Black and Green Irish Men's Basketball Report

Goodbye

2010-03-21T11:09:00.002-04:00

After four seasons, it is time to call it quits. What started as just a side project for my own satisfaction grew into a pretty respectable site with followers from around the world (seriously, Marco's holiday e-mails from Italy were the best). With time constraints adding up and an extended stay in Uganda planned for next spring, I simply can no longer count on providing the same kind of coverage that I have expected from myself over the past few years.

This really has been a tremendous ride and I would encourage anyone who is considering starting their own blog to jump into in wholeheartedly. At the beginning, this site was just something I started on a whim to kill some free time. 793 posts later, I can sign off with the firm knowledge that I have grown as a basketball fan and leave with no regrets.

For future reference, Rakes of Mallow is probably the most professional ND hoops blog out there. Be sure to check that out if you need a new place to read up on Irish basketball. Matt Mattare's blog is also a pretty good upstart. Of course, if you think you can do it better, the internet is always ready for someone new to enter the conversation.

And finally, thanks to everyone who has read and contributed to the blog over the past few years. This site would be pointless without your interaction. I hope you have enjoyed the ride as much as I have and I'm looking forward to continuing to cheer on the Irish in the future along with you.

Next Year

2010-03-20T16:18:00.002-04:00

We lose the winningest senior class in program history, but a lot of talent returns to propel the program forward to a new decade under Mike Brey. Obviously Luke Harangody's contributions will be missed. Though his style this season left a lot to be desired, no one should underestimate the effect of losing a 20 point, 10 rebound guy. There will be a large leadership gap with Tory Jackson graduating and the program will need a new point guard for the first time in four years. Walk-on Tim Andree always worked his butt off in practice for almost no reward. Non-scholarship players put in all the time and effort and receive no credit. Thanks, Tim. Jonathan Peoples... nevermind.

Backcourt-

Eric Atkins looks to start at the point as a freshman next season. He is a very talented guard from the Baltimore area. Given four-stars by Rivals (more than Tory Jackson as a high school senior), he seems to be as ready as anyone to take over his first year. Ben Hansbrough will be back and time will tell if he will match Atkins' style better than Jackson's. Though I do like to bash Peoples a lot, his experience as a backup guard who can play both positions will be missed. Look for Joey Brooks to get minutes off the bench at the 2 and for Hansbrough to slide over and play point from time to time. Freshman Alex Dragicevich or Jerian Grant may also see very limited action off the bench.

Frontcourt-

Scott Martin is the big question mark next season. He could play any frontcourt position or even shooting guard when the Irish go big. Think of him as a left-handed Abro. I think his role will start off as the sixth man off the bench, but should any of the starters falter he will be ready to fill in. Tim Abromaitis will return to play on the wing. Hopefully he can figure out whatever was dogging him at the end of the year to get back to his early season form. Adding Martin to the rotation may reduce Abro's minutes and keep him from getting dead legs down the stretch. Carleton Scott should get first crack at the 4 after he played so well at the end of the season. If he can develop better ball-handling skills to go with his athleticism and decent stroke, I see him as a potential breakout star. Ty Nash may be the weakest starter amongst the forwards, but his physical play and improving post game will be much needed. Jack Cooley will get time off the bench and could compete for a starting spot. Mike Broghammer and redshirt Tom Knight will most likely ride the pine all year.

Lineup-

PG- Atkins
SG- Hansbrough
SF- Abromaitis
PF- Scott
PF- Nash

Bench- Brooks
Bench- Martin
Bench- Cooley

Season Report Card

2010-03-19T18:30:00.002-04:00

What an up-and-down year it's been. After an 11-2 nonconference record against the one of the easiest schedules in the country, the Irish caught some national headlines with a 70-68 home win against West Virginia. That one really was a shocker. Though it foreshadowed the great stretch run to come, there were a lot of frustrating results on the way. ND went 3-7 over its next ten games and placed itself well off the bubble with a 6-8 conference record. Luke Harangody was lost to a knee injury during this stretch and all seemed to be lost.

Starting with a home win against Pittsburgh, Coach Brey's decision to hit the brakes really saw some good results. Our "Burn" offense led to six straight wins over a few very talented opponents. All of a sudden, the Irish played themselves off of the bubble and into a six-seed in the NCAA Tournament, a result that exceeded my expectations at the beginning of the year. Another frustrating first round exit ended the season on a sour note, however, as the team couldn't buy a late basket against Old Dominion.

Coaching- (C+) The team's struggles led to my calling for Coach Brey's head in the middle of the season. Though I still do not believe that this coaching staff is the right one to take the program to the next level, they impressed by completely changing the offensive philosophy for the most inspiring late season turnaround I've seen in awhile. However, making the Tournament was the expectation this year. Another first round exit doesn't cut it.

