Notre Dame Gets by Georgia Tech
By Jake Weaver
Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Notre Dame’s two leading scorers, Garrick Sherman and Eric Atkins combined for more than half of the teams points in their 65-62 win over Georgia Tech Wednesday. This win keeps the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from going below .500 for the season. The Irish have not been below .500 this late in a season in almost 15 years. This win against a weak Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets team will put them at one game above the even mark.
The ACC this season has done a good job at beating each other up. Unfortunately for these two teams they have been on the losing end of these beatings in the conference. Notre Dame is sitting at 6-10 in conference play with two games remaining. Unfortunately for the Irish, the games are against Pittsburgh Panthers (fifth in conference) and North Carolina Tar Heels (4th in conference and 19th in the nation). Notre Dame is going to need more than the “Luck of The Irish” to pull off at least one win in these two games, to stay above the even mark on the season.
With their record, it looks like Notre Dame will have to win the ACC conference tournament in order to get a bid into the NCAA Tournament. This would be the first time since 2009 they have not made “The Big Dance”. According to different projections they may not even make the NIT tournament. Notre Dame is one loss away from tying the most losses in a season under coach Mike Brey. If they lose to Pitt and UNC they will own that record.
With that being said, one has to wonder what the future holds for coach Brey. Notre Dame is notorious for putting coaches on the chopping block after being sub-par. That is unfortunately the definition of the Irish’s last few regular season. Sure, they squeaked into the NCAA Tournament the last few years, but they were still average in those years.
Notre Dame plays Pittsburgh Saturday at 2:00PM in South Bend.