Tag: Dom Campbell

Noie: Starling, Campbell and Carmody enter transfer portal

The situation with the basketball program is going from bad to worse.

Less than 24 hours ago, we made a damning prediction about Notre Dame’s future. Specifically, we expressed doubts whether the 2023-24 Irish will make a run with the few returning rotational players, a couple of guys who have yet to see the court for the Irish and a new coach. It turns out even having those guys might have been an overly optimistic outlook.

Tom Noie of the South Bend Tribune is reporting the Irish stand to lose two freshmen, including the player who would be their highest returning scorer, and an oft-injured veteran to the transfer portal. That might just be the tip of the iceberg, too:

So again, we can’t emphasize enough just how much of a missed opportunity this past season was. Now, with the uncertainty of who will coach the program going forward, a bad situation is becoming worse fast. Stay tuned to Fighting Irish Wire for all of your roster changes, of which there appears will be many.

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Opinion: Dark days ahead for Notre Dame men’s basketball

Don’t expect any winning for the Irish in the near future.

It’s no stretch to say this past season was the worst for Notre Dame in recent memory. Its 3-17 conference record was the worst in program history, and its 21 losses tied the 1965-66 Irish for the most in program history. The Irish’s 11 wins kept them far away from the program’s worst winning percentage, but that’s little consolation to the fans who had to watch this team.

With only [autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] and [autotag]Paul Atkinson Jr.[/autotag] as key departures from last season’s team that won two NCAA Tournament games, the veteran core appeared perfectly positioned to at least duplicate that success. Instead, everything that could go wrong did, and [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag]’s mantra of getting old and staying old proved nothing more than hot air. As a result, the Irish will be shut out on Selection Sunday for the fourth time in five tournaments.

But missing out on March Madness yet again isn’t the worst part. That distinction goes to the fact the Irish will be very inexperienced next season and probably beyond. With almost every rotation player having exhausted their NCAA eligibility this season, this was the season to make one more run. That goal came up woefully short. Now, the Irish will be reliant on younger players and guys who didn’t crack the departing Brey’s eight-man rotation.

[autotag]JJ Starling[/autotag], [autotag]Ven-Allen Lubin[/autotag], [autotag]Dom Campbell[/autotag] and [autotag]Matt Zona[/autotag] hardly seem like a core that will put much fear into anybody. It’s not like much known help is coming either with [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] the only one of three committed freshmen not to decommit from the Irish after Brey announced his departure. And who really expects [autotag]J.R. Konieczny[/autotag] to step in as an impact player right away? Plus, if you’re counting on much help coming from the transfer portal, your optimism is admirable.

It’s hard to be envious of whoever takes over Brey’s job. That person will have to work with a group that has little collective game action, and that inexperience will show when those games are played. No one can look at next year’s Irish and convincingly say there is one trusted veteran leader. Starling hasn’t proven himself a leader despite having NBA aspirations, and if Zona is supposed to be one, well, the Irish will need all the luck they can get.

With a new core and a new coach, it will be some time before the Irish are worthy of attention again. No one likes to think of a program rebuilding, but that’s the reality. When a bunch of veterans lose and don’t leave much of a foundation behind, a lot more losing is in the future. The only hope is that Brey was sitting the players who could have made this past season a better one.

It goes without saying that the next Irish coach needs to be a strong recruiter because that’s the only way this program will return to respectability. There is nowhere to go but up after a season like this past one. Well, actually, the depths might sink further over the next year or two while the new group tries to figure things out. Either way, time to embrace the suck.

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Mike Brey, Nate Laszewski and Cormac Ryan speak after loss

The Irish seem almost speechless about this season.

SOUTH BEND – Wake Forest took Notre Dame by surprise in the second half, and you could see that after the Irish’s 81-64 loss. Sometimes, even after a tough defeat, you’ll hear plenty of words from Mike Brey and whichever players are selected to take part in the postgame news conference. This time, nobody seemed to be in a good mood. While Brey still has his usual bright and chipper moments, [autotag]Cormac Ryan[/autotag] and [autotag]Nate Laszewski[/autotag] looked completely at a loss as to what had just happened.

When a team already is at 10 conference losses and still has a month of games to go, it has to be deflating. That many defeats in league play will get to anybody, even a veteran-laden team like the Irish. The feeling in that locker room is obvious, and there’s no sign that anything on the court will change that feeling anytime soon.

Here is some of what was said after the loss:

 

Notre Dame’s Dom Campbell has inflamed Achilles, being shut down

A short rotation seemingly gets even shorter.

SOUTH BEND – [autotag]Ven-Allen Lubin[/autotag]’s bad tendon in his ankle appeared to open up more playing time for fellow freshman [autotag]Dom Campbell[/autotag]. Instead, Campbell’s season appears to be over. Tom Noie of the South Bend Tribune is reporting that an inflamed Achilles is bothering Campbell, and it will keep him out long enough that we probably won’t see him again this season:

If this is how Campbell’s first season in South Bend ends, he will end it averaging 0.7 points and 1.1 rebounds on 2-of-9 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting from the free-throw line over nine games. Campbell never played more than seven minutes in any game, and the recent win over Louisville was his first time seeing action in five games. While he found more playing time than most players not in [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag]’s rotation, it still hardly was enough to make a significant impact.

Now, with his two freshman forwards unavailable, it will be interesting to see what Brey does as far as giving his starters rest for the time being. He can’t play all five of them 40 minutes as he practically is prone to do. Now is the time for him to dig deep into his bench, whether he wants to or not.

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Ven-Allen Lubin will miss Notre Dame’s game vs. Wake Forest

Will Dom Campbell get more minutes in light of this?

[autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag] had “hope” that [autotag]Ven-Allen Lubin[/autotag] would be ready for Notre Dame’s contest against Wake Forest. He said as much after the Irish beat Louisville ahead of a week off of games. It turns a week won’t be enough time for the tendon in his left ankle to heal. The freshman forward will not play against the Deacons.

Lubin aggravated his ankle in practice the day before the Irish’s win over the Cardinals. That opened up a spot for [autotag]Dom Campbell[/autotag] in the rotation for that game, but he only played four minutes. Many Irish fans didn’t like Brey giving Campbell so little time, but that also was part of the criticism for him not going deeper into his bench against an inferior opponent. It will be interesting to see if Brey mainly plays only six players again.

Fighting Irish Wire will be in South Bend for both basketball games this weekend, so keep it here for all of the best coverage!

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Mike Brey, JJ Starling, Cormac Ryan speak after win over Louisville

Everyone was happy to get the win.

SOUTH BEND – For once, everyone associated with the Notre Dame men’s basketball program was in a relaxed mood. After the Irish’s 76-62 win over Louisville, there wasn’t a frown in sight.

[autotag]JJ Starling[/autotag] (22 points) and [autotag]Cormac Ryan[/autotag] (11 points, career-high eight assists) came out first to talk about games that undoubtedly will be on their season highlight reels. Then, [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag], fresh out of the suit he wore for the game celebrating Coaches vs. Cancer at Purcell Pavilion, took his turn at the podium.

Make no mistake: A convincing win over the worst team in the ACC doesn’t do a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. However, the Irish needed something good in the worst way. They got it, and they have a whole week to enjoy it before reconvening at Purcell Pavilion against Wake Forest.

Here are some of things players and coach said as they basked in an enjoyable afternoon:

Notre Dame breaks skid against Louisville

The Irish are back in the win column.

SOUTH BEND – Finally, Notre Dame faced an ACC opponent that not even it could mess up against. Sure, Louisville is at the bottom of the conference and remains winless in league play, but the Irish needed any good vibes they could get. That’s indeed what they got as they took down the Cardinals, 76-62, to snap a four-game losing streak.

The Irish (10-12, 2-9) scored 13 unanswered points in the first half and went up by as much as 30 early in the second. Even with the Cardinals (2-19, 0-10) upping the nerves of everyone at Purcell Pavilion by cutting that 30-point lead to 13, the Irish had built enough of a cushion that they were able to withstand the threat. Their biggest blown lead this season is 12 in their road game at Syracuse, so it was critical that this team especially gave itself a lot of room for error.

[autotag]JJ Starling[/autotag] led the way with 22 points, one shy of his high during his first collegiate season. [autotag]Nate Laszewski[/autotag] scored 17 points, including a game-high three 3-pointers. [autotag]Cormac Ryan[/autotag] had 11 points to go with a career-high eight assists, and [autotag]Dane Goodwin[/autotag] scored 10 despite missing all six of his 3-point attempts.

With [autotag]Ven-Allen Lubin[/autotag] out after tweaking his previously injured ankle in practice Friday, [autotag]Dom Campbell[/autotag] took his spot in the rotation and made a single field goal in four minutes.

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Notre Dame’s Ven-Allen Lubin will miss game at North Carolina

This is a tough time to lose him.

The ankle injury Notre Dame forward Ven-Allen Lubin suffered against Boston College hasn’t healed yet. Consequently, he won’t be available for Saturday’s game at North Carolina. That’s according to Tom Noie of the South Bend Tribune:

It’s unknown at this point whether he’ll be available for Tuesday’s home game against Georgia Tech, but that’s not the big concern right now. The problem is the Irish have lost some serious depth down low ahead of going up against Armando Bacot, the ACC’s scoring and rebounding leader. Oh, and Lubin is the Irish’s leading blocker at 0.9 a game. That’s not good for one of two teams that are 0-4 in conference play.

Simply put, Lubin’s injury could not have happened at a worse time. We don’t know if [autotag]Matt Zona[/autotag] or [autotag]Dom Campbell[/autotag] are capable of slowing Bacot down because they’ve barely played. If Mike Brey isn’t comfortable with sending either of those two out there against Bacot, he better get comfortable with it and fast.

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Revisiting some of Mike Brey’s local media day comments

Do you think Mike is regretting any of these preseason quotes?

Back in October, Fighting Irish Wire was lucky to attend Notre Dame’s media day for South Bend outlets. [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag] spoke with the assembled reporters before the players entered the room, and every answer he gave was a clue into the workings of his team. The atmosphere was an optimistic one as the Irish were coming off a couple of NCAA Tournament wins in the spring. Why couldn’t it happen again with all of these older players returning?

Well, the Irish have reached a crossroads much sooner than they would have liked. They are 8-7 and have lost their first four ACC games, tying with Louisville for last in the conference. The fun of last March has given way to frustration and bafflement as to how things have gone so wrong. Even most of the nonconference victories have not been very satisfying, and there is no reason to think this season will last beyond the ACC Tournament.

So how have some of Brey’s preseason words held up? Let’s take a look:

Mike Brey meets with media ahead of Notre Dame’s 2022-23 season

Here’s what we heard when we traveled to the Irish’s local media day.

[autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag] is coming off his best season coaching Notre Dame over the past few years. Irish fans will be anxious to see how his team will be able to build off last season’s success. Until they learn how or if that happens, words from the longtime coach will suffice. And he has plenty to say about it.

Fighting Irish Wire accepted an invitation to attend a media day for local media at Purcell Pavilion and was with the assembled group when Brey spoke. He addressed everything from the outlook of this year’s team to the ACC’s reputation to players old and new. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone by now, but he knows his team very well and is as much of an open book as you can imagine for a college basketball coach.

Here is some of what Brey had to say to the local media: