Notre Dame men's basketball: Devil of an ACC opener

Fresh signage around Purcell Pavilion promoting the Atlantic Coast

Conference quickened the pulse daily this summer in the Notre Dame

men’s basketball office.

Thursday’s events sent it soaring further and allowed Irish coach Mike

Brey to realize something that had long been just a dream — and

sometimes a far off one at that — is now very real.

When Brey held the final copy of his team’s first ACC league schedule,

it hit him. Man, Brey thought, we’re really in this league. It’s

happening. This year. Here we go.

And what a way for the Irish to begin their initial journey through

what arguably will be the most competitive conference in the country.

Come Jan. 4, 2014, Notre Dame opens ACC play against the league’s gold standard, a program Brey knows well.

The opponent in Purcell Pavilion and in front of a national television

audience on CBS (4 p.m.) will be Duke, where Brey spent eight seasons

as an assistant. He helped legendary Blue Devils coach and close

friend Mike Krzyzewski win two national championships.

“I guess it’s very fitting that our first ACC game will be Duke,” Brey

said Thursday evening. “That was predictable. We jump in there right

away.

“It’s exciting to actually see it. It’s really kind of hitting you now.”

But the Duke game is one of a handful at home that coincide with

winter break, which means few students will be on campus.

“I feel for our students,” Brey said. “But some of our very good

atmospheres have been before the students were back. We’re going to

have a pretty darn good atmosphere in there.

“We probably have some new people intrigued by this thing.”

Notre Dame’s non-league schedule is highlighted by games against three Big Ten teams (Iowa, Indiana, Ohio State) in 18 days.

“That will be a brutal stretch for us,” Brey said.

The Irish open at home Nov. 8 against Miami (Ohio).

As was the case in the Big East, Notre Dame plays 18 conference

contests — nine home, nine away. Its four repeat opponents are Boston College, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Virginia. Boston College and Georgia Tech will remain yearly repeat opponents; the other two will change yearly.

January delivers a league run of four of five on the road for the Irish. February brings three consecutive road games in seven days — at

Boston College, at Miami (Fla.) and at Virginia.

Notre Dame is one of three new teams (Pittsburgh, Syracuse) that now

call the ACC home. Current ACC teams Boston College, Miami (Fla.) and

Virginia Tech also are former Big East members.

Another former Big East team — Louisville, which won the 2013 national

championship — joins next summer after one year in the American

Athletic Conference.

Notre Dame’s 18-year affiliation with the Big East officially ended

June 30. The Irish registered double-digit league wins each of the

last four seasons and six of the last seven. Brey finished his Big

East career the fourth-winningest coach in league history (146 career

wins) with three league coach of the year honors.

Returning four starters off last season’s 25-10 team, Notre Dame is

expected to be ranked in the Top 25 and is considered one of the top

five teams in its first season in the ACC.

Notre Dame has two ESPN “Big Monday” league games — both on the road against Syracuse (Feb. 3) and North Carolina (March 3), which is the Irish season finale. Those prime-time matchups (the ACC replaces the Big East in the 7 p.m. slot on ESPN) necessitate only two

Saturday-Monday turnarounds (with another in non-league play) that had been so common in the Big East.

Notre Dame had seven Saturday-Monday swings — four in Big East play — last winter.

“What happened to the days when they used to throw us to the wolves and say, ‘Good luck!” Brey wondered. “I love our exposure level again.

It’s an exciting challenge looking at it and going, ‘God, these are

the places we’re going to play.’“

2013-14 NOTRE DAME MEN’S BASKETBALL

Home game in CAPS

OCTOBER

Mon. 28 INDIANAPOLIS (exhibition), 7.

NOVEMBER

Fri. 1 TUSCULUM (exhibition), 9; Fri. 8 MIAMI (Ohio), TBA; Sun. 10

STETSON, TBA; Sun. 17 INDIANA STATE, TBA; Fri. 22 SANTA CLARA, TBA

(ESPN3); Sun. 24 ARMY, TBA:

DECEMBER

Sun. 1 CORNELL, TBA; Tues. 3 at Iowa 9:15 p.m. (EST) (ESPN2); Sat. 7

DELAWARE, TBA; Mon. 9 BRYANT, 7 (ESPNU); Wed. 11 NORTH DAKOTA STATE,

7; Sat. 14 Indiana (Bankers Life Fieldhouse), 3:15 (ESPNU); Sat. 21

Ohio State (Madison Square Garden) 7:30 (ESPN2); Sun. 29 CANISIUS,

TBA.

JANUARY

Sat. 4 DUKE 4 (CBS); Tues. 7 NORTH CAROLINA STATE, 9 (ESPN3/ACC

Network); Sat. 11 at Georgia Tech, noon (ESPN3/ACC Network); Wed. 15

at Maryland, 7 (ESPN2);

Sun. 19 VIRGINIA TECH, 6 (ESPNU); Tues. 21 at Florida State, 8

(ESPN3/ACC Network); Sat. 25 at Wake Forest, 3 (ESPN3/ACC Network);

Tues. 28 VIRGINIA, (ESPNU).

FEBRUARY

Sat. 1 BOSTON COLLEGE, noon (ESPN3/ACC Network); Mon., 3 at Syracuse,

7 (ESPN); Sat. 8 NORTH CAROLINA, noon (ESPN3/ACC Network); Tues. 11

CLEMSON, 7 (ESPN3/RAYCOM); Sun. 16 at Boston College, 6 (ESPNU); Wed.

19 at Miami (Fla.), 9 (ESPN3/RAYCOM); Sat. 22 at Virginia, 2

(ESPN/ESPN2); Wed. 26 GEORGIA TECH, 7 (ESPN2).

MARCH

Sat. 1 PITTSBURGH, 2 (ESPN/ESPN2); Mon. 3 at North Carolina, 7 (ESPN);

Wed. 12 — Sun. 16 ACC Tournament (Greensboro, N.C.), TBA.