newjerseynewsroom.com

BY MIKE VORKUNOV

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Meet Mike Brey, Notre Dame basketball coach cum author.

"My book is called "Life on the Bubble,"" he said. "It's going to be out at the Big East Tournament."

Brey is joking, of course, but if he were to write that book he would know what he was talking about. For the last year, since Notre Dame started its debilitating slide mid last season, his team has been on the cusp of making the NCAA Tournament. Or just missing it.

As Brey put it, the Irish has been living life on the bubble, their March plans more tenuous than co-eds trying to figure out whether to spend Spring Break in Cancun or Daytona Beach.

It's an awkward and unnerving place to be. You can't be sure if come the end of Selection Sunday you will be looking at your bracket or filling one out.

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Along with the Irish, Connecticut, Louisville, Marquette, Seton Hall, Cincinnati, and South Florida all have a shot at extending their season. They occupy the six through 12 spots in the conference standings.

The fact that seven teams from the same conference are in such a precarious position creates an interesting final month of the regular season, to say the least. Usually conference teams show league solidarity. It's doubtful that applies now.

In the latest mock bracket released by Joe Lunardi six Big East teams were projected in. The first four out were all compatriots - Marquette, Cincinnati, Notre Dame and South Florida. Connecticut headed the next four out. Louisville squeaked in as No. 12 seed. And after much needed victory over the Irish last night, Seton Hall still has hopes.

None of them has an RPI lower than 66 or a strength of schedule rank lower than 61. That makes for a muddled situation when trying to decipher one team from another.

"It's the same as it is every year and the same as it's going to be every year, as long as we have 16 teams in the Big East," said Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin. "What our league does is it takes tournament teams and puts them on the bubble. You have 11 teams that are good enough but the reality is we're not all going to make it. It becomes a matter of killing each other off and seeing who survives."

The teams still have to play each other 11 times this season, including six times the last week.

Having faced the same unnerving situation last season, Brey tried to prepare for what's ahead. Back in the middle of January, when the Irish were still 3-3 in-conference, he went down the list of what the Irish have to do and could happen. He even went over a worst-case scenario - a 9-9 league record. Now, almost a month later, they sit at 6-6.

That should show talking doesn't do much, every team is going to have to earn it on the court.

But a month is a long time, and projecting that all seven teams will finish out the season on the bubble may just be more unlikely than correctly predicting which one of the uncertain seven will make the tournament.

"We're just fighting to hold on. It's a long time until Selection Sunday. In the Big East a month is like dog years," said Marquette coach Buzz Williams. "Honestly I couldn't even tell you what's going on with the other teams in the league. That's all kind of fairy-tale talk as best as we can, we want to live in reality."

Reality means that from this point forward every game is intensified, every play more likely to be put under the microscope.

"We can't have any letdowns like before," said Seton Hall point guard Eugene Harvey. "You just gotta play every game like it's a championship. We can't have any letdowns. We can't look at DePaul like ‘Oh, it's DePaul." We can't come out lackadaisical, be nonchalant. We gotta go in go focused, locked down, like we're playing West Virginia or somebody. Mentally there, everybody there, together."

Harvey admits that there is definitely more pressure now. The players know what's at stake. The senior has never gone to the NCAA Tournament, nor has he come close.

Still, he won't let the moment consume him.

Life on the bubble is stressful and unsettling. But in the Big East, it's also redeeming. With so many good teams, that means there are more chances to make up for mistakes.

But then again...

"The good thing about this league is that it's really hard and you get some opportunities," said Brey. "The bad thing about this league is that it's really hard. It's kind of a give and take."

Still, one thing is for sure. It's better living life on the bubble than off of it.

"Definitely," said Seton Hall guard Jeremy Hazell, with a wide grin

For more Seton Hall, Rutgers and Big East news, stories and updates follow Mike Vorkunov on Twitter at @Mike_Vorkunov.