Mike Brey

That’s what he told Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune following Notre Dame’s 73-57 loss at Louisville Saturday.

“Yes,” Brey told the paper. “Nobody’s told me what it’s going to entail but I’m fully expecting to play in the ACC.”

The Catholic 7 have officially split from the Big East, and will take the conference name and the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden with them.

Had the Catholic 7 remained in the Big East for next season, Notre Dame would have been prepared to stay until 2014, when they were to leave for the ACC.

Instead, it appears that the Irish will head out a year earlier.

That would mean that Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame would all jump to the ACC from the Big East in 2013-14.

“That’s what we’ve talked about, that’s what we’ve talked about with our scheduling stuff now that we know we have direction,” Brey said. “We felt if it happened fast, the Catholic school split, we would have some options (with the ACC). It did happen fast. That’s what I’m assuming, and I think we’re all expecting that in the department.”

Notre Dame is the No. 6 seed in the Big East Tournament and opens play Wednesday night against the Rutgers/DePaul winner. The winner advances to Thursday’s quarterfinal against No. 3 Marquette.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

St. John’s led by as many as seven in the first half and took a four-point lead into halftime, but made just five field goals as part of a 14-point second half effort as Notre Dame shot 68.0 percent (17-of-25) after the break and rolled to a 66-40 victory against the Red Storm.

“You don’t have to look beyond the second half shooting percentages to realize what the difference was in this game,” said St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin. “We were able to keep Notre Dame in check during the first half, but they pounded us in the paint during the second half with high percentage shots.”

JaKarr Sampson finished with a team-high 12 points, while Sir’Dominic Pointer had seven points, 12 boards, four assists and four blocks to lead St. John’s (16-13, 8-9).  Phil Greene IV added 10 points and Chris Obekpahad two points, five rebounds and four blocks. The Red Storm shot 41.4 percent (12-of-29) in the first half, but just 18.5 percent (5-of-27) after the break.  St. John’s went 0-of-9 from distance in the second half and finished just 1-of-13 (7.7 percent) from long range in the game.

Pointer, who was ejected along with Notre Dame’s Cameron Biedscheid for fighting with 1:46 remaining in the game, will both miss the next games on the schedule, per NCAA rule. Amir Garrett, who finished with five points and five rebounds, was ejected for leaving the bench and his status for the next game will be reviewed by the Big East Conference.

“Dom apologized for losing his composure and will serve his penalty by missing the final game against Marquette. We have to demonstrate more maturity than we did tonight. We want to play with intensity, but also use intelligence in order to play a winning brand of basketball,” said Lavin.

St. John’s also issued this statement on Wednesday: ““The University expects its student-athletes, coaches and athletics personnel to conduct themselves appropriately in representing St. John’s both on and off the court. We regret the incident at Notre Dame and will not tolerate this unsportsmanlike behavior. Coach Lavin, his staff and team have continued a tradition of integrity associated with our men’s basketball program and will deal with this isolated incident accordingly.”

Jerian Grant scored 21 points to lead Notre Dame (23-7, 11-6), while Jack Cooley had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.  Eric Atkins added 15 to give the Fighting Irish three players in double-figures.  Notre Dame finished 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) from long range and posted a +2 margin (36-34) on the boards.

Notre Dame quickly pulled even in the second half and leveled the score at 28-28 with 15:44 left in regulation.  The teams were tied again at 30-30 before an Atkins 3 and a Cooley layup-and-one capped an 11-2 run that put the Irish up 41-32 at the 10:30 mark.  After a Sampson layup pulled the Red Storm to within seven, Notre Dame went on a 10-0 run over the next 4:09 and led 51-34 with just 5:49 remaining in regulation.  A Greene jumper with 4:24 to play marked the last field goal of the game for St. John’s and a 3 by Grant gave the Irish its largest lead of the game at 66-38.

The teams were tied at 10-10 with 9:15 to go in the first half before St. John’s went on a 6-0 run to lead 16-10 with 7:51 left.  The Irish retook the lead, 19-18, on a Grant 3, but a Pointer trey capped an 8-0 run as the Red Storm jumped out to a 26-19 advantage with just 1:00 left in the half.  Atkins swished a 3-pointer seconds before the halftime buzzer and St. John’s took a 26-22 lead into the locker room.

The regular season wraps up with a visit from Marquette at The Garden on Saturday at 2 p.m. on ESPN.

