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The Notre Dame basketball team is seven games into its Big East season and sits at a respectable 4-3 in conference play, 15-5 overall, but the majority of Irish fans don't care.  This is a similar attitude to the one the Notre Dame athletic department is taking, as the Irish were ranked twelfth in basketball spending in the Big East.  The renovations to the JACC are a nice start, but the Irish still practice in a basement and the attitude on campus, at least among a majority, is that hoops just isn't that important.  I was going to write about this earlier in the week, but this must-read treatise was posted on The Pit Monday, and I recommend going over the whole thing if you have the slightest interest in ND hoops.

It's a great summary, with a few things I wasn't aware of, including the fact Notre Dame's horrendous non-conference is tied to the frugal nature of the administration towards basketball.   There are legitimate reasons to criticize Mike Brey (which we'll address in a moment), but he's also been put in a terrible position and manages to put a competitive team on the floor year-in and year-out.   This year, a very flawed Irish team appears to be headed towards the NIT-side of the bubble, but they've already defeated West Virginia and hung around with two more very talented teams (UConn and Syracuse).  With no bench - or Brey simply refusing to play the reserves more* - there's been considerable pressure put on Luke Harangody, Tim Abromaitis and the starting backcourt.  Most games, the quartet has responded with a great effort, but if even one of them is having an off night, Notre Dame is going to struggle to beat any team, especially the good ones.

* Notre Dame is ranked fourth from last in percentage of minutes played by the bench, and oddly enough, they've lost to two of the teams behind them (Northwestern and UConn).

It's very easy to criticize Brey for over-working the starters,  but it's not like when he goes to the bench he's getting consistent production.  Jonathan Peoples had a night where he went 5-for-5 from three, but many more where he's contributed significantly less.  The first big man off the bench, Carleton Scott, actually left the team for a few days, and his flashes of brilliance are wedged between periods of limited production.  Freshman Joey Brooks looks like he's ready to make a difference, but he's sort of in a back-up quarterback position, where he hasn't played enough for any flaws to be exposed and therefore is universally adored.

There are a number of problems with Brey's short rotation.  The main one is that at the moment each game reaches its most crucial minutes, Ben Hansbrough and Tory Jackson are exhausted from playing the majority of the contest.  This team is also a lot better when it's running, as its extremely unselfish nature (22 assists on 26 field goals against DePaul) blossoms in the open floor, yet at least subconsciously  it has to be a little tougher to push it when you know there's no one to give you even a short rest.  Even if guys like Brooks or Mike Broghammer aren't ready just yet, once red-shirting is no longer an option, it wouldn't hurt to have them out there playing defense and rebounding for a brief spurt while the offense goes through Gody.   (Granted, this would be a lot smaller issue if Scott Martin's leg hadn't betrayed him, but that's beyond anyone's control.)

Despite depth being such an issue - either because of Brey's coaching, Brey's recruiting or guys simply not being ready just yet - the Irish have a shot at the Big Dance.  They'll need to go at least 10-8 in the Big East considering how awful the non-conference was, but is that possible?  Following tonight's game against a fantastic Villanova team, the Irish will most likely be 4-4 in conference play.  After that, the Irish need to win at least four of these next five:

@ Rutgers

Cincinnati

South Florida

@ Seton Hall

St. Johns

Really, other than the Cincy game or at Seton Hall, there isn't an excuse for losing any of those games.  If the Irish can just manage a 4-1 mark against teams not rated above 51 in KenPom ratings, they'll be at 8-5 in league play.  They need two more wins from the remaining regular season slate:

@ Louisville

Pittsburgh

@ Georgetown

UConn

@ Marquette

Tough to pick two wins out of that bunch, and the Irish will need at least that many to make things interesting going into the Big East tournament, an event they don't necessarily excel at every year.  Save for the deep Big East tournament run, the biggest step the Irish could take would be an upset over the 18-1 Wildcats this evening in Philadelphia.  Considering there isn't a player in the ND top seven that can match up with Scottie Reynolds and Nova crushed the Irish last year, I'm not feeling very confident, but odder things have happened.  This could be the type of game that puts Big Luke back into the National Player of the Year conversation, and if the Irish are to have a chance, they're going to need an all-world night from their star.  

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Nothing substantial from the coaching rumor mill so far today - Charlie didn't quit at his press conference, at least - so let's take a look at Mike Brey's 2010 squad.

In the interest of full disclosure, when Scott Martin went down with an ACL injury, I was ready to write off this Irish hoops season.  Not from a record standpoint - oh no, the schedule is so putrid they would roll up some victories on the Harangody/Jackson combination alone - but from a being a quality team that could compete for a Big East title standpoint.  Martin was so perfect for the Brey offense, a Rob Kurz/Ryan Ayers 2.0 that could go inside/outside, knock down threes and space the floor for Harangody on offense while still providing some size on defense.  Short of the big man himself going down, there wasn't a worse injury that could have occurred.  I was certain we were going to see an anomaly: a Mike Brey team that couldn't shoot, and therefore, would be just sort of awful and gruesomely entertaining to watch on the occasional Big Monday.

But then the Seth Davis preseason puff piece happened and likened Tim Abromaitis, who barely saw the floor last season, to Matty Carroll.   Well, that would be one shooter, and Ben Hansbrough would be another, and Tory and Jonathan Peoples maybe could continue progress on their jumpers, and Harangody's range was extending towards the end of last season....

That was a best case scenario and it seemed quite unlikely, but here we are two games into the season and the idea that Mike Brey would have a team without shooters seems completely laughable in hindsight.  I understand the competition has also been something to chuckle at, but you have to put the ball in the bucket no matter who you're against, and the Irish have been doing that from behind the arc and then some.  The team is 26 for 48 from 3m for a blistering 54%.  Hansbrough is 9 for 11, Peoples is 3 for 6, Tory is 4 for 7 and Tim "Matt Carroll" Abromaitis is 6 for 10 off the bench.  Throw in Luke Harangody tossing in 3 of his 9 and you have the main reason (beyond the schedule ) for the Irish averaging 90.5 points per game.

As long as Peoples and Jackson can continue knocking down a decent percentage - and they will get looks, with the double and triple-teams that will be thrown at Gody all season - this offense will be in fine shape.  Ty Nash can do nitty gritty things, bang with some guys and clean up misses, with Carleton Scott doing the same - plus shooting the occasional three! - when he's in the game.  Abromaitis is some bonus scoring punch off the bench, and also adds some size if you wanted to go a little bigger on the outside and move Hansbrough over to point while sitting Tory.  Or, if you really wanted to space things out, slide Abromaitis down to the four and put Harangody in there with him, Tory, Ben and Peoples.  You need another guy to add into the rotation, but this Irish team has some different combinations it can deploy and will be competitive in every game as long as Harangody stays out of foul trouble.

My other thought with this line-up is whether this might be the best perimeter defense we've seen from a Mike Brey squad in recent years.  God bless Kyle McAlarney, who elicited a record number of "laughing, shaking your head and high-fiving your nearest friend" with his three point barrages and will be sorely missed, but he wasn't exactly Gary Payton out there on the defensive end.  Chris Thomas, with a banged up knee plaguing him the whole season, couldn't guard anybody his senior year.  Tory is tenacious, but often undersized and forced into bad match-ups.  But this team -if Brey wants to - could be a very solid defensive squad.  Hansbrough played a hard-nosed style at Mississippi State and has the size, while Peoples has the athleticism to maybe make that Russell Carter leap for his senior season.  Tory is a bulldog pressuring the ball, so it's possible a lot of the problems that plagued the Irish over the years, like giving up penetration to make for easy slash-and-kick threes or dunks, could be mitigated.  With Harangody gobbling up rebounds and Nash/Scott jumping out of the gym to block shots, this could potentially be a considerably more balanced Irish team that we're used to seeing .  Granted, it's likely the perimeter defense assumes its usual position as a sieve-like turnstile, but the personnel is there to lock things down on the outside.

Your notable games for the Irish this season:

November 27^th vs. Northwestern

December 19^th vs. UCLA (who lost to Cal State-Fullerton last night)

January 2^nd at UConn

January 9^th vs. West Virginia (one preseason Big East favorite)

January 27^th at Villanova (the other)

And then the closing stretch of the Big East schedule, which consists of @Louisville, Pitt, @Georgetown, UConn and @Marquette.  Not quite as bad as the Bataan Death March in the middle of last year, but still no easy trek into the Garden.  Remember, some of these teams aren't as good as last year - Louisville lost Clark and Williams, Pitt Blair and Young, Marquette James, Matthews, McNeal and Burke - but they aren't exactly going to be gimme wins either, especially with the young players stepping into the replace the losses having a full season of conference play to get seasoned.

Fun Luke Harangody goal for the season that doesn't involve winning National Player of the Year or setting the career Big East marks in scoring or rebounding :

I'd like Harangody to get a triple-double.  He'll get the points and rebounds with his eyes closed, but the assists will be a little tricky simply because he is just a high volume scorer.  He only averaged two a game last year with a game-high of six against Syracuse, but if it turned into an up and down game and the opposition was really throwing double teams at him, it's possible. 

One of my favorite things - sports or otherwise - is the NBA Draft.  We've celebrated it at the Wilson Ranchero in grand fashion for the last half dozen summers, gathering in late June to enjoy fancy suits, crying moms, overwhelmed translators and the beauty of potential unfettered by the chains of reality and the regular season.   The NBA's draft is so much better than any drafts that you almost can't compare them.  Unlike baseball or football, you don't have to worry about giving giant contracts to players who haven't proven anything at the professional level (but good luck with Matt Stafford, Detroit!).  Rookies can have an immediate impact (this does happen in the NFL, but almost never in baseball - plus you can't trade picks in baseball), and as soon as their names are called, you can envision the prospect filling a role for whatever team just staked part of their future in them.  Unlike the NFL, where there are so many players sprawled across the country and so few games relative to basketball, you've seen most of the players at the top of the draft play multiple times.  Raise your hand if you watched a lot of Eugene Monroe over the course of his career.

The NBA draft is of particular interest to Notre Dame fans this year because one Mr. Luke Harangody, former Big East Player of the Year, is testing the waters.  If you've been checking on on Mike Brey's Twitter feed - highly recommended, funnier than any fake Brey Twitter we could drum up - then you realize Luke's been participating in all sorts of workouts for the league.  Due to the fact he didn't sign an agent, Big Luke has until June 15^th to decide whether or not he wants to stay in for the festivities ten days later (I'd just like to thank the NBA and MTV for arranging the premiere of Real World: Cancun and the draft on back-to-back nights, which is all one could ask for in life).

There's been a lot of debate among Irish fans about whether or not Harangody could make it in the league, but as someone who watched him play for three years and follows the NBA about as closely as one can, I think it's safe to say with some confidence that he can fit into the pros quite nicely.  Is he going to be an All-Star?  No, certainly not, but Harangody's got far too many skills that can work on the next level to not make a team in some capacity.

Perhaps the skill that translates best from college to the pros is the ability to rebound, a trait which Harangody obviously possesses, regardless of whatever size limitations some would like to point out (more on this in a bit).  Luke also has done a great job of developing his jumpshot, especially when you consider the progress of his face-up game from the start of his career up through the end of last season.  If you can bring a big man off the bench who can knock down open shots, rebound and annoy the hell out of the other team with his effort, I think that's a nice piece to have in the rotation.  Whether he's more of a Matt Bonner/Brian Scalabrine or Chuck Hayes/Craig Smith (or somewhere in between), there is a place on a NBA roster for ‘Gody.

Oh, don't believe me?  Let's take a look at what some of the preeminent draft sites around the internet are saying.  First, let's look at NBADraft.net and some of the combine measurables:

A big man that helped himself a lot is Luke Harangody. He turned out to be the strongest player at the combine (23 reps) while posting solid numbers in the sprint and agility tests.

Obviously the league is more about how you can perform in some random exercises, so how is he looking in workouts?  DraftExpress, go!:

The two things that stood out the most about Harangody were his conditioning and overall skill-level. He appears to have dropped a decent amount of weight and looks to be in very good shape now, even if he's clearly not the most athletic power forward you'll find in this draft. He may very well be the best shooter, though, at least from what we could see here-he was knocking down NBA 3-pointer after NBA 3-pointer with unorthodox mechanics but a very quick release. Harangody's scoring instincts shine through even in a setting like this, he has great touch around the basket and can even make some shots of the dribble it seems. Teams will want to get a better read for how he projects defensively at his position, which is not something we could really evaluate in this particular setting. 

I think it should go without saying I want Luke Harangody to come back to Notre Dame.  I'd love to see a starting line-up of Tory Jackson, Ben Hansbrough, Scott Martin, Luke Harangody and Ty Nash taking it to a depleted Big East (Harangody would be the only player returning from the All-Big East First Team).  I think another year at school could only help his status, as a solid round of workouts would have NBA GM's following him all of next year, where he'll get to show off what I presume will be a sleeker frame and extended offensive game.   But obviously, if Luke's dream is to play in the NBA and there's a good chance he's going to go in the first round and guarantee himself a roster spot, who are we as Irish fans to wish him anything but the best?

