This recruiting class looks to be the best Brey has had. That is good. But let’s not get out over our skis with the current ranking. It will drop as the 5 stars start to make choices.
I do not accept that Brey’s Historical inability to recruit is because everyone else cheats. Certainly Pitino has cheated and we now have proof of what we all knew: there are others. But there are plenty of great basketball players who were good ND-quality students whom Brey could not land, primarily, in my opinion, because he did zero with the few highly ranked recruits he did land. If you are a dad or a mom with a high school hoops star whom you aspire to have a shot at the pros, would you send him to Brey? I think not.
I applaud Brey’s and ND’s commitment to true student-athletes and not cheating. But before I swallow the “we’re lucky to have Brey” garbage I would like to see him actually win when it counts. For God’s sake, he has been there eighteen (18) years with ONE league championship. No Sweet 16s — Digger had one and had consistently better recruiting classes before he fell in love with his own persona (think Narcissus), no NCAA finals, and lots of one-and-dones.
He is better, no question, than he used to be. 18 years of OJT will do that for a person. Is he as good as he can be? I hope not. I hope he continues to get better. Is he better than anyone ND could get? Almost certainly not. Remember ND could have hired Jay Wright when it hired Brey. Butler had Brad Stevens. Coach K built Duke — no academic slouch — into a power house with no apparent Pitino-type cheating.
I am resigned that Brey is coach-for-life at ND. I envy the reward for nearly a life time of mediocrity. But I applaud the sheer talent for pulling it off. Now, if he were only as talented a BB coach, he would be John Wooden.