Release: St. John’s Athletics

According to a bombshell of a story

The incredibly detailed story says that Ronaiah Tuiasosopoa, a friend of the Notre Dame linebacker and Heisman Trophy finalist, concocted the dead girl — Lennay Kekua — and quoted a friend of Tuiasosopoa as saying he was “80 percent sure” that  Te’o was “in on it” in order to get publicity.

The story concluded:

There was no Lennay Kekua. Lennay Kekua did not meet Manti Te’o after the Stanford game in 2009. Lennay Kekua did not attend Stanford. Lennay Kekua never visited Manti Te’o in Hawaii. Lennay Kekua was not in a car accident. Lennay Kekua did not talk to Manti Te’o every night on the telephone. She was not diagnosed with cancer, did not spend time in the hospital, did not engage in a lengthy battle with leukemia. She never had a bone marrow transplant. She was not released from the hospital on Sept. 10, nor did Brian Te’o congratulate her for this over the telephone. She did not insist that Manti Te’o play in the Michigan State or Michigan games, and did not request he send white flowers to her funeral.

Teo on Wednesday issued this statement, basically saying he only knew the women through the Internet and phone converations.

“This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her.

“To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone’s sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.

“It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother’s death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life.

“I am enormously grateful for the support of my family, friends and Notre Dame fans throughout this year. To think that I shared with them my happiness about my relationship and details that I thought to be true about her just makes me sick. I hope that people can understand how trying and confusing this whole experience has been.

“In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious. If anything good comes of this, I hope it is that others will be far more guarded when they engage with people online than I was.

“Fortunately, I have many wonderful things in my life, and I’m looking forward to putting this painful experience behind me as I focus on preparing for the NFL Draft.”

During a press conference Wednesday, Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick referenced the movie “Catfish’” and said that the school became aware of the situation Dec. 26 when they were informed by Te’o and his parents that there was a “hoax” because Te’o had received a phonecall in early December from the woman he believed was his dead girlfriend.

Swarbrick said the school hired independent investigators to look into the case and was under the impression that the Te’os were going to release their findings next week, but the Deadspin story broke first.

“There was not an intention or belief this was a story that wouldn’t get told,” he said.

He added: ”We had hoped the first person to tell (the story) would be Manti.”

Swarbrick said Te’o's relationship with the girl “was exclusively an online relationship,” albeit a complicated one.

“The more trouble she was in, car accident, diagnosis of leukemia, the more engaged he would become,” he said.

He said Te’o never met the girl but tried to.

“Several meetings were set up and Lennay never showed,” Swarbrick said.

He said Te’o believed the girl was real.

“Every single thing about this, until that day in first week of December, was real to Manti,” he said.

Even the funeral appeared to be real, Swarbrick said.

“There was a place to send flowers,” he said. “There was no detail of the hoax left undone.”

This story — and subsequent statement — raises all kinds of questions: As Notre Dame beat writer Brian Hamilton points out, who did Te’o meet on the field and exchange numbers with at Stanford in 2009? How much did he know about this purported “hoax” and how could he not know that his “girlfriend” wasn’t a real person? How much were the parents in on it and with whom were they communicating? Did he and/or the friend concoct this story to pump up his Heisman candidacy and the general feelgood stories around him? Teo is currently No. 8 on Mel Kiper’s Big Board. How will this whole mess impact his draft status?

As for the media, oh boy are there a lot of questions. Everybody from Sports Illustrated to ESPN to the local papers bought the dead girlfriend story hook, line and sinker. Yet there are apparently no records that this girl ever lived! Man, that sure doesn’t reflect well on the local or national media, and will likely only raise more questions about the credibility of the media in this country.

One thing’s for sure, for one day at least, the Lance Armstrong story isn’t the craziest thing going on in the sports world.

Photo: LA Times

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

NEW YORK — Luke Zeller

The 6-foot-11 Phoenix Suns rookie attended Notre Dame, which will play Alabama in football for the BCS national championship on Jan. 7.

He is also the older brother of Indiana sophomore Cody Zeller, who plays for the No. 1-ranked basketball team in the nation.

Before the Suns met the Knicks on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, Zeller said he was happy that Alabama beat Georgia, 32-28, in the SEC championship game Saturday night.

That sets up a highly anticipated Alabama-Notre Dame game. Notre Dame has beaten Alabama in five of six meetings since 1973, but the Crimson Tide have already been installed as a 7-to-10 point favorite.

“I think Alabama is one of the best teams in the country, and if you’re going to win it, you want to win it beating the best team in the country,” he said. “So I’m glad Alabama won.”

