Notre Dame beat Virginia in Charlottesville on Saturday, shooting the Hoos out of house and home.
Notre Dame beat Georgia Tech in South Bend last night, emerging victorious when the Yellow Jackets did their best “Notre Dame in a close game” impression down the stretch.
Thoughts:
1. The Close Game Demon Isn’t Exorcised Yet
Notre Dame was better down the stretch last night than they were against Elon, Rutgers, UNC, NC State, or Syracuse (in the second meeting). It wasn’t flawless, though. If last night must have a lasting image, and I’m not suggesting it should, that image should be Georgia Tech wiping out an infuriating Tae Davis turnover by committing a five-second violation.
Notre Dame was better down the stretch, and we’ll take that. It’s a step forward.
2. Markus Burton Learned to Shoot
I hope Markus Burton got better advice than “work on your shooting” from the NBA draft process last spring. Not because that would have been bad advice, but because it didn’t take an NBA scout to know Markus Burton’s shooting could improve.
It’s improved.
The guy’s up to 43% on threes, and while the sample’s still small, thanks to what was effectively eight missed games, Burton could shoot 21% on his next eighty three-point attempts and still wind up with a better number than last year’s.
Over this winning streak, Burton’s made eight of eleven from deep. He looks comfortable beyond the arc. He’s well-rounded offensively, and I don’t think we could say that last year, no matter how admirable his efforts always were.
3. The Rotation Stays
We got a little Logan Imes and Burke Chebuhar early against UVA, but neither saw the court last night. No complaints there—though I’ll still bang the table for extra J.R. Konieczny, especially if we can’t find shots for Matt Allocco—but worth noting, since we were curious if the post-Syracuse low point might provoke a shuffling of the deck. It didn’t.
4. The Offense Is Weird, But It’s Fine
There’s been criticism of the Irish offense, and we understand why. Entering the season, we were prepared for some magic from Micah Shrewsberry’s scheme. Instead, we mostly get a gassed-up version of last year. Burton’s more capable, Braeden Shrewsberry’s more polished, and more defenders say yes to Kebba Njie when he politely asks them if he might attempt a two-point jump shot. Davis has taken charge when we need a full-sized basketball player to be the adult in the room, and that’s worked too. But it isn’t pretty, and it doesn’t make much use of the team’s second-best offensive weapon (Allocco), and it doesn’t inspire a lot of trust.
At the same time, Notre Dame’s 38th offensively on kenpom and almost always clears the one–point–per–possession threshold with room to spare. Twelve months ago, that was difficult. These guys don’t turn the ball over a lot, they shoot well from deep, and while they don’t always get great looks, they get effective looks. Our three most prolific shot-takers—Burton, Shrewsberry, and Davis—are all pretty effective shot-makers, even if they do it in vastly different ways (free throws for Davis; Rambo tributes for Shrewsberry).
Maybe Micah Shrewsberry’s struggling to get things clicking offensively. That might be happening. But Micah Shrewsberry also might be ok with this product. It’s good enough to win a lot of ACC games. Pair it with last year’s defensive effort and you’d have a tournament team. (I wish we still had Carey Booth instead of Allocco.)
5. Notre Dame Should Be Above .500 By the End of the Week
Next up is Miami on Saturday, down in Coral Gables. For those who haven’t followed Miami basketball, their head coach quit after home losses to Charleston Southern in November and Mount St. Mary’s in December. Since Jim Larrañaga’s retirement, the Hurricanes are 0–8, bringing their season record to a tidy 4–16. Unless they beat Virginia tonight—which is possible—their best win of the season going into Saturday will have come against Presbyterian, who is 2–5 in the Big South. Miami was terrible. Then, its coach quit. Then, Miami team quit.
The Canes have plenty of talent. They nearly beat Cal on Saturday in Berkeley, though we’ll note that Cal’s 116th in the country on kenpom and was missing one of its two best players. The Canes could also theoretically return Nijel Pack, who I don’t think has technically been ruled out for the season. But Miami is a horrible basketball team who plays some of the worst defense in Division I. Notre Dame should beat them. If Notre Dame doesn’t beat them, it’s going to be very embarrassing.
So, hopefully the next time we talk, we’re talking about an 11–10 Irish team who’s 5–5 in the ACC and aiming for its second four-game winning streak of the season.
There are good signs.
Even if last night wasn’t pretty.
