The news that broke earlier this week regarding Zach Auguste, academics, and his subsequent absence seemed like an unfortunate blow that could potentially derail a promising season for Notre Dame basketball. Knee-jerk reactions ranged from groans of “not again” (that was me) to, my favorite, a tweet of acceptance that simply read, “Notre Dame expects you to play school”. This team and their coach, however, responded simply by winning a gut-check conference game against a desperate team in Georgia Tech, and on the road no less. Moving forward, however, things are not going to get any easier, especially if Auguste’s absence is prolonged. Mike Brey has stated repeatedly that the situation is out of hands, but has also pointed out that Auguste continues to practice with the team. At this point, it’s anybody’s guess as to how long the Irish will be without their only true center.
To deal with the loss of Auguste, Brey is forced to reinvent his team on the fly, something he has proven to be quite good at in the past. His teams have outperformed expectations and made unlikely runs to NCAA tournament berths after the losses of key guys such as Tim Abromaitis and Luke Harangody in the past, so hope is certainly not lost. This time, however, Brey is faced with a lineup that lacks true size. This is actually a very similar situation, though seemingly not as dire, to what Archie Miller is currently thriving in over in Dayton, Ohio. Dayton’s only true big men, Devon Scott and Jalen Robinson, were dismissed from the team in mid December after being arrested, leaving the Flyers with no one on the roster taller than 6-foot-6. Sound familiar? They’ve only gone 4-0 since (one win was Georgia Tech at home by double digits) utilizing speed, exploiting their quickness advantage, and basically cranking up an open-post offense while seceding a few buckets under the rim and rebounds. The Dayton Flyers have also made hay offensively in the past four games with this offensive approach: making the extra pass and shooting a high percentage. Against Georgia Tech, we saw Notre Dame spread the floor and allow Jerian Grant and Demetrious Jackson to create opportunities on their own, but the Irish got some of their best looks on drive-and-kicks to guys like VJ Beachem. The similarities are striking.
The wild card in the win against Georgia Tech was Bonzie Colson. The Irish needed him to step up Wednesday night, and he did, to the tune of 10 points, four boards and an assist. If the Irish want to maintain their success throughout the rest of their ACC schedule, they’ll need Colson to contribute significantly night-in-and-night out. The main issue is that Colson stands at 6-foot-5, and he’ll be matching up against guys like Montrezl Harrel of Louisville and Jahlil Okafor of Duke. This is where Brey should look to the earlier example of the Dayton Flyers to gain an edge: efficient offense (check) that is built to take advantage of quick guard play (check), kick outs for threes (check), and making the extra pass (check). Brey has handled similar situations before, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Irish maintained their high level of play and ended up in the top five of the conference at season’s end.
