Notre Dame Poised For Another Run At ACC Basketball Crown

As the team got off to a slow start, it appeared that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish had slipped from the level of quality that fans have come to expect from Mike Brey‘s team.  They lost early in the year to an opponent that wasn’t ranked and they truly had no business losing to, and then it happened again against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Notre Dame was starting to look like a team that wasn’t handling their recent success very well.

It may be difficult for the most dedicated of ACC fan to hear this, but even though this conference is one of the most storied in the history of college basketball, there have been ups and downs in recent memory. Across the board, it just hasn’t been what it was in years past; and in some of those years, it was honestly a two team race.

College basketball fans can cheer now because that isn’t the case anymore. The ACC is starting to become basketball’s version of what NCAA football has with the SEC. That being said, what we’re witnessing is what’s supposed to happen in sports. There’s better competition and a feeling that you have to watch because you have no idea who’s going to win from night to night. Throw out those early-season losses, and this team’s schedule looks like that of most of the traditional powers of college basketball. There are blowout wins, close losses in games they should have dominated, blowout losses and impressive wins against elite teams.

The favorite in the conference still has to be the North Carolina Tar Heels, but even they aren’t unbeatable. Peaks and valleys are a constant in the college game and so are upsets, but one thing is certain. Notre Dame still holds on to that tournament title until somebody comes along and proves they’re bad enough to take it. Of their five remaining games, the clash with the Miami Hurricanes stands out. The gut feeling is they could drop their game with the Florida State Seminoles as well, but if they run the table the rest of the way, that shouldn’t be a surprise either. That’s just the way the ACC is these days.