Notre Dame, A Bunch of Over-Achievers?

Led by Jack Cooley, the Fighting Irish are 9-1 in their last 10 games

The Irish went from disaster to dominanting

By Shane McCarthy on February 26, 2012

Entering the 2011-2012 season, the Irish were a team without a lot of experience, very little depth, and when Tim Abromaitis was lost for the year six games in due to injury, a team that lacked a star quality player to lean on. 

When Notre Dame finished their non-conference portion of their season, they were 8-5, and they didn’t have one notable win in the eight they possessed.  They got blown out by Missouri and Gonzaga and also lost to Georgia, Maryland and Indiana.  Unfortunately, wins against Sam Houston State and Maine did not prove that this team was any good. 

The Irish started Big East Conference play with more of the same.  At 3-3, they managed to beat Pittsburgh and Louisville, but it was still widely expected that the Fighting Irish were bound to finish as a bottom dweller in the Big East and receive a NIT bid. 

Now in late February, it’s amazing to see how this team turned it around.  At 12-4 in conference and 20-9 overall, could they be the biggest surprise of the year or have they just been over-achieving?

After a difficult loss at Rutgers on January 16, Notre Dame went on to win nine straight conference games, the most in school history.  The streak started when they caught a then #1 Syracuse team flat and directionless as they were playing their first of three games without Fab Melo.  There is no telling if Notre Dame can pull off that win with Melo in the lineup, but that was not their problem as they took advantage of the situation. 

That victory over the Orange may have been the spark that ignited the run, but it was also the fact that the Irish became the anti-Connecticut team.  While UConn possesses boatloads of talent with no team chemistry, Notre Dame makes up for their lack of talent with great chemistry and smart play. 

Jack Cooley, a role player last year, kept his big body, but fine-tuned it from goofy to talented, and is now winning Big East Player of the Week awards.  Combine his skills with great guard play from Jerian Grant and Eric Atkins, two white guys that can shoot and play tough defense in Pat Connaughton and Alex Dragicevich, and you have a solid team that is well-rounded. 

Now the Big East has not played as tough this year as in years past, but it is still a deep conference with no sure-things.  The argument can be made however, that Notre Dame was able to take advantage of a soft patch in their schedule.  With or without Fab Melo, Syracuse is a high quality win given their depth and talent, but they were also able to catch imploding UConn and West Virginia teams.   Their decisive win against Marquette was impressive, but they were also able to get Seton Hall, Rutgers, DePaul and Villanova in that stretch.   Nothing spectacular, but in the end - wins are wins.  

So what changed?  In short, nothing that shows up in the box score changed much.  They increased their assists per game from 14.3 in their first 19 games to 15.4 in the last 10, but their turnovers went up from 9.9 to 10.2.  Their FG%, 3PT% and rebounds per game all have also remained fairly constant.  They did however stiffen up their defense and reduced their opponents FG% from 42% to 38%. 

Notre Dame does rely on the three point shot often and if they don’t shoot well, they don’t have enough inside presence to win games.   This was on display yesterday at St. Johns as the Red Storm did an admirable job of reducing Cooley’s touches and forced the Irish to take a lot of long shots.  The Irish didn’t shoot well, 4 of 31 from three, and ended up losing the game by three points.

Some may say that they were fortunate to even be in the game with St. Johns at the end, but I see that as a positive.  They shot the ball terribly, Cooley never got going, and they still had an open look at the buzzer to send it to overtime.  Most teams would have lost by 15+.

So, what did change then?  The Irish have turned their early season struggles into success by changing their attitude.  Lead by the reigning National Coach of the Year, Mike Brey, this team believes they should be having this type of success.   They are definitely not the most athletic or talented team, but as long as they keep working hard and do not become relaxed, there is no reason why this team can’t continue to enjoy success. 

So, have they over-achieved?  Maybe, but this team earned it through hard work and buying into each other.  The Fighting Irish went from a NIT bid at best six weeks ago to possibly a five or six seed in the NCAA Tournament.  My guess is they get one win before going out in the round of 32, but it is hard to bet against a team that believes they should be winning.    

@shane_t_mac