March 19--PITTSBURGH -- When things weren't going well for Notre Dame against Duke and North Carolina at the ACC tournament in Greensboro, N.C., former Irish point guard Tory Jackson knew how coach Mike Brey was going to react.
During timeouts, Brey would address the team to make adjustments, but he would hold one player back for a few extra words of encouragement -- sophomore point guard Demetrius Jackson.
"The whole time the point guard was the guy he kept calm," said Tory Jackson, no relation to Demetrius. "I saw him talk to other guys, but he pulled Demetrius closer. I know what he's saying there. On camera nobody else can tell, but he's saying, 'You run the show.' Or he's apologizing (if something goes wrong). When you're the point guard, he gives you the keys to run the show."
Notre Dame's pristine offense is the main reason the Irish will open the NCAA tournament as a No. 3 seed Thursday against No. 14 Northeastern in Pittsburgh. But what drives the Irish's offense is the relationships Brey cultivates with his point guards.
If the point guard isn't in the right frame of mind, that spills over to the rest of the team. And behind closed doors, Brey can be harder on his point guards than any other player.
"I just feel there can't be much slippage in that position the way we play here and how we communicate and run the program," said Brey, a former point guard at Northwestern Louisiana State and George Washington. "So that bar is higher for them, there's no question."
To that end, Brey goes out of his way to cultivate a special relationship with his point guards and wants to know what's going on in every facet of their lives -- family, schoolwork, relationships, the music they listen to, their diet.
Brey wants to relate to his players, and one way he does is through humor and music.
"One day he may come in with a suit and tie. The next day he may come in with a bandanna and some J's on," Tory Jackson said.
Brey, 56, keeps up with who the hot artists are in hip-hop and rap.
In 2012, Brey took a photo of himself with his new "dawg," rapper 2 Chainz, earning him a lot of laughs and a lot of "street cred," Demetrius Jackson said. Brey said he recognized the rapper because "I actually saw the two chains!"
"He has his corny jokes and stuff like that but he's a great coach and he just does a good job of reaching his players," Demetrius Jackson said. "What makes it so easy to be around him is how in-tune he is to our generation.
"He knows what's going on in the world and he understands the stuff we talk about in our locker room before we go on the court. He's just cool to be around."
Brey's experience has let him know which buttons to push with what guards. Former guard Eric Atkins said Brey would joke with him about Louisville guard Peyton Siva "stealing his lunch money."
Former guard Kyle McAlarney said Brey wouldn't get on him after a tough game. McAlarney said Brey doesn't so much motivate his guards as handle their emotions. Tory Jackson said Brey could tell when he was having a bad day.
"There would be times when I wasn't making shots, whatever it was, he'd grab me, calm me down make me laugh, and I'd walk away feeling better," McAlarney said. "I'm the type who has a bad game and thinks my coach hates me after, but when he'd do that I'd have a renewed confidence in myself, because I knew he was still my guy."
Brey is like that with Demetrius Jackson, who is also hard on himself when things aren't going right. But Jackson also said there is some tough love from Brey, like when Jackson served a two-game academic suspension last season, similar to one Tory Jackson had in his freshman season. It was a suspension Brey admitted he might not have put on a player at another position.
"When I messed up he definitely challenged me to be better," Demetrius Jackson said. "He called me out, which was good. I needed to hear that and when I did right, he'd be the first person to encourage me."
And when his guards are hurting, Brey hurts too. McAlarney said he heard Brey became emotional when he informed the team McAlarney was suspended for a season after an arrest for marijuana possession.
Atkins said in bad times, he and Brey leaned on each other for support. That happened twice in Atkins' career, when the team lost Tim Abromaitis to a season-ending knee injury in 2011-12 and when Jerian Grant received an academic suspension last season.
"We would talk all the time -- texting, phone calls, office meetings," Atkins said. "We were both always checking on each other to make sure we're OK."
Said Tory Jackson: "When he was calm, I was calm, and when I was calm, the whole team was calm. It's the same mentality they have now."
The point guard's mentality is something that is never far from Brey's mind. Notre Dame's success hinges on it.
"All the things that could affect their production with us, I need to know it because it all starts with them," Brey said. "I feel we have to have their heads and bodies right."
chine@tribpub.com
