Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Although rebounding doesn’t necessarily win basketball games, it definitely leads to second chance points and it is huge on defense as well. For the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, they need to work on rebounding over the offseason.
Jack Cooley was a beast in the rebounding department, averaging 10.1 rebounds per game, but he will no longer be on the team.
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The Fighting Irish averaged 36.2 rebounds per game this past season, which was not the best in college basketball by any means.
After Cooley, the next highest rebounder averaged 5.9 rebounds per game. Unfortunately, this player was Scott Martin (missed a good portion of the season) and he was a senior this year. As you can see, Notre Dame will be losing a lot in the rebounding department, so someone is going to have to step up. It is not like this team was a great rebounding team either, so it makes it that much worse.
Still, Notre Dame made the 2013 NCAA Tournament as a No. 7 seed. Too bad it was bounced out of its first game of the tourney, though. This is a team that usually competes in the Big East on a yearly basis, but it has not made a lot of noise in the dance as of late. Rebounding is not the only issue that Notre Dame needs to work on, but it would definitely help for next season.
Notre Dame had 25 wins on the season, but it will be losing arguably its best overall player. However, the Fighting Irish can take a step in the right direction by getting better on the boards.
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