The Notre Dame basketball team plays at Cincinnati Jan. 7 and head coach Mike Brey joked on ESPN that he might get thrown out of that game at halftime and wind up in an Irish bar in Cincinnati watching the football game.

“I don’t know where he’s going to go in Cincinnati that they’ll want him to be there,” Luke Zeller joked. “He’s got to find some Notre Dame fans.”

On the basketball front, Luke said his younger brother is more concerned with being ranked No. 1 at the end of the season than before or during it — and that coach Tom Crean has worked the team hard early, having practices during fall break.

“I think he’s got just as high, if not, higher expectations of himself,” Luke said of his brother. “He does a great job of letting the game come to him, rather than forcing it.

“But at the same time he wants to win and he wants to compete and when he’s not able to do that he’s the first guy in the gym the next day trying to fix whatever he needs to fix.”

Cody Zeller is averaging 15 points and 7.6 rebounds for the undefeated Hoosiers (8-0), despite battling asthmatic bronchitis for several games earlier this season.

“He got real sick for two or three games,” Luke said. “He had a couple tough games but he turned it around when they played [North] Carolina.”

Zeller is projected by many NBA scouts as the No. 1 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, but Luke said his brother is not even thinking about that now.

“There are so many elements, where teams finish, how you finish, so many things you can’t control that it’s not worth it,” he said.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

His school’s undefeated football team will play in the BCS national championship game that night against either Alabama or Georgia, but his own basketball team is due to play a Big East game in Cincinnati.

When ESPN’s Dick Vitale joked on air with Brey that he should have the basketball game moved to Jan. 6, Brey cracked, “I may get thrown out at halftime and end up in an Irish bar in Cincinnati.”

Brey was in a jubilant mood after his Fighting Irish handled No. 8 Kentucky, 64-50, Thursday night in the Big East/SEC Challenge in South Bend behind Eric Atkins’s 16 points and 13 apiece from Jack Cooley and Jerian Grant.

“I think tonight was a big night,” Atkins said. “We were ready all summer just talking about this game and getting up for this game. It doesn’t surprise me the energy we brought tonight.”

Students rushed the floor after the Irish wrapped up their second win over the Wildcats in the past 13 meetings.

Kentucky guard Julius Mays, who led the Wildcats (4-2) with 16 points, said his young team may have been intimidated somewhat by the boisterous environment at Notre Dame that included Heisman Trophy candidate Manti Te’o firing up the crowd and sweeping the floor during breaks.

“We all better get used to it,” Mays said. “It’s going to be on a night-in, night-out basis. I feel like the crowd is going to be like this everywhere we go.”

(The AP contributed reporting)

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

“It’s kind of unfair to Nerlens to be making the Anthony Davis comparison even though it’s unescapable,” Brey said Tuesday on a conference call. “I guess it’s just going to happen.

“Let Noel just develop as he’s developing.”

Several NBA scouts agree.

“Anthony Davis is going to be in the Hall of Fame, so to compare anybody to Anthony Davis is not going to end up being fair,” one NBA Director of Scouting told SNY.tv.

Davis grew up as a guard before enjoying a huge growth spurt as a junior in high school in Chicago. Thus, his ball-handling skills were advanced and NBA scouts believe he can eventually play small forward in the NBA.

Noel, by contrast, has always been known as a shot-blocking, rebounding big man.

“I think more than anything else, the basketball IQ [between them is different],” a second NBA scout told SNY.tv.

“I think Anthony Davis’s IQ is so high that he’s unique that way. I mean, this is a guy that was a small player,  a two guard, who could handle the ball, do all those things. I mean, Nerlens could never be a ball-handler. He’s not a passer, ball-handler guy.

“Davis has a chance in an NBA game to go out and do some things as a small forward. Tremendous passer, tremendously skilled, can actually shoot the ball facing the basket. Noel can’t do any of that. He can’t handle. He cannot shoot outside the lane. He’s got no chance of making shots out there right now. His basketball IQ is not where Anthony Davis’s is. The skill level is not close.”

Through five games, the 6-foot-10 Noel actually stacks up fairly well on a pure numbers basis in comparison with Davis at Kentucky.

According to the Kentucky Athletics department, it looks like this after five games:

Points: Anthony Davis – 63 / Nerlens Noel – 62

Rebounds: Davis – 37 / Noel – 43

Assists: Davis – 7 / Noel – 15

Steals: Davis – 5 / Noel 13

Blocks: Davis – 22 / Noel 18

For his part, Brey is impressed with some aspects of Noel’s game.

“The one thing I’m very impressed with is how good Noel is with the ball,” Brey said. “He’s a heck of a passer. What I remember from watching him on the AAU circuit, he was so unselfish with his AAU team and he continues to be that. So I think that’s something that may be lost in the shuffle when you think about him as a shot-blocker and a guy who plays around the rim and finishes. I’m just so impressed with his basketball IQ.

“And if you look, John [Calipari] has him catching the ball at the high post a lot and doing a lot of dribble exchanges. That’s how good they feel about him making plays with the ball in his hands.”

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

Mike Brey’s team scored a major coup Thursday when Demetrius Jackson chose the Irish over Illinois.

“I will be attending the University of Notre Dame because I feel like I can develop as a person and as a player,” the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Jackson said on ESPNU.

The Rivals No. 6 point guard in the Class of 2013 out of Mishawaka (Ind.) earlier informed the Illinois coaching staff of his decision, according to the Champaign News-Gazette.

Both coaching staffs watched Jackson Tuesday night.

“It was a little weird, it was crazy but at the same time it was a blessing,” Jackson said. “I was happy to have both coaching staffs there and like always I try not to worry about who’s there watching. I just try to play basketball.”

ESPN.com reported the news on Twitter, scooping itself  since he later announced  on ESPNU.

“Simply put, Notre Dame had to have this young man,” ESPN.com’s Dave Telep said in a video that appeared on ESPN.com that has since been removed. ”There aren’t a lot of point guards from South Bend, Ind., who stay at home and play for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

“This is a big deal. It’s a guy who has chance to be named a McDonalds All-American. His reputations has continued to grow as a leader and a very good basketball player and future point guard for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.”

Kansas was reportedly also involved for a period this year, but the Jayhawks once again struck out on a point guard.

Jackson will succeed current Irish point guard Eric Atkins, who will overlap for one year with Jackson beginning in 2013.

The Irish are expected to leave for the ACC at some point after this season.

“We’ll be playing some great teams, that’s for sure,” he said. “And so hopefully we can come out with some wins and just play as hard as we can every single game.”

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

His basketball team?

Not so much.

While the general perception may be that the Big East took another big hit Wednesday when news surfaced that the Irish were ACC-bound, the reality is that Notre Dame isn’t a huge factor on the basketball side.

“Not that big of a hit,” one Big East coach told SNY.tv.

While Notre Dame has made six NCAA appearances since 2003, only once during that time did they reach a Sweet 16 — and that was in 2003.

Consider that in that same time, Memphis — which joins the Big East in 2013 — made eight tourney appearances, three  Elite Eights and advanced to an NCAA title game (which was later vacated).

Sure, sure, John Calipari led those teams and they came out of Conference USA, but most coaches will tell you Memphis — and Temple, which made an Elite Eight in 2001 — are better programs than Notre Dame.

And probably just as good as Pittsburgh and West Virginia, which also left or are leaving the Big East.

In fact, Brey was a proponent himself of adding Memphis, Temple and even Houston to the Big East.

“I think Temple would be great,” Brey, who did not return a phone message Wednesday, told SNY.tv a year ago. “I want Memphis because we need basketball star power because we’ve lost some. Memphis brings a basketball program, and we’ve just lost two horses. We need to be mindful of our basketball stuff. And I think Houston can give us a little bit. Memphis really gives you that star power.

“I like a Temple and a Memphis and a Houston because of their basketball. I don’t really care about their football.”

Yes, this whole deal would’ve been worse for the Big East if Notre Dame played football in the league, but they don’t, so it’s not that much of a loss.

And when you consider that ACC Commissioner John Swofford has stated that his league will stop with 15 basketball teams and not expand to 16, that is also good news for the Big East.

UConn and/or Rutgers could still be pursued by, say, the Big Ten, but they won’t be heading to the ACC anytime soon.

Sure, losing Syracuse was the biggest blow to Big East hoops. And the Orange will never be replaced, even if it’s still hard to imagine Syracuse fans traveling to Greensboro, N.C., for a basketball tournament in anything close to the same numbers they bring to the Garden each March.

Louisville and Cincinnati are also likely to stay put in the Big East while the Big 12 remains at 10 teams.

And old-school Big East stalwarts like Georgetown, Villanova and St. John’s remain alongside newer powers like Marquette.

So, all in all, while we will miss Mike Brey in the press room, his team won’t be that huge of a loss.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

The younger Hansbrough is one of 21 free agents working out this week for the Nets, but he is the only former Big East Player of the Year in the group.

