After going to a slower offensive system last season, Ben Hansbrough will be an instrumental piece in Mike Brey's offense next season.

Midway through Notre Dame’s 2009-10 campaign, Mike Brey asked his squad to completely revamp its identity. Once classified as a free-flowing, up-tempo offensive team, Brey asked his players to slow the game down, use the clock and make each possession count.

What resulted was a team that saw its scoring totals drop from tallies in the upper 70s, to numbers in the 50s. The Irish stifled opposing Big East offenseres. Notre Dame installed the burn offense.

Some coaches would never opt to undergo such a drastic upheaval in the middle of the conference schedule.

Yet, Brey did it—winning some games along the way.

After installing the system in the middle of February, Notre Dame lost its initial burn trial run against Louisville in overtime, 91-89. However, the Irish ripped off a six-game winning streak, propelling the squad into the NCAA Tournament. Back-to-back losses to eventual Big East Champions West Virginia in the conference tournament and Old Dominion in the first round of the NCAA Tournament ended the run and Notre Dame’s season.

Now, Notre Dame gears up for its 2010-11 season that will be characterized by the loss of senior captains Luke Harangody and Tory Jackson. While Brey has been touring the nation on the recruiting trail, one of the most frequently asked questions he has received has revolved around his offensive philosophy.

To burn or not to burn?

“That’s the question of the summer,” Brey joked. “When I’m out there, all these people that watch us play, sitting with guys in gyms—I think we have to do both. We have to be able to change gears. There’s no question that we have guys that can get up and down the court. We want to be able to do that and I think we have to start off doing that. But being able to change tempo and change gears I think is something we have to do throughout a game and throughout a season.”

Reflecting back on the success that the transition into the burn offense had on Brey’s squad, the Irish coach will be looking to do more of the same this season. Part of the reason as to why it helped Notre Dame clinch a berth into the NCAA Tournament was because it caught the Irish opponents off guard.

Looking ahead, Brey is looking to achieve more of a balance between both systems.

“Obviously it really helped us,” Brey said. “It came at a good time for us. It was tricky for our opponents. That’s not lost on me. I’ve been here a long time and that was a unique dynamic—all of a sudden, playing differently down the stretch. Throughout a game, can we do that? Can we change a gear, coming out of a media timeout and play a certain way for four minutes? All things I think we can do and I’d like to explore.”

Although Brey has not been able to see his players and coach them through the summer workouts, he has had some feedback from some of his players with regard to the nature of the pick-up games. Even though he cannot be present for the scrimmages, Brey has delivered some offensive instructions to his players from afar.

“Certainly this group believes in it,” he said. “I told them in their pick-up games, ‘Make six passes,’ or ‘Make sure you’re really patient.’ I think we have to have both ready.”

Not only is Brey fielding the questions from coaches, but the Irish coach is also being asked about the offensive system by recruits and younger players too.

“I think that’s gradual,” Brey said. “Because I think our style of play—our scoring, one of the top scoring offenses in the league in an exciting system—has been an attractive thing for a lot of these kids that we have gotten. Our program has been more identified with getting down the floor and scoring the ball than scoring 50, so I think the group we’re recruiting now identifies with that.

“I still think we want to be able to play fast when we can. That other gear is something that became very valuable to us. We never used it as much as we did last year and I think we kind of evolved into something that we could use as something to help us win. And at the end of the day, guys want to win.”

Although Brey had some success implementing the different style of play, there was still a learning curve about when to employ it and when to differ to Notre Dame’s up-tempo system of play.

In the end, Brey simply sees interchanging between both systems as a decision necessary to survive in a very competitive conference.

“At the end of the year, there were transition opportunities that Jackson and [Ben] Hansbrough turned down,” Brey said. “To me, they went too far the other way, they were so disciplined with it. To maneuver an 18-game league schedule, you do what you’ve got to do at certain times to get through it.”

Tim Abromaitis was one of two Notre Dame players arrested Saturday morning for underage drinking. Mike Brey said the incident will be handled internally.

Touching on a number of topics including team health, freshman feedback and recruiting notes, there was one issue that took precedence.

Over the weekend, there were 44 arrests, the majority for underage drinking, at a party on Washington Street. Two of the charges were against basketball players Tim Abromaitis and Eric Atkins. Abromaitis, a senior forward was the second leading scorer on Notre Dame with 16.1 points per game last season. Atkins is set to become a freshman this fall.

