Saturday night, shortly after Notre Dame lost its sixth straight game, a ten-point affair at Pitt in which the Irish held an early lead but were never favored to win, a friend texted me to celebrate that the Irish were still ahead of Louisville in the ACC.
Two hours later, it was all tied up.
Notre Dame has benefitted these last four years from the degradation of the Atlantic Coast Conference. It’s not a good thing for a good program to play in a bad conference, but it’s a great thing for a floundering program to play in a conference many still assume must be good. We’re still catching up, as an industry, to just how bad ACC men’s basketball has become. In the meantime, Notre Dame doesn’t look quite as bad as it actually is. Knowing we’re as bad as Georgia Tech and Louisville doesn’t mean much if one doesn’t know how bad Georgia Tech and Louisville are. With a distant fan, you could probably spin it as a good thing! How’s the basketball team this year? Oh, you know, right there with Louisville!
From kenpom, a selection of where Notre Dame would rank in a few mid-major and low-major leagues:
- Mountain West: 8th of 12
- Atlantic 10: 11th of 16
- Missouri Valley: 9th of 13
- West Coast Conference: 6th of 10
- Ivy League: 4th of 9
- WAC: 7th of 12
- Horizon League: 4th of 12
Some of these are good mid-major and low-major leagues. But Notre Dame would not be contributing to that reputation. This team is bad, and we knew it would be bad, and we understand why it is bad, and we are optimistic about it getting better without having to jettison any of this year’s pieces. But this team is very bad.
We would like to now say, “Thankfully, there’s Louisville.” And to be honest, yes, we’re still thankful, even if the Cards are now up to 2–9 in ACC play themselves. While Notre Dame has gotten a pass these last two years because people love Mike Brey and people acknowledge Micah Shrewsberry inherited a disaster, Notre Dame has also gotten a pass because of the sideshow that is the Louisville program, five hours south and right alongside the Irish in the conference standings. Notre Dame might be bad, but it is not a sideshow. Louisville is a sideshow. Koron Davis is still in the stands seemingly every home game. Kenny Payne’s biggest moment this year was when he did a smiling “kids these days” monologue regarding his sometimes starting point guard and a pair of tights. Notre Dame has been bad and unfunny. Louisville has been bad and hilarious.
For a long time, this worked for Notre Dame. We could clean ourselves up in the ACC bathroom while Louisville poured another bowl of punch on its head in front of the rest of the party. Now, though, Louisville is—well, they’re not figuring it out, it was merely a home win over Florida State, but they’re tied with Notre Dame. Now, we have a fight on our hands for last place in the ACC. As is often the case with fights, we must fight it. As the dream of a 19-loss season slips entirely out of our grasp, a new goal arises:
Please, gentlemen. Find a way to finish ahead of Louisville.
So Much for No Decommits
To be fair to the football program, the thing they were thumping their chests about after Signing Day was not losing any Class of 2024 recruits on or in the immediate leadup to Signing Day. CJ May’s decommitment (four-star defensive end from rural Alabama) comes ten months earlier in the cycle than the ones Notre Dame was so fired up to avoid.
To be fair again, we don’t know what school will now land May or how big a loss this is in the coaching staff’s eyes. May was in the middle of the Irish class in the 2025 rankings.
Still, there’s a fear that this is a canary in a coal mine, and it’s a good time to remind ourselves that while Notre Dame currently leads the Class of 2025 rankings on the 247 Composite, we’re 14th in average recruit rating. Only one of the 13 programs ahead of us has a poorer ratio between 5-stars, 4-stars, and 3-stars.
Quick(er) Hitters
Nothing here, really. The Board of Trustees met with Pope Francis. Are foreign governments allowed to donate to NIL collectives?
The Roundup
The fellas go to Durham on Wednesday night for a tough one on paper. Saturday, they’re back home against Virginia Tech, who’s in NIT territory but slipping. That one is winnable, but the Irish will be an underdog. In scoreboard-watching, Louisville’s at Syracuse on Wednesday and home against Georgia Tech on Saturday. The Georgia Tech one is concerning. The Yellow Jackets are only one game ahead of us and the Cards.
The women’s team rocked Pitt on Sunday, taking care of business and staying within two games of first place in the loss column. They visit first-place Louisville on Thursday for the first of two meetings between those two this year. It’s likely Louisville will be out of first place by the time that game happens, with the Cards an underdog at NC State tonight. If that loss does go down, ND will be one loss back of three teams—Louisville, Virginia Tech, and NC State—heading into Thursday’s game. On Sunday, the Irish visit Florida State. ND should be a slight favorite there? It might be close.
The hockey team upset Michigan State on Friday but fell to the Spartans in the back half of the two-game set. The split leaves Notre Dame still in fourth place in the Big Ten, in an effective tie with Michigan (Michigan is two points back but is also .500 in league play, with two games in hand). The Irish host second-place Wisconsin on Friday and Saturday, having been swept by the Badgers in Madison earlier in the year. Another good opportunity to gain ground on the bubble.
In track and field, Olivia Markezich set the NCAA’s best mile time so far this year, running a 4:27.76 at ND’s Meyo Invitational. She also leads the 3K, while Alaina Brady’s pentathlon performance was good enough to rank her 13th in the NCAA’s indoor season. I *think* the top 16 qualify for Indoor Nationals in individual events (I further think it’s top 12 for team events like relays). On the men’s side, Michael Shoaf won in shot put, turning in an NCAA 2nd-best 19.93m throw. Events in Boston and Chicago (hosted by BU and Wisconsin) are on the schedule this weekend.
The men’s tennis team was off this weekend, but Sebastian Dominko was in action in the Davis Cup for his native Slovenia, and he upset the 50th-ranked men’s singles player in the world, Zhang Zhizhen. Zhizhen isn’t tearing up the ATP, but he did make the third round of multiple Grand Slams last year. The team visits Michigan on Friday before hosting Auburn and Toledo on Sunday. I’m guessing Dominko will be back?
The women’s tennis team blanked Ball State and Chicago State, as one would hope. They visit Wisconsin on Sunday.
The fencing teams went 4–1 (men) and 2–3 (women) at Northwestern’s duals. The men’s loss came to Boston College. The women’s losses came to Northwestern, Temple, and Cornell. It’s unclear to me whether there were any backups fencing. I’m unfamiliar with our fencing depth chart. Given Boston College is among the rare unranked programs in men’s fencing, I’m guessing we had our B team out for that one, but I really don’t know. Apologies.
We’ve got a lot of seasons kicking off in spring sports: Women’s lacrosse hosts Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan on Friday and Sunday. The Irish were ranked 7th in the preseason Coaches Poll, fourth-best in the ACC. Softball opens with a five-game weekend against Central Arkansas, South Alabama, Utah, Iowa, and Liberty down in Clearwater. The Irish were effectively 33rd in ESPN’s preseason poll and fifth in the ACC’s preseason coaches poll. Finally, the women’s golf team opens its main season today and tomorrow at an invitational hosted by FAU. Nothing huge in the way of expectations there.
