Why Notre Dame home finale vs. Pitt could be especially emotional for senior-heavy team on the cusp of a long-held goal

The stat has resided in the right-hand corner of the first page of Notre Dame’s games notes all season, a bolded No. 7 followed by a text box.

The seven is for seven degrees conferred, an NCAA Division I men’s basketball high this year. It’s a very Notre Dame stat, and not just because of the academic value. In Mike Brey’s 22 seasons as Irish head coach, there may be no better example of a team that fits the “get old and stay old” mantra he tosses around as a yearly aspiration.

Notre Dame will hand diplomas to seven of its 12 men’s basketball scholarship players this spring, six undergraduate degrees and one master’s. That group comprises all but one member of the Irish’s seven-man rotation this season. It’s a cohesive unit that has been together for two years, save for graduate transfer Paul Atkinson Jr., who arrived last summer. Some of its members have played together since they were freshmen.

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Atkinson, guard Prentiss Hubb, guard Dane Goodwin, guard Robby Carmody, guard Cormac Ryan, guard Trey Wertz and forward Nate Laszewski will be honored on Senior Day before Notre Dame’s regular season finale against Pittsburgh Saturday (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPNews). The game will be a celebration of their careers and a chance to all but stamp their ticket to a place they waited three years to go: the NCAA tournament.

Notre Dame (21-9, 14-5 ACC) can lock up the No. 2 seed in the ACC tournament by beating Pitt, which is in a three-way tie for 11^th place. The Panthers (11-19, 6-13) have lost three straight and rank as the No. 189 team in the NET. They’re a Quadrant 4 home opponent. Beating them wouldn’t add much to Notre Dame’s tournament résumé. They do, though, represent the last piece of tripwire that would do significant damage if the Irish can’t clear it.

There will be no celebration of the NCAA tournament until March 12 at the earliest. That’s if the Irish win the ACC tournament. Otherwise, they’ll save it for Selection Sunday if their name is called (more like when with a win over Pittsburgh). But privately, Saturday ought to be an emotional one for this senior class if it ends with a victory. The reality of heading to the tournament after three years nowhere near it is impossible not to acknowledge.

A 74-70 loss Wednesday at Florida State shouldn’t hurt the chances too much and didn’t reveal any new concerns about Notre Dame’s potential for creating March memories or cratering in the first round. Brey spent only a couple minutes on it in the locker room afterward before shifting his message to the next game.

“I talked a little bit about our seniors and what they meant – not only this year – to our program,” Brey said. “Saturday is going to be a great day for us.”

As with nearly every other program, Senior Day doesn’t carry the same level of finality it used to. All current academic seniors (except for those at an Ivy League school) have an extra year of eligibility due to the NCAA’s COVID-19 blanker waiver passed in 2020.

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As it stands, Atkinson is the lone Senior Day honoree that cannot return next year. Goodwin, Hubb and Laszewski all gained the option because of the waiver. Ryan and Carmody had eligibility for next year prior to the waiver due to redshirt seasons. Wertz would have likely redshirted and retained 2022-23 eligibility if not for the waiver and the NCAA’s decision to allow all basketball transfers to play immediately in 2020-21.

No one is ruling out the quintet of Hubb, Ryan, Wertz, Goodwin and Laszewski running it back for one more season. Atkinson requires an unlikely sixth-year waiver to return. Carmody hasn’t played since December 2019 due to various injuries and is still not cleared. It’s possible, if not likely, he doesn’t put on a Notre Dame uniform again after he dons one for the ceremonies Saturday.

That’s all for Brey and those players to sort out after the season ends. If Saturday is their last game at Purcell Pavilion, they will have been honored accordingly. But there’s much to accomplish before those decisions must be made – starting with a win Saturday that should allow them to arrive at a destination they’ve longed to reach.

Pittsburgh (11-19, 6-13 ACC) at Notre Dame (21-9, 14-5)

When: Saturday, March 5, 2022 at 2:30 p.m. ET

Where: Purcell Pavilion

TV: ESPNews

Radio: Notre Dame basketball radio network

Series history: Notre Dame leads 36-31

Last meeting: Notre Dame won 68-67 on Dec. 28, 2021

KenPom prediction: Notre Dame 72, Pittsburgh 59

Leading scorers:

• Pittsburgh: forward John Hugley (14.8 ppg), guard Jamarius Burton (12.8 pg)

• Notre Dame: guard Blake Wesley (14.9 ppg), guard Dane Goodwin (14.2 ppg)

Other notes:

• Hugley, a 6-9, 280-pound boulder, scored 18 points in the first meeting between Pittsburgh and Notre Dame.

• Notre Dame won the first matchup by shooting 10-of-22 on three-pointers (45.5 percent), which helped it overcome a 39.3 percent mark on twos.

• Goodwin has scored fewer than 10 points in three of his last four games. He’s 4-of-16 from three-point range in the last four outings.

• Laszewski is shooting an ACC-best 50.8 percent (31-of-62) on three-pointers in conference play.

• Notre Dame is 10-1 against its six home-and-home ACC opponents this year. The only loss was the conference opener at Boston College.