Notre Dame assured itself a first-round bye in the Big East conference tournament early last year, clinching the West Division title more than 10 days before the end of the regular season.
This year the Irish’s first-round bye fell into their laps only because Boston College upset Syracuse on the final day of the regular season to drop the Orangemen into third place in the West.
Last year the accolades off their achievements thickened far too easily into lethargy and listlessness.
This year the Irish swear it will be different.
Like last year, Notre Dame comes into the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden as one of the top two seeds in the West.
Like last year, the Irish don’t play their first game until Thursday, when they take on St. John’s (20-10), which rallied in the second half Wednesday night for a 64-58 win over Seton Hall in the first round. Marcus Hatten led the Red Storm with 16 points, including a key three-pointer with a minute to play.
And like last year, the Irish appear to be a lock for an NCAA tournament bid with a 20-9 overall record and a 10-6 mark in the Big East.
But unlike last year, the Irish don’t intend to be a one-and-done team in New York, where Pittsburgh upset them and hurt their NCAA tourney seeding.
“I don’t think it’s any secret we kind of hit a slide toward the end of [last] season,” Irish forward David Graves said. “I don’t think we were hungry last year. We lost focus.”
Irish coach Mike Brey said he isn’t worried about a repeat performance.
“We’re in a completely different state of mind than last year,” Brey said. “Last year’s [success was] a little bit unexpected for the kids. A little bit of new territory handling success.”
This time around, the Irish are used to the terrain.
The top two teams in both the East and West Divisions of the Big East gain first-round byes. Notre Dame is the only team to have secured the bye each of the past two years.
If the Irish are to take advantage of that bye, though, they must play better defense, forward Ryan Humphrey said.
After reeling off five straight victories in late January and early February, the Irish are 3-3 in their last six games. And in two of the three losses, the opponent shot better than 43 percent.
“Make them make their shots,” Humphrey said. “If we let them get into the groove early, it’ll be a long night.”
Graves agreed.
“We know what we’re capable of doing on the offensive end,” Graves said. “We just need to get back to what we did in mid-January and February on the defensive end, and we’ll make a run in this tournament.”
A victory Thursday night would move the Irish into the semifinals for the first time in school history. And that would make a statement, not just about the past or the present but about the future.
“It [would] say a lot about where we’ve come,” Graves said. “We used to be the laughingstock of the Big East.”
Not anymore.
“We have the personnel. We have the bench to do it. The guys are stepping in and playing well,” Graves said. “I’m just happy to have it back to where people are picking us to win it. It says a lot about where we’ve come in four years.”
In Wednesday’s other first-round games, Boston College (20-10) helped its NCAA tournament hopes by rallying from a double-digit deficit to beat Rutgers 60-55. Georgetown (19-10) also boosted its NCAA bid chances as Wesley Wilson’s dunk with 3.8 seconds left beat Providence 68-67. Gary Buchanan scored 21 points as Villanova (17-11) closed with a 14-3 run to deal a huge blow to the hopes for an NCAA at-large bid for Syracuse in the 78-64 victory.
