Nice and Ugly: Irish Win the Old Spice Classic

Justifiably overshadowed by the once-in-a-decade football victory Saturday night, the Irish hoopsters had a memorable weekend of their own at Disney World, where they wrapped up the Old Spice Classic title Sunday with a 58-51 win over a solid Wisconsin squad.

The three-game sweep moved Notre Dame to 7-0 on the year, and into the AP Top 25 (the general irrelevance of which is particularly noticeable in the middle of our annual BCS headache).

The victory seemed to surprise a lot of people, including Antonio Gonzalez, an AP reporter covering the tournament:

Not much was expected out of Notre Dame this season. Not after all the talent they lost from a year ago. Turns out, there might be enough talent left to make some noise after all. [...]

In the end, it was an Irish team not expected to steal any spotlights this season who were the ones cutting down the nets and toasting a title trophy while streams of confetti flew.

Kind of like they do in March.

Now making the NCAA tournament isn't unrealistic at all. After victories over Thanksgiving against Georgia, California and Wisconsin, they've already made a strong case.

The usually factual and usually dry AP went not so factual and not so dry in the recap, with meh results. Apparently the reporter hadn't checked out our exceedingly optimistic preview.

In any event, plenty to sift through from the oft-ugly, ultimately satisfying weekend. Let's take it a game at a time, after the jump.

Game 1: Notre Dame 89, Georgia 83 (2 OT)

The Irish passed their first gut check of the year after rallying from a 12-point halftime deficit to take a six-point last-minute lead, which they promptly lost just before overtime. Second gut check also passed: after blowing another six-point lead in the first overtime, Notre Dame took control in the second extra session on the back of Tim Abromaitis, who dropped an old-fashioned three and a new-fangled one in the period.

-The first half was scary. Georgia exploited ND's weaknesses without much trouble, looking the stronger, faster, and more vertically-inclined team the whole time. I began to think that CW's and my rosy season outlook forgot to take some things into account, like: we don't have any slashers, we can't stop any slashers, we're too slow to cover effective perimeter shooters, we can't do those awesome one-handed alley-oops, Hansbrough forces too many shots, Abromaitis can't make his own shot, Atkins isn't Tory. I imagine there will be whole games during the Big East season that are this frightening, but the second half pointed things in the right direction.

-The second half was better. Much better. The Irish got inside and got to the line, and only attempted three 3-pointers in the half (Scott made two of them). The defense buckled down, energized by an active 2-3 zone. Scott, Nash and Abromaitis hopping around the bottom of the zone and closing out on jump shooters looked great. The team also rebounded well out of the zone, and ultimately won the boards battle 41-39.

-Middling free-throw shooting almost doomed the Irish, who hit 30 of 43 (43!) on the night. Nash's two misses at the end of regulation and Hansbrough's one miss at the end of the first overtime hurt the most, but Georgia was much worse: a helpful 10-20.

-In the end, Notre Dame looked tougher, stronger inside, and better conditioned. A win with defense and inside dominance? What is this? The following two games suggested this style might not have been a fluke.

Game 2: Notre Dame 57, California 44

This one wasn't fun to watch. Too much turkey Thursday? Too much Space Mountain? Whatever. The win counted, highlighted by superb defense/terrible Golden Bear offense. Up 21-5 at the half, the Irish treaded water in the second and took it easily.

-Let's think about this for a minute: Cal scored five points in a half, the new shot-clock era record for futility. Notre Dame shot 28% for the game, including 1-20 on threes, but coasted to victory on the strength of its defense. This is encouraging, because lack of D has been a knock on Mike Brey's teams since he arrived. Usually open-court run-and-gunners, this edition of the Irish seems just as happy to box out as it is to hoist threes on the secondary break. There will be nights throughout the year when the offense just isn't there, but that won't spell sure doom the way it has in seasons past.

Game 3: Notre Dame 58, Wisconsin 51

This play summed up ND's tournament perfectly: With 2:01 left, Scott Martin hits the first of two free throws to tie it at 48, and then misses the second. The shot comes off the rim pretty softly, with Badger star Jon Leuer in position for the rebound. Somehow, Tim Abromaitis out-muscles him, grabs the ball, and flips in a lay-up off the glass to go up 50-48. The Irish never look back. Toughness and hustle win the championship. And scoring more points than the opposition.

-The Irish beat Bo Ryan at his own game, dominating the boards 40-28 (13-6 in O-boards) and shutting down Wisconsin with another active zone. The best defensive series came down the stretch of the first half, with the Irish lagging behind 19-11. Brey switched to a zone, and Wisconsin responded with deep, contested three after deep, contested three. The offense got going a little and took a 22-19 lead into the locker room.

-After falling behind 11 in the middle of the second half, Notre Dame showed big-time guts again, this comeback sparked by key offensive contributions by Eric Atkins. Atkins made plenty of freshman mistakes over the three games, but he generally managed the games well and hit some really big-time shots. He has a lot of promise.

General Impressions

-As just mentioned, Eric Atkins has a huge amount of upside. His handle could use a bit more development, but he played smart and limited the mistakes. He might not have Tory Jackson's distribution ability (yet), but he has a lot of offensive weapons in the arsenal.

-Scott Martin looks lost most of the time. He showed flashes of promise, but clearly needs some more action before he returns to pre-two-years-of-sitting form.

-Ty Nash has stepped in for Harangody, and he loves it. He's active, smart, strong, and finishing well inside, despite being shorter than whoever's guarding him. The improved free throw rate sure helps too. I never really trusted him on the offensive end before, but he's making the most of his final collegiate season so far.

-Carleton Scott also has a new swagger about him. He plays like a canny veteran, not like a guy who only saw substantial minutes for the first time late last season. His inside/outside game is impressive.

-Ben Hansbrough is awesome and aggravating in turns. At the end of regulation in the Georgia game, he got that "I'm going to shoot no matter what" look in his eye, which is unnecessary with such a balanced offense. He seems to want the senior-leader title, perhaps forgetting that he's surrounded by other senior leaders. The steal and three-point play at the end of the championship game showed us Good Ben.

-Nothing new to say about Abromaitis. Quiet leader steady as ever, especially in the Georgia game. He's rebounding well even when the threes and leaners aren't going down.

-Not to beat a dead horse, but the team rebounding was really fantastic against three athletic, sizeable teams. They won the board battles 42-39, 45-44, and 40-28 respectively.

-Shooting in general and outside shooting in particular were quite bad: 12-51 from 3 over the tournament, which is a shade below 24%. The rebounding, defense, nice free-throw rate and high grit index score made up for it.

-Assists are down from previous years, with only 29 over the three games (41 for the opponents). This could be attributed to Atkins' inexperience and Ben's shoot-first mentality. The slower rate of play (some kind of modified burn) was also a major factor.

-Mike Brey seems committed to a seven-man rotation in big games, with six guys getting the lion's share of the minutes. I'm not sure why the likes of Brooks and Broghammer haven't gotten any meaningful time, and why Cooley hasn't gotten more minutes, but the three of them will need to see more floor time if the Irish have any hope of keeping their legs come March.

-In the end, three gutty victories against BCS-conference opponents have the ugly-winning Irish sitting pretty. Shots at Gonzaga and Kentucky are the next big tests before the conference season opens up, which is looking more ominous by the day (eg. Kemba Walker is ridiculous). Feels great for the time being, though. Not USC great, but great.