How did I answer this? Well, I made it more complicated than I probably needed to. First, I journeyed over to CBB Reference, and pulled the win shares for each player-season in the 16 years in question. You may notice I tend to lean towards KenPom numbers in most analyses, but I went with boring old win shares for a couple of reasons. One, while KenPom is great, he doesn't really have a wins metric. Since I want to use a counting stat rather than a rate stat, win shares it is. Second, most other data sources don't go back to the start of the Brey era (2001), so I needed something that would have all the data necessary. Once I had all of this data, I limited my consideration set to only the players that had at least one season with greater than 1 win share. This threshold still allowed for a few relatively insignificant players to make the cut, but it seemed like the best cutoff I could come up with.
You may think all I needed to do from here was to add up the total win shares for each player, and then rank them by that total. While this would be fine for all four-year players (and is indeed what I did for such players), there are many other cases. Whether it be players who transferred in, left early, started before Brey, or haven't finished yet, it felt unfair to dock them in this ranking just for those reasons. Thus, I used the matched pairs method to determine the typical improvement between seasons for each possible interval (Freshman to Sophomore, Sophomore to Junior, and Junior to Senior), and then applied those hypothetical improvements. To do this, I filtered my consideration set for only players that had played in both of the seasons for a given comparison, and then found the median difference between the seasons (I used median instead of mean because the few really great players made this a bit of a skewed distribution). This gave me a baseline improvement of 1.2, 0.5, and 0.3 win shares for the three intervals, in order*. This means that Matt Ryan (with 1.6 win shares this season) gets credit for 2.8, 3.3, and 3.6 win shares in the next three hypothetical seasons. He may indeed be better or worse than that, but given Mike Brey's history with player development, these feel like reasonable guesses.
*I made a few exceptions, which I will detail in the write-ups for each player
With all that out of the way, let's divide the best players of the Brey era into "teams"
Eighth Team All-Brey: Gross
| Rank | Player | Years | Adj FR | Adj SO | Adj JR | Adj SR | Total |
| 36 | Harold Swanagan | 2001-02 | -0.3 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 3.3 | 5.2 |
| 37 | Luke Zeller | 2006-09 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 4.9 |
| 38 | Garrick Sherman | 2013-14 | -0.2 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 4.1 |
| 39 | Rick Cornett | 2003-06 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 3.7 |
| 40 | Tom Knight | 2011-14 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 3.6 |
| 41 | Jonathan Peoples | 2007-10 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 3.3 |
| 42 | Tom Timmermans | 2001-04 | -0.1 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 2.4 |
There's no way around it: This group would make a pretty bad basketball team. Tom Timmermans exemplified the Six Sigma quality of nicknameification, which still didn't make him particularly good. Knight and Sherman had their bright moments, but will mostly be remembered for being the front line of the worst Notre Dame team under Brey. Luke Zeller ended up being the worst Zeller, and never really was anything other than "that guy who occasionally got hot from three." Ricky C is probably the only player who's underrated here, but that's largely because he couldn't get playing time, which is a sign that perhaps he worked best in short bursts.
Seventh Team All-Brey: That got better quickly
| Rank | Player | Years | Adj FR | Adj SO | Adj JR | Adj SR | Total |
| 31 | Russell Carter | 2004-07 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 4.1 | 8.1 |
| 32 | Scott Martin | 2011-13 | 1.2 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 1.9 | 7.8 |
| 33 | Zach Hillesland | 2006-09 | 0.1 | 2.9 | 2.5 | 1.7 | 7.2 |
| 34 | Alex Dragicevich | 2011-12 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 6.3 |
| 35 | Torrian Jones | 2001-04 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 5.6 |
Russell Carter and Scott Martin never quite achieved greatness (it doesn't help that they went a combined 1-4 in the tournament), but they feel a tad underrated down in the thirties. Dragicevich on the other hand seems overrated, likely because the adjusted figures for his non-existant Junior and Senior seasons suggest a reality that would not have come to pass. Hillesland never made the second leap that would have made him a star, but he still carved out a nice career as a do-everything forward.
Sixth Team All-Brey: I can't tell if this team would be good or not
| Rank | Player | Years | Adj FR | Adj SO | Adj JR | Adj SR | Total |
| 26 | Tory Jackson | 2007-10 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 9.8 |
| 27 | Ryan Ayers | 2006-09 | 0.0 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 4.6 | 8.8 |
| 28 | V.J. Beachem | 2014-16 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 3.4 | 3.7 | 8.8 |
| 29 | Tyrone Nash | 2008-11 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 4.0 | 8.3 |
| 30 | Jordan Cornette | 2002-05 | 1.2 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 8.2 |
I like the two instances of back-to-back players feeling like near-clones of one another. Like Ryan Ayers, VJ Beachem made a leap in his Junior year by playing smart basketball and draining a lot of threes. And Nash and Cornette were both solid post players while never quite getting to that next level (Cornette is also a solid follow on Twitter dot com). But of all players on this list, Tory Jackson is probably the most incomparable. His quickness and deft passing made him a natural in the first iteration of "the burn." And his 6% offensive rebounding rate in his Sophomore season was patently ridiculous given that he was a 5'10" point guard.
