Notre Dame Coach Mike Brey's press conference notes

I sat in on the conference call with Notre Dame coach Mike Brey this afternoon and here are some comments he had about IU.

Brey talked about how his team has battled injuries a lot this season, trying to continue a series with IU and what he has seen from the Hoosiers so far.

Follow the jump for Brey's comments.

Mike Brey's Comments

On what Cody Zeller gives IU:

"He gives them a low post that they can throw it into. I think before this year they relied almost solely on ball screens. I think they have a low post threat now who can score it, (and) can past from there with his feel for the game. So I think that's really helping with their very impressive offensive numbers."

On starting the IU/Notre Dame series back up:

"I think it's something Tom Crean and I have talked about. Certainly, I know Tom well for a long time and we've talked about it on the road during the summer. This (Crossroads) Classic certainly jumps start it and I think it's something to really analyze about playing again. What happened was, the Big Ten/ACC Challenge kind of knocked out the date we had traditionally. It was always that December week that Notre Dame and Indiana played. I've always been open (to the series). I think it's a great game, I think it's a great game in the state, so I think we continue to talk about it in a home-and-home format or maybe the Crossroads Classic continues on rotating back and forth with these four teams. Those are all things we need to discuss and evaluate after growing through two years of this."

On if Notre Dame would rather have a home-and-home with IU or a regular neutral site game:

"I don't know if I can answer that till I go through (the Crossroads Classic) this weekend. I think both of them have merit. One of the things I've been very proud of is when Indiana was on our home schedule every other year back in the 90s, when the winters were pretty cold up here with college basketball...when we moved away from Indiana coming here my assistant AD (athletic director) was all worried we wouldn't sell any tickets because the IU people bought season tickets so they could see Indiana play. That's how bleak it was at one time. My second or third year I started saying to myself, 'my God if we can't stand on our own feet up here we're really in trouble.' We've learned to stand on our own feet for the most part, but it's a great matchup. Home-and-home has its merits. We've played down there. This (weekend) is interesting to me. It's kind of like a Final Four atmosphere. Just a great day of basketball, maybe this is something we keep going. I think Tom and I, and Brad (Stevens) and Matt (Painter), and our AD's really have to discuss this after this year and after next year, and see what we want to do."

On the excitement level he has seen about this weekend:

"You know how great Indy does Final Fours. It's my favorite town to go watch a Final Four and this will have a little bit of that flavor with the four in-state teams. The other thing is, it's like a weeklong lead up cause of exam week. It's like a football week. We've got a week of hype, a week of buildup for this thing. I think it's going to be a great day. It's supposed to be a full house. I know one of the things I've really been excited about it is our fan base has really rallied. We haven't always drawn well in Indy historically. When we started talking about this and reaching out to our people, (Notre Dame AD) Jack Swarbrick did a great job. Certainly that's his neck of the woods. I'm really excited about the representation that we're going to have in the stands Saturday."

On the DeMatha High School connection with Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant and IU guard Victor Oladipo:

"Well Victor and Jerian, two guys that will play against each other (Saturday) were teammates. Kids that come out of that program have played in really big games, in front of big crowds with high expectations, so I think they're more ready to deliver because of the experiences they've had. When you play up and down I-95 in the summer basketball circuit you get great competition as well. I think they are very proud kids. They're very proud to wear DeMatha and they know the history and tradition, and want to live it up to it. You're certainly seeing that in Victor. I'm so impressed with the year he's having."

On the health of senior Scott Martin (former Purdue player). Martin suffered a concussion in last Thursday's game against Maine and didn't play on Saturday against Dartmouth:

"Scott is back. He has practiced the last two days. He's been cleared so he'll be ready to go on Saturday. That's been encouraging to have him back."

On how he gets Scott Martin jump-started on Saturday. Martin scored 13 points at Indiana during his freshman season with Purdue:

"That's a great question. I think for him, one of the thing's I've told him is he's such a good defender and to throw himself in on the backboard, to keep doing that. We need him to do that. He doesn't necessarily need to get three-point shots early in the game. He's such a good mid-range guy, 15-18 feet. Those are the things I've told him about screening and shaping up at 18 or 15 instead of behind the arc. Now, we don't want him to not shoot a three because I think his percentages are going to be better than that (27 percent from three). But, you don't have to live out there. Post him some, but when he's driving, drive it from a little closer. Get him around the post, get him in the short corner, instead of outside the arc. He's probably been outside the arc too much. That's my fault. We've got to get him back inside the arc to make decisions."

