jerseyshorejohnny
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PHILADELPHIA - Matt Farrell came out of Point Pleasant Beach High School as a consensus two-star basketball recruit. He barely played as a freshman at Notre Dame last winter.
Yet there he was last weekend, logging eight points and four assists to help the Fighting Irish squeeze past Stephen F. Austin in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
In this transfer-heavy sport, some guys pack up and leave over playing time. At Notre Dame, they buckle down and improve.
That’s a big reason why Farrell and the Irish are playing in Friday’s Sweet 16 against Wisconsin. Their roster isn’t loaded with former blue-chip prospects. In fact, a recent Sports Illustrated study gave head coach Mike Brey the highest marks in the country for finding and developing underrecruited talent.
“He’s had a track record for that, finding guys that fit the culture, that fit his way of playing, and he molds them into great players,” Farrell said Thursday during an interview session at the Wells Fargo Center. “It’s a great place to be, great people to be around. He creates a good environment that you want to play in.”
Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey watches college basketball
For Rutgers basketball fans wondering what their program might look like if new coach Steve Pikiell’s vision comes to fruition, this is it. Notre Dame is a perennial contender under Brey, whose career arc is similar to Pikiell’s: Brey came up the ranks as an assistant at powerhouse Duke (Pikiell at UConn), then ran his own mid-major shop with great success at Delaware (Pikiell at Stony Brook) before making the leap to a big stage.
“I have a great staff, and I have a staff who has been with me for a while, so we kind of know how to earmark guys and find them,” Brey said Thursday when asked about his system’s success. “There's a guy that we've injected into the starting lineup in Matt Farrell that fits the bill. We signed him late a couple of years ago, and he was great (last week). He's gotten better and been patient.”
It should be noted: 15 years ago, Brey took over a Notre Dame program coming off a 22-win season. Pikiell inherits a 7-25 disaster. But in Pikiell’s introductory press conference Tuesday, he made it a point to highlight talent evaluation and player development as two unsung skills in a coach’s toolbox.
Mike Brey has sharpened those tools to perfection.
“You come into this program, you learn and you adjust,” Farrell said. “It’s all about the culture here.”
During Rutgers’ coaching search there was copious bleating about the need to “recruit, recruit, recruit.” Well, Rutgers recruited blue-chippers over the past decade: Mike Rosario, Greg Echenique, Kadeem Jack, Jerome Seagears, Corey Sanders and transfers Jonathan Mitchell, Wally Judge and Deshawn Freeman. They’ve had 10 straight losing seasons, too.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame is favored to make a second straight Elite Eight with a starting lineup consisting of zero five-star recruits and a bunch of late bloomers.
“We love guys that have been with us four and sometimes five years and get better,” Brey said. “And I think it's interesting, the program we're playing (Wisconsin), they do it the same way."
Notre Dame’s standout forward Zack August, who is shooting 70 percent from the field in seven career NCAA Tournament games, averaged 3.7 points as a freshman and 6.7 as a sophomore.
“I’m very, very proud of him, but he gave himself to us,” said Brey, who was the first high-major coach to recruit the New England native. “He’s a four-year guy who let us coach him.”
Pikiell’s right. Identifying and developing talent matters a great deal, and for programs that are never going to beat out Duke and Kentucky or even Villanova and Ohio State for recruits, that can make all the difference. The proof will take the floor today in Philly.
Yet there he was last weekend, logging eight points and four assists to help the Fighting Irish squeeze past Stephen F. Austin in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
In this transfer-heavy sport, some guys pack up and leave over playing time. At Notre Dame, they buckle down and improve.
That’s a big reason why Farrell and the Irish are playing in Friday’s Sweet 16 against Wisconsin. Their roster isn’t loaded with former blue-chip prospects. In fact, a recent Sports Illustrated study gave head coach Mike Brey the highest marks in the country for finding and developing underrecruited talent.
“He’s had a track record for that, finding guys that fit the culture, that fit his way of playing, and he molds them into great players,” Farrell said Thursday during an interview session at the Wells Fargo Center. “It’s a great place to be, great people to be around. He creates a good environment that you want to play in.”
Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey watches college basketball
For Rutgers basketball fans wondering what their program might look like if new coach Steve Pikiell’s vision comes to fruition, this is it. Notre Dame is a perennial contender under Brey, whose career arc is similar to Pikiell’s: Brey came up the ranks as an assistant at powerhouse Duke (Pikiell at UConn), then ran his own mid-major shop with great success at Delaware (Pikiell at Stony Brook) before making the leap to a big stage.
“I have a great staff, and I have a staff who has been with me for a while, so we kind of know how to earmark guys and find them,” Brey said Thursday when asked about his system’s success. “There's a guy that we've injected into the starting lineup in Matt Farrell that fits the bill. We signed him late a couple of years ago, and he was great (last week). He's gotten better and been patient.”
It should be noted: 15 years ago, Brey took over a Notre Dame program coming off a 22-win season. Pikiell inherits a 7-25 disaster. But in Pikiell’s introductory press conference Tuesday, he made it a point to highlight talent evaluation and player development as two unsung skills in a coach’s toolbox.
Mike Brey has sharpened those tools to perfection.
“You come into this program, you learn and you adjust,” Farrell said. “It’s all about the culture here.”
During Rutgers’ coaching search there was copious bleating about the need to “recruit, recruit, recruit.” Well, Rutgers recruited blue-chippers over the past decade: Mike Rosario, Greg Echenique, Kadeem Jack, Jerome Seagears, Corey Sanders and transfers Jonathan Mitchell, Wally Judge and Deshawn Freeman. They’ve had 10 straight losing seasons, too.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame is favored to make a second straight Elite Eight with a starting lineup consisting of zero five-star recruits and a bunch of late bloomers.
“We love guys that have been with us four and sometimes five years and get better,” Brey said. “And I think it's interesting, the program we're playing (Wisconsin), they do it the same way."
Notre Dame’s standout forward Zack August, who is shooting 70 percent from the field in seven career NCAA Tournament games, averaged 3.7 points as a freshman and 6.7 as a sophomore.
“I’m very, very proud of him, but he gave himself to us,” said Brey, who was the first high-major coach to recruit the New England native. “He’s a four-year guy who let us coach him.”
Pikiell’s right. Identifying and developing talent matters a great deal, and for programs that are never going to beat out Duke and Kentucky or even Villanova and Ohio State for recruits, that can make all the difference. The proof will take the floor today in Philly.
