Notre Dame ran into a team today that it couldn't solve. That happens. If they were to play again, the outcome might be very different with a chance to respond better to the press.
That said, this team has shown the last three years the Sweet 16 isn't the ceiling. Next year Notre Dame brings back Colson (most likely), Farrell, Ryan, Pflueger, and Gibbs. Add in some of the bench players this year that should be ready for playing time and Notre Dame should be a Sweet 16 team minimum next season.
The administration can clearly do much more for the basketball program, but Brey has built a pretty good program as next year should be better than what was predicted to be a "down" year.