At the start of the season, coach John MacLeod joked about the Notre Dame basketball schedule, saying he hadn`t honestly seen it until after he agreed to take the head coaching job.
While chuckling and saying he might have changed his mind had he known about it, he gave the impression that he would get through it somehow. His team would grow from it and perhaps win enough games to sneak into the NCAA tourney and begin the way back for Irish basketball.
MacLeod is not one to scowl, whine or make excuses. But as the Irish find themselves four games below .500 entering Tuesday night`s game against Stanford (13-5), he no longer is smiling about the Irish schedule. Or about the fortunes of him and his team, for that matter.
Notre Dame basketball is in a far more serious state of decline than most imagined when Digger Phelps left after his 20th season last year and MacLeod, an unwitting victim, finds the corners closing in.
”The real Dunkirk for Notre Dame basketball and John MacLeod starts next December,” says Al McGuire, the NBC analyst. ”I believe this year will look like an NCAA championship season compared to what is going to happen down the line.”
With a 7-11 record and Stanford, Syracuse, UCLA, St. John`s and De Paul among their final 10 games, the Irish most likely are out of the NCAA tourney picture with only a remote chance at the NIT. It will be an uphill struggle to finish at .500.
The schedule is partly to blame. With four seniors trying to adjust to MacLeod`s man-to-man defensive scheme and a run-oriented offense, the schedule allowed the squad no room to work on techniques during a game, no slack contests to build confidence.
Various writers have described this year`s schedule as one prepared by the Marquis de Sade or drawn up in hell. There was some conjecture the schedule was drawn up to force Phelps out if he hadn`t resigned last year.
By the time the season is over, 15 of Notre Dame`s 28 games will be against teams that either are currently or formally ranked in the AP Top 25. Jeff Sagrin, who lists teams for USA Today by their power rating, said the Irish have the toughest schedule in the nation. According to Sagrin, Notre Dame opponents have a combined power rating of 84.79. Only five of the other 299 Division I programs have a schedule strength higher than 80.
In addition, 15 of Notre Dame`s games are on the road, including the much-publicized stretch of nine in a row over a period of 48 days. If that wasn`t difficult enough, there was a three-week stretch during which the Irish didn`t play while other teams were gaining experience in holiday tournaments.
There was nothing MacLeod could do about this year`s schedule, but he said Monday he does intend to sit down with Athletic Director Dick Rosenthal to discuss next year`s slate.
”To put it bluntly, we just can`t keep banging away at teams every time out,” MacLeod said. ”When you look at other schedules, you see a balance between quality teams and teams not ranked in the Top 25.
”The reality is our program is down and it will take us a while to get it turned around. We don`t take junior-college transfers, so there`s no quick fix. Our schedule should reflect a team that is in the rebuilding process.
”I don`t want to shy away from anybody, but I`d like to have a stacked deck. I`d like to have some ponies in there.”
But much of next year`s schedule already is established. And, according to sports information director John Heisler, it is markedly similar to this year`s. Syracuse and Virginia are dropped, but the Irish pick up Georgia Tech. Aside from the schedule, MacLeod has other problems.
In his final two years, Phelps awarded nine scholarships. So far, only two of those players, freshmen Billy Taylor and Malik Russell, have shown any promise. Because the NCAA has limited basketball scholarships to only 13, MacLeod has only four to give in the next two years and already has given two to guards.
MacLeod wants to emulate the powers like Duke, Indiana and North Carolina, but he is beginning to realize the short-term futility of that goal, given his tools.
”Our schedule has to be tempered with a certain amount of reality,” he said. ”Until we get our program turned around, we have got to build some confidence against teams.”
