Mike Brey slams officials following ACC Tournament loss to Virginia Tech

Tuesday turned out to be the final game Mike Brey coached at Notre Dame. He will be going out with a loss to Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament, ending what has been a tough season in South Bend. Brey might be coaching somewhere else next season but it will not be with the Fighting Irish.

Since he is not returning, Brey figured he could truly speak his mind on the officiating in Greensboro. Brey felt as if the conference did not implement a top crew for the first-round matchup, saying there was an “over analyzation” on a call involving Virginia Tech’s Sean Pedulla.

“I’ll be very honest now that I’m not in the league anymore,” Brey said. “I think that last play, if you have an ‘A’ officiating crew and that was not an ‘A’ crew, you say, ‘basketball play.’ And we shoot the free throws and play basketball. I think we got a little over analyzation on that part of it.”

Brey seemingly wanted no flagrant foul called and instead, wished the officials deemed it a “basketball play.” He believes if there was a top crew on hand, that’s how the scenario would have played out. Even so, he gave credit to Virginia Tech and how the game ultimately finished.

“Look, Virginia Tech made plays, but I don’t think that was handled right,” Brey said. “Now, we had some turnovers and made mistakes too, but I think you go ‘basketball play’ in a great game and you shoot the free throws and you let the game play out. That’s a big-time crew.”

At the very least, Brey was able to get his opinion out there on the officiating. He would likely tell you one call does not determine a basketball game, especially in the postseason. However, there was nothing for the head coach to lose, leaving the ACC.

Mike Brey, Notre Dame crashes out of ACC Tournament

Only one team (Louisville) was worse than Notre Dame this season in the ACC. The No. 14 seed heading into the week has now lost, dropping one to a solid Virginia Tech team. At the very least, Brey got to be celebrated in front of the Greensboro crowd.

A new era will be coming to South Bend in the near future, moving on from the legendary head coach. While Tuesday might have not been the way anyone wanted him to go out, Brey will forever be remembered for what he did with Notre Dame.