“It’s almost like my second go-round so I’m actually healthy,” the 6-foot-3 shooting guard told SNY.tv Tuesday, hours before his older brother, Tyler, and the Pacers lost to the Miami Heat in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal.

A year ago, Hansbrough was named Big East Player of the Year after averaging 18.4 points and 3.9 rebounds for Mike Brey’s Fighting Irish.

But he suffered a severely sprained ankle during a workout in Indianapolis and missed the Chicago Pre-Draft Combine. He ended up signing a one-year deal with Bayern Munich in Germany, but was released in December. He later signed with Krka Novo Mesto of Slovenia but left that club in January due to personal reasons.

He described the Germany experience as “culture shock, leaving family and going on your own to a foreign country.”

Hansbrough says he’s healthy now but still must ice down his ankles after workouts.

Hansbrough isn’t the only brother of an NBA player here with the Nets for this three-day camp.

Taylor Griffin, the older brother of Clippers star Blake Griffin, is also in attendance.

Hansbrough shares the same agent, Jeff Schwartz, as Nets free-agent-to-be Deron Williams and says he has upcoming workouts with the San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks over the “next couple weeks.”

“I want to show a little bit of my toughness, a little bit of shooting ability,  a little bit of how I can move,” he said. “Just get out there and play my games and find some teams and see what happens.”

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

NEW YORK

Things did not bode well for the Irish, who had already been picked ninth in the Big East Preseason Poll even before they lost their Preseason All-Big First Team guard.

But here we are three months after the Abromaitis injury and — surprise, surprise — the No. 20 Irish are in position for a double-bye in the upcoming Big East Tournament and a high seed in the NCAAs.

Brey, meantime, must be considered a favorite for his fourth Big East Coach of the Year honors since 2007 and second straight.

Think about that. That would be four Coach of the Year honors in a six-year span…in arguably the toughest conference in the country.

“He is going on his potentially fourth time of being Coach of the Year in the Big East,” acting St. John’s coach Mike Dunlap said of Brey after the Johnnies snapped Notre Dame’s nine-game winning streak, 61-58, at Madison Square Garden. “He’s the prime candidate for that along with coach [Jim] Boeheim so that just speaks for itself.”

Despite the loss, the Irish are 20-9, 12-4 in the league, good for third place at the moment behind Syracuse and Marquette.

They are the only team in the nation to beat Syracuse this year and during their nine-game streak the Irish also beat likely NCAA Tournament teams Marquette, Seton Hall, UConn and West Virginia (twice).

How have they done it?

Without Abromaitis, others stepped up and channeled their energies toward the team concept that Notre Dame under Brey has become known for.

Sophomore guard Jerian Grant entered the game averaging 13.1 points, sophomore guard Eric Atkins 13 points and junior forward Jack Cooley 12.2 points and 9.2 rebounds.

Guys like Scott Martin (9.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg) and Alex Dragicevich (7.1) have also stepped up.

Cooley has earned one Big East Player of the Week Award and both Grant and Pat Connaughton have garnered Rookie of the Week honors.

“Man, when that [Abromaitis injury] went down it affected Scott for a good six weeks,” Brey said.

“But it was a great atmosphere to coach in. There was no attention. We were done. Wait till next year. We were really poor. And we have good kids who hung in there and wanted to get better.”

Said Cooley: ”Our program has played with adversity such as that that before,” Cooley said. “The year when Luke [Harangody] went down [2009-10], we lost Scott that same year, too. So we fought through all that adversity, we just know. Coach just  knows how to coach us when we’re a man down and we know how to play like that.”

With 131 Big East wins entering this game, Brey ranks behind only Boeheim (399), Jim Calhoun (309), John Thompson (231) and Lou Carnesecca (139) on the all-time conference wins list.

All four of those men are in the Naismith Hall of Fame

Who’s behind Brey on the list?

Some pretty good coaches named Rollie Massimino (123), Jamie Dixon (113), Jay Wright (111) and Rick Pitino (103).

Brey has produced three Big East Players of the Year during his tenure – Troy Murphy (2001), Harangody (’08) and Ben Hansbrough (’11).

And every time one of those players leave, the expectation is that the Irish will somehow fall off.

But even with Hansbrough now playing professionally in Europe and Abromaitis sidelined, the Irish are right back in the mix for a Big East tournament title.

Think anyone wants to play them beginning March 8 at Madison Square Garden?

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook