Against Notre Dame, for the first time since February 8, and for only the 11th time this season (in 28 tries) UVA's point total got into the 70s. So I was bowled over to look at KenPom and find that that was the second-slowest game - 52 possessions - that we've seen all season. Only the Pitt game, at 51 possessions, was a lesser pace than this one.
So when Mike Brey said "that was a nuclear explosion," well, at first I figured he was just saying that because this particular explosion happened to him and not someone else. But no, that's a legit descriptor, and really I should've realized that Brey knew what he was talking about because it's not the first UVA explosion he's witnessed. 70 points in 52 possessions is about 1.35 per, an astounding number that blows away UVA's previous best effort, which was against Liberty.
Shooting 7-for-15 from three is a nice result and contributed to the effort, but it pales in comparison to shooting 21-for-29 - a whopping .724 percentage - from two. Anthony Gill and Akil Mitchell combined for 12-of-13. It didn't even have anything to do with zone defense. Brey didn't deploy it all that much. Sometimes basketball is about intricate play breakdowns and sometimes it's just about a light bulb going off, that says, "this guy can't guard me," and then doing something about that.
In Notre Dame's case there were a lot of this-guys - ND might as well have had four equal-sized dudes with the same number on their jersey and "GUMPY STIFF" where the name goes. It almost makes me wish Garrick Sherman had stayed at Michigan State so he could be a terrible post defender in East Lansing instead, but as the results of the weekend proved, Sparty didn't need the help.
Mike Tobey, meanwhile - the one guy we have who's comparable in size to the gumpy stiff gang - collected four blocked shots.
When the run came, in typical UVA fashion it didn't announce itself like it does for other teams. Brey - perhaps this is why he's a pretty good coach - knew it anyway. He called time-out when the lead stretched to five - Joe Harris had just hit that running three-pointer and then kiboshed a minute-long(!) Irish possession with a blocked shot, leading to an Anthony Gill you-can't-stop-this bucket. Not a minute had passed when Brey called another one. The building was getting around to figuring out what Brey already knew, because Justin Anderson had just dropped Little Boy on Zach Auguste and Gill had deployed Fat Man on the other end. When Malcolm Brogdon lefty-tossed the ball high off the glass and in, despite being clubbed with a hidden shillelagh Eric Atkins was saving for just such an occasion, Brey looked on resignedly. He didn't bother calling another timeout, and took two of them to the locker room. How do you fight a nuclear bomb with timeouts?
*****************************************************
The baseball team is two weeks into the season. Some stats of note:
-- Matt Thaiss is 6-for-17 to start the season (.353) with four doubles. It's exceedingly early to say this, but it appears we have two catchers that could start on just about any team in the ACC. Because it's not like Nate Irving - 5-for-15, 4 walks - is just handing over the job. Quite the opposite.
-- UVA pitching has allowed 16 runs, not one of them unearned. UVA has scored 31 earned runs and 21 more unearned. When Brian O'Connor sets out to fix what he thinks is a fielding problem, he fixes the hell out of it. The Hoos have committed two errors all season, one by a pitcher (which is to say, I don't care as much.)
-- Brandon Downes already has three home runs.
And finally a lacrosse game, which left me shaking my head in all ranges of emotion from annoyed disbelief to happy disbelief, also leaves me with one overarching impression of this team so far: I keep expecting disaster and don't get it. UVA is ranked 4th, which seems likely to result in the house-of-cards thing, but 4-0 is 4-0. I get the feeling this season will either be another train wreck or pretty darn awesome.
Showing posts with label notre dame. Show all posts
Showing posts with label notre dame. Show all posts
Monday, February 24, 2014
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
golden
I did say I would start in on lacrosse today, and that turns out to be a lie as filthy as a London Perrantes pass to a cutter. What are ya gonna do. The Notre Dame game generated too much My Thoughts and now they need somewhere to go.
I had a tough time deciding what was most impressive about the game. It was certainly a far cry from the VT meatgrinder. Was it the 14 steals - almost one every four possessions? Malcolm Brogdon's stat line? Given NBA clock rules, Brogdon might've registered a quadruple-double at the rate he was going. Five more steals would've been awfully hard, but that only highlights the impressiveness of getting five in the first place. Or, perhaps it was the effusive praise Bob Knight wouldn't stop giving to London Perrantes.
A digression: Knight is, without reservation, my favorite basketball announcer. When he talks about the game, it's a clinic. Yesterday, for example, two things that stood out in particular. Justin Anderson turned the ball over, but Knight praised the idea anyway, pointing out that you should dribble and pass in opposite directions against a zone defense. Obvious when you think about it (when you dribble one direction, the defense shifts that way, so they're already in position to defend your pass) but how many announcers ever think to say it? When a Domer near the sidelines threw the ball away near the end of a shot clock, Knight mentioned that it was a lousy pass but the blame lay half with the guy who threw it down to that dude in the first place. Trapped near the sidelines is a bad place for the ball to be with four seconds on the shot clock. This is stuff coaches say in practice but somehow never take with them to the microphone. You will learn basketball by listening to Bob Knight.
I say this because it lends extra extra credence to the gushing Knight did over Perrantes. When most announcers go gaga over a player, they're not usually saying anything you haven't heard elsewhere, and it's a good bet they read it in the same place you did. When Knight goes gaga, he's also pointing out specific, tangible things that cause him to have that opinion. Things like: when Perrantes makes round-the-world dribbling trips through the lane, he's not just doing it for the lulz, he's doing it because he knows where all the other nine players are and which one he wants to find for the assist. Jeff Van Gundy really liked Perrantes too, and said so, and Van Gundy is a well-respected coach whose words carry weight, but it's still more so with Bobby Knight. Perrantes is a future star of a point guard; not that I needed any convincing, but I'm still convinced.
-- Mike Tobey is another guy who needs to be called out for a great game. One of his top three as a Cavalier, I'd say. He scored a variety of different ways and he bodied up on defense and didn't give any ground.
-- Speaking of defense, Evan Nolte's is better, too. He's defending his man much closer than he used to and his footwork is improved. Side-to-side he's a little quicker, which lets him do a better job of denying the jump shot.
