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Notre Dame Men's Basketball Last Chance To Dance

Not so long ago, Notre Dame was referred to as “a basketball school.”

It was facetious in nature, yet not necessarily inaccurate, especially after the football team finished 4-8 in 2016.

In a three-year stretch from 2015-17, no school surpassed Notre Dame’s combination of men’s and women’s success when it came to hoops.

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Wake Forest upset the Irish last year on Notre Dame's home court, an area where Mike Brey's program must reassert itself starting tonight versus the Demon Deacons.
Wake Forest upset the Irish last year on Notre Dame's home court, an area where Mike Brey's program must reassert itself starting tonight versus the Demon Deacons. (USA TODAY Sports)

Seven Final Fours in nine years (2011-19) for the women, highlighted by the 2018 national title, made them one of the top two superpowers with UConn in the sport, similar to Alabama and Clemson the past half-dozen years in football.

As for the men, from 2010-17 they made the NCAA Tournament seven of those eight years, a stretch in program annals surpassed only by the eight straight from 1974-81 under head coach Digger Phelps.

The men finished the regular season No. 5 in 2011, won their first conference tournament (ACC) ever in 2015 — comparable to reaching the Final Four in 1978 — and produced back-to-back Elite Eight finishes for the first time in 36 years.

How quickly fortunes can swing.

Both programs have suffered recruiting setbacks and above average attrition the past several years.

Consequently, both find themselves with 2-6 league records while currently sitting in 14th place in the 15-team Atlantic Coast Conference.

For the virtually depleted 7-13 overall women’s squad, there is not much to salvage from this season other than preparing for the future. Twenty losses are conceivable, and up next on Thursday is No. 5 Louisville, 20-1 overall and 9-0 in the league.

Because the roster has featured three players — Sam Brunelle, the now injured Anaya Peoples and Katlyn Gilbert — who were all former McDonald’s All-Americans with three years of eligibility remaining after this season, and because a quality five-woman class is arriving next year, there is a chance that two years from now — provided reasonable health and unity remain — it could return to Sweet 16/Top-10 status.

They will need more Top-5-level talent that was signed almost annually in the last decade to return to Final Four level, though, because numerous schools — UConn, Oregon, Baylor, South Carolina, Stanford, Louisville …— have eclipsed the Irish on the recruiting front the past several years.

As for the men, a flicker of hope remains in the quest to return to the NCAA Tournament as they embark on a three-game homestand against three beatable foes on their conference slate:

• Wake Forest (tonight, Jan. 29) is the lone school behind the Irish in the ACC with a 2-7 mark (9-10 overall).

• Georgia Tech (Saturday, Feb. 1) already has lost to Notre Dame this season and is 10-11 overall. On the day Kelly Tripucka gets inducted into the Ring of Honor … it would be quite inappropriate to lose.

• Pitt (Wednesday, Feb. 5), 4-6 in the conference, is appreciably improved from recent years, but this is where the home floor especially must be protected.

Notre Dame is 2-10 in its last 12 ACC home games, a far cry from when it was one of the nation’s most vaunted home teams under now 20th-year head coach Mike Brey, winning a school-record 45 straight at one point, and also posting a 21-6 mark in league contests from 2015-17 en route to producing seven NCAA Tournament wins during that span — another program record over a three-year period.

One loss in this eight-day segment would pretty much put the kibosh on dancing in March.

Get to 5-6, however, and suddenly an energizing surge of climbing back among toward the top half of the league begins to envelope this more seasoned unit. And with nine league games still ahead afterwards, the opportunity to gather more steam, plus galvanize as a unit, remains.

The frustration of the past three years boiled over in the typically mild-mannered and ultra-loose Brey during last Saturday night’s 85-84 loss at No. 5 Florida State. Numerous highly questionable calls or non-calls in the closing minutes repeatedly went against the Irish, resulting in a $20,000 fine of the school for Brey speaking his mind on the topic afterwards.

Brey knows better than anyone that three straight NCAA Tournament misses in year 20 of his career evokes more skepticism about the future than ever, particularly when the past two recruiting cycles have been a struggle.

Maybe that display in Tallahassee was the type of “you’ve got to lose something (a fine) to gain something (team bonding)” moment needed to ignite some fire without crashing and burning.

This is a vastly improved team from the 3-15 ACC outfit last year that tied Pitt for last place. This unit took the nation’s current No. 5 (Florida State) and No. 6 (Louisville) teams down to the closing seconds, and split close calls (88-87 win and 84-82 loss) to another current top-5 ACC team in Syracuse.

After this three-game homestand, the Irish head for three straight road contests, and then a navigable home stretch:

Feb. 9 at Clemson — Notre Dame has actually performed better in its road contests than at home this season in league play.

Feb. 11 at Virginia — The Irish are only 2-13 all time versus the Cavaliers and never won on their home court (0-5), although the last two meetings there they showed well, including last year’s 60-54 loss to the eventual national champs.

Feb. 15 at Duke — Remember when Brey began his ACC career 5-1 against the Blue Devils? They have since lost five straight to Duke.

Feb. 17 North Carolina — The 3-6 Tar Heels (10-10 overall) are beatable minus guard/upcoming lottery pick Cole Anthony.

Feb. 23 Miami — At 3-7, the Hurricanes have lost their last four road outings by 16, 17, 40 and 23.

Feb. 26 at Boston College — Notre Dame can’t lose two straight to Boston College (73-72 at home in December) after having beaten them 13 straight …can they?

Feb. 28 at Wake Forest — The Irish have won on their last two trips to Winston-Salem.

March 4 Florida State — Notre Dame needs a marquee win, and this can be an opportunity unless the Seminoles falter. They might also take umbrage to Brey’s comments about the officiating and could be more determined to prove it wasn’t a fluke.

March 7 Virginia Tech — Mandatory to close strong on Senior Day for starters John Mooney, T.J. Gibbs and Rex Pflueger.

Maybe an example now can be taken from the way the football team bounced back from its 4-8 debacle.

Step 1. Become a dominant home team again.

Irish football has won 18 straight at home, and men’s basketball at worst needs to be at worst 6-1 in the remaining seven contests at Purcell Pavilion.

Step 2 is to win against “the rank and file.” Notre Dame football has won 24 straight versus unranked foes, a streak second only to Alabama over the past three years.

This means to go at least 2-1 in the road trips to Clemson, Boston College and Wake Forest.

Step 3 is to win one “you’re not supposed to” — which has been a sticking point of Irish football for a few decades now.

For basketball, that would mean stealing a victory either at Duke or Virginia, or at home versus Florida State, a 1-2 output.

Achieve each of the three for an 11-9 mark in the ACC, and now you have a chance.

Getting even to 10-10 at this point, though, should not be unrealistic, provided reasonable health remains.

Maybe through football's example, the Irish can become a vaunted basketball school as well once again.

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