Fifth Team All-Brey: The old and the new
| Rank | Player | Years | Adj FR | Adj SO | Adj JR | Adj SR | Total |
| 21 | Matt Ryan | 2016 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 11.1 |
| 22 | Zach Auguste | 2013-16 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 4.8 | 4.2 | 11.0 |
| 23 | Martin Ingelsby | 2001 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 10.7 |
| 24 | Dan Miller | 2001 | 1.4 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 3.3 | 10.3 |
| 25 | Steve Vasturia | 2014-16 | 0.9 | 4.0 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 10.0 |
Here we have three members of this year's Elite Eight squad and two guys I don't know at all. This system probably underrates Vasturia a tad, because he's likely to bounce back a bit more last year than he's getting credit for. Auguste doesn't get enough credit for his versatility and his gradual improvement in avoiding foul trouble. Matt Ryan's solid Freshman campaign suggests he'll be a memorable player should he make the leap, as Brey's players are wont to do.
Fourth Team All-Brey: A team of underrated players
| Rank | Player | Years | Adj FR | Adj SO | Adj JR | Adj SR | Total |
| 16 | David Graves | 2001-02 | 1.9 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 13.0 |
| 17 | Torin Francis | 2003-06 | 4.0 | 3.3 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 12.8 |
| 18 | Colin Falls | 2004-07 | 1.4 | 3.6 | 2.9 | 4.4 | 12.3 |
| 19 | Carleton Scott | 2009-11 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 11.6 |
| 20 | Kyle McAlarney | 2006-09 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 11.6 |
There are a variety of reasons why each of these players could easily be higher on this list. McAlarney missed most of a season due to the marijuana suspension. Carleton Scott left a year early for the pro dream that never came (although I did see him dunk in an NBDL game during the half of the ND-Alabama game, so there's that). Colin Falls is probably accurately rated per win shares, but wasn't appreciated in his time, as he was a bit ahead of the three point revolution.* Torin Francis never really got better, but that's fine because he started out really good.
*Falls "lived" in my dorm, so I'd see him around occasionally. One time he was in front of me on the stairs and tripped going around a turn. He said "you didn't see that." But I totally did.
Third Team All-Brey: Maybe my favorite team
| Rank | Player | Years | Adj FR | Adj SO | Adj JR | Adj SR | Total |
| 11 | Chris Quinn | 2003-06 | 1.8 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 13.7 |
| 12 | Jack Cooley | 2010-13 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 5.6 | 6.0 | 13.7 |
| 13 | Tim Abromaitis | 2008-12 | 0.0 | 5.4 | 5.2 | 2.8 | 13.4 |
| 14 | Rob Kurz | 2005-08 | 0.1 | 2.1 | 6.0 | 5.2 | 13.4 |
| 15 | Eric Atkins | 2011-14 | 2.2 | 3.3 | 4.3 | 3.2 | 13.0 |
Sure, the first team is the best, but this collection has enough of my favorite players that I would almost take them instead. Eric Atkins deserved better than having to preside over the 2014 team, but he was a key part of the team's success in previous years. Rob Kurz is the ultimate underrated stud, who actually good enough to make the NBA, albeit briefly. Tim Abromaitis burned brightly for two years, and then lost his final season to a combination of suspension and injury (I gave him half of his adjusted number for his Senior year - it didn't seem fair to give him nothing). Jack Cooley was awesome and had the best two-year stretch of any Brey player, per win shares. If only he'd figured out conditioning earlier in his career. And Chris Quinn did his damndest to make the miserable 2006 season worthwhile, which ultimately proved to be a Sisyphean effort.
Second Team All-Brey: This would be a weird team
| Rank | Player | Years | Adj FR | Adj SO | Adj JR | Adj SR | Total |
| 6 | Bonzie Colson | 2015-16 | 2.3 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 4.9 | 16.0 |
| 7 | Matt Carroll | 2001-03 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 15.8 |
| 8 | Demetrius Jackson | 2014-16 | 1.2 | 5.5 | 4.4 | 4.7 | 15.8 |
| 9 | Ryan Humphrey | 2001-02 | 2.3 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 5.9 | 15.6 |
| 10 | Chris Thomas | 2002-05 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 3.6 | 2.7 | 15.1 |
When I first stepped on campus, Chris Thomas was a stud. His ~9 win shares in his first two seasons is actually the best figure on this list. But then I clearly cursed him, and he finished his career as a merely good player on two non-tournament teams. Demetrius is the most agile, quick, and smooth player in perhaps the entire history of Notre Dame Basketball, and he did a good enough job of jump shooting and passing to be a great all around player. Bonzie Colson may seem overrated, but every player with as many win shares in his first two seasons (save Torin Francis) is in the top ten. Consider me intrigued to see what comes next for him.
First Team All-Brey: The predictable top
| Rank | Player | Years | Adj FR | Adj SO | Adj JR | Adj SR | Total |
| 1 | Luke Harangody | 2007-10 | 2.9 | 5.5 | 5.9 | 5.1 | 19.4 |
| 2 | Troy Murphy | 2001 | 3.6 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 19.1 |
| 3 | Jerian Grant | 2011-15 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 2.6 | 7.7 | 18.7 |
| 4 | Ben Hansbrough | 2010-11 | 2.8 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 6.4 | 17.6 |
| 5 | Pat Connaughton | 2012-15 | 2.5 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 5.4 | 16.1 |
If I asked you to name the best players of the Brey era, you might come up with this exact five. Connaughton went from a solid do-everything grinder to one of the most beautiful all-around players during his four years. Hansbrough won Big East player of the year and led the team to its highest tournament under Brey. Jerian Grant had the best individual season for an Irish player in at least 25 years, and fell one bucket short of a Final Four. Troy Murphy played before my time, but his lengthy pro career indicates just how good he was. And finally, we've got Harangody. You could argue he took a few too many shots, but there's amazing value in being a reasonably efficient workhorse. He was one of the best rebounders in Irish history as well. My fully subjective list would probably put Grant on top (if only for the Louisville game), but seeing Harangody on top makes a lot of sense.