Much like the statement Brian Kelly released earlier this week, Brey will handle the situation internally.

“It’s handled downtown, it’s handled by student affairs and then the old coach will handle it,” Brey said. “We’ll address it. Again, I’ve been here 10 years. We’ve had young men put themselves in position to lose. We’ve had that talk and we talked about it as a team. So we’ll deal with it as it runs its course.”

Although not giving too much detail on the nature of the punishment that will be handed down to the two players, the Irish coach did give a hint as to what could be coming for Abromaitis and Atkins.

“I guess the one thing I’ll say is, a lot of sweating will be involved,” Brey said. “That’s the one thing I can say specifically and we’ll handle it from there.”

In the end, Brey does not want the incident to become a distraction to the two players involved or the rest of the team. Because the summer session is nearing its completion, Brey wants to end the period on a positive note.

“We’ve got two weeks left of summer school and the beat goes on with our workouts and everything because this is an important time for us in terms of strength conditioning,” Brey said. “So I want to get the most out of that. We’re here until August 5^th.”

Brey was on the recruiting trail when news of the incident broke Saturday morning. In both cases, each of the players personally called Brey to discuss it with him before hearing it from other sources.

“Well both of those guys called me,” Brey said. “They called me right away and again, I’ve gotten those calls a few times over 10 years. And your tone is, ‘I’m very disappointed,’ and now it’s got to run its process. I was on the road—that’s the other tricky thing—I said, ‘I’ll get with you guys when I get back.’ Again, there are our workouts and I want them to finish the summer stuff. It’s got to run its course and we’ll handle it in our locker room like we do.”

Although he expressed his disappointment, Brey realized that this behavior is a common occurrence among college-aged people. Being a father of two kids in the same age group, Brey is well aware of the nature of young adults.

“You’ve got to remember, I have a 23-year old son,” Brey said. “He’s done a few knuckle-head things in his life too. I’m a parent. I’ve been there, done that. I think I’ve looked at teaching moments for young people. And I’ve had a few. They’re documented with young people. We’ll have that with these two guys. But also, they’re going to sweat a little bit too.”

Moving on to other topics surrounding the program, it is no secret that Notre Dame is going to have to replace the production and leadership of Luke Harangody and Tory Jackson, who have used their eligibility after four solid seasons in the program. Helping to cope with the departures, Purdue transfer Scott Martin, who suffered a torn ACL before last season, is on the road to recovery and is nearing full health.

“I think he’s close to being 100 percent,” Brey said. “I think the biggest thing now, is you talk to guys going through that and it’s mental hurdle of lateral movement, planting. He’s playing. He plays with a brace on. He’s going through everything. Every now and then, he has a little bit of soreness, so we’re trying to pace him and be smart about it and not overdo it.”

While the staff is being precautionary with Martin’s comeback, Brey is also concerned about the guard’s lack of game experience in the past two years after sitting out his transfer season in 2008 and last year’s season-ending injury.

“He needs to put a jersey on,” Brey said. “It’s been two years. The talk I had with him the other day was, ‘You and I both need to be patient with this. Look, I want it more than anybody, because we need it.’ We need what he brings to the table. But he hasn’t played in two years. He wants it. I said, ‘Let’s just methodically get into this thing and work our way into it.’ And there is plenty of time to do it because he’s really hungry.”

With Jackson’s departure, there is a gaping void left at the point guard position. However, Jackson was more than just the point guard. According to Brey, he was a leader on and off the court, controlled the locker room and the director of the flow of the offense. Several times last season, Brey claimed that Jackson was like the coach that was on the floor.

“Ball-handling concerns me,” Brey said. “Tory Jackson took care of a lot of stuff. He played the whole game, handled the ball, he ran the locker room, he handled everybody’s psyche, he helped me run the team. He really handled a lot. First we have to handle the ball. Who is going to handle the ball for us?”

One thing that has Brey optimistic about ball handling, however, is the entire squad’s ability to control and pass the ball.

“We were first in assist-to-turnover two years ago and we were second last year,” he said. “So this nucleus is good with the ball—including the big guys. That’s the way we play, it’s the style we’ve established. But to have that one guy that can initiate the offense, that’s something that we’ll have to develop.”

