To sum up Notre Dame basketballs' 2019-2020 season the word that comes to mind is good. Nothing more than that though, the season had a few great moments but equally as many frustrating ones. This season was a nice improvement from the team's last place finish in 2018-2019, but it likely wouldn't have been good enough to earn them a spot in the NCAA tournament. One of the biggest reasons for this is that they couldn't finish games specifically against ranked teams, time and time again they were so so close but just couldn't seal the deal. Here are some of the reasons why they couldn't pull it off last season and why I think they are in better shape to do it this year.
Reasons They Couldn't Get it Done Last year
Lack Of a Closer
Outside of a few unbelievable shots by Nate Laszewski Notre Dame struggled mightly to get good looks late in games. If you really go back and look at the two huge shots Laszewski hit one was a fading three with a hand in his face and the other came off of a missed shot by John Mooney which was heavily contested. Some other examples of bad last possessions were the Virginia game where Rex Pflueger was forced to take a contested corner three or the First Florida State game where Prentiss Hubb missed a tough layup then on the second try they couldn't get a good look and Dane Goodwin was forced to take an almost impossible shot.
That can be fixed this year if they are able to get a guy who can put the ball on the floor and hit big shots when it matters most. I'll get to who I think that could be later but I think they will have the solution to that this year.
Players Running Out of Gas Late In Games.
Another huge issue that the Irish faced in 2019-2020 was players running out of gas at the end of games. Specifically games like the second Florida State game and the NC State game where they had leads the entire game and just ran out of gas at the end and couldn't finish it off. Last year it was clear that at times an 8 man rotation is necessary especially during tournaments where having a deep bench is even more important. The rotation is arguably the biggest question mark going into this season but it will be a huge in close games against ranked teams.
Living and Dying off of the three ball.
Another huge reason the Irish lost in close games like the Louisville, Florida State and the second Syracuse game is that they lived and died on the three ball and couldn't attack the basket well enough to hold leads. There were certain games like the second Florida State game that felt like they were going to unravel because of the shot selection and the lack of attacking the basket.
Here is how I think they can fix these problems and why I think they can finally get a big win against a ranked team.
How They Can Fix these Problems
The First problem of not having a closer or shot creators will be solved this season with the emergence of Cormac Ryan who can create separation and make contested shots late in games which the Irish didn't have last season. To solve the stamina problem there is gonna have to be an 8 man rotation consistently in my opinion, I'm not gonna go into too much detail but here is a full video about what we think of the bench going into this year (link https://youtu.be/6Z6--qBKKBE). To be completely honest I still think living and dying off the three ball could still be an issue because everyone in the lineup outside of Juwan Durham is a high volume three point shooter but if they can solve this issue they would be in great shape to beat great teams.
Why I think they Can Finally Do It
Obviously it is going to be hard to beat any top 25 team but the Irish were so close time and time again last year so it isn't too far fetched to think they can do it especially if there are no fans in the stands. No fans in the stands along with more shot creators and a deeper bench gives the Irish a great chance to finally knock off a top 25 team.
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