-- Notre Dame executed quite definitely the worst 2-3 zone I've ever seen. 2-3 is the easiest defense in the world. Nothing in basketball is less complicated and Notre Dame managed to screw it up repeatedly. Knight pointed out that the center (usually Garrick Sherman) was wandering way too far from the basket and shouldn't have been out defending at the elbow. UVA noticed this and took advantage repeatedly until Mike Brey fixed the problem. What Knight didn't mention is that Sherman was caught between a rock and a hard place, because ND's guards were also wandering. Down by the elbow, that needs to be the guard's territory. Whatever they were defending was space that doesn't need to be defended. The Irish defenders let themselves get spaced out too much, when the whole point of the zone (especially the 2-3) is to dictate spacing and clog the middle.
-- 30 minutes into the game and Notre Dame had 29 points. I mean, when you turn the ball over on a third of your possessions, that'll happen.
-- Also 30 minutes into the game was the first time it dawned on me that this was a Karl Hess game. That's unusual. Normally you know that right away.
-- One more game to the halfway point of the ACC season.
I had a tough time deciding what was most impressive about the game. It was certainly a far cry from the VT meatgrinder. Was it the 14 steals - almost one every four possessions? Malcolm Brogdon's stat line? Given NBA clock rules, Brogdon might've registered a quadruple-double at the rate he was going. Five more steals would've been awfully hard, but that only highlights the impressiveness of getting five in the first place. Or, perhaps it was the effusive praise Bob Knight wouldn't stop giving to London Perrantes.
A digression: Knight is, without reservation, my favorite basketball announcer. When he talks about the game, it's a clinic. Yesterday, for example, two things that stood out in particular. Justin Anderson turned the ball over, but Knight praised the idea anyway, pointing out that you should dribble and pass in opposite directions against a zone defense. Obvious when you think about it (when you dribble one direction, the defense shifts that way, so they're already in position to defend your pass) but how many announcers ever think to say it? When a Domer near the sidelines threw the ball away near the end of a shot clock, Knight mentioned that it was a lousy pass but the blame lay half with the guy who threw it down to that dude in the first place. Trapped near the sidelines is a bad place for the ball to be with four seconds on the shot clock. This is stuff coaches say in practice but somehow never take with them to the microphone. You will learn basketball by listening to Bob Knight.
I say this because it lends extra extra credence to the gushing Knight did over Perrantes. When most announcers go gaga over a player, they're not usually saying anything you haven't heard elsewhere, and it's a good bet they read it in the same place you did. When Knight goes gaga, he's also pointing out specific, tangible things that cause him to have that opinion. Things like: when Perrantes makes round-the-world dribbling trips through the lane, he's not just doing it for the lulz, he's doing it because he knows where all the other nine players are and which one he wants to find for the assist. Jeff Van Gundy really liked Perrantes too, and said so, and Van Gundy is a well-respected coach whose words carry weight, but it's still more so with Bobby Knight. Perrantes is a future star of a point guard; not that I needed any convincing, but I'm still convinced.
-- Mike Tobey is another guy who needs to be called out for a great game. One of his top three as a Cavalier, I'd say. He scored a variety of different ways and he bodied up on defense and didn't give any ground.
-- Speaking of defense, Evan Nolte's is better, too. He's defending his man much closer than he used to and his footwork is improved. Side-to-side he's a little quicker, which lets him do a better job of denying the jump shot.
-- Notre Dame executed quite definitely the worst 2-3 zone I've ever seen. 2-3 is the easiest defense in the world. Nothing in basketball is less complicated and Notre Dame managed to screw it up repeatedly. Knight pointed out that the center (usually Garrick Sherman) was wandering way too far from the basket and shouldn't have been out defending at the elbow. UVA noticed this and took advantage repeatedly until Mike Brey fixed the problem. What Knight didn't mention is that Sherman was caught between a rock and a hard place, because ND's guards were also wandering. Down by the elbow, that needs to be the guard's territory. Whatever they were defending was space that doesn't need to be defended. The Irish defenders let themselves get spaced out too much, when the whole point of the zone (especially the 2-3) is to dictate spacing and clog the middle.
-- 30 minutes into the game and Notre Dame had 29 points. I mean, when you turn the ball over on a third of your possessions, that'll happen.
-- Also 30 minutes into the game was the first time it dawned on me that this was a Karl Hess game. That's unusual. Normally you know that right away.
-- One more game to the halfway point of the ACC season.
Monday, January 27, 2014
game preview: Notre Dame
Date/Time: Tuesday, January 28; 9:00
TV: ESPNU
Record against the Irish: 5-1
Last meeting: UVA 81, ND 76; 4/1/92, New York, NY
Last game: UVA 65, VT 45 (1/25); WF 65, ND 58 (1/25)
KenPom:
Tempo:
UVA: 63.0 (#335)
ND: 66.4 (#225)
Offense:
UVA: 109.9 (#70)
ND: 113.0 (#38)
Defense:
UVA: 88.7 (#4)
ND: 103.5 (#151)
Pythag:
UVA: .9216 (#15)
ND: .7326 (#72)
Projected lineups:
Virginia:
PG: London Perrantes (4.5 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 3.7 apg)
SG: Malcolm Brogdon (11.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.9 apg)
SF: Joe Harris (11.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.1 apg)
PF: Akil Mitchell (6.7 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.3 apg)
C: Mike Tobey (7.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 0.5 apg)
Notre Dame:
PG: Eric Atkins (14.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 5.0 apg)
SG: Demetrious Jackson (6.6 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.8 apg)
SF: Pat Connaughton (13.6 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.8 apg)
PF: Zach Auguste (6.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.4 apg)
C: Garrick Sherman (15.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 0.9 apg)
UVA takes its first trip to a (recent) expansion member of the conference, to the Land of the Golden Dome, on Tuesday - when the temperature in the Midwest is fully expected to be on the south side of zero and the wind on the north side of 25. The team's travel is reportedly weather-complicated, and, well, there's a reason I call these the dark days of February. (Yes, it's not technically February yet. Shut up.) But the team is rolling, and Notre Dame is reeling, in the midst of a much worse season than they were expected to have. A win would keep the Hoos within scratching distance of Syracuse; since Duke knocked off Pitt tonight, a loss would drop UVA into a three-way tie at 6-2.
-- UVA on offense
Defense has been ND's weak point this year. Teams shoot the ball well against the Irish, and the problem here is twofold. One, they've got a lot of size but it's all way down low; the guards are actually on the small side. Two, their bigs aren't proficient shot-blockers. Center Garrick Sherman swats a few, but not as many as you'd like for a near 7-footer. The team's block-rate leader, forward Austin Burgett is out for "7-10 days due to cardiac surgery" which easily takes the prize for most incongruous injury report ever. One day someone will be expected to miss 2-4 weeks due to death and then they can have that prize for their silver lining, but til then, that one takes the cake.
