BURLAGE: Dayton or bust, it’s time for Notre Dame basketball to represent

From the outside listening in, the 35-minute conference call Selection Sunday night with the Notre Dame men’s basketball contingent felt more like a trip to the in-laws than it did a celebration for a team earning its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2017. 

After an exhausting bubble watch that moved the Irish from “lock” to “likely” to “hold your breath,” the Zoom mood seemed built from the relief of finally getting in more than it was from the excitement of being in when it earned a trip to Dayton for a first-four game tonight against Rutgers.

Gathered at the home of Mike Brey for a watch party, the Irish head coach shared afterward how there was no wild celebration when about three minutes into the broadcast his team was revealed as a No. 11 seed and a Dayton participant. 

“We didn’t jump up. We just kind of clapped. We were just relieved to see it,” Brey stoically shared of his team’s initial selection reaction. “We’re in it. You gotta have access to do anything.” 

Brey is obviously correct that you can’t stay in the tournament if you don’t play in the tournament. He’s also fully aware that without the Dayton play-in round, back to the NIT it would be.

Even Brey admitted to not being exactly sure how to react to his first NCAA invite since Bonzie Colson was a team captain five years ago.

“There was a lot of anxiety,” Brey said. “… Maybe later tonight for about 30 minutes, I’ll smile a little bit more.” 

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Technically, yeah, Notre Dame is in the tournament for the first time in five seasons. 

Realistically, it was the last at-large team selected based on the NCAA Tournament Committee final seed rankings, creating some unexpected anxiousness on Selection Sunday for the six Irish seniors hoping to make their first NCAA tourney journey. 

Only two weeks prior to Selection Sunday, the Irish were projected as an eight or nine seed, while hopes remained alive at the same time for an ACC regular-season title and an improving NCAA seed with a couple of March victories. 

Instead, the Irish lost as a favorite at Florida State, flopped against Virginia Tech in the ACC quarterfinals, landed on the bubble’s edge, and loaded the buses for Dayton.

And, had Texas A&M defeated Tennessee Sunday in the SEC Championship game — or if one other unexpected domino fell in the other conference tournaments — Brey’s Irish would’ve been left out the NCAAs for a fifth straight season, the longest absence of his 27-year coaching career. 

Where are we?

So is this it? 

Is Notre Dame basketball relevant again with this tourney appearance? 

Do two wins in 10 tries this season against Quadrant 1 teams and a Dayton detour as a marginal tourney team absolve half a decade of irrelevance? 

Is this the new bar?

Or, curiously, is this the foundation to another rebirth for Brey and his program?

Brey’s positive results from an off-season staff shuffle, along with his notable recruiting improvements and mastery of the transfer portal need to be celebrated and can’t be ignored looking forward. 

Yet, tonight will tell a lot.

This is a watershed game and moment for Brey, even though his team has already doubled its win count from last season. 

On the surface, Notre Dame’s 22-10 overall record and second-place ACC regular-season finish should’ve made for a worry-free Selection Sunday. 

But blend a 2-8 record against Qaudrent 1 opponents with only three wins versus NCAA tourney teams — Kentucky, North Carolina, Miami (Fla.) — and the selection committee musta wondered, “Where’s the beef?” 

For comparison, Rutgers (18-13) secured six Quadrant 1 victories this season, including upsets of top-four NCAA seeds Purdue, Wisconsin and Illinois. 

Las Vegas lists Notre Dame vs. Rutgers as a pick’em game.

“Thrilled to be a part of it,” Brey said, oft referencing UCLA’s run from First Four to Final Four last season. 

Admittedly, it’s unfair to measure a program and its coach by one game.

That said, if Notre Dame lays another egg tonight in the same golden fashion it did last week as a No. 2 seed in the ACC quarterfinals, this season won’t feel much different than the previous four, even with an NCAA berth and a bus trip to Dayton.