Mike Brey eager to get Marcus Hammond back for Notre Dame

Notre Dame has been skating by on the basketball court. The Fighting Irish are a solid team, and a really efficient offense, but they’re one more injury away from crisis. Because, through seven games, head coach Mike Brey is essentially playing six players. The starting five are playing 33 or more minutes per night at least, with a couple guys eclipsing the 37-mark. Meanwhile, after their sixth man, no other player averages more than two minutes a game.

Brey is pushing his guys to the limit. The fatigue finally showed up last week as the Irish dropped their first game of the year, which was their fifth in 12 nights, to a mediocre Saint Bonaventure team. However, with four nights of rest after that, ND came out and punked Michigan State at home to regain momentum.

Now, they may get another rotation piece back as well, with Niagra transfer Marcus Hammond about to enter the fold after recovering from injury. The shifty point guard was an 18-point-per-game scorer last season and was supposed be the starting point guard for this group.

According to Brey, Hammond’s teammates are thrilled to be having him back.

“Oh yeah, no no, I think they want him back, man,” said Brey this week, singing Hammond’s praises as a player. “I mean, you know, he was efficiency, point-wise, through 25 practices. He was leading us, not Nate Laszewski, not Dane Goodwin, not Cormac Ryan. He had more points than anybody.”

More importantly, Hammond provides an extra body to relieve the other six.

“And, you know, he gives you another guy that can go and he can score and can shoot it. I think, as I watched this this summer, I said five old guys and the two young guys, if we can keep that seven moving I think we got a chance. And so, we’re getting close to getting those seven together.”

The seven Mike Brey is referring to? Well, Hammond, obviously, along with Laszewski, Goodwin and Ryan who he mentioned. The two freshmen would be five-star guard JJ Starling and four-star big man Ven-Allen Lubin. Lastly, Trey Wertz is the other wing in the mix for the Irish.

So Hammond, Starling, Goodwin, Wertz, Ryan, Lubin and Laszewski are the Seven Samurai for Mike Brey. And with Hammond out, Brey simply trimmed the rotation down to six. A tough ask for the starters, four of which surpassed 35 minutes on the court vs. the Spartans. But hey, it’s hard to hate on the heavy reliance on the top of the roster, because it’s working!

If Hammond rejoins and provides even a handful of minutes in relief of the others, Notre Dame may really be able to hit the pavement running in ACC play now that they have a signature win to hang their hat on.