The 2008–09 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team represents the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

in the 2008-09 college basketball season, competing in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

. The team is led by ninth-year

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

, Mike Brey, and plays their home games in the Edmund P. Joyce Center in Notre Dame, Indiana.

Preseason

Roster changes and recruiting

Notre Dame lost senior forward and team captain Rob Kurz to graduation. Freshman guard Ty Proffit left Notre Dame and transferred to another school Notre Dame had two players transfer in and they will sit out this season per NCAA rules for transfer students. * Scott Martin, a 6-8 swingman, transferred after his freshman season at Purdue. Playing mainly off the bench, he averaged 8.5 points and 3.8 rebounds. He has three years of eligibility remaining. * Ben Hansbrough, a 6-3 guard, transferred after his sophomore season at

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

, and will have two years of eligibility remaining. The younger brother of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

superstar

Tyler Hansbrough Andrew Tyler Hansbrough (born November 3, 1985) is an American professional basketball player for Cangrejeros de Santurce of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional. He has played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for seven seasons, as well ...

, he comes off a sophomore season in which he averaged 10.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.6 assists as a regular starter. Notre Dame did not sign any recruits from high school for the 2008-09 class.

Preseason outlook

With returning Big East Player of The Year

Luke Harangody Luke Cameron Harangody (born January 2, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player who last played for Divina Seguros Joventut of the Spanish Liga ACB. He completed his college career at the University of Notre Dame in 2010. He i ...

, the Irish were picked to finish fourth in the Big East conference by the Big East coach's poll. Harangody was also a unanimous first-team all-Big East selection and was picked to repeat as player of the year. Senior point guard Kyle McAlarney also made first-team all-Big East selection. Notre Dame is also looking to keep its 37 consecutive home game win streak alive. Notre Dame was selected as the pre-season No. 9 team in the country in the

USAToday ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

/ESPN preseason coaches poll, the program's highest ever preseason ranking in that poll. The Irish also debuted at No. 9 in the AP preseason poll, the fifth time Notre Dame has been ranked in the top 10 of that poll and its first top 10 ranking since the 1980–81 season.

Regular season

Roster

Hansbrough and Martin are not eligible to play due to NCAA transfer rules.

Coaches

*Solomon returns to the staff for his fourth year after a previous stint from 2000 to 2003.

Schedule and Results

, - !colspan=12 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, Big East tournament , - !colspan=12 style=, National Invitational Tournament

Rankings

References

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