Q&A: ESPN's Jay Bilas On Notre Dame And College Basketball

Prior to Notre Dame's 7 p.m. ET tipoff against No. 2 North Carolina on Saturday night, the Irish are hosting ESPN's GameDay crew early in the a.m.

We caught up with ESPN analyst Jay Bilas for his thoughts on Notre Dame and more before Saturday's big day. For additional information about the GameDay event, click here.

What are you looking forward to with GameDay here at Notre Dame?

Bilas - "This is one of our favorite places to come because of all the tradition here. Having our good friend Digger Phelps living in the area, Notre Dame has always been a special place for us. We're lucky to be here. Touchdown Jesus is Three-Point Jesus right now."

What are some keys to the game for the Irish?

Bilas - "Anytime you're playing against North Carolina, transition defense is No. 1. They get out and run after a make and a miss, and they're looking to move the ball up the sideline. So getting back and picking up Marcus Paige first because he's their best shooter. Then you've got to keep them off the glass because their second shot rate is very high. The things that you can't guard are runouts - and Notre Dame doesn't turn it over much, so they can handle those - and second shots. Your defense can't handle those. So you take those away from North Carolina, then you've got a chance."

Where does Demetrius Jackson rank in the country among point guards?

Bilas - "Top five or six. I'd put him up there with Kris Dunn, Melo Trimble and Monte Morris. He's an attack guard that can score. He plays low. He can beat you off the dribble, he's powerful and he can make contested shots. He has three-point range and he guards. He's a really good player and he can take over the game. He can go out and give you 30, but then give the ball up. He's a hell of a player."

Notre Dame and opposing coaches are always very complimentary of junior guard Steve Vasturia.

Bilas - "He's a really good defender and he plays his man before he gets the ball, which not everybody does. Most play their man after he gets it, but he plays them before. He takes the opponent's best scorer and makes everything difficult. And he's reliable. He doesn't need the ball to play. He's always going to get you 15 or 16 points. He may not jump out and get you 30, but he'll be steady every time. And steady's worth a hell of a lot."

You've seen many ACC schools up close obviously. How does Notre Dame's facilities hold up when looking at the rest of the conference?

Bilas - "The basketball facilities are fine, but they don't compare to what's out there now. When you can't provide more than a scholarship to the players, the environment you put them in is a competitive issue. A lot of schools Notre Dame is competing against have better facilities.

"Now if you're a high-achieving student who's looking at a school, it's not just the academic reputation, you're looking at the environment. And if your library isn't as good as somewhere else, or the environment to study and pursue excellence in your field, you're going to look harder at your competitors. That's just the way it works in sports. If it were me, I'd want it to be better - but it's fine."

So you think the lack of facilities may hurt them in recruiting?

Bilas - "I don't know. I can't speak to that because I don't know what exactly their players are making their decisions on. But if it comes down to facilities, then I could see where the choice would be different."

Notre Dame's ranked first in the country in offensive efficiency, but No. 227 in defensive efficiency. What are your thoughts as to how they could improve defensively?

Bilas - "With anybody's defense you have to be able to guard the ball first. Dribble penetration is probably one of the most debilitating things as a defense. Their offense does them a huge favor because they not only score efficiently, but they don't turn the ball over much, so they don't put themselves in a position where they're letting the opponent play ahead of their defense. I think anytime you get beat off the dribble, that puts you in help situations which makes it more difficult, and that makes it harder to rebound.

"There's not one thing they need to do - but I think they can be better. I don't think with the crew that they've got, I don't think you'll see Notre Dame be like a top 10 defense. In today's game I think you have to have somebody that can protect the rim and block shots, and a lot of teams don't have that. But when you don't have that, it can make life a whole lot more difficult.

"They're capable of being better. I don't think their pieces indicate they'll be one of the best defensive teams, but they're so good offensively that just being a little bit better could go a long way."

Some project Notre Dame currently as a seven or eight seed in the NCAA tournament. How wide open is it this year?

Bilas - "The difference [from last year] is it's not like the seven seeds are any better, because they're not. It's that the top seeds aren't as good. So when that happens, what you're going to see is the top seeds falling more often than before. So brackets are going to be more than open. Before the season started - and people didn't like it and they got mad at me when I said it - but I said I wouldn't take any team in this field against any of the top six last year. I would have put this year's No. 1 team seventh last year. That's the way the season's gone.

"There's not a lot of great teams out there, but there are some really good ones. Good teams can beat really good teams; it's tougher to beat a great team...people say they want parity, they're going to get it."