Be proud of your teams, ND students
Notre Dame was one of only two teams to have both their men and women’s basketball teams reach the Sweet 16 this year
There’s been some hanging of heads around the Notre Dame campus recently. Some lamenting sighs. Some “what could’ve been” wishes.
Last Friday and Sunday, the Notre Dame men and women’s basketball teams had their respective seasons come to disappointing closes in the NCAA tournaments. The #1 seeded women suffered a shocking loss in the Sweet 16 to a red-hot #4 Stanford, and the #6 men saw their string of good fortune end in a 13-point loss to #1 North Carolina in the Elite Eight.
Notre Dame students are like all sports fans—they expect greatness. They crave championships. It’s why most football seasons end in agony and disbelief, and why it’s hard now to take any comfort from the end of the second-biggest sports season in South Bend.
But there is nothing to be ashamed of, Notre Dame students. Both teams performed brilliantly in the face of adversity all season and fought valiantly in the tournaments. Notre Dame ended up being one of only two teams (Syracuse was the other) to have both their men and women’s teams reach the Sweet 16 this year.
The women’s loss was shocking. The Fighting Irish have been a powerhouse in the women’s game recently, with five straight appearances in the Final Four. The team put together a 33-1 record this year, with their only loss being a 10-point affair against the dynasty that is Geno Auriemma’s Connecticut Huskies.
The Sweet 16 matchup against #4 seed Stanford was supposed to be simply a speed bump on Notre Dame’s road to a sixth straight Final Four appearance. But the Cardinal shot an exceptional 55.9 percent overall, including an unheard of 11 of 20 from behind the three-point arc.
It was a heartbreaking ending, but that shouldn’t take away from an exceptional season, including an ACC Championship, for a team that overcame tremendous adversity.
“We are overachieving,” McGraw said earlier in the year. “This is an amazing group. We lost Jewel Lloyd, the number one player in the draft. Our backup point guard (Ali Patberg) who’s an All-American tears her ACL. It’s just amazing what we’ve done… I’m really proud of that.”
The women will lose two starters next year— senior captain and three-point specialist Michaela Mabrey, and another exceptional shooter in graduate student Madison Cable. But with returning stars like sophomore forward Briana Turner and junior guard Lindsay Allen, they should be in fine shape to build on McGraw’s unbelievable 820 career wins.
“Proud of the way we fought,” McGraw said after the game. “Our seniors had a great season, a great year and we’ve been on the other side of this, and now it’s our turn to go home early and work on next year.”
After losing superstars Jerian Grant and Pat Conaughton to the NBA last season, Mike Brey’s team entered postseason play with far more modest expectations than the women. The men entered the NCAA Tournament as a #6 seed with a record of 21-11.
But once March Madness began, the team was infused with a special luck of the Irish. They overcame a 13-point deficit to surge past #11 Michigan in the first round, and a miraculous tip-in by freshman Rex Pflueger delivered an improbable Irish win in the waning seconds against #14 Stephen F. Austin.
In a Sweet 16 battle against the Wisconsin Badgers, junior guard Demetrius Jackson’s late-game heroics led to a thrilling 61-56 win and an Elite Eight matchup against North Carolina. Although they ended up being overmatched by the Tar Heels’ stellar shooting, Jackson (with 26 points) and the Irish battled valiantly in a 13-point loss.
”I thought we put ourselves in position,” Brey said after the game. ”You have to give credit to North Carolina. We took that one-point lead, and they answered it like men.”
Jackson, the Irish’s best player this season, declared for the NBA draft shortly after the game. Also departing will be 6’10” senior forward Zach Auguste, a dominating presence on the boards and an emotional leader in the locker room. But Brey and the Irish will rebuild next season behind junior contributors like V.J. Beachum and Steve Vasturia, as well as talented youngsters including sophomore Bonzie Colson and freshman Matt Farrell.
This season marked the first time since 1978-79 that Notre Dame reached the Elite Eight two seasons in a row. That’s an incredible feat for Mike Brey’s team, and one that will boost recruiting and help the team establish themselves as consistent contenders in the ACC and the NCAA Tournament.
Ultimately, the men just wrapped up their most successful two-year stretch in over thirty years. The women finished their season with only two losses, despite losing star players to the WNBA and injuries. And again, just one school could match Notre Dame’s success in both the men and women’s NCAA tournaments.
Only two teams can win the respective men’s and women’s championships each year, but that doesn’t mean that the other hundreds of colleges go home as losers. Though the ends may have disappointed, Notre Dame students should be nothing but proud of the way their teams performed this year.