Notre Dame basketball: 2017-18 season preview

BUFFALO, NY - MARCH 18: Head coach Mike Brey of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish watches on against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the second round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at KeyBank Center on March 18, 2017 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

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BUFFALO, NY – MARCH 16: The Notre Dame Fighting Irish band peforms prior to the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament between the Princeton Tigers and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at KeyBank Center on March 16, 2017 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Key Conference games

Dec 30 – Georgia Tech

Jan 13 – North Carolina

Jan 16 – Louisville

Jan 24 – at Duke

Feb 19 – Miami

Mar 3 – at Virginia

The entire schedule could’ve been highlighted, as there is never a night off in the ACC. While some NBA caliber talent left, there’s still plenty of college basketball studs around. Overall, there are some mixed news for Irish fans to think about. They’ll only have to play Duke once — but there’s no return game in South Bend.

Same goes with Virginia, as the Irish only play on the road against them. The worst news is that they also only play Pitt once, denying them another guaranteed win in conference play.

The four-game stretch in the beginning of the conference could play a big role into how Notre Dame will place in the league. Those four games include road games at Georgia Tech and Syracuse, followed by home matchups with North Carolina and Louisville.

The stretch could range anywhere between 4-0 to 0-4. If they can duplicate what they did from their 5-0 start last year, they’ll get another head start in the league. Of course, any stretch in this league will be a difficult one to navigate.

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