In the giddy afterglow of Notre Dame making its second straight Sweet 16, coach Mike Brey preached to the choir.
Everyone nodded. Everyone believed. All that was missing was an amen.
If this indeed is Notre Dame’s time, fate only begins to explain why. Perhaps the luck of the Irish had something to do with getting a favorable draw in the East Region and No. 3 seed West Virginia losing its first-round game. But in rallying to win two consecutive NCAA Tournament games, Notre Dame didn’t look destined as much as determined. Overcoming a 12-point second-half deficit to Michigan and erasing a five-point Stephen F. Austin lead with 2 minutes, 45 seconds left happened more because of effort than accident. This Notre Dame team never quits.
Talk all you want about Notre Dame’s style, but its substance carried the Irish into tonight’s matchup against Wisconsin; the so-called finesse team, for example, locked down defensively well enough to hold Stephen F. Austin without a field goal for the final 3:25. A team Brey and his unbuttoned personality likes to keep loose with wisecracks defines itself by a hardened resolve.
The evolution of Brey’s 16th Notre Dame team surprised him. In a preseason conversation, Brey acknowledged a likely return to earth for a program that soared last year behind graduating seniors Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton, who helped the Irish take Kentucky down to the final possession in their final college game. Yet here the Irish are again in late March, dreaming of a Final Four and diverting campus attention away from spring football.
Point guard Demetrius Jackson is to Notre Dame what Derrick Rose is to the Bulls; when he attacks offensively, everything else falls into place. Big man Zach Auguste posted 21 double-doubles, Notre Dame’s most since Luke Harangody. Steve Vasturia, who ignited the comeback against Michigan, developed a knack for hitting 3-pointers when Notre Dame needs them most. V.J. Beachem emerged as a silky smooth clutch shooting threat. And where would the Irish be without the unexpected heroics of guys like Rex Pflueger, whose last-second tip-in Sunday kept the season alive?
The players’ faith comes from their glass-is-half-full coach, who projects a positive vibe for the program despite years of relative neglect. Brey knows there still are those in South Bend who consider this a big week at Notre Dame only because of the quarterback competition unfolding at spring football practice. Some days it can be hard to accept the ongoing construction on a $400 million Campus Crossroads investment that includes renovations to Notre Dame Stadium. All this while the men’s and women’s basketball programs still await a dedicated stand-alone practice facility like other ACC rivals, a disparity that got the best of Brey one day last summer.