Burgett will hopefully be fine in the long run - that sounds scary but presumably the doctors know a thing or two about their job - but won't be playing tomorrow. It takes a bite out of ND's depth. Up front they'll be able to manage; there are three guys standing over 6'10" in Sherman, Zach Auguste, and Tom Knight, and the Irish may give a few more minutes to lightly-used V.J. Beachem, a lanky freshman.
Notre Dame is crazy-thin at guard, though. Part of the reason teams shoot threes so well against ND might just be that their guards are forced to chill out a bit on defense lest they lose their legs. Eric Atkins and Pat Connaughton play 37 and 36 minutes a game, respectively. It's a conservative defense that fouls very little and doesn't get a world of steals - still almost twice as many as VT, though.
One of the benefits of this crazy run the Hoos are on is that the rotation has settled down, something UVA can use to its advantage against a thin team like Notre Dame. Though the Irish have made a few late-game pushes lately, it's still to UVA's advantage to have a guy like Malcolm Brogdon and his deceptive quickness, or Justin Anderson and his tendency to bounce off the walls, coming in fresh while ND's scorers have played the whole game.
This could also be a good game for Mike Tobey, who always looks good except for when he gets multiple shots blocked on one possession. This happens more often than you'd want, but ND doesn't seem likely to come up with a sudden swat storm; Knight in particular is notoriously unathletic. Wake Forest's Devin Thomas just went apeshit on the Irish defense, shooting 10-for-11, so, while I don't foresee any of our bigs taking over the game like that, they'll all have their chances, and UVA can find some mismatches down low.
-- UVA on defense
Losing Jerian Grant might've been the catalyst for all the losing ND is doing; it cost them a guy who could not only score from anywhere he liked but was a terrific passer. There are still three guys left on this team who can score prolifically: Sherman, Atkins, and Connaughton.
That's basically the lineup. Sherman shoots A LOT, and hits on enough of them to be worth it, but not so many that he commands all your attention. He's a very good rebounder at both ends of the court, too, but when he's out (he plays 27.4 mpg) ND basically just hopes to get by down low. Auguste and Knight are not terrible, but that's as far as I'll go in their praise.
Atkins and Connaughton will hurt you from deep if you let them. Connaughton makes his bread by hanging out away from the play and being found by a passer; 100% of his threes are assisted. Both he and Atkins generally prefer the jump shot, though Atkins will find his way to the rim at times. The backcourt is rounded out by Demetrious Jackson, good for about one three-pointer a game and a few miscellaneous buckets here and there.
Bottom line, though, is that when Atkins, Connaughton, or Sherman are out of the game, ND loses a major scoring punch, which is why Sherman doesn't come out much and the two guards basically never do. It's part of the reason, I'd imagine, that the defense is so conservative; put Atkins or Connaughton in foul trouble and the Irish are just about sunk. The Irish don't get to the line much themselves, either, but neither do they turn the ball over. They play deliberately and look for their shot - about two-thirds of which will come from one of those big three.
-- Outlook
You have to respect Sherman, Atkins, and Connaughton. There's a reason I've said their names so much here. These guys could find a role on any ACC team. Everyone else....jyeh. Notre Dame regularly goes only about eight deep - losing Burgett only makes it worse - and they don't really trust the back end of that rotation. The Domers have given some talented teams (Iowa, Ohio State) a run for their money, and knocked off Duke in their inaugural ACC game. It went sour quick after that, though - ND is 2-5 in the conference, with only the Wake Forest loss coming against a winning team (and c'mon, Wake is not that good.) They even let the Hokies come into their gym and almost win. If the rough travel and the cold don't get to UVA, the Hoos ought to come out with a win - a grinder if they can't hit their threes and a blowout if they're hot from deep.
Final score: UVA 62, ND 52
*********************************************
A quick rumination on the VT game: it was boring. Precisely what I'd hoped for. Good teams should come into the JPJA all nervous and hoping to maybe escape with a win; crappy teams should leave having never felt from start to finish that they ever had a glimmer of a chance. UVA sucked the life out of the Hokies and ground them into the dirt. Hey, it's the middle third of the ACC season - they can't all be wildly entertaining circus shows. At some point, you get to be so good and the opponent so bad that a blowout is par for the course. It was mostly a plodder of a game, with VT being forced numerous times to hork up something that would be an insult to legitimate prayers to call it that. I think the Hokies only had one 35-second violation, but must have run the clock down inside 3 seconds eight times. By that time it was less "well crap maybe this will go in" and more "here, just take the ball and put this possession out of its misery."
I found myself, during the game, with lots of time for the mind to wander, contemplating as to whether any of the current VT team would find a niche on UVA's squad. I don't think I'd trade any of our guys for theirs, heavens no, unless we're talking a back-end player for a star. Devin Wilson probably has more upside than Teven Jones, for example - but that's our third point guard and their first and we don't even know what we have in Devon Hall. But would I take any Hokies and just add them to our lineup? Maybe Jarell Eddie, but only in an Evan Nolte role. Eddie would be forbidden from shooting inside the arc and not depended on for a lot of defense. Wilson would need to get his turnovers under control, but I at least like his ability to find the free throw line.
The rest of them? No. Their bigs are awful. OK, Raines and Barksdale aren't terrible, but they don't do anything as well as our top three bigs (Gill, Mitchell, Tobey) and have about the scoring touch of Darion Atkins but with a great deal less athleticism. van Zegeren's a stiff. I haven't seen Ben Emelogu in action yet except for the other day and he was still working off a bum ankle, so it wasn't quite fair to judge, but the fact that they're giving minutes to Will Johnston and Trevor Thompson (whose patented travel-and-arm-hook move must've been allowed by the refs out of pure pity) is all you need to know about why the Hokies are firmly entrenched in the bottom of the league.
They may have something of a future - Emelogu and Wilson are solid building blocks, as should be Adam Smith when healthy. van Zegeren can defend, and their freshman class next year includes Jalen Hudson, to whom UVA gave a very long and hard look before ultimately not offering. (It's a lightly-regarded class overall, though.) But with the benefit of hindsight, they torpedoed their own program by firing Greenberg. Now they have a coach in over his head and a huge talent gap, which itself is largely due to the firing - have you noticed Montrezl Harrell at Louisville lately?
Monday, January 6, 2014
season preview: Notre Dame (and a little more)
Media prediction: 5th of 15
Last season:
Record: 25-10 (11-7); Big East 6th seed
Postseason: NCAA 7 seed; lost in 1st round
KenPom: 37th of 347
Returning scoring: 47.9%
Returning rebounding: 46.9%
Returning assists: 52.5%
2012-2013 all-ACC:
1st team: none
2nd team: none
3rd team: none
HM: none
Defensive: none
Rookie: none
(Italics indicate departed player.)
Starting lineup:
PG: Eric Atkins (Sr.)
SG: Demetrius Jackson (Fr.)
SF: Pat Connaughton (Jr.)
PF: Zach Auguste (So.)
C: Garrick Sherman (Sr.)
Bench:
F Austin Burgett (So.)
F Tom Knight (5Sr.)
G Steve Vasturia (Fr.)
F V.J. Beachem (Fr.)
Coach: Mike Brey (14th season)
ACC schedule:
Twice: Boston College, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Virginia
Once: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Maryland, Miami, NC State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Just when you think they're halfway dead and buried - thanks to the loss of their star player to academic issues - Notre Dame goes and beats Duke to open their ACC career. That's the Domers for you. Returning to glory since 1925, and sometimes actually even doing it.
The aforementioned academic casualty is leading scorer Jerian Grant, who was averging 19 ppg before he was forced out of school. Grant is working on returning next season, but for now, the Irish have to make do without a player who could score from anywhere he liked, and with only nine scholarship players left on the roster, it's a thin group that's left to pick up the pieces.
The scoring burden now falls largely on the shoulders of three players. The first is point guard Eric Atkins, who responded to the big-game pressure against Duke with 19 points and 11 assists. A senior point guard can do a lot for an offense. Even before Grant was lost, the Irish depended extremely heavily on Atkins; he averages over 36 minutes a game. The backcourt is absurdly thin and ND doesn't have anyone else they trust at the point. Fortunately, Atkins is a well-rounded and highly capable player.
The other two scorers are center Garrick Sherman and small forward Pat Connaughton. Connaughton is an excellent three-point shooter, and Sherman is a big and somewhat rangy center. These two, like Atkins, have good, well-rounded games for their positions, giving Notre Dame a versatile attack.
In the backcourt, the fourth starter is freshman Demetrius Jackson, a decent secondary scorer who opens up just enough space for the primary options to be effective. Without Grant, however, Mike Brey has chosen to go big in the starting lineup, trying out senior Tom Knight and sophomore Zach Auguste, both standing 6'10" to complement the 6'11" Sherman. Auguste appears to be the more effective player; his rebounding and shooting percentages are both higher, and Knight saw only six minutes of action against Duke. Brey will also bring 6'9" forward Austin Burgett off the bench and toss a few minutes the way of freshman V.J. Beachem, too. If you count Connaughton in the frontcourt, that makes six forwards out of the nine scholarship players on the roster.
The ninth is lightly-used freshman Steve Vasturia, whose role is mainly limited to off-the-bench threes. Neither he nor Beachem see a great deal of time, but Vasturia's role greatly increased in the wake of Grant's departure; he played 22 minutes in each of Notre Dame's last two games. Brey has no choice, lest Atkins and Jackson be forced to play every minute the rest of the season.
Even with Grant, the Irish have had their ups and downs. A blowout loss to Indiana State is a low point, as is another loss to North Dakota State. But the Irish also played Ohio State very tough and, of course, knocked off Duke. Their versatile scoring and senior point guard and center make them a dangerous team that's difficult to defend. Their own defense can leave them at times, though. And they run the risk of wearing their scorers down as the season goes on.
Without much in the way of a signature win outside the conference - Indiana's the best they got - Notre Dame will likely also spend much of the season on the bubble. I think, given the offensive talent they have, that they'll end up on the right side of it when all's said and done, but it's not a given. With Grant they'd be a 90% shot to make the tourney; they're still better than 50/50, but without much margin for error either.
************************************************
So I got the chance this weekend to soak in a little hoops, both current and old. The stink of the Tennessee game, I'd say was not fully removed by the Florida State win. Road win, yes, very nice. The ol' RPI loves that. Lord knows we need it, and getting off on the right foot is a must.
FSU, however, was uncharacteristically (for a Leonard Hamilton team) sloppy and unfocused. Mentally the Seminoles were somewhere in Mongolia. They only finished with 16 turnovers, but most came in the first half to let UVA grab a big lead. UVA also laid another suck-egg at the free throw line. Pretty soon teams are going to incorporate hack-an-Ak into their strategy.
UVA should've blown FSU out of the water, mainly by hitting more free throws, but then, they also shouldn't have been blown out by Tennessee, either. Should've lost, yes, but shooting 11-for-18 on threes is not repeatable by most opponents. The pack-line is going to give up that many attempts naturally; if Missouri State had seen a shot or two fall, we might be lamenting that game too. It's just that the defense, designed to take its chances with opposing three-point shooters, sometimes gets burned.
Despite the 82 points given up in Knoxville, seeing a more consistent offensive effort remains the focus of this team. Other than offensive rebounding (weird for a TB team) they really don't do anything particularly well on offense. Too many turnovers, cruddy free-throw shooting, and too low of a three-point percentage too.
Final note: ESPN has got some evil production crew people. You just know the reason we got like seven slo-mo replays of Evan Nolte's finger dislocation and a long, hopeful look at the pop-it-back-in procedure was because poor Doris Burke made it clear she didn't want to see it. Smart lady, that Doris Burke, but she walked us all right into that one.
Monday, July 8, 2013
the school: Notre Dame
It pains me to say it, because Lord knows the Domers don't need larger heads than they've already got, but Notre Dame is not only a brilliant addition to the ACC, it's essentially a necessary one. Everyone else has been looking to add to their conference a big, high-profile team, and of all the teams that actually moved conferences, Notre Dame has the highest of profiles. The ND logo looks decidedly odd among all the other ACC ones, even the other two new schools, but it's a marriage of some necessity. And the Irish bring a ton of instant, and very tangible, cachet.
