Notre Dame’s final game of the 2019-20 season was an early round Wednesday night ACC Tournament romp of Boston College, merely a murmur as the lid blew off on the inevitability of a sports shutdown.
Head coach Mike Brey, though, sees some long-term value in that 80-58 win. He has good reason to hope it’s a snapshot of what may come in 2020-21.
“It was really next year’s team that played so well,” Brey said. “John Mooney was exhausted and in foul trouble and was sitting on the bench. The only difference was T.J. Gibbs instead of Cormac Ryan.
“Next year’s team was playing really well together, going for it, having fun. Then we got cut short.”
The Irish made two spring additions — one of whom will sit out this season – but the roster and outlook is otherwise unchanged from that March 11 season-ending victory. They’ll add one eligible transfer in Ryan and three freshmen to the crew who was on the floor that night against the Eagles. Only Juwan Durham and Nikola Djogo are out of eligibility after this year.
Here is a one-by-one look at all 11 scholarship players.
Prentiss Hubb
2019-20 stats: 12.1 ppg, 5.1 apg, 38.5% FG, 1.0 spg
Hubb was Notre Dame’s point guard last year, but the team went through Mooney, as it should do with a first-team All-ACC player. Hubb will have the same role again this year, but this is his team now. The Irish will go where he can take them. At his best, he was an electric playmaker and scorer last season, with a 26.7 assist rate that ranked among the top 150 nationally.
The task is doing both at a higher efficiency. That means cutting his turnover rate below 20 percent, a product of more developed decision making. Hubb also shot 26.8 percent on two-point jumpers and 34.4 percent on three-pointers. He took only 15 percent of his shots on two-point jumpers, while nearly two-thirds were on threes. The latter can improve with better shot selection. Take another step in both areas, and an All-ACC season is feasible.
