If anybody (well, any Notre Dame student) needs tickets to the ND-DePaul game next Saturday, I have two (mine and Becky’s) available, since we’ll be going to Saint Louis for the MVC tourney. Just e-mail me, or leave a comment letting me you’re interested.
We will, however, be going to the Marquette game this Saturday — a crucial game for ND’s efforts to qualify for the Big East tournament. Anyone else going?
P.S. In other news, it’s a big night for USC tonight. If Washington State loses to Cal (gametime 8:30 PM) and USC beats Oregon (gametime 10:30 PM), the Trojans will clinch at least the #6 seed in the Pac-10 tournament — which means they don’t have to play an opening-round game, and thus will merely need to win three straight games, instead of four, to qualify for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. (Pac-10 scores here; standings here.)
P.P.S. In The Fieldhouse’s wrap-up of Tuesday’s UConn-Notre Dame game, “Teds” provides yet another excellent example of Mike Brey’s inability to coach:
An interesting sidelight on possession length: during Notre Dame’s 18-0 run, they scored on seven consecutive possessions. In the course of those possessions, the average amount of time used before taking the first shot was just over 11 seconds, with 23 seconds representing the longest stretch that the Irish held the ball to work for a shot. Conversely, in the team’s final eight possessions over the last 6:30 of regulation (excluding Falls’ missed jumper from the corner in the closing seconds, when ND was forced to work quickly), they held the ball an average of over 27 seconds before shooting. In all, there were five trips among those final eight in which Notre Dame burned the shot clock under five seconds before acting; they scored zero points on those possessions. Perhaps Connecticut’s defensive presence (or lack thereof) played a role in the shift in offensive tempo, but the Irish did themselves no favors in the final minutes of regulation by getting away from what had led the charge and falling into the familiar late-game trap of what amounted to “prevent offense”.
That’s more than “interesting,” it’s damning. One of Notre Dame’s problems all season — easily recognizable to any fan, but apparently not to the team’s coach — has been the tendency to stand around the perimeter, dribbling and passing the ball uselessly, wasting time and then finally starting a legitimate offensive possession with about 10 seconds left on the shot clock. (Either that, or never bothering to attempt anything inside the arc at all, instead shooting random unnecessary three-pointers with 15 or 20 on the shot clock.) Yet here we had a situation where — finally! — the Irish weren’t either wasting time or taking bad shots, but were instead, y’know, running a legitimate offense, at a reasonably fast pace. And, lo and behold, it worked! So what does Mike Brey do? Tell them to stop it, and go back to the old “strategy” that begat their previous eight conference losses. Brilliant, Mike. Brilliant.
Fire Mike Brey.
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Categories: Uncategorized
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February 23rd, 2006 at 8:35:59 pm
I’m curious, did the coach actually tell them to start taking longer or were there other reasons
February 23rd, 2006 at 8:45:06 pm
I don’t know whether he specifically told them to start taking longer, but even if not, he obviously should have told them to STOP taking longer once they started to do so. That’s his job, notwithstanding that he hasn’t been doing it well all season. And it’s not like they didn’t have any timeouts to talk things over. As I noted in my earlier post about the game, he inexplicably took a timeout right at the peak of their momentum… which in turn destroyed said momentum and led directly to the beginning of the UConn comeback. And I believe they took another timeout later… so he certainly had the opportunities to tell his kids, “hey, the fast pace was working for us, keep it up” (not like you really need a timeout to do that anyway, he can yell it at Quinn from the sideline).
That said, as the linked post implies, the “prevent offense” is frequently a trap for teams with leads in late-game situations, even teams with good coaches. Hell, UConn almost squandered its enormous lead over Georgia Tech in the title game in 2004 when they started “playing it safe,” and no one suggests that Jim Calhoun isn’t a good coach (an unethical bully, maybe, but still a good coach). So if this were Brey’s only mistake all season, I’d give him a free pass. But it’s part of a larger pattern, as I’ve tried to point out on numerous occasions over the last couple of months. Which is why, just as every post about USC football must end with “BEAT THE RAZORBACKS!”, every post about ND men’s basketball must end with “Fire Mike Brey.” (I had forgotten to abide by this rule in a couple of recent posts, but I’m trying to get back on the ball…)
February 24th, 2006 at 12:27:52 pm
If you fire him you will just solidify the fact that ND is a racist institution.
February 24th, 2006 at 12:28:48 pm
To clarify, ND hates all people of color, or those people that wear colorful mock-turtlenecks.
February 24th, 2006 at 1:42:56 pm
Brendan, I’m not sure what to think these days….. from espn.com’s Pat Forde:
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4) Rick Majerus (13) might be right. No, not about the pronunciation of “offense,” but about Notre Dame’s Mike Brey (14) being Big East Coach of the Year.
It’s amazing that his team has never lost its will to compete, despite the serial heartbreak losses. So Brey has got to be in the discussion, but it’s a long discussion. Other legitimate candidates for the award: Andy Kennedy of Cincinnati, Tom Crean of Marquette, Jay Wright of Villanova, Jim Calhoun of Connecticut, Jamie Dixon of Pittsburgh, Louis Orr of Seton Hall and John Thompson III of Georgetown.
February 24th, 2006 at 6:49:06 pm
Sorry schmendel, but no. If a coach’s only job was to keep his players motivated, then yes, Brey should be in the discussion. (Well, I think Chris Quinn and the rest of the older players probably deserve a lot of the credit too… certainly Quinn’s team has done a lot better in this regard than Chris Thomas’s team, which just totally gave up at the end of last season… but, hey, I’ll give Brey the benefit of the doubt that he’s helped.) But a coach has more than just one item on his job description. He’s also supposed to call plays, strategize, develop his players’ talent as well as their heart, get them to play consistently and not just in remarkably heart-filled but ultimately ineffectual spurts… etc. I’ve seen far too much of the “bad” side of the equation to think that Brey should in consideration for anything other than the unemployment line on the basis of this year’s performance.
You want to nominate Chris Quinn for Player of the Year, or at least some sort of team leadership or spirit or effort award? I’m there. But not Brey, not after the multiple games given away by horrible end-of-game strategy. Nope. Sorry, I’m not buying.
February 25th, 2006 at 7:19:08 pm
I hope you are not Catholic, because the Pope doesn’t even support the Danes on this issue. If you are, good luck with Communion.
February 25th, 2006 at 9:56:04 pm
I think you left this comment in the wrong post, unless the Pope has expressed an opinion about Mike Brey’s tenure at Notre Dame, which I doubt.