Jan. 10--It was March 2008 and Notre Dame had just defeated George Mason in the NCAA tournament's round of 64 in Denver.
Mike Brey and his coaching staff started game-planning for the Irish's next opponent, Washington State, coached by Tony Bennett. As Brey watched the film, he became concerned. The Cougars were a stout defensive team and a bad matchup for offense-dependent Notre Dame.
"Because they were old and physical I didn't think we were going to have an easy game," Brey said. "I was very worried and my worries came true in Denver."
Notre Dame never had a shot because it didn't sink many of its shots. As a result the Cougars earned a 61-41 victory over the Irish in the Mile High City.
And when Notre Dame joined the ACC last season, Bennett, now the coach at Virginia, was there to welcome the Irish -- with thumpings of 15 and 21 points.
"We had no answers for Virginia," Brey said. "It was like a JV (team) versus a varsity. They put it on us twice. It's the one team in the league we weren't competitive with."
The No. 13 Irish are hoping that isn't the case Saturday when they take on the No. 3 Cavaliers. One of only three teams still undefeated, Virginia again boasts one of the nation's staunchest defenses.
In some advanced scouting for Saturday's showdown -- the biggest Purcell Pavilion has seen since Duke came to town last season -- some Notre Dame players went over to captain Pat Connaughton's apartment in South Bend to watch Virginia beat North Carolina State 61-51 on Wednesday night. They saw how the Cavaliers' pack-line defense made it an adventure for the Wolfpack to get shots near the basket.
"We learned this team is really good defensively," sophomore guard Demetrius Jackson said. "You're not going to beat them off the dribble with that first drive. We just need to continue to run our offense and execute our sets and have good off-the-ball movement."
The Cavaliers rank fifth in adjusted defensive efficiency, per kenpom.com. The Irish, however, rank second in adjusted offensive efficiency.
Virginia's Justin Anderson (15.1 ppg), Malcolm Brogdon (13) and Anthony Gill (12.6) are all 6-foot-5 or taller and typify the kind of athletic, lanky defenders Bennett covets for his system.
Even though Brey has yet to beat Bennett, he isn't looking at Saturday with any extra motivation.
"I've been coaching too long to get into personal duels or head-to-head duels," Brey said. "I have the utmost respect for Tony.
"He's like the next wave of great coaches of the young guys coming up. He has a heck of a system. He's disciplined in what he does and he's starting to develop a consistency."
The Irish just hope they can disrupt that for one day.
"Our brand of basketball is different than last year overall so we need to keep doing that," Connaughton said. "The strength of this team is that we've tried not to bend everything to the opponent."
chine@tribpub.com
Twitter @ChristopherHine
