’s a starter, and there aren’t great alternatives for replacing him. If he’s coachable, his teammates will take note and respond in kind.

Demetrius Jackson

Jackson is the leader, and it isn’t solely because he is the most talented guy on the team. He knows it. His teammates know it.

When we last saw Jackson in a vocal role, he went off on Auguste after his late turnover in the Butler game. He had not mastered the notion of time and place; and as a result, he had to be brought back to the moment as much as Auguste. It was not an instance that would lead one to be confident in Jackson’s eventual leadership success.

However, Jackson is thoughtful and smart. He is not one who fails to learn, both in general and from mistakes.  He has embraced the role, and he wants to do it well.

“It’s hard,” Jackson told me when I asked what he has learned about leading. “It’s hard just trying to understand and reach everybody because everybody is different. Also, knowing what to say, when to say it, and when not to say it because you can’t harp on the same things over and over.

“I think I’ve done a great job of just trying to get to know the guys more off the court, and that’s helped me be a better leader on the court,” Jackson continued. “And then there’s stepping up, holding myself accountable before holding my teammates accountable.”

Brey describes Jackson’s role as “running the building.”

“When I ask you run the building, you have to be on the floor… I need you out there because I need you to be able to talk to the officials all the time. All that stuff, that’s all part of it. I think he’s really developing into that.”

When I shared Jackson’s first words about leadership with Brey, the coach remarked, “It reminds me of Ryan Humphrey telling me at the end of his senior year how exhausting leading was. For Demetrius, I’m glad he was so honest about it because it is hard. You’re thinking about a lot of stuff.

“I think one of the great growth nights for him was in Champaign because at halftime he had not played well, we’re down, and a younger Demetrius would have been worried about his own game and wouldn’t have been able to lead and talk and set a tone that we’ll be fine and we’re going to get off to a good start. I walked in and that was his tone. I thought to myself, ‘Man, I don’t know how this thing is going to end, but that’s unbelievable for him.’

“So he’s really made progress there. The guys respect the heck out of him. I think he’s learned when to be a diplomat and when to get on them… he’s learned that you can’t always browbeat them.

“But he wants it so bad for his team. He’s really pure, man. He just wants it for his team; and I think he and Zach, the growth they’ve made in that department , I didn’t know if I’d ever see that, and I’m really proud to see it.”

What’s next?

Most of Brey’s teams have been locked into approach and roles by final exams time, but there are notable exceptions – changing offenses in 2006 when Torin Francis was ineffective in the post, going to full time burn when Luke Harangody was injured, changing the entire rotation when Grant was suspended, and adding Bonzie Colson to the rotation last season.

This season’s team is not close to a finished product. The starting five is just beginning to mesh. Matt Ryan is staking his claim to a growing role in the rotation. Brey is incorporating more zone into his game plans as the season progresses.

Is there more to come?

“We’re still developing Matt Farrell,” Brey said. “How to use Torres, but an open mind to everybody else. Pflueger’s got a motor about him. We’re going to be playing against some really big bodies after the new year… Martin Geben. How do we keep everybody engaged? We’re still analyzing some stuff.

“The one thing we’re going to do, and we did it a little bit in practice the last two days, we were doubling Zach because that’s what we were going to see. I refer to it as a frustration test segment of practice. For 15 minutes, we’re going to go five on five in the halfcourt and; but we’re going to add one thing. We’re going to double him when he catches it in the low post, and we’re going to double Demetrius Jackson off of every ball screen; and I want to see how they handle it. Do they get frustrated? Do they get pissed? Because they’re going to see a lot of that especially in league play, people taking those two guys away.

“So we have to have potential frustration five on five segments with the big two. I want to see how they handle it. You have to find other ways to be effective because, as we get to league play, they’re going to come after those two guys; and I think we have to get them more mentally ready for that.

“Game by game we’re getting better in all aspects of the game – communicating, playing together, trusting each other,” Jackson said after the Loyola game. “We’re still a work in progress. We gotta stay hungry and keep getting better day by day.”