Bye Bye Big East

The Notre Dame Basketball programs played their last games as members of the Big East conference last week. Social Foundations of Coaching student Tom VanSlochem comments.

On Friday night, the Fighting Irish fell to the Louisville Cardinals in the Big East Championship Semifinals. After the loss Mike Brey told the media, “I’m thrilled that we played in the semis in such a magical night here. It’s a little bit of unfinished business, but we’ll get over it quickly and get ready for next week.” Notre Dame started off the tournament with a great win over Rutgers and an upset of No. 12 Marquette in the quarterfinals. However, the Irish couldn’t get into a rhythm against Louisville – committing 16 turnovers and shooting 36.5 percent overall. While this was the third straight year Notre Dame has lost to Louisville in the Big East semifinals, it was their fourth straight semifinal appearance. The loss was also Notre Dame’s final game as a member of the Big East, with the team moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference next season.

"I can't say enough about the Big East. I don't think it's really hit me yet," Mike Brey said, following the game. "The Big East has kind of made me. I've always said I've been as proud of being a Big East guy as I am a Notre Dame guy. We'll miss that." Brey was not the only head coach who said a few words about the demise of the Big East. Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), Rick Pitino (Louisville), and John Thompson III (Georgetown) also shared the sentiment that the end of the Big East was bittersweet. “It’s sad for me because I was there at the start [1979] when they put the league together,” said Boeheim. Thompson, longtime friend and rival of Boeheim, said, “Change is here. But the Big East is something that I know, that we know, and it’s going to be missed.”

The 2013 Big East Championship Tournament marks the end of the Big East as we know it. Next season, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse will join the ACC and the Catholic Seven – Georgetown, DePaul, Marquette, Villanova, Seton Hall, Providence, and St. John’s – will form a new conference under the Big East name. The remaining members of the current Big East are still trying to work out the details for the 2013-2014 season. Nevertheless, Irish fans should look forward to the upcoming season in the ACC with its high level of competition and exciting matchups.

Getting to Know Muffet

Social Foundations of Coaching student Jeremy Riche provides insight of one of college basketball's greatest motivators. 

Being a practice player for the women’s basketball team here at Notre Dame, I am able to see firsthand the effective coaching style of one of the best women’s college basketball coaches of all time. National Champions in 2001, National Runner-Ups in 2011 and 2012, 100% graduation rate since 2007, and induction into the Hall of Fame in 2011 are just some of the many achievements that Coach McGraw has been able to accomplish in her twenty-six years at this university. As seen by the 100% graduation rate, she holds her players to high standards off the court just as much as she does on the court. Effective coaching is more about the X’s and O’s, it is about developing your players into well-rounded individuals who, as it says on a statue fixed between the football stadium and the JACC, "leave the field a better player and leave Notre Dame a better person."

Basketball is always a team game and never has that fact been so clear than when during their practice. Leadership starts at the top with the head coach, then flows through the assistant coaches, then through the upperclassmen, and finally through the underclassmen—even the youngest or least experienced person has a leadership role in some form on the team. One of the interesting things that I have noticed during practice occasionally is the opportunity Coach McGraw gives the players to coach each other. For example, when a player is asking her what should the play look like or what type of movement should there be on the weak side of the defense, Coach McGraw will coach that player but allow her, in turn, to explain it to her teammates. She empowers her players with leadership and responsibility, which helps with the feeling of team ownership for each player.

A challenging, yet exciting aspect of college coaching as opposed to professional coaching is the fact that each year schools graduate to their veterans, their leaders. So, the process of developing relationships and maximizing each players talent is a continuing process that Coach McGraw has mastered, as evident by the continual success of her teams on and off the court. With each new basketball season comes a new team, but for the past twenty-six years here at Notre Dame, each of those new teams has had the privilege of being coached by one of the most effective and successful coaches in all of women’s college basketball—Coach McGraw.