Notre Dame Basketball: The Irish Caught The ACC Bug
Notre Dame basketball came that close to losing their third game of the regular season, but it isn’t the Irish who are having trouble, it’s the entire ACC.
In one day, the ACC claimed it’s spot as the least predictable conference in college basketball. With three upsets and two more almost upsets happening within opening day of ACC competition, the conference has once again proven there’s no clear leader.
As many people begin to doubt Notre Dame’s early season success due to their recent troubles, others start to look around the NCAA and notice the current trend the country has begun. It seems that as teams begin to rise, they fall to one opponent or the other. This team doesn’t even need to be in the AP Poll top 25 to pull off an upset. No matter who you are, college basketball is unsafe.
Look at Notre Dame, they started the season as hot as any, say North Carolina. Well, while Notre Dame was starting the season off 9-0, the Tar Heels went 7-0. Then, the Tar Heels fell to Indiana like the Irish would do two games later to Villanova.
This isn’t Notre Dame. There’s no statistics or numbers to prove this isn’t the Irish. The only way to see this is not just one team getting overhyped is by looking at all the other teams saying the same thing.
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This is a conference-wide phenomenon that’s affecting much more than Notre Dame basketball. In fact, it’s happened within the entire top 25. To start, Syracuse has fallen off the face of the earth. Yes, they’re an ACC team but just stick with me. Then, Michigan State decided they weren’t going to win this season, and Indiana came pretty close to joining them. North Carolina looks like they aren’t too far away from another bust year. And to top it off, there is one undefeated team between the ACC, Big East, and Big Ten.
Notre Dame losing two tight games and then almost falling to Pitt isn’t a sign that they’re overhyped. Just because they started hot and have cooled down since their loss to Villanova doesn’t mean this season is over.
What’s happened is simple. They’ve found themselves stuck in the league-wide pandemic of losing. This is no time to think that the Irish aren’t going anywhere this season. They have their kinks to fix, yes. But it seems that so does everyone else.
Notre Dame and their fans to stay calm and ride this one out. Eventually, this will all pass, and college basketball will return to its rightful form. Where Duke and North Carolina rule the land, and Notre Dame is the underdog sent to beat them all.
Just be thankful the Irish only have a mild case of the loses. They could be Syracuse.
