Some South Bend reporter reported this before Mike Brey could tell his team at practice today, but the word is that Brey is retiring at the end of the year. The reporter in question has a weird reputation—Blake Wesley infamously asked him to delete a story about Wesley’s draft intentions last spring, but the story did hold up—but it wouldn’t be surprising for Brey to retire. Either way, congrats on your scoop, man.
Mike Brey has made of himself a college basketball institution, mostly by seeming to have the most fun of anyone around. He also has a decent NIT record, having made the tournament six times and posting a 7-6 win-loss mark over those campaigns (0-1 at Delaware, 7-5 at Notre Dame). He was big on vibes before vibes were mainstream. At one point he committed to the Irish bit like no Notre Dame coach ever has, constructing a roster where more than half the players looked like they were vaguely related to Luke Harangody (I think this was 2011 or 2012—I can’t find the blog post that observed it, apologies for my grave failure on that front). Really, Mike Brey was a media darling, mostly because of all that joy. Now, we’ll presumably get it in the booth.
Mike Brey was, more than anything else, an NIT coach. He wasn’t great, he wasn’t terrible, but he was a heck of a lot of fun. We’ll miss having him on the sideline. Especially since he did such yeoman’s work in making Notre Dame likable as a brand.
What does this mean for this year’s NIT? Well, either Notre Dame’s players will realize they were so bad they made Mike Brey retire early and use that to motivate themselves to go on a thrilling run to the NIT title, Notre Dame’s players will realize they were so bad they made Mike Brey retire early and quit even more than they already have, or Notre Dame’s players will fail to realize they were so bad they made Mike Brey retire early and continue to delusionally play for individual NBA ambitions (Matt Ryan’s been in the league, though, so maybe these guys are onto something). Time will tell. But it better tell it fast. These guys are just a few more losses away from having no NIT chance whatsoever.
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Our itinerary:
7:00 PM EST: Michigan @ Maryland (ESPN)
Maryland is up there for being the most invisible team in college basketball this year. I have paid attention to multiple Maryland games and the only thing I could tell you about them is “Kevin Willard.” I don’t even know where they are on the S-Curve. I assume they’re above NIT Land, because I haven’t been seeing them in our bracketology, but I could not tell you how far above they are.
That sort of mystique makes this the Game of the NITe.
8:30 PM EST: Indiana @ Illinois (FS1)
Another strong contender. Illinois is playing far too well and is probably going to win this, which has us concerned. No more of that, Brad! None of it!
7:00 PM EST: Wichita State @ Memphis (ESPNU)
Memphis is in a good spot. Just need one or two bad losses and they’re in play. Plenty of time, so they can do what they want. Settle personal grievances tonight, fellas.
6:30 PM EST: Rutgers @ Michigan State (FS1)
Michigan State cannot legally make the NIT, because of the Tom Izzo Exception, but that doesn’t mean I can’t hope for them to still be wearing the MLK Day shirts so I can watch Izzo lose his mind in them when he thinks Paul Mulcahy traveled on some scrap–and–a–half play on the baseline.
9:00 PM EST: Washington State @ Utah (P12N)
9:00 PM EST: Washington @ Colorado (ESPNU)
9:00 PM EST: USC @ Arizona (P12N)
11:00 PM EST: BYU @ Santa Clara (CBSSN)
Great evening in the Pac-12, where Washington could be preparing a surge. Also there’s a chance Andy Enfield could lose by fifty, and we always love a chance Andy Enfield could lose by fifty.
7:00 PM EST: College of Charleston @ Monmouth (Flo)
8:00 PM EST: Rice @ North Texas (ESPN+)
8:00 PM EST: FAU @ UTSA (ESPN+)
The Conference USA slate sucks bad enough that we had to put CofC into it, but that doesn’t mean we can take our eyes away.
On the Charleston topic: Why are they playing on Flo Sports? What are they trying to hide?
7:00 PM EST: James Madison @ Troy (ESPN+)
8:00 PM EST: Marshall @ Texas State (ESPN+)
Sun Belt? More like Fun Belt!!!! (Has anyone ever made this joke before?)
3:00 PM EST: Bulls vs. Pistons (NBA TV)
My experience of finding out the Bulls were playing in Paris today was that I saw Adam Amin was in Paris, thought he was on vacation, saw he was with Stacey King, got exhilarated because I thought he was on vacation with Stacey King, saw that Benny the Bull was there and got wistful because it’d be fun to send mascots on solo vacations but I now understood the whole Bulls were there.
I like all the Joakim Noah content this is spawning.
