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Mike Brey Notebook: NCAA Tournament

Brey said he won’t overcoach Notre Dame’s recent woes heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Brey said he won’t overcoach Notre Dame’s recent woes heading into the NCAA Tournament.

Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey met with the media following the revealing of the NCAA Tournament bracket, in which the Irish earned a No. 6 seed and will play either No. 11-seeded Michigan or Tulsa in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Friday night.

Here are three key takeaways from his comments.

Can’t Overcoach Recent Shortcomings

It’s no secret Notre Dame is entering the NCAA Tournament not playing its best basketball. The Irish have dropped four of their last seven games, and a few of those in blowout fashion.

Of the three wins, one was at home against North Carolina State in a regular-season finale the Wolfpack had little to play for but pride. Another was the victory over Duke in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals that took a miraculous comeback from down 16 points in the second half.

Some tough outings for junior guards Steve Vasturia and Demetrius Jackson are the source of some of the issues. Vasturia is just 20 of 64 (31.3 percent) shooting from the field over the last seven contests, and Jackson is 27 of 82 (32.9 percent) over the same stretch. The duo has also combined for 34 turnovers (4.9 per game) in the seven games since the Irish beat Louisville 71-66 Feb. 13.

Brey insists he won’t be too hard on the two about their recent struggles, and in some ways will let those guys work out their play on their own.

“I think our backcourt needs to play better, there’s no question,” Brey said. “We’re so reliant on those guys.

“We’re not a six seed without what we got of our guards’ body of work this year. I don’t have to bring up anything with them — those guys are really hard on themselves. For us to advance, our guards will have to find that rhythm they had really most of the season.

“I think our guys know how important taking care of the ball has been in our program historically. I think someone brought it up, Steve and Demetrius are already talking amongst themselves about taking care of it. It’s not like I have to clip off 30 turnovers from D.C. and show them.

“They know. Now if we have a rash of them in practice, then I may have to get excited.”

Scouting Michigan And Tulsa

Brey noted Notre Dame used to play Michigan some prior in the Big East days, so he’s pretty familiar with head coach John Beilein’s offensive system. Tulsa, on the other hand, he still has to do his research on.

Since Notre Dame won’t know who they face until after Michigan and Tulsa play at around 9:10 p.m. ET on Wednesday night, assistant coach Anthony Solomon will do the scouting and research on Michigan while assistant Rod Balanis will take Tulsa. Assistant Martin Ingelsby will handle the other part of the bracket.

Brey hopes Notre Dame won’t be flying to Brooklyn, N.Y., when the two potential opponents play on Wednesday night, because he’d like to watch the game in the hotel with his staff.

“It’s unusual that you don’t know your opponent yet,” he said. “Usually we turn around, I’ve left you guys and we start breaking down one team.

“So we’ll try to get a little bit of a feel for both, but we won’t waste too much time and might try to concentrate on us for a couple days.”

Minor Injury For Beachem

During the blowout loss to North Carolina in the ACC Tournament semifinals March 11, junior forward V.J. Beachem caught a blow to his mouth that, according to Brey, bumped a tooth that is capped and had a root canal.

Beachem’s face swelled up after they got off the plane on Saturday night, so Brey said they were getting him to a dentist on Sunday evening.

“We’re gonna get that tooth looked at,” the head coach said. “He got nailed in the tooth; his face is swollen a little bit. I don’t think it’s going to be a major issue.

“I think we can calm that down.”

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