Mike Brey announces he lost his mother hours before coaching Notre Dame to Sweet 16

Coaching an NCAA Tournament game is emotionally taxing enough as is, but now imagine doing so on the day your mother passed away. That’s exactly what Mike Brey did yesterday, although maybe with a little help because, as he puts it, “It was really a special night. I think she was definitely with us down the stretch.”

Brey billed his team’s performance as a tribute to his mother, who was 84, an Olympic swimmer and, in his words, “an unbelievable woman.”