Overall profile
Enrollment (undergrad):
1. Florida State: 31,800
2. Maryland: 26,800
3. NC State: 26,200
4. Virginia Tech: 23,900
5. North Carolina: 18,600
6. Pittsburgh: 18,400
7. Clemson: 16,600
8. Virginia: 15,800
9. Syracuse: 14,800
10. Georgia Tech: 14,500
11. Miami: 10,300
12. Boston College: 9,100
13. Notre Dame: 8,400
14. Duke: 6,500
15. Wake Forest: 4,800
Academic rank (USN&WR):
1. Duke (#8)
2. Notre Dame (#17)
3. Virginia (#24)
4. Wake Forest (#27)
5. North Carolina (#30)
6. Boston College (#31)
7. Georgia Tech (#36)
8. Miami (#44)
9(t). Syracuse (#58)
9(t). Maryland (#58)
9(t). Pittsburgh (#58)
12. Clemson (#68)
13. Virginia Tech (#72)
14. Florida State (#97)
15. NC State (#106)
Director's Cup average:**
1. North Carolina: 6.2
2. Florida State: 9
3. Virginia: 10.6
4. Duke: 12
5. Notre Dame: 18.4
6. Maryland: 28.8
7. Virginia Tech: 40
8. Clemson: 50.8
9. Syracuse: 54
10. Miami: 56.4
11. Georgia Tech: 59.6
12. NC State: 60.2
13. Boston College: 67.6
14. Wake Forest: 70.8
15. Pittsburgh: 113.6
**average finish in the last five years, including 2013.
When you think about it, having five teams that averaged in the Director's Cup top 20 in the past five years is pretty good. It leaves less than four each to be scattered among the other four major conferences. I think a world-class university should excel in everything it does, athletics included, and there are really only three schools in the ACC that can make a strong claim that they do. (And one of them is muddling their way through a no-show class scandal with tutors who wrote papers for players and getting caught agents crawling around the place being buddies with "Coach Black Santa." So.)
Anyway, Notre Dame. Their academic prowess is well-known and their Director's Cup standings have been moving in the right direction as well, from 27th in 2010 to 9th in 2013. People talk about how the ACC will add Louisville at just the right time, but basketball and football fame can be fleeting if they don't work to maintain their grasp and there's another whole season to go. ND has their whole program moving upwards just as they hit the ACC.
Sports we play that they don't
Men:
Wrestling
Women:
Field hockey
Sports they play that we don't
Men:
Fencing
Ice hockey
Women:
Fencing
With 23 teams, UVA offers more varsity sports than most other schools. I haven't counted, but I would guess maybe only 15 or so D-I schools offer that many or more. We're talking Michigan, Ohio State, UCLA, Texas, that kind of school. (Actually, I just looked it up and UCLA only has 22 if you don't count "sand volleyball.") Anyway, with 24 sports, ND is one of those schools; they have 12 for men and 12 for women. The big one is hockey (and it's a little surprising there's no women's team.) There's also fencing, which I think will make them the only ACC team to have that sport. We've got wrestling and field hockey; I'm a little surprised that a Midwestern school has no wrestling and that a rich kids' school has no field hockey.
Common sports
(The number after each year shows how many Director's Cup points were earned by that sport in that year.)
Baseball
2008-2009: 0 (UVA 78)
2009-2010: 0 (UVA 64)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 83)
2011-2012: 0 (UVA 25)
2012-2013: 0 (UVA 64)
Totals: 0 (UVA 314)
Brian O'Connor will get a chance to go against his old team. Irish baseball isn't much of a power, though; they're probably a notch or two below Pittsburgh and less likely than the Panthers to initially threaten to make the ACC tournament. It might be interesting to see how they can recruit against other Midwestern teams that are stuck in Midwestern conferences, though. UVA shouldn't find them to be a major threat to the upper echelons of the conference.
Men's basketball
2008-2009: 0 (UVA 0)
2009-2010: 25 (UVA 0)
2010-2011: 50 (UVA 0)
2011-2012: 25 (UVA 25)
2012-2013: 25 (UVA 0)
Totals: 125 (UVA 25)
Notre Dame hoops wasn't really a thing in the 90s, but made a reappearance on the national scene under Mike Brey, and it might've gotten even farther if it hadn't been overshadowed by an expanding and improving Big East. Instead they became sort of an "oh yeah, also them too" kind of team when talking about how deep the Big East was, after teams like Syracuse and Louisville got mentioned. Now they'll be sort of the same deal in the ACC: strong, almost always tourney-worthy, a step or two shy of being a national contender.
Women's basketball
2008-2009: 25 (UVA 50)
2009-2010: 64 (UVA 25)
2010-2011: 90 (UVA 0)
2011-2012: 90 (UVA 0)
2012-2013: 83 (UVA 0)
Totals: 352 (UVA 75)
There's a lot less parity in women's hoops than in men's, and ND has taken advantage of that, lately emerging as challengers to Tennessee and UConn and making three Final Fours in a row. In fact, they recently became the first team to beat both of those schools in the same tournament. They should be the ACC's top program instantly.
Men's cross country
2008-2009: 36 (UVA 48)
2009-2010: 0 (UVA 45)
2010-2011: 24 (UVA 40)
2011-2012: 26 (UVA 0)
2012-2013: 46 (UVA 61.5)
Totals: 132 (UVA 194.5)
Women's cross country
2008-2009: 16 (UVA 22)
2009-2010: 28 (UVA 45)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 32)
2011-2012: 30 (UVA 34)
2012-2013: 60 (UVA 0)
Totals: 134 (UVA 131)
For what it's worth, Notre Dame is a perennial winner of the National Catholic Championship, which invites about 35 schools every year. They have a solid CC program that should at least be a contender in the ACC, with outside chances at a championship.
Football
2008-2009: 45 (UVA 0)
2009-2010: 0 (UVA 0)
2010-2011: 45 (UVA 0)
2011-2012: 25 (UVA 25)
2012-2013: 85 (UVA 0)
Totals: 200 (UVA 25)
Since Notre Dame isn't a football member of the ACC per se, it seems potentially not worth the discussion here. But then, we'll play them more often than we ever play NC State or Clemson, so why not? Anyway, I didn't have to explain Syracuse lacrosse to you and I don't have to explain Notre Dame football either. This whole ACC deal might not have ever gotten done if ND hadn't agreed to always play a partial ACC schedule; it's pretty important for the ACC to have five televised ND games every two years.
Men's golf
2008-2009: 0 (UVA 46.5)
2009-2010: 0 (UVA 65)
2010-2011: 21 (UVA 27.5)
2011-2012: 40 (UVA 51.5)
2012-2013: 0 (UVA 39)
Totals: 61 (UVA 229.5)
Women's golf
2008-2009: 27 (UVA 70.5)
2009-2010: 24 (UVA 63)
2010-2011: 52 (UVA 80)
2011-2012: 28 (UVA 80)
2012-2013: 29 (UVA 42)
Totals: 160 (UVA 335.5)
I'm not terribly well qualified to talk about golf; you can draw conclusions from the numbers above just as well as I can.
