On Valentine's Day, Open Your Heart to Notre Dame Basketball

I'm asking you to love Notre Dame basketball again.  Or, more precisely, this specific Notre Dame team.  The one that's 21-4 and in second place in the Big East, the best conference in basketball.  They play unselfish basketball.  They play smart basketball.  They play with energy and passion and they're doing your university proud.  The least you could do is let go of old vendettas and take the chance on love.

Now, there are some of you that just don't like basketball.  You're here for the football and the degree, thanks, and it just doesn't really matter to you how the hoops team does.  I'm not really talking to you (and I probably hate you as a person), as I want to address the people who don't think they can get invested in this team because Notre Dame has won a single NCAA tournament game since the Sweet Sixteen run of 2003.  There seems to be this thought by some that they want some proven results before they care, because they just can't deal with having their hopes dashed come March.

Well, tough luck, folks.  There are few guarantees in life, and there are even fewer in the NCAA tournament (other than Duke will be continually overseeded).  Far, far better teams than this Notre Dame squad haven't progressed deep into March, and just by being your stubborn selves, you've missed out on a fantastic season so far.  Save for a few hiccups when Carleton Scott was hurt, this team has been almost lethally consistent, beating a lot of really good teams (six wins over the RPI top 25!) and blowing out the bad ones along the way.  

I can't tell you that this team is going to make the Final Four.  I can't tell you they'll make the Elite Eight, or even the Sweet Sixteen.  Not making the second weekend of the tournament would be a huge disappointment looking at it now, but if a third-seeded Notre Dame ends up going against sixth-seeded Missouri or Tennessee...well, again, there are no guarantees in March.  It's about putting yourself in the best position you can and hoping for a good match up.  Sometimes, you get a great match up, and sometimes you get to go against Winthrop, a team that everyone had deemed the Cinderella since the season started.

Perhaps you are willing to support the team but just haven't been following this incarnation because you're worried it's more of the same old Brey: a bunch of guys chucking up threes and playing bad defense.  Well, you're wrong, and I'd encourage you to fire up ESPN3 and watch the wins against Pitt or Louisville.  Against the Cardinals, the Irish were down two with just over thirteen minutes left.  They scored their next twenty-one points to close out regulation on layups, dunks, free throws and a pair of short jumpers.  They only attempted two threes over that entire period (both by Ben Hansbrough, who has earned a bit of a green light this season). 

They do shoot a decent amount of threes per game, but when nearly every lineup you field has four guys shooting over 34% and three guys shooting 39%, that's a pretty smart move.  This team is also excellent at getting to the free throw line, meaning that if the threes aren't falling, they're still more than capable of scoring.  They get to the line in a variety of ways, whether it's posting up slower players (Ty Nash), smaller players (Scott Martin), deploying an array of herky-jerk, near-traveling motions (Tim Abromaitis), sheer athleticism (Scott) or just being a lot bigger and more physical than the guy guarding you (Hansbrough).  Those are your starters, each capable of getting to the line, and all of them capable of knocking them down once they're there. 

The bench isn't particularly lengthy, but this idea that NCAA champions are rolling out ten-deep lineups is ridiculous.  Last year in the title game, Duke played four guys 35 minutes or more.  Even in their rout of Michigan State in 2009, North Carolina really only leaned on seven guys.  Check out 2008, where Memphis and Kansas combined to play only thirteen guys for more than five minutes.  So the fact that Notre Dame can really only go seven and a half deep on a good day isn't that much of a deal breaker.  Is there potential trouble if a ref gets whistle-happy?  For sure, but unless it's a total hosing, Notre Dame has spent this entire season going to the free throw line (18^th in the nation) while keeping the over team off of it (3^rd).   A lot of whistling should mean a lot of Irish free throws.

This team is not an excellent defensive team, but it's a very good one capable of getting stops.  Brey's squad is very long, as four members of the starting lineup are 6' 7" or taller, with both Eric Atkins (a steal and a half per game during Big East play) and Jack Cooley (big dude) bringing some defensive skills off the bench.  They're not a great rebounding team, but they are 21^st best at keeping opponents off the offensive boards and have essentially passed on crashing at their own offensive end to ensure there are limited run-outs by the opposition. 

The only time this team has looked completely lost was when it was without Carleton Scott.  Scott is critical to both offense and defense, so his absence uncorked a series of problems.  On offense, you're without a guy that's shooting nearly forty percent from three and wreaking all kinds of havoc in the lane with his athleticism.  On the other side, you lose a guy that's blocking a couple of shots a game and grabbing a half dozen rebounds on the back end of your defense.  When you combine that with a Marquette team that was white-hot shooting and a St. John's team that's been a nightmare for visiting teams (Georgetown, Duke and UConn all join the Irish on their victimization list), the two-game blip is more understandable.

So what you have is an opportunity to watch a great basketball team play at least seven more games.  (Hopefully, that number ends up much higher - on the other side of a dozen - but as I said before, no one can make promises in March.)  You can take that opportunity to join those of us that have been watching since the ridiculous Thanksgiving night double-OT win versus Georgia, and all of those that have opened up their hearts since.  Or, you can stay away.  You can keep your heart safe and ensure that the heartache you feel come mid-March is related only to your bracket and gambling debt, not the Irish basketball team.  You can say you'll be there in 2012 or 2013 if this team puts some runs together and earns your trust again, but at that point, you'll have already missed out on so many great games.

Or you could follow the advice of Tim Riggins, of the recently and very dearly departed Friday Night Lights, and never turn down a memory.  Because whether that memory ends in "One Shining Moment" glory or the considerably more realistic possibility of something far, far sadder, this is a team you should be following.  This is a team worthy of your heart.