Mike Brey talks about resume potential, importance of Georgia game

Notre Dame dropped its third game of the season on Sunday, falling to 7-3 on the year with a 79-64 loss to Marquette. Coach Mike Brey noted after the game how that ratchets up the importance of the Georgia game this week in terms of the potential resume boost it could provide.

The season is still early, but the Fighting Irish’s resume is once again shaping up like that of an NCAA Tournament bubble team.

“I think Georgia becomes really important, right?” Brey said. “I told them in there, we have some X and O issues obviously. But let’s talk. You got Michigan State. You got ’em. But your power games, these guys (Marquette), you didn’t get them. You’ve got a chance to get Georgia, because it’s an SEC team.”

A 70-52 win over Michigan State is indeed the current highlight on the resume for Notre Dame, which also includes a one-point loss to Syracuse and a 63-51 loss to St. Bonaventure.

Brey knows you run out of opportunities to secure those vital resume-building wins against high majors quickly if you’re not careful.

So next week’s game against the Bulldogs will be a big one.

“Of course, last year we played five and only got one: Kentucky,” he said. “But it was the difference-maker, even though we won 15 league games. It probably got us into the tournament, even though we won 15 league games and the league was down or whatever.”

Mike Brey sells importance of Georgia game, other opponents doing well

For an early season conversation about NCAA Tournament resume and the impact that some non-conference games have on it, Brey was quite willing to talk about the importance of the Georgia game… and other opponents finishing strong.

Your big wins aren’t so big if the team you beat sees its season goes south.

Naturally, Brey essentially discussed his current rooting interests in light of his team’s results so far this season.

“So go Sparty, that’s all I can say right now,” he said, beginning to laugh. “And go Marquette. Keep beating Baylor and us, keep beating people, baby. I’m a Marquette fan. Win the Big East. And go Georgia! And go Bonaventure! And go Radford and go… anyways.”

No real time to dwell on Sunday’s loss to Marquette. Pulling for previous opponents to take care of business only gets you so far.

“I’m disappointed for our guys, but the writing was on the wall,” Brey said. “You had a chance to mentally adjust. I told them in the last timeout, I said, ‘Look, fellas, let’s finish this. We got our butts handed to us. Let’s accept responsibility. We all got smoked today. We’ll go in and talk about how we need to get better and have each other’s back and hang in there. It’s early.'”