On IU's upset of No. 1 Kentucky:

"Well I saw a little bit of the beginning and only saw the replays. Certainly, they had a great home atmosphere that energized them. Indiana is a great example of a team that got confident with their Butler and N.C. State wins. That set the table for them. A group that was young and beat up as young guys, to kind of feel good about themselves and believe. Certainly, when you're in that atmosphere that place was that day, you really do believe. I thought they really defended well, but they played fearlessly because their crowd made them believe. I think again, we're facing a team that is extremely confident right now given what has happened the last two weeks."

On IU's team in general:

"They score the thing, their numbers offensively are so impressive. Can we slow that down a little bit? Our transition defense is key cause they get out and run. We've got to take care of the ball. Overall we are pretty good with that, but they turn people over. They get a lot of buckets off turnovers. We've got to change tempo. We can't track meet it and run up and down all day. We've got to change tempos. We've got to change defenses, some man, some zone...They are just so potent offensively with different guys putting big numbers up. They're shooting the three well but they're not shooting it a lot. It's not a steady diet but they're potent from there."

On if the IU players are starting to take on the personality of their head coach:

"They are a great example of a group that was kicked around as young guys and have hung in there, cause they're great kids and Tom has done a great job leading them through the tough stuff. They're benefiting now because they've had each other's back. They're great kids and Tom's had the right tone with them. Certainly, they play very hard. His teams have always been that, at Marquette. But I think it's a great story. It's the cycle of college basketball if you can get into one of those, where young guys get beat up, get kicked around, they hang in there, they don't transfer, they don't complain about not starting, they listen to the coach and all of a sudden something like what's going on for them happens. I looked at the score of the last time we played them in Maui (88-50 Notre Dame won in 2008). It's just opposite now. They had all young guys running around and walk-ons. We had all men who won together. It's really kind of the scenario has flipped. The cycle is different where we are trying to grow up. We're taking some punches and trying to figure it out but we've got really good guys who want to be good, good students, so you feel you got a shot. I would like that shot to be this season so we are going to keep working for that."

On the turnaround of the IU program:

"You've got to remember what I've seen from that program in my 12 years. It's been all over the place. I think our state, it keeps the basketball energy going. Certainly, they are a great traditional power, have done it forever and it's a great basketball place. Assembly Hall really presents their home games well. But it's only a matter of time for a place like that to come back. When you have all the things in place, you're going to be back. You've got the right coach, got great kids, they're not going away forever. They're coming back. Certainly, I think they're showing that they are on their way back."

On the history of the IU/Notre Dame series:

"I think if you look at historically the series with Indiana, it's always been a tough time for Notre Dame to play them. I think we're 21-47. I think we've won two in a row. I don't think we've won two in a row since the 50s if I look back. I know we haven't played them since 04' (until Maui). I think it's always been tough to play them for us. We know it's not a neutral site down there on Saturday. Our fans are ready to go too. Again, Jack Swarbrick and our people did a good job and I think we're going to be well-represented, as we should be cause last time I checked we've been pretty good in this state the last 12 years."

On a 'road-like' atmosphere Saturday:

"Hopefully we can do a better job than we did at Gonzaga. But a great test for us. It's a great day of basketball for the state. I've been in the state for 12 years. I'm the longest tenure guy of anybody down there. If you look at the other programs, they've had three coaches, four coaches. I'm the constant so you're kind of an honorary Hoosier in this state with high school coaches, and people, and media and the basketball world. It's going to be a heck of an afternoon. I think it's a great thing we put it together and it's going to be interesting to talk about what we want to do moving forward after these two years. I'll be interested to hear Tom, Brad and Matt's thoughts on it."

On the challenge of losing leading returning scorer Tim Abromaitis to an ACL injury and having seven different starting lineups already this season:

"For me, I've been kind of excited about it. It's kind of energized me because it's something new everyday. It never gets stale. I wish we would have more of a full complement and all those things, but the hand were dealt we're trying to work with it. Our kids have been great. The guys that have been healthy, when we've had guys down, have stepped forward and jumped in there. Right now when we lose a guy we aren't distracted, we just kind of go to the other end of the floor and start up the drill again because we've been accustomed to it. For me, I understand the hand we're dealt. We're trying to get figure it out. We're trying to get better. I think that we can get better with this group. Can we get better in time? Who knows? There's the big question. And of course Big East play is coming quickly, and certainly this matchup with a confident Indiana team is right on top of us. I like our group. We're growing up. It's not going to be easy but the great thing about college basketball is you can get on a run late sometimes and be right in the mix of things, like we did two years ago."