Selection Sunday is on the horizon and unlike the last few years, Notre Dame is in the mix. The Irish have also passed the 20 win threshold and earned a double bye in the ACC tournament. Most importantly, the Irish have likely put themselves in the field of 68. Here's a look at Notre Dame's resume and why this year has been different for Mike Brey's team in the eyes of the selection committee.
ND’s resume
Quad 1:
2-6
W: (Kentucky (H), Miami (R))
L: (St. Mary’s (N), Illinois (R), Duke (H), Virginia Tech( R), Indiana (N), Wake Forest (R))
Quad 2:
3-1
W: (North Carolina (H), Clemson (R), Louisville (R))
L: ( Texas A&M (N))
Quad 3:
10-1
W: (Syracuse (H), Virginia (H), NC State(H), Louisville (H), Pitt (R), Howard (R), Clemson (H), Georgia Tech (R), NC State (R), Boston College (H))
L: (Boston College(R))
Quad 4:
5-0
W: ( Georgia Tech (H), Cal State Northridge (H), Western Michigan (H), Texas A&M Corpus Christi (H), High Point (H))
Notre Dame is in the position they are in because of a few important reasons
They've Mostly Avoided the Bad Loss
Maybe the most important thing that Notre Dame has done this year is avoiding the bad loss. The reason that the Irish aren't in the top 25 could very well be that they have a quad 3 loss on their resume. The good thing for the Irish is that this is their only bad loss. The Irish are 16-1 in quad 3 &4 games. Notre Dame certainly hasn't been at their best in a lot of their games, but they've found ways to win in almost all of them. Notre Dame's resume only has one blip on it and it is a huge reason that their resume is that of an NCAA tournament team.
They've Defended Their Home Court
To be successful in college basketball and more specifically the ACC, you have to win on your home floor. Assuming Notre Dame beats Pittsburgh on Saturday, they'll finish with only one loss at Purcell Pavilion. In a league like the ACC, it's hard to consistently win on the road so any home loss is a missed opportunity and a blip on the resume. In the metrics, teams are also punished more for home losses than road losses, meaning that a few tough nights at Purcell Pavillion could've completely derailed Luckily for Notre Dame, they have found ways to come out on top in front of their student section and hometown fans.
The Kentucky Win
Without Notre Dame's win against John Calipari's highly ranked Kentucky team, their resume would be largely the same as it was in 2019-2020 when they would've missed the tournament. Good, but not good enough... The resume would have consisted of a few solid league wins against teams in their wheelhouse, a few missed opportunities against high level opponents, and a few empty wins in buy games, but it would've lacked a marquee win.
Whether the Irish just caught Kentucky on a bad day or not, Notre Dame now has a top 10 win under their belt and it's likely the difference between them being on the bubble and them being safely in the tournament.
To make the NCAA tournament, most ACC teams will need to pick up a few wins in Brooklyn. But because of the way Notre Dame has found ways to pick up important wins, they've put themselves in a position where they won't need to. That is a direct result of them taking care of business when they've needed to throughout the regular season. Mike Brey's team will likely just be playing for seeding next week in Brooklyn because of the strength of their resume.
Opmerkingen