Men's lacrosse
2008-2009: 25 (UVA 83)
2009-2010: 90 (UVA 83)
2010-2011: 60 (UVA 100)
2011-2012: 83 (UVA 60)
2012-2013: 60 (UVA 0)
Totals: 315 (UVA 326)
It seems like Notre Dame is still a newcomer to lacrosse's elite scene, and maybe they kind of are. But it's been four years since they failed to get past the first round, and they've been a semi-regular participant in the Final Four the last couple years. Adding ND to the ACC will help ensure the conference stays at the very top of the lacrosse world, especially with a new Maryland-based threat from the Big Ten.
Women's lacrosse
2008-2009: 60 (UVA 25)
2009-2010: 25 (UVA 60)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 25)
2011-2012: 25 (UVA 25)
2012-2013: 25 (UVA 70)
Totals: 135 (UVA 205)
ND's women's team isn't quite as accomplished as Syracuse's, and they have a Midwestern recruiting rival in Northwestern that might make it hard for them to move into the elite. But they're still a solid team that should add to the ACC's degree of difficulty.
Men's soccer
2008-2009: 50 (UVA 50)
2009-2010: 50 (UVA 100)
2010-2011: 50 (UVA 25)
2011-2012: 0 (UVA 25)
2012-2013: 64 (UVA 50)
Totals: 114 (UVA 250)
Unlike with the other two schools, the ACC is getting a pretty well-accomplished soccer program in the Irish. They're coming off a Big East championship season - during which they also beat Duke and Clemson, mid-level ACC teams - and they tend to advance a round or two in the NCAAs each year. They should be at least a respectable addition to the conference, if not a strong contender at times.
Women's soccer
2008-2009: 90 (UVA 64)
2009-2010: 83 (UVA 64)
2010-2011: 100 (UVA 64)
2011-2012: 25 (UVA 73)
2012-2013: 73 (UVA 64)
Totals: 371 (UVA 329)
The Irish have one of the elite women's soccer programs in the country; only North Carolina has been to more championship games, and ND took home the title in 2010. Putting them in the same conference as UNC in this sport is, well, it's kinda like putting Duke and UNC in the same basketball conference, only with more geographical separation. Even more so, really; men's hoops is a fairly large oligarchy, whereas there's no question in women's soccer that it's UNC, then ND, then the rest of the country.
Softball
2008-2009: 50 (UVA 0)
2009-2010: 50 (UVA 25)
2010-2011: 25 (UVA 0)
2011-2012: 50 (UVA 0)
2012-2013: 25 (UVA 0)
Totals: 200 (UVA 25)
For softball, the ACC is good, not great; Florida State went 18-2 in conference play this year and wasn't rewarded with a regional. The jump for Notre Dame to the ACC isn't a huge one. ND has been making the tournament with semi-ease and then not making it out of the regional for several years now; their performance in the ACC should be much the same. UVA is near the bottom, looking way up, so Notre Dame will be more of a concern for the UNCs of the world that hover near the middle-top and the tournament bubble.
Men's swimming and diving
2008-2009: 0 (UVA 69)
2009-2010: 0 (UVA 67.5)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 70.5)
2011-2012: 46 (UVA 60)
2012-2013: 33 (UVA 47)
Totals: 79 (UVA 314)
Women's swimming and diving
2008-2009: 43 (UVA 64.5)
2009-2010: 30 (UVA 69)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 63)
2011-2012: 51.5 (UVA 57)
2012-2013: 58.5 (UVA 56)
Totals: 183 (UVA 309.5)
As should be evident from the numbers above, ND's women's swim teams have generally been better than the men; the men, however, are on the rise, and broke through two years ago to claim the Big East championship. Neither team has finished lower than second in the past two seasons. UVA still has a better team, as long as we can find a worthy successor to Mark Bernardino, but the Irish present a threat.
Men's tennis
2008-2009: 25 (UVA 73)
2009-2010: 25 (UVA 83)
2010-2011: 50 (UVA 90)
2011-2012: 50 (UVA 90)
2012-2013: 25 (UVA 100)
Totals: 175 (UVA 436)
I mean, UVA hasn't lost a men's tennis contest in the ACC in something like six years. Notre Dame has a decent outfit but UVA is the class of the conference in this sport, and ND won't be changing that.
Women's tennis
2008-2009: 83 (UVA 50)
2009-2010: 83 (UVA 50)
2010-2011: 50 (UVA 64)
2011-2012: 50 (UVA 64)
2012-2013: 50 (UVA 64)
Totals: 316 (UVA 292)
These matches, on the other hand, should be pretty tight. Our women's team is good, and very competitive in the conference, but doesn't rise to the level of the men's team; ND made a couple Final Fours a few years ago and should slot in somewhere near the top of the ACC as well. They knocked off 5th-placed (in the ACC) Georgia Tech twice in the past season, and easily handled NC State in the opening round of the tournament.
Men's track and field (outdoor)
2008-2009: 24.5 (UVA 24.5)
2009-2010: 5 (UVA 49.5)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 46)
2011-2012: 0 (UVA 15)
2012-2013: (UVA 0)
Totals: 5 (UVA 135)
Women's track and field (outdoor)
2008-2009: 50 (UVA 36.5)
2009-2010: 0 (UVA 0)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 44)
2011-2012: 0 (UVA 0)
2012-2013: (UVA 0)
Totals: 0 (UVA 80.5)
Track is not ND's strong suit, but then, neither is it ours except in fits and starts. UVA is much closer to changing that and fielding strong teams that regularly place athletes in the national meet than Notre Dame is.
Women's volleyball
2008-2009: 0 (UVA 0)
2009-2010: 25 (UVA 0)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 0)
2011-2012: 0 (UVA 0)
2012-2013: 25 (UVA 0)
Totals: 50 (UVA 0)
One of ND's weaker programs nationally, the volleyball team makes occasional appearances at the tournament and doesn't generally advance. That'll still put them at least in the middle-to-top of the ACC, and it'll be a while before UVA can consider competing with them.
