2008 Notre Dame Basketball Season Preview & Predictions
Written October 15, 2008 by Jack Jones
This Notre Dame basketball team is for real. The last couple of years they have snuck up on everyone in the conference, but this season there aren’t going to be too many pundits who select the Irish to finish in the bottom half the conference. That has been the case the last two seasons and Notre Dame rewarded the experts by going a combined 49-16 overall to finish in the top echelon of the Big East. This year head coach Mike Brey’s team is going to contend for a national title, but the college basketball odds makers do not seem to agree with us, listing Notre Dame as a 40-to-1 favorite to win the national title.
The frontcourt is going to have to deal with the loss of Rob Kurz, who contributed not only 12.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game but was also a great hustler and leader. That means that last year’s Big East Player of the Year, Luke Harangody, is going to have to be even better in 2008-09. He is coming off a season in which he put up 20.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, but in the tough Big East conference those numbers got even better. He’ll have plenty of weapons to pass to when double teams come to him early and often. Luke Zeller was a former Mr. Basketball in Indiana who can play tough defense inside and also gives the opposition matchup problems when he pops out to shoot the three. Zach Hillesland is a smart player who will direct the traffic down low. Backing them up witll be Tyrone Nash, the sophomore from Queens who saw limited floor time as a freshman.
Notre Dame has a great combo in the backcourt with the sharpshooting Kyle McAlarney and the playmaking Tory Jackson. McAlarney is coming off a season in which he scored 15.1 points per game while shooting better than 44% from 3-point range. Jackson showed last year he could do it all with 5.8 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game all while shutting down the opposition’s best perimeter defender. Senior Ryan Ayers mans the small forward spot with his 45% 3-point shooting and ability to shut down opposing wings while grabbing some rebounds as well. The depth chart is filled out by Jonathan Peoples and Ty Proffitt.
Final Analysis
Brey is hoping that the experiences of the last two years will get this Notre Dame basketball team ready for not only a successful regular season, but a deep run in the tournament as well. The Big East is going to be a monster this year, so repeating the Irish’s second place finish of a year ago will be a challenge, but they should be right in there until the end. This team hasn’t lost on their home floor in two years, becoming the first conference team to do that. Notre Dame is listed at 3-to-1 to win the conference title.
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