Although Ben Hansbrough took a great deal of ball-handling responsibilities last season, Brey did not indicate whether the senior would be Notre Dame’s primary point guard. The Irish coach did say, however, that because of his experience at the position, Atkins could win the job as a freshman.

“He can be,” Brey said of Atkins starting. “I think there’s a possibility of that. I think one of the reasons he came to Notre Dame was because the opportunity would present itself. We talked about that, with Tory Jackson walking out the door. There are no guarantees, but you can do the math with Jackson and [Jonathon] Peoples leaving. I think he is a kid that we want to really look at, early in the season and number one, get him stronger.

“But he played the position longer than anybody in our program. That is a position that’s a unique position. I played it, so I can relate to it. You just don’t groom one of those guys. Those guys have to have played that quarterback and translate coaches’ stuff. He’s done that.”

Muffet McGraw joined one of the six members of the class of 2011 in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

McGraw was one of six people and the only coach to be named to the class of 2011 after winning over 600 games and being named the 2001 Consensus National Coach of the Year.

Later this week, Irish football star Tim Brown will be enshrined at the College Football Hall of Fame.

McGraw joins Ruthie Bolton, Vicky Bullet, Val Ackerman, Pearl Moore and Lometa Odom. The class will be officially introduced at the 2010 State Farm Tip-Off Classic in November and then will be enshrined during the 13^th annual Induction Weekend in June 2011 at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn. Dates for both events have not yet been announced.

“Even though it's been a few days since I first heard the news, I'm really still in a state of shock,” McGraw told UND.com. “To be included with such a tremendous group of contributors to the game of women's basketball is an honor and something that will hold a special place in my heart forever. None of this would be remotely possible without the support of all of the outstanding players, assistant coaches, administrators, staff and fans I've had the great fortune to work with during my coaching career, beginning in Philadelphia at Archbishop Carroll High School and my alma mater, Saint Joseph's University, continuing at Lehigh University, and most significantly during the 23 wonderful seasons I've spent here at Notre Dame.”

McGraw becomes the first Irish selection for the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, and becomes the third Big East Conference coach to be distinguished with the honor. She joins Rutgers’ C. Vivian Stringer and Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma as Big East coaches in the Hall.

McGraw is the ninth active head coach to enter the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. In order for consideration, McGraw had to meet the requirements of coaching the women’s game for at least 20 years.

McGraw has been coaching for 28 seasons, 23 at the helm of the Irish program. She has compiled a 613-244 career record, including a 525-203 mark with Notre Dame. McGraw ranks among the top 20 active NCAA Division I coaches in wins. She also became the 10^th-fastest to reach the 600-win plateau on Jan. 19, 2010 over Louisville.

In her coach-of-the-year campaign in 2001, McGraw led Notre Dame to the NCAA National Championship, defeating Purdue in the title game, 68-66.

During her time at Notre Dame, McGraw has had the opportunity to coach a number of great players including Ruth Riley, the 2001 Consensus National Player of the Year.

The Hall of Fame coach has helped lead 21 Notre Dame players to play professionally domestically or overseas, including 10 players who have been drafted or signed as free agents in the WNBA. Four of those players were starters on the 2001 National Championship squad.

In addition, McGraw has helped groom 10 of her former players to become coaches or assistants currently serving at the high school or collegiate level.

Former Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody was selected by the Boston Celtics with the 52nd overall pick in the NBA Draft tonight.

The Celtics are fresh off a trip to the NBA Finals, where they lost in seven games to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Harangody, who measured 6-foot-6 at the NBA Draft Combine, could be used in a similar way to how the Celtics use Glen Davis. Like Harangody, Davis was considered undersized coming out of LSU, but he has become a contributor on one of the league’s elite teams.   

Davis is only one of five Celtics under contract heading into next season along with Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, Rajon Rondo and Rasheed Wallace, although Wallace recently said he plans to retire and Perkins may not be ready to start the season after tearing ligaments in his knee during the Finals.

Ray Allen is an unrestricted free agent while Paul Pierce has the option of opting out and becoming an unrestricted free agent.

Boston selected combo guard Avery Bradley with the 19th overall pick in the first round.

Harangody finished second on Notre Dame’s all-time scoring and rebounding lists. His 2,476 career points were second only to Austin Carr while his 1,222 career rebounds trailed only Tom Hawkins. He was a First Team All-Big East selection in each of his final three years in South Bend and set a school record with 64 double-doubles.