ND lost to Illinois. No one realized it. It was a football week. That helped Mike Brey. However, there was good news. ND actually played their best game of the year and gave a competitive game to a team that was ranked in the top 10 at the beginning of the season and may be again before year's end. The Irish defense for all of its talk of improvement is still too slow, and could not close out on Illinois's 3 pt shooters fast enough. And on offense, the shooters who can't shoot continue to miss open threes. When your point guards shoot 1-11 you can pretty much count on a loss. They have to start hitting open threes if the team is going to reach its potential. Here's how the players fared
Blake Wesley - A+ Breaking news. Notre Dame has a really good basketball player. I mean really really good. It's been two years since they had a really good basketball player. Wesley played a mind bogglingly small 25 minutes (he played 15 minutes the game before), but in the second half Illinois could not stop him. He scored 24 points in 25 minutes. When he decided to go to the rim Illinois could not stop him. He is the solution to ND's terrible "end of clock"forced shots. Just drive Blake. P.S. He's also ND's best defender. I'll be surprised if he plays less than 30 minutes in any game going forward. Brey has to see it at this point.
Dane Goodwin - A- Dane Goodwin appears to be coming of age. He's scoring in a lot of different ways, and shows a remarkably ability to get shots off for a guy who is so slow. You get the feeling he's going to hit for 25 in one of these games. Has a lot of near misses.
Paul Atkinson - B- He played so little I thought he was hurt. He could not get any offense going against Illinois's recreation of Shaquille O'Neal (7'1 Cockburn), but he was playing physical post defense against him. Mike Brey lost his mind and decided to go with Laz at center for a good part of the game and Cockburn had a field day. No idea how Atkinson could play so little when Laz was getting crushed in the post. Atkinnson is one of the more physical 220 pound centers you will find. His willingness to bang against a 285 pound center is a positive for ACC play.
Elijah Taylor - B - Only played a couple minutes but he was good. Scored four points and was physical. Looking forward to seeing more. Looks like an ACC athlete who is going to help ND.
Cormac Ryan C - Ryan is an active player, and got 7 boards. He fights and defends, but he continues to miss open 3's. Shot just 4-12 and 1-4 from three. His shooting, and the shooting of Hubb and Wertz has been killing the Irish.
Nate Laz - D - Laz scored 13 points and hit 3-7 from threes, but it exhibit 1 on why Laz has not been a winner yet at ND. He got matched up against a 285 pound center and by my count did not stop him from scoring once. Cockburn scored 28 points and I believe he may have hit all of his shots 7 or 8 when defended by Laz. Why Mike Brey put him in that position is a head scratcher.
Trey Wertz - D - Trey Wertz had a great opportunity to take over the point guard job from Hubb. But he played almost as bad as Hubb. He shot 1-6 from the field.
Prentiss Hubb F - I hate giving a player two F's in a row. But he missed all five shots and several were air balls. He's completely lost confidence at this point and I hope he does not read chat boards because he'll have even less confidence.
Coaching - D - The team played really hard and came out to win this game. They did a lot of good things, but a team full of seniors still is struggling with confidence issues, and Brey's decision to play Wesley only 25 minutes and play Laz over Atkinson was a head scratcher. I am sure the theory was to pull him away from the basket on offense, but they got destroyed on the other end of the court. This is an improved team and I still believe they are going to have a good season mainly because Blake Wesley is about to explode, but Mike Brey in the first six games Mike Brey's player rotations and defensive strategies have left a lot to be desired.
Blake Wesley - A+ Breaking news. Notre Dame has a really good basketball player. I mean really really good. It's been two years since they had a really good basketball player. Wesley played a mind bogglingly small 25 minutes (he played 15 minutes the game before), but in the second half Illinois could not stop him. He scored 24 points in 25 minutes. When he decided to go to the rim Illinois could not stop him. He is the solution to ND's terrible "end of clock"forced shots. Just drive Blake. P.S. He's also ND's best defender. I'll be surprised if he plays less than 30 minutes in any game going forward. Brey has to see it at this point.
Dane Goodwin - A- Dane Goodwin appears to be coming of age. He's scoring in a lot of different ways, and shows a remarkably ability to get shots off for a guy who is so slow. You get the feeling he's going to hit for 25 in one of these games. Has a lot of near misses.
Paul Atkinson - B- He played so little I thought he was hurt. He could not get any offense going against Illinois's recreation of Shaquille O'Neal (7'1 Cockburn), but he was playing physical post defense against him. Mike Brey lost his mind and decided to go with Laz at center for a good part of the game and Cockburn had a field day. No idea how Atkinson could play so little when Laz was getting crushed in the post. Atkinnson is one of the more physical 220 pound centers you will find. His willingness to bang against a 285 pound center is a positive for ACC play.
Elijah Taylor - B - Only played a couple minutes but he was good. Scored four points and was physical. Looking forward to seeing more. Looks like an ACC athlete who is going to help ND.
Cormac Ryan C - Ryan is an active player, and got 7 boards. He fights and defends, but he continues to miss open 3's. Shot just 4-12 and 1-4 from three. His shooting, and the shooting of Hubb and Wertz has been killing the Irish.
Nate Laz - D - Laz scored 13 points and hit 3-7 from threes, but it exhibit 1 on why Laz has not been a winner yet at ND. He got matched up against a 285 pound center and by my count did not stop him from scoring once. Cockburn scored 28 points and I believe he may have hit all of his shots 7 or 8 when defended by Laz. Why Mike Brey put him in that position is a head scratcher.
Trey Wertz - D - Trey Wertz had a great opportunity to take over the point guard job from Hubb. But he played almost as bad as Hubb. He shot 1-6 from the field.
Prentiss Hubb F - I hate giving a player two F's in a row. But he missed all five shots and several were air balls. He's completely lost confidence at this point and I hope he does not read chat boards because he'll have even less confidence.
Coaching - D - The team played really hard and came out to win this game. They did a lot of good things, but a team full of seniors still is struggling with confidence issues, and Brey's decision to play Wesley only 25 minutes and play Laz over Atkinson was a head scratcher. I am sure the theory was to pull him away from the basket on offense, but they got destroyed on the other end of the court. This is an improved team and I still believe they are going to have a good season mainly because Blake Wesley is about to explode, but Mike Brey in the first six games Mike Brey's player rotations and defensive strategies have left a lot to be desired.
