Notre Dame Hoops Looks To Replicate Recent Success

Coming off back-to-back Elite 8 appearances, Notre Dame’s men’s basketball team will have quite the challenge to achieve that same success in 2016-17.

The Irish completed their 12th preseason practice Tuesday morning in preparation for their Nov. 12 season opener against Bryant.

“All summer, when anybody said, ‘How we gonna be? We going back to the Elite 8? How we gonna be?’” 17th-year head coach Mike Brey said. “My comment was, ‘We just lost four NBA players in two years, that’s a major drain on your talent.’ But we still have a lot of guys back that have won together and have won at a high level.”

Brey held his annual media day press conference. Here are the highlights:

PAST SUCCESS DRIVES IRISH

Notre Dame’s NCAA Tournament success has pushed the program to a new level.

Brey said he was asked recently what his goals are for the season. There’s an easy answer.

“There’s no question in that locker room, I don’t have to talk about goals,” Brey said. “This group of guys talks about playing past the Elite 8, that’s awesome when your culture kind of generates that kind of leadership and tone without me getting involved.”

It’ll be tough to replicate that success, and when Brey takes a step back, he knows the challenge in front of his team. The Atlantic Coast Conference is perhaps as powerful as it’s ever been, combined with the talent drain Notre Dame has had the past two years.

“You’ve got to get access to the (NCAA Tournament) before you can have fun in March like we’ve had the last two years,” Brey said, “and it will be harder for us to get a bid this year than it was the previous two years given what we’ve lost and that the league is amazingly deep. Having said that, we have a great chance of doing that.”

Now, the Irish are building on that success, validating the program that Brey’s built in South Bend.

“It’s really been powerful for our program through the offseason,” Brey said of the tourney success. “People always really respected our program before the last two years. We were solid, how we did it, how we groomed guys, but the last two years have kicked us into a new realm of stuff. It drives the confidence of that locker room.”

STARTING FIVE SET

Though Notre Dame lost starting point guard Demetrius Jackson and starting forward Zach Auguste to the pros, Brey is confident this year’s squad will build on recent seasons and still be a veteran group.

“We’re still old. You get old and stale is the theme around here,” Brey said. “We still got experience.”

Brey said the starting lineup will be as follows: junior Matt Farrell at point guard, senior Steve Vasturia at the other guard spot, senior V.J. Beachem on the wing and juniors Bonzie Colson and Martinas Geben at forward.

“Unless something crazy happens, that’s who we would start in our first exhibition game,” Brey said.

Brey said sophomore wing Matt Ryan “would’ve made a run” at a starting spot had the 6-foot-7, 228-pounder not suffered a stress reaction in his foot. Ryan is progressing and should be available by early November, Brey said.

That leaves sophomore wing Rex Pflueger, freshman point guard T.J. Gibbs, sophomore forward Elijah Burns and senior forward Austin Torres as the team’s key reserves.

Beachem, Colson and Vasturia are Notre Dame’s top returning players and had starting roles locked in entering the preseason.

“The big three are the big three, those guys really don’t come out of a white shirt,” Brey said. “Farrell and Geben, those two needed to know that I’ve got their back and they’re in there.”

ODDS & ENDS

• Brey admitted that Geben, who played in 16 games and averaged three minutes per contest, considered transfer after last season. Brey understood the frustration — Geben was benched in favor of a smaller, downshifted lineup as the season went on — but told the Lithuanian: "The devil you know is better than the devil you don't."

Geben appreciated the comment, and stuck around. Brey now expects the 6-foot-10, 255-pounder to have a strong junior year. Geben will need to be a screener, rebounder and good defender for Notre Dame. He’s also “automatic” from the foul line.

• Gibbs, the younger brother of former major-college hoops players Ashton (Pittsburgh) and Sterling (Texas), is more of a point guard than his brothers, Brey said. The coach said T.J. is ready to play ACC basketball as a freshman.

That comes from the Scotch Plains, N.J., native’s upbringing.

“When they would go to the gym with their old man and play one-on-one-on-one, you had to imagine that T.J. had to fight for his life,” Brey said of Gibbs. “Then he probably had to fight for food at night at the dinner table. There’s a great toughness about him.”

Gibbs is expected to see time as the backup point guard behind Farrell.

• Farrell, who had a fantastic March for the Irish, has grown into his role at starting point guard.

“We gave him the ball,” Brey said. “I told him, ‘You’re the guy. I don’t want any indecision. You’re the guy to run the team.”

• Burns has stayed healthy and "throws that body around" Brey said. The 6-8, 235-pounder is a good communicator on defense.

"One of those bigs we need to keep alive,” he said.

• Brey said he wants to be smart on minutes for Vasturia and Beachem, meaning right now in practice and through the season. Notre Dame’s players wear heart monitors during practice, and Brey is able to track workload.

Brey said fatigue was a factor in Vasturia's struggles in March last year. Also said Beachem, who carried the Irish, took Vasturia's role a little bit.

• Brey on Pflueger, who contributed significantly on the defensive end last season as a freshman: “When you put Pflueger in the game it gives you a great shot in the arm defensively.”

Farrell is also an underrated defender, Brey said. According to the coach, the Irish can be better defensively than they were last year.