Back to Brooklyn for Notre Dame in 2016-17

Brooklyn's Barclays Center will be twice as nice next season for the Notre Dame men’s basketball team.

The Irish return to the site of one of its more heart-challenging victories in the 2016 NCAA Tournament with two visits to the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues in the borough during the 2016-17 season.

On Wednesday, the field for the 2016 Legends Classic was finalized.

Notre Dame will be part of a Final Four field that includes Colorado, Northwestern and Texas. Each of the four teams will play two games at its home arenas before advancing to Brooklyn for two games against to-be-determined opponents Nov. 21-22.

Notre Dame is 63-24-1 (the tie was 20-20 in 1935) against Northwestern and 2-1 against Texas. Notre Dame and Colorado have never played.

There are deep Irish ties on both the Colorado and Northwestern rosters. Former Irish associate head coach Sean Kearney recently finished his second season as director of player development for the Buffaloes. Kearney coached at Notre Dame with Mike Brey for 10 seasons. Former Irish power forward Ryan Humphrey, a first team All-Big East and first-round NBA draft pick, has spent the last two seasons as director of player development for Wildcats coach Chris Collins.

The Irish will return to Barclays for the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, which shifts to Brooklyn for the next two seasons after being held in Washington this season.

Notre Dame is 3-1 all-time at Barclays Center.

The Legends Classic will be the second in-season tournament at Barclays Center for the Irish. In 2012, Notre Dame participated in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic where it lost in overtime to Saint Joseph’s (Pa.) before beating Brigham Young.

Notre Dame also played at Barclays in the first-and second-round of the NCAA Tournament this season at Barclays. It beat Michigan before Rex Pflueger’s tip with 1.5 seconds remaining beat Stephen F. Austin and sent Notre Dame to the Sweet 16 for a second-consecutive season.

Legends Classic opponents and tip times will be announced later this summer.

Colorado finished 22-12, Northwestern 20-12 and Texas 20-13. Notre Dame finished 24-12 this season after an Easter Sunday loss to North Carolina in the East Regional championship at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.