So, is Notre Dame a good team or not?

I am one of Notre Dame's biggest fans and I still haven't figured them out..  Tonight they played West Virginia on the road and had a 10 point lead, then West Virginia stormed back and the crowd was going into a frenzy.   I could hardly watch it and I figured
Notre Dame would lose, but instead of panicking they hit big shots and played great defense when it seemed like all was lost.
I don't care who you are, if you watched the game and gave an honest evaluation.   That was impressive!    The way they played
early in the year, I thought they would be lucky to be in the NIT or even have a winning record.    They aren't the best team in
the country, but they are one of the hottest.

They aren't the best team in
the country, but they are one of the hottest.

Can't argue with anything you say.  Notre Dame is playing excepionally well.  Duh.  

You guys really need to get off your Big East high horse, because the fact is, the BE is having an off-season this year

UConn had an "off-season" last year going 9-9 in conference play...so your point is?!

UConn had an "off-season" last year going 9-9 in conference play...so your point is?!

What's yours?

WVU-Vandy...Great post...you nailed it.

A few things about ND that make it easier to understand why they played so poorly early in the season. 1) They are a young team, very young team. They returned only 1 starter after Abro went out early and he was a freshman, Atkins. 2) As mentioned they lost a BE POY candidate early and that really shocked the team, Brey has done the best job in he land getting young players to not completely give up after that huge loss. 3) Their best shooter, a freshman Connaughton, was not getting open in early games due to not using his screens the right way AND not setting himself in the right spot for kick outs when Grant and Atkins penetrate, he's doing that now. 4) Last, ND is handling pressure very well, teams pressure them from start to finish and early in the season they got rattled, took bad shots and generally seemed hurried, now they take advantage of the pressure for easy layups or open threes. It's a beautiful thing to see as an ND fan.

UConn had an "off-season" last year going 9-9 in conference play...so your point is?!

What's yours?

 

Pretty sure they won it all last year. My point is just because ESPN or CBS tells you a conference is having an "off-season" doesn't mean it's a win. 
Not many would want to play a Big East team in the tournament.  

And the BE regular season co-champs, Syracuse and Georgetown, both lost in the first round. And they beat Butler, who lost 5 games in the Horizon League. Would you say the Horizon League was the second-best conference last season? Don't try to piggyback on the strength of one team. Lord know no one's afraid to play your Bearcats in the tourney. Well, maybe they're afraid of winning and having Yancy Gates go all George Foreman on them.

Butler had an incredible run for the past two years so not sure why the knock on them either. Teams will get hot at the right time and it pays off. That would be like saying Duke beating them the previous year wasn't a good win. Horizon league wasn't the second best conference last year at all. However they had a hot team that represented them well in the finals. All the talk of off-seasons leads people to believe they are easy wins is all I'm saying. I'm not piggybacking any team at all I was simply saying your theory is flawed.

The Bearcats won't even make the tourney this year but if they did you're silly if you think a team wouldn't be scared to play them. I'm sure Missouri last year thought the same and look how that went for them. Cincinnati has bad losses but they've shown all year long they can win tough games on the road which a lot of teams just cannot do.

Good thread:

I don't have a problem with teams improving as the season goes along and earning their way into the NCAA tournament field. Late season results often have a bigger impact on making the NCAA tournament than earlier work even though the entire body of work is supposed to be included. Notre Dame appears to be a much better team than they were early on and I have no problem if they get it. I would not be surprized however, if their seed was impacted by their earlier work. At this time I consider them an NCAA tournament worthy team.

Posted by MikeSyr18:

Butler, well... both years were just simply luck. Sure, beat all of your schools by 3-5 points. Nothing but luck. Only reason why Syracuse didn't beat them in 2010 was because we lost our starting center and we missed a ton of wide open shots. It had nothing to do with how good Butler was. As you can tell from this year, Syracuse doesn't play as well without their best center in the game. That's what happened in the Butler game in 2010.


This is, quite possibly, the dumbest paragraph I've ever read.

They are ok. The Big east should send 7 teams to the tourney so ND should get in.

I'm not knocking on Butler at all. In fact, I agree with pretty much all of your first paragraph there. My point (which maybe you agree with) is that you can't simply say that the Big East was so great last year because UConn had a great run after going 9-9 in the conference, any more than you can say the Horizon League was so great because so many of its teams beat Butler.
But you're just not going to get me to believe Cincy has a team that's scaring anyone in the tourney this year. Last year Mizzou was a #11 seed that barely made the tourney, so Cincy would have been upset to lose to them. This year, and you're right in saying this, they might not even make the tourney. They're pretty average.

Totally agree PeteND. I thought they would be lucky to be a 500 team when Abro went down. Mike Brey has gotten a lot of grief about the success or lack of with his teams esp last season. This season gotta give it to him. He has done a lot with lesser talent. I agree with him he has them believing. Never thought they would pull off the win@WVU and even holding my breath in the last game vs DePaul. They deserve a tournament bid right now...no slides...Com members look at how you start and how you finish. Disappointing loss for the girls yesterday but maybe they needed a wake up call. No worries with them in the tournament; just hope they get another shot in the NC game vs Baylor.

Oh I thought that's what you were trying to say. I think the Big East had a great year last year. However they were horrible in the tournament which  showed. Maybe a little over rated but when you have that many teams make the tournament your league can't be all that bad. I agree though both had great runs last year is my point. The term this conference is having an off-season is used entirely too much.

Last year Mizzou was an 11 seed however they were favored in that game. Would have been an upset only due to seeding number but that's about it. If you look at the roster it's pretty much the same team from last year only losing 2 players total. Cincy went on a run this year while going 9-1 at one point. Beating Gtown and UConn both on the road. Say for instance they would make the tournament as a 12 seed there aren't many 5 seeds that would be locks. I'm sure you know seeding is everything in the tournament. Like I said thought they won't even make the tournament. I don't even think it's possible unless they either win out or win the conference championship tourney. I agree average at best.

I think it is time to stop using the phrase "this is a young team". You hear fans from about 50 teams using that line, and it really doesn't hold water anymore. In an era where many players leave after 1 or 2 seasons, it is going to be where most teams are very young. How can one fan base claim "we are still young" when there are a ton of other schools it competes with are just as young? If you want young, check out Boston College.

Good points all, bearcats. 5-12 matchups are always dangerous. But I don't think the Bearcats are any more dangerous than another 12 seed. But yes, they could win a game or two. I make fun of Yancy Gates a lot, but the guy is a monster and can take over a game.