Notre Dame coach Mike Brey was confident that his collection of “older guys” would be able to get out of the gates quickly this season because of their experience. Maybe they would even have a chance to crack the top eight or so in the Big East, putting the Irish in the mix to get back to the NCAA tournament.
But he never imagined this.
“It surprised me a little bit,” Brey said. “I’ll admit it.”
The Irish, just as Brey had hoped, knocked off Wisconsin and Georgia en route to the Old Spice championship back in late November. Then there were wins over Gonzaga, UConn, Georgetown, Marquette and Cincinnati.
But there was still that question that seemingly always followed Brey and the Irish.
Are they tough enough to win on the road?
For the past few years, we’ve been made to believe that Notre Dame was tougher. Brey said it about a year after Luke Harangody and Tory Jackson arrived in South Bend, and we all bought it.
But it was never truly evident until Monday night.
That’s when Notre Dame went toe to toe with, arguably, the toughest team in the Big East and maybe even the country: Jamie Dixon’s Pittsburgh Panthers.
Pittsburgh doesn’t lose at the Peterson Events Center. Well, that’s not entirely accurate — but it’s a rarity.
Pittsburgh entered the game a ridiculous 145-11 at the Pete, including a 9-0 mark against top-five opponents.
But Ben Hansbrough, Tyler’s little brother, took the Irish into one of college hoops’ most daunting arenas, and they came out with an ugly, 56-51 win.
“We beat Pittsburgh, the No. 2 team in the country, at their place,” Hansbrough said moments after the win.
And he didn’t seem the least bit surprised.
“I haven’t ever been called soft in my life,” he said. “And I don’t think my coach is soft. This team has set the bar high, and we believe in ourselves.”
Hansbrough and his teammates were in the minority.
It’s a group that was left for dead last year after Harangody’s injury forced him to miss much of the tail end of the season and play at far less than 100 percent when he was in the lineup.
The Irish were more effective without their star big man.
So, Hansbrough and the holdovers — Tim Abromaitis, Tyrone Nash and Carleton Scott — had proved to themselves and everyone else that they could win. But there was that other loss — that of Jackson, the tough-minded point guard and leader.
Hansbrough has emerged quickly as the leader, and it’s almost as if this group has multiple guys who can run the team. They are all high-IQ guys who share the ball, move it quickly and defend with more efficiency than anyone could have imagined.
“Ben drives us and makes us believe,” Brey said. “He’s the toughest kid I’ve coached, as far as the combination of physically and mentally. I’ve not had a better one.
“Ben sets the tone. Now he knows he has the platform to call guys out. He plays so hard and can back it up. Last year, that wasn’t always the case. He ruffled feathers at times.”
It’s no surprise since Hansbrough grew up battling his brother Tyler, an Indiana Pacers big man and former University of North Carolina star. Tyler has a near-insane work ethic on and off the court ,dating back to their childhood days in Poplar Bluff, Mo.
Ben Hansbrough didn’t just lead the team in scoring Monday night against Pittsburgh, but he also chased Panthers offensive star Ashton Gibbs all over the court.
Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh at its own game and has elevated itself into a legitimate top-10 team with a bunch of guys who, for the most part, were overlooked coming out of high school.
Hansbrough went to Mississippi State because it was basically the only high-major school that wanted him out of Poplar Bluff (He transferred after two years.)
Nash was considered a mid-major guy by most college coaches, and Abromaitis was virtually anonymous when Brey and his staff took a commitment from the Connecticut native. Scott nearly transferred out a couple of years ago, but he stuck it out and has become a key cog for the Irish.
The one guy who was highly recruited, Scott Martin, transferred from Purdue when he saw the writing on the wall that he wasn’t going to start ahead of Robbie Hummel. He sat out two years ago and missed all of last season with a torn ACL suffered in the preseason.
“We have no egos,” Hansbrough said. “Tim Abromaitis is one of the best players in the Big East and even the country, and he had two points tonight. He didn’t force anything.”
In fact, Abromaitis didn’t take a single field-goal attempt. His points came from the charity stripe.
“You can write all you want about Xs and Os,” Hansbrough said. “But we’re doing it with heart and intangibles.”
“It’s a different dynamic,” Brey added. “It’s very fresh and pure.”
Usually, that’s not enough. But for Brey and the Irish, it has been plenty.
