I agree with your 3 points. Murphey is a PF but he is like 6’11 and was a true pivot man so he would be the last big man I can rememer. I think 7ft beasts are pretty rare even in the NBA, the problem is there are usually a few at any given time in the BE.

Dependence on the 3 mixed with sub par D has done us in……..I think we are better this year using the 3 more as a weapon rather than a staple.

Depth……I actually think depth can be overated. I say this because in the NBA I have seen teams with very short benches make it the finals or win it. Houston back in the 90s won two championships basically playing 7 guys. Ofcourse Hakeem is a hall of fame big man so there you go. Injury and foul trouble are the concerns when you are as thin as ND is. If they stay healthy and play smart I don’t think it will hurt them this year.

With Cooley and Atkinks moving into the starting lineup next year I think we will have another good 5 with a short bench……I wonder if this is because we don’t get many pheonom frosh or is it just Brey’s style.

Minor nit — the last time ND won two games in the NCAA tourney was in 2003, not 2002.

In 2003, ND beat Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Illinois in the NCAA tournament before falling to Arizona in the Sweet 16 round. By contrast, in 2002 ND beat Charlotte in the first round, but then lost to Duke in the second round.

Generally it has seemed that ND’s lack of a tournament run have come down to three things

Dependence on the 3-ball / a non-functional offense when the 3-ball went cold

Lack of quality size inside – we haven’t had a really good true center in my memory, Turin Francis unfortunately never became a dominant force in the paint. Luckily the game has evolved, the power forwards seem to be more en vogue, and there aren’t many true big men that we have to deal with

Lack of depth – It has often seemed like the first 5 can hang with anyone, but beyond that it’s a roll of the dice, particularly with forward. Guards we have had better luck with. I like the fact that Cooley can come off the bench and provide a spark at times, or at minimum, provide a big body on D.

Just a couple years ago — they won 45 games in a row at home

I think they have a good chance of that with 2 remaining home games, one easier, one harder.

Look no matter what this team does, it is a great team and has given us a wonderful regular season.

I would love to see ND go far in BE and NCAA tourneys. Some of Brey’s early outs have been hard to explain other than that we used to sort of have a habit of fading at the end of the season. Last year reversed that and I think we will play strong unti lthe end this year as well. People claim fatigue, but I am not sure. I think it is mental toughness and with Ben we now have it. Hopefully it rubs off.

As hot as we are right now I don’t see us going less than 3-2 down the stretch. A loss or two before the tourney won’t be a bad thing. Look at how we responded after the 2 road losses……7 in a row and a few against ranked. This team did the same thing to end the season last year. I know I am a dreamer, but maybe this team just doesn’t lose again. Wins the BE tourney and then NCAA and becomes ND’s greatest team ever……….Look people Butler went to the final game last year, anything can happen!