Kind of funny.

by KGB, Belly o. the Beast, Monday, March 07, 2011, 14:43 (5531 days ago) @ Greg
edited by KGB, Monday, March 07, 2011, 15:10

ND was within an eyelash of winning the Duke and Ole Miss games, which would have placed the Irish in the Sweet 16 in each of Brey's first three years. If you'd have told me at the end of that third season that we would eventually be another 7 years down the road, that the team had not made it back to the regionals since then and that they'd missed the NCAAs completely more often than they'd made it, I never would have believed that Brey would still be employed as our head coach. And yet here we are.

We can talk about the small sample size of the history involved or whatever else, but I come to two conclusions about the current group:

1. They are the best-equipped team Brey has had during his tenure to perform well in the NCAAs.

2. They are going to have the most favorable NCAA placement of any Irish team in Brey's time.

People can fuss over Tennessee, Missouri, Utah State or whoever else, but in any other year, we would be playing an opponent of that approximate caliber on Thursday or Friday. Having the opportunity to open the tourney against a team that we should pound the crap out of will be a significant advantage, allowing the guys to work through whatever early-tournament jitters they might have in a game that should not be all that competitive. That the top two seeds often advance to the regionals obviously has a lot to do with the fact that they spent the previous four months proving themselves to be the best teams in the country, but the friendly brackets certainly don't hurt, either.