Overall profile
Enrollment (undergrad):
1. Florida State: 31,800
2. Maryland: 26,800
3. NC State: 26,200
4. Virginia Tech: 23,900
5. North Carolina: 18,600
6. Pittsburgh: 18,400
7. Clemson: 16,600
8. Virginia: 15,800
9. Syracuse: 14,800
10. Georgia Tech: 14,500
11. Miami: 10,300
12. Boston College: 9,100
13. Notre Dame: 8,400
14. Duke: 6,500
15. Wake Forest: 4,800
Academic rank (USN&WR):
1. Duke (#8)
2. Notre Dame (#17)
3. Virginia (#24)
4. Wake Forest (#27)
5. North Carolina (#30)
6. Boston College (#31)
7. Georgia Tech (#36)
8. Miami (#44)
9(t). Syracuse (#58)
9(t). Maryland (#58)
9(t). Pittsburgh (#58)
12. Clemson (#68)
13. Virginia Tech (#72)
14. Florida State (#97)
15. NC State (#106)
Director's Cup average:**
1. North Carolina: 6.2
2. Florida State: 9
3. Virginia: 10.6
4. Duke: 12
5. Notre Dame: 18.4
6. Maryland: 28.8
7. Virginia Tech: 40
8. Clemson: 50.8
9. Syracuse: 54
10. Miami: 56.4
11. Georgia Tech: 59.6
12. NC State: 60.2
13. Boston College: 67.6
14. Wake Forest: 70.8
15. Pittsburgh: 113.6
**average finish in the last five years, including 2013.
When you think about it, having five teams that averaged in the Director's Cup top 20 in the past five years is pretty good. It leaves less than four each to be scattered among the other four major conferences. I think a world-class university should excel in everything it does, athletics included, and there are really only three schools in the ACC that can make a strong claim that they do. (And one of them is muddling their way through a no-show class scandal with tutors who wrote papers for players and getting caught agents crawling around the place being buddies with "Coach Black Santa." So.)
Anyway, Notre Dame. Their academic prowess is well-known and their Director's Cup standings have been moving in the right direction as well, from 27th in 2010 to 9th in 2013. People talk about how the ACC will add Louisville at just the right time, but basketball and football fame can be fleeting if they don't work to maintain their grasp and there's another whole season to go. ND has their whole program moving upwards just as they hit the ACC.
Sports we play that they don't
Men:
Wrestling
Women:
Field hockey
Sports they play that we don't
Men:
Fencing
Ice hockey
Women:
Fencing
With 23 teams, UVA offers more varsity sports than most other schools. I haven't counted, but I would guess maybe only 15 or so D-I schools offer that many or more. We're talking Michigan, Ohio State, UCLA, Texas, that kind of school. (Actually, I just looked it up and UCLA only has 22 if you don't count "sand volleyball.") Anyway, with 24 sports, ND is one of those schools; they have 12 for men and 12 for women. The big one is hockey (and it's a little surprising there's no women's team.) There's also fencing, which I think will make them the only ACC team to have that sport. We've got wrestling and field hockey; I'm a little surprised that a Midwestern school has no wrestling and that a rich kids' school has no field hockey.
Common sports
(The number after each year shows how many Director's Cup points were earned by that sport in that year.)
Baseball
2008-2009: 0 (UVA 78)
2009-2010: 0 (UVA 64)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 83)
2011-2012: 0 (UVA 25)
2012-2013: 0 (UVA 64)
Totals: 0 (UVA 314)
Brian O'Connor will get a chance to go against his old team. Irish baseball isn't much of a power, though; they're probably a notch or two below Pittsburgh and less likely than the Panthers to initially threaten to make the ACC tournament. It might be interesting to see how they can recruit against other Midwestern teams that are stuck in Midwestern conferences, though. UVA shouldn't find them to be a major threat to the upper echelons of the conference.
Men's basketball
2008-2009: 0 (UVA 0)
2009-2010: 25 (UVA 0)
2010-2011: 50 (UVA 0)
2011-2012: 25 (UVA 25)
2012-2013: 25 (UVA 0)
Totals: 125 (UVA 25)
Notre Dame hoops wasn't really a thing in the 90s, but made a reappearance on the national scene under Mike Brey, and it might've gotten even farther if it hadn't been overshadowed by an expanding and improving Big East. Instead they became sort of an "oh yeah, also them too" kind of team when talking about how deep the Big East was, after teams like Syracuse and Louisville got mentioned. Now they'll be sort of the same deal in the ACC: strong, almost always tourney-worthy, a step or two shy of being a national contender.
Women's basketball
2008-2009: 25 (UVA 50)
2009-2010: 64 (UVA 25)
2010-2011: 90 (UVA 0)
2011-2012: 90 (UVA 0)
2012-2013: 83 (UVA 0)
Totals: 352 (UVA 75)
There's a lot less parity in women's hoops than in men's, and ND has taken advantage of that, lately emerging as challengers to Tennessee and UConn and making three Final Fours in a row. In fact, they recently became the first team to beat both of those schools in the same tournament. They should be the ACC's top program instantly.
Men's cross country
2008-2009: 36 (UVA 48)
2009-2010: 0 (UVA 45)
2010-2011: 24 (UVA 40)
2011-2012: 26 (UVA 0)
2012-2013: 46 (UVA 61.5)
Totals: 132 (UVA 194.5)
Women's cross country
2008-2009: 16 (UVA 22)
2009-2010: 28 (UVA 45)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 32)
2011-2012: 30 (UVA 34)
2012-2013: 60 (UVA 0)
Totals: 134 (UVA 131)
For what it's worth, Notre Dame is a perennial winner of the National Catholic Championship, which invites about 35 schools every year. They have a solid CC program that should at least be a contender in the ACC, with outside chances at a championship.
Football
2008-2009: 45 (UVA 0)
2009-2010: 0 (UVA 0)
2010-2011: 45 (UVA 0)
2011-2012: 25 (UVA 25)
2012-2013: 85 (UVA 0)
Totals: 200 (UVA 25)
Since Notre Dame isn't a football member of the ACC per se, it seems potentially not worth the discussion here. But then, we'll play them more often than we ever play NC State or Clemson, so why not? Anyway, I didn't have to explain Syracuse lacrosse to you and I don't have to explain Notre Dame football either. This whole ACC deal might not have ever gotten done if ND hadn't agreed to always play a partial ACC schedule; it's pretty important for the ACC to have five televised ND games every two years.
