March 25--Perhaps the most beneficial film session of Notre Dame center Zach Auguste's career took place after last season when coach Mike Brey sat him down to watch film of his reactions to poor plays and foul calls.
Rather, his overreactions.
"Zach as a young player was a great over-reactor," Brey said.
Brey was exasperated when Augusteturned the ball over a few times in practice as a sophomore and argued that an assistant coach should have called a foul. Frustrated, Auguste turned and punched a standard, breaking his hand and subsequently missing six weeks.
"That was the ultimate (moment of), can you just take a deep breath?" Brey said. "It really cost him probably being in our lineup. It cost him having momentum that season. We laugh about it now, but it was just him being hot-headed as a young guy."
They laugh about it now because Auguste has learned to channel his irritation into inspiring play.
Auguste even could break Bill Walton's NCAA tournament record for shooting percentage as the sixth-seeded Irish face seventh-seeded Wisconsin on Friday night in the Sweet 16. In seven NCAA tournament games, he has hit 43 of 61 shots (70.5 percent), which tops the UCLA great's 109 of 159 figure for 68.6. The minimum shots for the record is 70.
The 6-foot-10 senior has recorded 21 double-doubles this season, including seven in the last eight games.
But maybe most impressive is how Auguste has kept his edge without losing his cool.
"I've matured a lot and grown individually as a player and as a man on and off the court," Auguste said Thursday before practice at the Wells Fargo Center. "I let my frustration get the best of me. I saw (on the film Brey put together) my body language after certain plays and really just watching that really helped. Sometimes you don't notice it until you see it."
Not that Auguste is some shrinking flower. He still goes after rebounds like a pit bull after a steak. And he still brings the intensity of a monsoon to games.
"As far as Zach's passion, we feed off it a lot," junior forward V.J. Beachem said. "My favorite moment was the game against Duke in the ACC tournament when he got the one-and-one and was like hitting his own head. I don't know what was going on there, but it got the rest of us going."
As a freshman, Auguste averaged only 10.7 minutes and 3.7 points per game, playing behind Jack Cooley and Garrick Sherman.
Now Auguste, with his orange-died "fro-hawk" and role as the unofficial team barber, has brought some style to the Irish.
Averaging 14.3 points and 10.9 rebounds per game, he lived up to a double-double average challenge set at the beginning of the season.
"He has been a bright lights deliverer," Brey said. "He gave himself to us. Here's a four-year guy who let us coach him. He didn't get distracted with, 'Am I good enough to leave early?' or 'I need to play a certain way.' That's why he has been amazingly efficient, and he's going to make a good living playing the game after his college career is over."
And with the right kind of intensity.
"His passion," Brey said, "is amazing."
sryan@tribpub.com
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