Big East teams that faced Notre Dame before mid-February might not recognize the Fighting Irish squad that arrives in New York for the Big East tournament.
The Irish (21-10) no longer are looking to outgun opponents the way they usually have in 10 seasons under coach Mike Brey.
They want to outlast them.
A decision to slow down the offense has worked, leading the Irish to their first four-game winning streak in the Big East in two years. It started with wins over No. 16 Pittsburgh and No. 22 Georgetown that got the Irish back on track for a possible NCAA tournament berth, and then they beat Connecticut and Marquette.
``It's been a great run,'' Brey said. ``I think we've been more mentally tough than any time this season. We've kind of made our own luck and made big plays, and different guys have made them.''
The Irish already were struggling when they lost three-time All-Big East selection Luke Harangody to a knee injury. Their season appeared to be falling apart.
``When Luke first went out we were kind of questioning how we were going to get it done because he was our go-to guy all year,'' forward Tim Abromaitis said.
A 69-68 loss at home to St. John's, the first league road win of the season for the Red Storm, convinced Brey he needed to make a change.
He decided to go to a more deliberate offense. The idea was to put more pressure on opponents by making them defend longer and hope it would take some pressure off the Irish defense because opponents would have fewer possessions.
``A lot of the coaching decisions you make in this league is about surviving,'' he said. ``That was basically it, survival.''
When Brey first told the team of his plan, it was met with some uncertainty.
``I didn't know what to expect,'' point guard Tory Jackson said.
The Irish slowed it down at Louisville, a game in which they were double-digit underdogs. The Irish lost 91-89 in double overtime, but it convinced the team that playing slower could work.
With fewer possessions, the Irish have held teams below their season scoring averages in regulation time for five straight games. No one has scored more than 67 points, and opponents are taking nine fewer shots a game.
``It's crazy because who gets better this late in the season? Teams don't get better this late in the season,'' Jackson said. ``You really don't see that much.''
Especially not with their star player sitting on the bench. Even with Harangody's knee now recovered, Brey doesn't plan to put him back in the starting lineup for the rest of this season. He doesn't want to mess with his team's success.
Brey said Harangody has been great about the situation.
``You've got a guy like that and comes back and basically says, 'What do I need to do to help us win? Bring me off the bench.' That right there is 80 percent of it,'' Brey said.
The former Big East player of the year said he's willing to fill any role, although he's clearly tired of hearing talk about how the Irish might be better without him.
``You can say what you want. But a lot of people when I went down just wrote us off and I think they took that to heart,'' Harangody said. ``They just started like they had nothing to lose, and it's been fun to watch.''