Andy Katz had a rather extensive piece earlier in the week regarding the pros and cons of Harangody's choice.  His main point is that by returning to Notre Dame, the big man has a chance to set scoring and rebounding records not just at the school, but for the entire Big East conference.  Katz's piece sort of angers me because it really dismisses Gody's chances at the next level ("Or he can choose a more pedestrian career route relative to his hoop world" - I'm not even sure that's a real sentence).  He makes a big deal about size, but unlike a certain 1998 summer blockbuster, size isn't the end all and be all in the pros, plus Katz is just cherry-picking certain numbers to fit his theory. If you did want to push Katz back on that one way of assessing viability in the League (and it's a pretty crappy way to do assessing), Harangody's standing reach is an inch higher than that of soon-to-be number one overall pick Blake Griffin and only two inches below presumed lottery pick Jordan Hill.  Much like DeJuan Blair dominating Hasheem Thabeet both times they matched up last season, if you can rebound you can rebound, no matter what the tape measure says.

Not suggesting in any way that Harangody will become Charles Barkley, but they didn't call him the Round Mound of Rebound because of his towering height.  Plus , "The Warrior."  Enjoy.

So with less than two weeks to go before he makes his choice, it's safe to say it will be coming down to what Harangody feels is the best choice for him.  Etch your name in Irish lore forever, or get to your dream one year earlier?  Neither choice is a bad one, but it certainly would be a difficult one.  Brey's being supportive (as he should be), and I think the NBA front office folks are only going to become increasingly impressed as additional workouts are completed.  Best case scenario for Irish fans?  No one at the bottom of the first round can guarantee ‘Gody that they'll take him, leading to an angry, even more determined LFH making his way back to campus for one more crack at a Big East title.  Worst case?  You get to see ‘Gody suit up in the NBA along the likes of Troy Murphy, Rob Kurz and Chris Quinn next season.  All in all, a win-win situation for those involved.

Instead of 30 Rockefeller Center it's the Garden, but Notre Dame's got a late night date in the city that never sleeps nonetheless.  The Irish take on the Penn State Nittany Lions in the second of two NIT semifinal games (guesstimated tip around 9:30 Eastern).  It should be a really fast-moving, entertaining game, as neither team gets to the line very much and both shoot the three ball pretty well.  The Irish are going to need to defend the three-point line well tonight, although I'm not sure who on the Nittany Lions is stopping Luke Harangody.  The winner will play for the NIT title on Thursday night.

I asked my friend Dill, a Penn State grad from last year, to give us all a quick preview of what to expect this evening.  His words are after the jump.

Go Irish, Beat Nittany Lions.

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Or Final Four, if you will.  Congrats to Mike Brey and his team for rallying after a disappointing regular season to advance to the Garden, where they'll face Penn State next Tuesday evening.  I can only imagine that Penn State basketball fans are as genial and clear-headed as their football counterparts (their non-conference schedules are certainly similar!), so this will be a good time.

I love how this picture makes it seem Luke is bopping Billy Clyde in the head.

I was wondering how Notre Dame was possibly going to stop Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson, but I should have been wondering who was going to stop Luke Harangody (30 points on 22 shots, 2-4 from 3, 8-11 from the line, 11 boards).  If this loss cost Billy Gillispie his job, hurray for Kentucky fans, because I know rabid fanbases love nothing more than a good coaching hunt.

Most Intriguing First Round Game:  Utah vs. Arizona.  Utah maybe had the better season, but I'm not sure anyone would say that the Utes have more talent than the Wildcats.  A lot of teams were bitter about Arizona's inclusion, but Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger are lottery pick talents, while Nic Wise is no slouch at guard.  Luke Nevill is heir to the Andrew Bogut crown inside and the Mountain West champs can shoot the three, so count on this being your typically entertaining 5-12 game.

Best Possible Opening Weekend Showdown: Ohio State/Louisville and Kansas/WVU.  The Cardinals will obviously advance to the second round - not so sure about the Buckeyes against a very intriguing Siena team - but while Louisville isn't that far from Dayton, this will still be Buckeye territory.  Evan Turner is a multi-faceted monster, BJ Mullens will be a lottery pick some day and Mark Titus will be blogging the entire thing.  Kansas wasn't supposed to be here a year after losing most of their championship roster, while West Virginia has young talent of its own with Devin Ebanks, Truck Bryant and Kevin Jones.      

