We haven’t done one of these yet this season, but with the NIT Final Four coming up on Tuesday, and Penn State’s semifinal game with Notre Dame looming large, I decided to reach out to Notre Dame blogger Matt LaFortune, of the oddly specifically named Black and Green Irish Men’s Basketball Report (seriously, Matt, a few words too many), and exchange some questions about our teams.

My answers to his queries are over at his site, and I’d advise you to check it out. Here are the responses he gave me, my questions in italics.

Who should we be on the lookout for on Tuesday?

Luke Harangody gets the most credit for good reason.  He has carried the team all year, using 34% of our possessions on the floor (6th most in the country) and putting up better stats than those that won him Big East Player of the Year a season ago.  He deserved that award again, but understandably was passed over due to Notre Dame’s inability to win games against top competition.  Kyle McAlarney is our next threat to score.  He’s the best pure shooter I have ever seen, but lacks enough athleticism to create open looks and is a liability on defense.  Same story with 6’7″ wing Ryan Ayers, a pure shooter with a frustrating tendency to disappear on offense if he’s covered on the perimeter.  Point guard Tory Jackson is very quick, but can be too wild at times.  He likes to drive the lane but is too small to finish consistently.  Power forward Zach Hillesland rounds out the starting lineup.  He has been a real frustrating player to watch, an erratic point forward who doesn’t mix it up in the paint enough.  Sophomore Ty Nash will provide decent minutes off the bench and grab a solid amount of rebounds in Hillesland’s place.

What does Notre Dame need to do to beat Penn State?

Harangody can’t win the game by himself.  McAlarney can be shut down if your coaches do their homework and put a quick defender on him all night.  However, if Ryan Ayers can get hot and be the much needed third scorer, Notre Dame’s offense will run efficiently.  The Irish tend to play very well on the offensive end, but have struggled a lot on defense for long stretches.  Nash, a limited scorer but great on the glass, will be needed to keep the Nittany Lions from scoring on second and third chances.  Harangody will get his 20 and 10, at least, but he’ll need some help from the rest of the team to score and keep the rebounding margin close.

I’m a big Ken Pomeroy fan and study his rankings far more than I follow the RPI. His rankings have Penn State 67th, far lower than our previous three NIT opponents (43rd, 36th, and 49th). There are a few reasons for this. The Nittany Lions don’t get a high percentage of blocks or steals on defense and give up a pretty high field goal percentage inside the arc. Andrew Jones, the most likely candidate to cover Harangody averages less than six points and rebounds per game. He’ll struggle against a guy who has cut his teeth against the likes of DeJuan Blair and Hasheem Thabeet all year. Penn State has a few good wins and only one bad loss in Iowa, but overall I don’t see the strength of schedule. Florida was no better than the three teams we beat to make the semis. You matched up well with a good Michigan State team, but so did we against a better Louisville squad (sent them to OT in the first meeting, laid a whooping on them in South Bend). Purdue figured y’all out in the second meeting. As for Illinois, I watched some of that 38-33 game and just saw bad basketball. Sure, there are some great defenses in the Big Ten, but Penn State ain’t one of them.

No is the easy answer. For some reason (the departure of our best assistant coach, the graduation of a good all-around player in Rob Kurz, or otherwise) this year’s team decided to take it easy on defense. It’s worse that previous Mike Brey-coached teams. Our zone is very ineffective and we have gotten lost a few times in man-to-man. Frankly, it’s embarrassing that such a veteran squad could be so inept in half of the game. Part of the reason is our tendency to recruit unathletic players who can shoot. Only one guy (Tory Jackson) has the quickness to stick with a majority of players at his position. We have gotten a bit better in the postseason, but defense will still be an issue Tuesday.

It was a tough schedule and we just cracked under the pressure. Seven games, including three against #1 seeds, all but two away from home. Had the schedule been a little more evenly spread out, we could have won one or two of those. As it is, we let an overtime loss to Louisville get us down and didn’t recover for a month.

No, you’re right. Luke Harangody fits that description, as well. Our point guard, Tory Jackson, is the only one who can take a defender off the dribble. The rest of the rotation (expect Hillesland and Nash) and very good shooters. Mac and Ayers are three-point threats, but not much more. Harangody has a very good midrange game that will help him in the pros and can hit the open three (a recent development). Off the bench, Luke Zeller is a seven foot shooting guard and Jonathan Peoples has been known to hit a couple clutch three pointers.

You started out the year ranked #9, and were in the top Ten for a couple months.  How big of a let-down is this NIT run?

The Irish have been a tremendous disappointment, falling from a top ten squad after the Maui Invitational to off the bubble on Selection Sunday.  They have bounced back well and are in a good position to win their first postseason tournament, but the damage has been done.  We expected a Sweet Sixteen run, at least, but this senior-laden squad has been very frustrating to watch.  The seven game gauntlet in the middle of the Big East schedule turned into a nightmare and killed any chance of a happy ending this season.  Coach Mike Brey, a two-time Big East Coach of the Year, is back on the hot seat.  He’ll survive this season but another run into the NIT next year could send him packing.