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Notre Dame Fighting Irish: All out of luck

By Daniel Tran

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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have been performing lights out during Atlantic Coast Conference play, but with a tougher schedule coming up, has their luck run out?

When people hear that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are ranked eighth in the nation, they automatically assume that it is in football. However, in recent years, Notre Dame has invested in their basketball program and made four consecutive appearances to the NCAA tournament before missing last year’s Big Dance.

Fans were not expecting much from this years Fighting Irish squad, but they somehow managed to earn a No. 8 ranking in the country playing in a tough ACC. Their offense has been rolling with Player of the Year Candidate Jerian Grant as the primary triggerman, leading the ACC is three-point field goals made and ranking third in the conference with 74.5 points per game during ACC play.

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Things have been going Notre Dame’s way the entire season, but with a tougher schedule on the horizon, the Fighting Irish’s run of success may be coming to an abrupt end.

As of now, Notre Dame has the weakest strength of schedule in the ACC with a 1.4 rating. With such a weak schedule, powerhouse teams would be rolling through their games. Notre Dame, however, as shown a propensity to play close games and live on last minute heroics to pull off wins.

Twice they were drawn into overtime games against unranked ACC opponents.  Grant missed a game-winning free throw at the end of regulation and Zach Auguste missed a game-winning tip-in at the end of the first overtime that extended Notre Dame’s first game against Georgia Tech.

Notre Dame needed a last second tip-in by V.J. Beachem at the end of regulation and a game-winning block by Grant in overtime to secure a victory at North Carolina State.      Notre Dame also had to rally from a 12-point deficit at the half in order to get in position to win the game.

Of the Fighting Irish’s seven ACC games, six have ended with a point differential of seven or fewer and three games with a point differential of three or fewer. Though they were victorious in these hotly contested games and proved they could grind out wins, these close games to weaker opponents does not bode well for the team with a much tougher schedule coming up.

Notre Dame will face No. 4 Duke twice within a two-span and then face No. 10 Louisville in one of their final games of the regular season. Duke has the second best offense in the ACC with 74.8 points in conference play and will test a Notre Dame defense that gives up 67.3 points per game (seventh-best in ACC).

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Louisville fields the fourth-best defense in the ACC, only giving up 65.7 points per game. Notre Dame was held to 56 points against the top-ranked defense in the nation in terms of points against and Louisville presents a similarly physical defensive test.

Against ACC opponents currently ranked in the top 25 of the AP Poll, Notre Dame has a 2-1 record. They do not have to face off against Virginia, North Carolina, or Miami again, but they do face very stiff competition against Duke and Louisville a combined three times.

Not to say they do not have a chance to come out unscathed against those opponents because the Fighting Irish have shown a habit of successfully slugging out close games with their explosive offense and well-timed defense. However, faced with a difficult remaining schedule, fans will see a true test of the luck of the Irish.

Next: Washington Huskies: Robert Upshaw dismissed