I'd like to tell you I've spent the intervening hours between Notre Dame's loss to Old Dominion and the writing of this ruminating on that game, but that would be a lie.  I've certainly thought about it a bit, but I've just mainly watched a lot of basketball in that time.  And while I watched, it only served to remind me that the Irish's loss wasn't particularly tragic and that for his flaws, Mike Brey is a good basketball coach.

On the first thought, it is certainly sad and disappointing that Notre Dame lost, but a month ago we didn't even think Tory Jackson and Luke Harangody would sniff the NCAA tournament in their senior season, so just being there was a bonus.  Then consider the fact that Old Dominion was ranked higher by some metrics (RPI, KenPom), had already defeated Georgetown and had a legitimate front line of a 6' 10" guy and his two 6' 8" friends.  On top of that, while Notre Dame's defeat was close and heart-breaking, how would you rank it next to say, Maryland's loss?  Or Texas A&M's?  Or Vanderbilt's?  Or Florida's?  Or Murray State's?  Or Robert Morris's?  Or Marquette's?  And would you say that Notre Dame fans are more disappointed than, I don't know, Kansas's?  Or Georgetown's?  No, of course not, so while I would have very much preferred to win against the Monarchs, I imagine I'm in a much easier position than the denizens of Phog Allen.

On discussing Mike Brey's competencies as a coach, I think it's important to start by noting that all sports fans are a little crazy.  You watch your team play every game, seeing every flaw that reoccurs over the course of a season or a coach's tenure.  A big problem occurs when you only watch your team play, occasionally tuning into another game to compare notes.  All coaches have flaws, and none of them are perfect.  Roy Williams won the national title last year, and his team - loaded with talent - lost 16 games this year and didn't make the NCAA tournament.  Bill Self, who won the national title two years ago, somehow didn't think to have his uber-athletic team press Northern Iowa until the last few minutes of their second round loss.  Billy Donovan, who won the two titles before them, hasn't won a single NCAA game since and just made it back to the Big Dance this year.

People complain that Notre Dame's end of game offense is just one guy dribbling and then trying to penetrate way too late in the shot clock.  Watch much hoops this weekend?  Because if you did, you probably noticed nearly every team does that.  Mike Brey's teams usually play a very smart brand of basketball.  They generally make good decisions and pass well.  Can you imagine if supported a team coached by Paul Hewitt, Dino Gaudio or someone of a similar caliber?  Georgia Tech's game against Ohio State was just a group of guys attempting to get on SportsCenter, with winning the game a nice bonus should it occur.  They took horrific shots, tried for tip slams at every opportunity and on fast breaks would eschew stopping ball for an attempt to swat it from behind for a highlight reel block.  If you ever think to yourself "Mike Brey is an awful coach," find a DVD of the Texas/Wake Forest game and appreciate how Notre Dame plays.  Are they as well-oiled as a Butler or Northern Iowa?  No, but they're in nearly every game - even those against teams with a lot more talent - because they play smart and play as a unit.

That being said, just because Notre Dame's loss wasn't the end of the world doesn't mean I'm happy about it.  There are certainly some things that could have gone differently that would have given the Irish a shot at Baylor and the Sweet Sixteen.  A few bullet points, then a look ahead to next season:

• I thought this was maybe the key sequence in the game: At the midway point of the first half, Tory Jackson hit a three to give the Irish a nine point lead. On the following possession, Monarch forward Kent Bazemore made a layup while being fouled by Tyrone Nash. He misses the free throw, and on the ensuing scrum, senior Jonathan Peoples "saves" the ball underneath his own hoop and blindly flings over his head. Even before "Don't give up baseline," one of the first lessons you learn playing basketball is to never save the ball under your own hoop. Worst case is it's out of bounds to your opponent and you can set the defense. To compound this unforgivable hard court sin, Luke Harangody reached in for an "Excuse me" and-one on a Frank Hassell make. 15-6 to 15-11 in a matter of seconds because of two silly plays. As I said above, Notre Dame generally plays smart, and that's how they compete and win. When two seniors are violating some fundamental hoops rules, their chances of winning - especially against a team playing smart- go down dramatically.
• Props to Ben Hansbrough and Carleton Scott for putting in 31 points and doing everything they could to keep the Irish in the game until the very end. Tory Jackson didn't have a great shooting afternoon - although he was stuck taking some low-percentage shots at the end of shot clocks - but the Hansbrough/Scott tag team went 13 of 26 from the field and 5 of 13 from 3.
• I understand why the burn offense was effective after Harangody's injury, but all the Irish players were passing up good shots in an attempt for some mythical perfect look. I love the mantra "Perfect is the enemy of good," and when you see good shooters passing up open shots just to run some more time off the clock, it's painful.
• Luke Harangody and Ty Nash combined for 41 minutes, but just 10 boards and 5 points on 2-for-11 shooting. Gody was bothered by Old Dominion's length the entire game and let that frustration affect his defense, which wasn't great in the second half. We have a couple months to talk about this, but I've gone from thinking Harangody could be an effective rotation player in the NBA to having severe doubts.
• Tim Abromaitis finished the season on a very cold streak, and I think I have a theory beyond shooting funk. In Jack McCallum's tremendously enjoyable Seven Seconds or Less, he discusses Mike D'Antoni's belief that the best shots come early in the shot clock, before the defense has settled in and locked the claws into shooters. The numbers back this up, so it makes sense that the opposite would be true. Abromaitis would be having more trouble trying to hit jumpers at the end of a possession, when he's hurried and the defender knows his options are limited. Credit to Abro for doing everything else during this rough stretch, from playing hard defense and rebounding to moving without the ball and hitting some nice pull-up jumpers in the lane. I imagine that when the offense speeds back up, Abro's percentages will head north again.

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We're going to spend some time in the coming weeks saying good bye to the seniors, but let's take a moment to glance towards the future.  What will this team look like next season?  Jackson, Harangody and Peoples are gone, but Scott Martin will finally be able to suit up and freshman guard Eric Atkins is likely to get some playing time.  Joey Brooks will see an expanded role in the backcourt to relieve some of the ball-handling duties from Insane B, while Jack Cooley and Mike Broghammer have another offseason to polish up the very positive contributions they made in limited time over the last month. 

I think a starting line-up of Hansbrough, Martin, Abromaitis, Scott and Nash would be fine on offense, even without a traditional backcourt, because of everyone's ability to competently handle the ball.  Defense would be a little trickier, because unless Martin is quicker than I understand him to be, there'd be no one to defend quicker two's.  This could be solved by playing a lot more zone, which would emphasize the overall length of that starting five.  Brooks and/or Atkins provide a breather for Hansbrough - both letting him get some rest on the bench and taking over as primary ball-handler for spurts while on the floor with him - while Cooley and Broghammer complement a deep front line.  There's no reason that the old, quick and flowing offense can't be matched with the tougher defense as long as everyone gets a chance to rest.   The problem this season was that it was both unfair and essentially impossible to ask for six and a half guys to play an up-tempo game on offense while expending maximum effort on defense for forty minutes.  When Harangody went down, so did the pace of the game, and all the Irish players had more energy to throw at opposing offenses.

There will be some rocky moments to start next season, which tends to happen when you lose a four year starter at point guard, but the cumulative talent and depth will be as good as it's been during the Brey era.  There's shooting, athleticism, big bodies and a new-found commitment to defense, and whether it's reasonable or not, my hopes are high.  Anyone care to join me in Orlando for Thanksgiving?