A month ago this was no question. The Fighting Irish were on the outside looking in, and it wasn’t even close. Now, time has rolled on, Notre Dame has gotten its feet under them, and has gotten their leading scorer back.
How does the committee see the Irish? Do they look at the team that is 12-4 team with Bonzie Colson? Or do you look at the team that is 18-13 overall and lost seven conference games in a row? It’s hard to be a committee member, but Notre Dame is a tournament team with Bonzie Colson on the floor, there just might not be a big enough sample size to prove it.
With Bonzie:
It is hard to argue that as a complete team Notre Dame is a tournament team. They have 12 wins with Bonzie and the best two are a one point win against Wichita State and a 39 point win over LSU. Those aren’t exactly incredible resume builders, but Bonzie was hurt most of the season where Notre Dame could do their damage.
What we can do is look at the differences with and without Bonzie. Unfortunately the only team that Notre Dame played both with and without Bonzie was Georgia Tech. With Bonzie they won 68-59. They were +11 in the rebounding battle and shot 38 percent from both three and the field overall. Bonzie contributed heavily in this win being that he had 22 points and 17 rebounds on 8-21 shooting.
Without Bonzie they lost by the score of 60-53. They lost the rebounding battle by six and shot just 22 percent from three and 36 percent from the field overall. Without Bonzie this team is 6-9. They didn’t necessarily hurt themselves with big loses that hurt their resume, but did so with missed chances for signature wins.
Pure statistics:
Well Notre Dame is 9-12 against the RPI top 150 and are just 3-9 against the RPI top 50 this season. They lack a signature win in a conference that might send nine teams to the NCAA tournament.
Against the nine teams in the ACC that Joe Lunardi has projected “in” the NCAA tournament, Notre Dame is just 2-9. In other words, their Bonzie Colson sample size isn’t enough right now.
What also hurts the Irish is a weak non-conference strength of schedule. Their strength of schedule falls at 170th in the nation which, if it were better, being that they had Bonzie through that entire period, could have put them in a better position than they are in right now.
Whats needed:
Ultimately this would be a different story had the Irish not dropped games to both Ball State and Indiana (with Bonzie), but they still have a chance to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive.
Not too many teams get by with a conference record below .500 and as Notre Dame sits at 8-10 entering conference tournament play they have to essentially “play themselves into” the NCAA tournament.
What the committee will look at is what Notre Dame has done lately among other things. A lot of that comes down to what the Irish do in the ACC tournament. If they manage to grab a few wins and improve their stock, they could potentially play their way into the NCAA tournament just before the clock hits midnight.
Where they end up next sunday:
What do we make of the Notre Dame fighting Irish. They went from a preseason nationally ranked team to dropping eight of nine in the heart of conference play. Losing their star player and in turn losing tons of inside play couldn’t have helped them as a team.
With Bonzie the Irish have proven they are more than capable. Unfortunately their just doesn’t seem to be enough of a resume for them with their two stars, Bonzie Colson and Matt Farrell on the floor together.
Bonzie came back a little to late to really make a difference here. The last two games they ended up beating a very bad Pittsburgh team and then losing by single digits to Virginia.
Had Bonzie come back earlier I think this team would have enough on their resume to get into the tournament. Barring a ACC tournament title, I think the Irish will be on the outside looking in on selection sunday.
Featured image from USA Today.
You can like The Game Haus on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers along with Zach!
“From Our Haus to Yours”