Even during the early struggles of the 2019-2020 season, Notre Dame Basketball had one thing they could hang their hat on and that was their defense. In November, Mike Brey described the team as "joined at the hip" defensively which is typical of a Brey team. This year that should not change. But, what will change is that the Irish lose arguably their best two perimeter defenders in TJ Gibbs and Rex Pflueger, who could often be seen guarding the other teams' best two scoring guards. Last season, the Irish were middle of the pack in the ACC for all defensive metrics as they allowed 68.7 points per game, which was 9th in the league. They were also 8th in the league in blocked shots per game with 3.69 per game, and 10th in steals with 5.91 per game. While this isn't ideal, the offense the Irish produced made up for it as they were 4th in the ACC in scoring margin with an average 5.6 point differential per game.
The Irish will get two good perimeter defenders in newcomers Cormac Ryan and Tony Sanders Jr, but outside of them defense on the perimeter looks somewhat weak, especially in the absence of athletic wing Robby Carmody. Along with the newcomers, the Irish return with potentially the best defender in the roster in Juwan Durham. Although the 6'11 center struggled at times against skilled big-men like Olivier Sarr and Vernon Carey, he led the Irish in blocked shots per games with 2.1 and was a top 5 defensive big man in the ACC so there shouldn't be an issue with rim protection. The other two promising defenders on the roster are Nik Djogo who is versatile defensively, and Elijah Taylor who can provide a lot of value with his shot blocking ability and athleticism.
All of that is great, but in order for the Irish to be where they were last year defensively, the junior class of Prentiss Hubb, Dane Goodwin, and Nate Laszewski all need to take a step forward defensively. Last season Mike Brey was critical of Goodwin's defense at times but the guard responded well as his defense seemed to be trending in the right direction before the season was understandably shut down. Hubb's size limits him a bit on the defensive end but if he can force more turnovers as an on ball defender he can be just what the Irish need alongside Cormac Ryan. As for Laszewski, he is a good perimeter defender for his size and generally has good footwork, but to take the next step as a defender he needs to be able to consistently defend some of the ACC's best post players as John Mooney did. Last season we saw flashes of Laszewski taking that next step in the first Wake Forest game where he essentially shut down Olivier Sarr for the better part of a half. We should see this kind of performance more often as the Notre Dame forward seems to have added a good amount of muscle over the past few months.
If the Irish are going to return to where they were defensively last season, the juniors need to step up. If they don't, it isn't necessarily time to panic. In many seasons under Brey, the Irish haven't been a great defensive team but have still had success. This year could be similar considering they project to be a fast paced offensive team that could shoot a high percentage from three, so defense may not be as important as it was last season. Another way the Irish could make up for their lack of great defenders is dropping into a zone which we saw them do at times to hide certain players that were struggling defensively and slow the game down. The Irish may struggle at times on the defensive end this season but it will be crucial to make up for it with offensive like they did at times last season. It should be interesting to see how the Irish look defensively without T.J. Gibbs, Rex Pflueger, and John Mooney this season and big of a role that will play in their success.
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