Notre Dame hoops seeking its defensive mojo entering Christmas tourney

It remains to be seen later today if the Notre Dame High School boy’s basketball squad was the recipient of a Christmas gift in being seeded as the No. 4 team competing in this week’s Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, or if the Bulldogs are finding themselves and turning a slow start around beginning with this event.

The Bulldogs (1-5) will battle No. 13-seed Scott County Central (4-3) at 1:30 p.m. today at the Show Me Center, which is playing very solid basketball at this point in the season, having won three of its last four outings.

“Talent wins games,” first-year Notre Dame coach Jeremy Brinkmeyer said earlier this season, “but culture wins championships. I have been very proud of how we have responded to adversity lately.

“Our kids are showing up and working, and we just hope we can continue to build on that.”

Notre Dame basketball certainly does not lack the proper “culture,” given its recent history. The program enjoyed 13 winning seasons during a 14-year stretch, which reaped an MSHSAA Class 4 District 1 championship (2020) and a third-place finish in the MSHSAA Class 4 state tournament (2015). However, over the past three seasons, the Bulldogs have dropped 39 of their 62 games, and haven’t had a winning season since the 2020-21 season.

This winter, Brinkmeyer’s initial squad has struggled – so far – at both ends of the court, statistically. Which, at the defensive end of the court, is a bit of a surprise given the emphasis that Brinkmeyer has placed on that end of play this season.

“We’re trying to find ways to get stops,” Brinkmeyer said.

In games, he charts how many times his team can get three consecutive defensive stops (known as a kill), as well as six defensive stops (i.e. a skunk). He explained that he also keeps track of one-shot possessions by the Notre Dame opposition.

“We are trying to find simple things,” Brinkmeyer said, “that we can grasp on to show our kids if we’re being successful or not.”

Thus far, Notre Dame is allowing over 66 points per game offensively by its foes, which is by far the highest total in over 15 seasons for the program.

Conversely, the Bulldogs are scoring fewer than 50 points per game, which, again, is the worst statistical output in over 15 seasons.

“We’re trying to be physical and tough,” Brinkmeyer continued on his defensive philosophy, “and bring back what we have been in the past. We want to be a good defensive team that makes it difficult for (opposing) players.”

The Braves have shown versatility in how they achieve success this season.

Scott County Central scored over 72 points in three of its four wins but also knocked off Chaffee in a defensive battle 53-47.

The four victories already achieved by Scott County Central match the program’s entire 2022-23 win total (4-21).

“We are looking to build from that down year,” first-year Brave coach Tim Carlisle told Semoball.com earlier this season. “They all have been working hard this season and although we are not very big, we are looking to get up and down the floor at a fast pace. The only thing we are trying to do is play hard for 32 minutes and see where things take us.”

The Braves have been paced offensively by Namarius Banks-Warren (16.2 points per game) and junior Cortavian Banks (11.6 points per game).

Scott County Central has also made strides defensively. Carlisle’s group is the staunchest team (63.1 points per game allowed) defensively that the program has seen in seven years.