17 Notre Dame

Unlike his predecessor, Matt Doherty, who had ridden into South Bend a year earlier wearing designer attire and talking a blue streak, Mike Brey settled gingerly into the coach's chair at Notre Dame this summer. During his first meeting with the players, Brey wore a T-shirt and shorts, and sat while he spoke. Instead of immediately hitting the hustings in search of the next great recruit, he stayed at school and hung out with the guys already in the program. Even now, whenever Brey wants to speak privately with a player, he tries to do it informally, away from his office. "We've all had an immediate connection with him. You can tell he's very humble," says David Graves, a 6' 6" junior swingman. "If he gets on us, it's for a reason. A lot of times in the past, that wasn't the case."

There was good reason for Brey to want to keep the holdovers happy. With four starters, including national player of the year candidate Troy Murphy, returning from a squad that advanced to the final of the NIT, and with 6' 8" junior Ryan Humphrey (a transfer from Oklahoma) joining the mix, the Irish are older, wiser and more talented than a year ago.

It helps a coach, too, when his best player is his hardest worker. Murphy, the reigning Big East player of the year, was among the nation's top 10 scorers (22.7 points a game) and re-bounders (10.3) last season, yet this fall he attacked his workouts so intensely that Brey ordered him to remain idle for five straight days. Says Brey, "We need to keep him fresh." Humphrey, meanwhile, polished his skills considerably while sitting out last season, and he adds some much-needed inside strength to a lineup already potent with outside firepower.

Brey emphasized defensive footwork during the preseason, but he recognizes that a balanced offense could be the Irish's best strategy. To that end, he asked Murphy if he'd be willing to sacrifice his own stats to help Notre Dame secure its first NCAA bid in 11 years. Murphy readily agreed. "I'm tired of being here in March and watching everybody else play," he says. "It's time for us to make our own noise."

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