NEW ORLEANS – Notre Dame coach Mike Brey had a feeling he had been here before.
As he walked to the interview room in New Orleans Arena with guard Ben Hansbrough and forward Carleton Scott after Thursday’s 51-50 loss to Old Dominion, Brey couldn’t help but remember the last time his team lost its first game in the NCAA tournament.
In 2007, Brey was accompanied by then-freshmen Luke Harangody and Tory Jackson to the interview room after Notre Dame lost to Winthrop in the first round of the in Spokane, Wash.
“It was neat that I was going to the press conference with Ben and Carleton, because they will be our voices next year,” said Brey, 5-6 in six NCAA tournaments with the Irish. “I flashed back to Spokane when Tory and Luke were at the press conference with me, and we were talking about next year and voices and you guys (Hansbrough and Scott) really got to get (incoming freshman) Eric Atkins ready.
“I think you got to start talking about that with our returning guys.”
But the players who are coming back were not ready to discuss what is coming back from a team that made a late push just to reach the NCAA tournament.
Notre Dame was reeling from back-to-back losses to Seton Hall (90-87 Feb. 11) and St. John’s (69-69 Feb. 14), and Harangody’s career looked over because of a bone bruise on his right knee he suffered against Seton Hall.
But Notre Dame rallied with a new methodical offense – introduced in a 91-89 double-overtime loss at Louisville on Feb. 17 – to win its last four regular-season games and two Big East tournament games. As a result, the Irish secured a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament’s South Regional.
But a one-point loss to Old Dominion in which Notre Dame struggled offensively, shooting 35.6 percent and missing 20 of 26 three-pointers, made it hard to enjoy what the Irish accomplished.
“It’s tough thinking about anything right now except this loss,” forward Tyrone Nash said. “We just didn’t want to get here. You do all that work, and it’s like we have nothing to show for it.
“We did have a great season. We have a great group of guys here. It’s time to move on now.”
Notre Dame will move on without the school’s No. 2 scorer (2,434 points) and rebounder (1,207) in Harangody, who missed five games with his knee injury, and floor leader in Jackson, who averaged 5.3 assists and seamlessly changed from a fast-pace to a slow-pace offense.
Harangody, Jackson and fellow seniors Jonathan Peoples and Tim Andree graduate as the winningest class (93-43) in Notre Dame history, and they brought the Irish to the NCAA tournament three times in four years.
“We left a mark,” Jackson said. “I think these younger guys know what they have to do to get back here. They are good.”