Men's golf
2008-2009: 0 (UVA 46.5)
2009-2010: 0 (UVA 65)
2010-2011: 21 (UVA 27.5)
2011-2012: 40 (UVA 51.5)
2012-2013: 0 (UVA 39)
Totals: 61 (UVA 229.5)
Women's golf
2008-2009: 27 (UVA 70.5)
2009-2010: 24 (UVA 63)
2010-2011: 52 (UVA 80)
2011-2012: 28 (UVA 80)
2012-2013: 29 (UVA 42)
Totals: 160 (UVA 335.5)
I'm not terribly well qualified to talk about golf; you can draw conclusions from the numbers above just as well as I can.
Men's lacrosse
2008-2009: 25 (UVA 83)
2009-2010: 90 (UVA 83)
2010-2011: 60 (UVA 100)
2011-2012: 83 (UVA 60)
2012-2013: 60 (UVA 0)
Totals: 315 (UVA 326)
It seems like Notre Dame is still a newcomer to lacrosse's elite scene, and maybe they kind of are. But it's been four years since they failed to get past the first round, and they've been a semi-regular participant in the Final Four the last couple years. Adding ND to the ACC will help ensure the conference stays at the very top of the lacrosse world, especially with a new Maryland-based threat from the Big Ten.
Women's lacrosse
2008-2009: 60 (UVA 25)
2009-2010: 25 (UVA 60)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 25)
2011-2012: 25 (UVA 25)
2012-2013: 25 (UVA 70)
Totals: 135 (UVA 205)
ND's women's team isn't quite as accomplished as Syracuse's, and they have a Midwestern recruiting rival in Northwestern that might make it hard for them to move into the elite. But they're still a solid team that should add to the ACC's degree of difficulty.
Men's soccer
2008-2009: 50 (UVA 50)
2009-2010: 50 (UVA 100)
2010-2011: 50 (UVA 25)
2011-2012: 0 (UVA 25)
2012-2013: 64 (UVA 50)
Totals: 114 (UVA 250)
Unlike with the other two schools, the ACC is getting a pretty well-accomplished soccer program in the Irish. They're coming off a Big East championship season - during which they also beat Duke and Clemson, mid-level ACC teams - and they tend to advance a round or two in the NCAAs each year. They should be at least a respectable addition to the conference, if not a strong contender at times.
Women's soccer
2008-2009: 90 (UVA 64)
2009-2010: 83 (UVA 64)
2010-2011: 100 (UVA 64)
2011-2012: 25 (UVA 73)
2012-2013: 73 (UVA 64)
Totals: 371 (UVA 329)
The Irish have one of the elite women's soccer programs in the country; only North Carolina has been to more championship games, and ND took home the title in 2010. Putting them in the same conference as UNC in this sport is, well, it's kinda like putting Duke and UNC in the same basketball conference, only with more geographical separation. Even more so, really; men's hoops is a fairly large oligarchy, whereas there's no question in women's soccer that it's UNC, then ND, then the rest of the country.
Softball
2008-2009: 50 (UVA 0)
2009-2010: 50 (UVA 25)
2010-2011: 25 (UVA 0)
2011-2012: 50 (UVA 0)
2012-2013: 25 (UVA 0)
Totals: 200 (UVA 25)
For softball, the ACC is good, not great; Florida State went 18-2 in conference play this year and wasn't rewarded with a regional. The jump for Notre Dame to the ACC isn't a huge one. ND has been making the tournament with semi-ease and then not making it out of the regional for several years now; their performance in the ACC should be much the same. UVA is near the bottom, looking way up, so Notre Dame will be more of a concern for the UNCs of the world that hover near the middle-top and the tournament bubble.
Men's swimming and diving
2008-2009: 0 (UVA 69)
2009-2010: 0 (UVA 67.5)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 70.5)
2011-2012: 46 (UVA 60)
2012-2013: 33 (UVA 47)
Totals: 79 (UVA 314)
Women's swimming and diving
2008-2009: 43 (UVA 64.5)
2009-2010: 30 (UVA 69)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 63)
2011-2012: 51.5 (UVA 57)
2012-2013: 58.5 (UVA 56)
Totals: 183 (UVA 309.5)
As should be evident from the numbers above, ND's women's swim teams have generally been better than the men; the men, however, are on the rise, and broke through two years ago to claim the Big East championship. Neither team has finished lower than second in the past two seasons. UVA still has a better team, as long as we can find a worthy successor to Mark Bernardino, but the Irish present a threat.
Men's tennis
2008-2009: 25 (UVA 73)
2009-2010: 25 (UVA 83)
2010-2011: 50 (UVA 90)
2011-2012: 50 (UVA 90)
2012-2013: 25 (UVA 100)
Totals: 175 (UVA 436)
I mean, UVA hasn't lost a men's tennis contest in the ACC in something like six years. Notre Dame has a decent outfit but UVA is the class of the conference in this sport, and ND won't be changing that.
Women's tennis
2008-2009: 83 (UVA 50)
2009-2010: 83 (UVA 50)
2010-2011: 50 (UVA 64)
2011-2012: 50 (UVA 64)
2012-2013: 50 (UVA 64)
Totals: 316 (UVA 292)
These matches, on the other hand, should be pretty tight. Our women's team is good, and very competitive in the conference, but doesn't rise to the level of the men's team; ND made a couple Final Fours a few years ago and should slot in somewhere near the top of the ACC as well. They knocked off 5th-placed (in the ACC) Georgia Tech twice in the past season, and easily handled NC State in the opening round of the tournament.
Men's track and field (outdoor)
2008-2009: 24.5 (UVA 24.5)
2009-2010: 5 (UVA 49.5)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 46)
2011-2012: 0 (UVA 15)
2012-2013: (UVA 0)
Totals: 5 (UVA 135)
Women's track and field (outdoor)
2008-2009: 50 (UVA 36.5)
2009-2010: 0 (UVA 0)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 44)
2011-2012: 0 (UVA 0)
2012-2013: (UVA 0)
Totals: 0 (UVA 80.5)
Track is not ND's strong suit, but then, neither is it ours except in fits and starts. UVA is much closer to changing that and fielding strong teams that regularly place athletes in the national meet than Notre Dame is.
Women's volleyball
2008-2009: 0 (UVA 0)
2009-2010: 25 (UVA 0)
2010-2011: 0 (UVA 0)
2011-2012: 0 (UVA 0)
2012-2013: 25 (UVA 0)
Totals: 50 (UVA 0)
One of ND's weaker programs nationally, the volleyball team makes occasional appearances at the tournament and doesn't generally advance. That'll still put them at least in the middle-to-top of the ACC, and it'll be a while before UVA can consider competing with them.
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