Potential Sleeper (5 seed or higher): West Virginia.  There is clear Big East bias on this blog, but it's somewhat understandable when you consider how good the conference was all year.  West Virginia, under both Beilein and Huggins, has had a lot of success in the tournament that always ended in soul-crushing defeats (Louisvile in '05, Texas in '06, Xavier last year).  They have a top fifteen offense and defense ( per KenPom), and are the sixth best offensive rebounding team in the nation.     

Trendy Pick (4 seed or lower): Michigan State.  Well, this is the time of year where everyone says "I hate to say it, Michigan State always turns it on in the tournament!".  Shall we investigate?  Their last few tournament finishes:

2008: Sweet Sixteen

2007: Second Round

2006: Lost in First Round

2005: Final Four

2004: Lost in First Round

So do they always turn it on?  Not really, but their draw isn't that tough.  You shouldn't take Izzo's bunch just because "they always go well in the tourney," but hey, if you like them, there's no discernable trend that should stop you. 

Why The Favorite Could Fall: Louisville lost to Notre Dame by 33 points.  That would be reason enough to doubt the Cardinals, but they haven't lost since then, winning the regular and postseason crowns of the best conference in the land.  Louisville's problems stem from the fact they can get extremely stagnant on offense if they fall in love with the jump shot and can't get any easy buckets off turnovers.  Again: they lost to Notre Dame by 33.  They don't get to the line a lot and when they do, they miss a lot of freebies.  We're nitpicking here, but that's the point of this category.

Most Intriguing First Round Game:  UCLA vs. VCU.  Every year I fall in love with a few teams as NCAA sleepers, and every year, without fail, they're paired against each other before the Sweet Sixteen.  This year I liked VCU, UCLA and Villanova, and sure enough, only one of those teams will be making it to the conference semifinals.  Eric Maynor will try to hold his own against the Jrue Holiday/Darren Collison tag team, while Larry Sanders - a freak inside - will patrol the paint.  You can be sure the Philadelphia crowd will be against the Bruins, but will that be enough?

Best Possible Opening Weekend Showdown: Texas/Duke and ‘Nova/UCLA.  If Texas can get past Minnesota, they'll get to take a shot at the Blue Devils, who haven't been past the Sweet Sixteen since 2004.  Duke doesn't have anyone to match up with a rested Dexter Pittman, while the Longhorn defense has the athleticism to lock down the Duke perimeter shooters.  AJ Abrams and Damion James against Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer and Gerald Henderson?  I like it, although Tubby Smith may have something to say about the game even happening.

I also love the idea of a bunch of potential NBA guards throwing down with a trip to the Sweet Sixteen on the line, but the fact this game is in Villanova's backyard would be a huge disadvantage to UCLA, who hasn't had to travel East very often during their run of Final Fours.

Potential Sleeper (5 seed or higher):  UCLA.   Can you tell I don't think very highly of the top half of the bracket beyond the one seed?  UCLA's got the pedigree, the guards and the defense, but they're going to be playing in front of a very partisan crowd.  Never discount Ben Howland's ability to muck up a game so that talent and momentum are taken out of the equation.

Trendy Pick (4 seed or lower): Villanova.  Here's a fun fact for you: three of the last four years, the Wildcats have been eliminated by the eventual national  champion (including on that bogus traveling call against UNC in the 2005 Sweet Sixteen).   Dante Cunningham is now a crusty veteran, while Jay Wright's plethora of guards seldom disappoint.   The sad thing about taking VCU, Villanova or UCLA is that only one will survive one of the two toughest pods in the entire tournament.  If you want to take UCLA or ‘Nova, you can't sort of have a good vibe or be playing a hunch; you have to love love love them.

Why The Favorite Could Fall: The Panthers have never been past the Sweet Sixteen in the Howland/Dixon era, and with DeJuan Blair's recurrent foul difficulties, that could continue.  However, a lot of the previous Pitt teams have made deep conference tournament runs, so this one has perhaps had more time to focus on the bigger prize.   Oklahoma State has some talent and the bottom half of the bracket is just loaded.  I don't think the Panthers will have that much trouble getting to the Elite Eight, but they'll have to earn that trip to Detroit in the regional final.

They'll be playing at 9:00pm on ESPN2HD on St. Patrick's Day night.  There will be a lot of green in the Joyce Center that night, although who knows how many students will be there.