Outperforming Expectations
Picked 9th in preseason poll, Irish finish tied for 2nd place with 14-4 Big East record

At the beginning of the 2007-08 basketball season, Notre Dame faced the daunting task of replacing its top two scorers in Colin Falls and Russell Carter. The Irish had a cast of young, fairly inexperienced players and a lone senior. They were starting four sophomores, including a guard that had played in just 12 non-conference games the year before. And they had the challenge of facing stiff competition every week in one of the country's most difficult conferences.

So, it's no wonder the Big East coaches looked at Notre Dame and slotted the Irish 9th in the preseason poll.

After two close losses to Baylor and Georgia Tech in the Virgin Islands, Notre Dame appeared in trouble for the much more strenuous Big East schedule. But a win over Kansas State and two strong showings against West Virginia and Connecticut to begin conference play catapulted the Irish to an all-time best 8-2 start. From there Notre Dame never looked back.

In an earlier post I talked about the importance of winning your conference home games and stealing a victory on the road. Accomplish those two objectives and you should be in great shape come tournament time.

The Irish certainly held serve at the Joyce Center, becoming the first Big East team to ever finish back-to-back season undefeated at home. However, they fell short of stealing a big road game by losing all four of their marquee matchups -- Marquette, Georgetown, Connecticut and Louisville -- away from the JACC.

But Notre Dame made up for those losses by taking care of business against lesser opponents on the road. That enabled the Irish to finish 5-4 in conference road games and avoid embarrassing, RPI-killer upsets.

The most exciting part of this very success season is that the top eight players all significantly improved. Coach Mike Brey has been criticized (whether justified or not) in the past for not developing his players on a consistent basis. But this year Brey got the most out of everyone.

Obviously, Luke Harangody made an incredible leap from solid freshman to likely Big East Player of the Year. Kyle McAlarney has evolved into one of the best 3-point shooters in the conference. Ryan Ayers and Zach Hillesland continue to get better and play more minutes. Tory Jackson was the team MVP for a good chunk of conference play, while Luke Zeller finally emerged as contributor with his 3-point shooting ability and rebounding. And Rob Kurz had a very good senior season to cap off a solid collegiate career.

No matter what happens from here on out, the Irish certainly enjoyed one of the best seasons in their basketball history.

Now Notre Dame focuses on the Big East Tournament and a chance to improve its seeding in the NCAA bracket. As of today, Notre Dame should be solidly slotted as a No. 5 or No. 4 seed. Ideally, the team will move up to a No. 3 by having a strong showing in the conference tournament. If the Irish lock down a 3-seed, they will face an easier first round opponent, and more importantly, avoid a No. 1 seed until the Elite Eight.

As the Big East No. 3 seed, Notre Dame will play the winner of the No. 6 vs. No. 11 matchup between Marquette and Seton Hall. The Irish split the regular season with Marquette and beat Seton Hall in their own game against the Pirates. As long as they keep winning, the Irish will play each night around 9 p.m. EST.

After three years of coming close but just missing the NCAA Tournament in 2003, 2004 and 2005, Notre Dame finds itself in a position to focus on earning a better seed, rather than sweating out the Selection Committee's choices next Sunday.

For a team picked in the lower half of its own conference, that's got to be a pretty sweet feeling.