Backcourt-

Tory Jackson- (B) Not his best year statistically, but Tory showed off his leadership this season. The true heart and soul of the program, this season revolved around him. He will be greatly missed on the floor and in the locker room.

Ben Hansbrough- (B-) He impressed me this year. A more complete shooting guard than Kyle McAlarney, his style didn't always mesh with Jackson, but he provided an offensive threat from the shooting guard slot. On defense, he was one of our best on-ball defenders, but got lost frequently off-the-ball.

Jonathan Peoples- (D) A decent backup point guard who never should have sniffed a starting role. By the end of the year, his contributions were effectively nil.

Frontcourt-

Tim Abromaitis- (B+) Though he dropped off at the end, Abro had an excellent year. Until a skid over the last four games, he scored in double figures in all but three contests. Very impressive for a guy who redshirted last season and wasn't on the radar freshman year.

Carleton Scott (B) Growing from a guy who couldn't crack the starting lineup into our best rebounding threat with a pretty clutch stroke from three. He could be great next season.

Ty Nash (C+) Respectable season, but nothing flashy. Grew into a serviceable post threat, but was never able to put up big numbers. With Harangody out, it was Scott who carried the team on the glass.

Luke Harangody (C) One of the greatest players to ever put on a Notre Dame jersey, but used this season as an extended NBA tryout. His tendency to throw up bad three-pointers killed our offensive flow before his injury. Gets a decent grade due to his pure statistical greatness.

Old Dominion 51, Notre Dame 50

2010-03-18T14:13:00.003-04:00

Irish let a nine-point lead slip away and fall in the first round with some bad shot selection against a second-half Monarch zone.

ND attempted three-pointers on nine of its last eleven possessions, making just one of them. With no offensive flow to speak of, Coach Brey's team allowed Old Dominion to slowly take control of the contest and end the game on an 11-5 run over the last six minutes (Luke Harangody's buzzer-beating layup not included). For the game, Notre Dame shot 24% from beyond the arc while attempting twice as many threes as ODU. The biggest culprits were Abromaitis (who has struggled for the last couple of weeks) and Jackson.

Defensively, the Irish played well enough to win the game. Really, it was the offensive letdown the cost the team a chance for a Tournament run. Old Dominion's zone cut down on any points inside down the stretch while Ty Nash and Luke Harangody played a very ineffective 40 minutes between the two of them.

Tory Jackson ended his career with 5 points and 5 rebounds. He also pitched in 4 assists and 3 steals. Unfortunately, he couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with his jumper. 2-11 from the field, 1-7 from long range. Falling in love with the three pointer just killed any chance at a late run to close out the game.

Ben Hansbrough did shoot pretty well, making seven of his eleven attempts from the field. He finished with 17 points. Add in 6 rebounds and 3 assists for the senior shooting guard. I expect he will be back next season, but you don't know for sure.

Tim Abromaitis finished off a very good season on an extended cold streak. 0-5 on his three pointers today. He chipped in for 3 rebounds, but has never seemed to get comfortable in the "Burn" offense.

Carleton Scott played a bit of Jekyll and Hyde today. 14 points, 10 assists, made a couple big threes, but was awfully disappointing with the ball in his hands. He turned the ball over 5 times, almost all in the first half. On defense, he finished with a pair of blocks and a steal.

Ty Nash played just 18 minutes with foul trouble. 1 point, 3 rebounds.

Off the bench, Luke Harangody finally got in the scorebook late. He did help out a lot on the offensive glass, but was unable to find any flow inside against the zone. Jack Cooley played six minutes while Nash and Gody were on the bench. Peoples got in the game for 3 minutes and didn't see action after a really dumb attempt to save the ball under the opponent's basket. He should have learned not to do that in middle school.

Just like that, the season has come to an end. For much of the game, the Irish looked pretty strong, but simply could not overcome their offensive woes at the end.

I'll do some season recap stuff over the next couple of days. Thanks for the hard work, seniors. It was good to get back in the Tournament after last season, but ultimately another disappointing result will end the year.

Start the Tourney

2010-03-16T19:16:00.003-04:00

Arkansas-Pine Bluff/Winthrop grudgematch tonight. Winner takes on Duke.

Also, an announcement. After four years, I will be relinquishing control of the blog at the end of the season. It's been a great ride and I've enjoyed every minute of it, but time constraints have made me limit my posting this season. Next year, I will be out of the country for most of the Big East slate. While I would love to continue posting, I simply cannot continue to bring the same caliber of coverage that I hope you have come to expect from Black and Green.

My last post will be the Sunday after the Irish play their last game this season (if ND loses this weekend, I will finish up on March 21st). Until then, I promise to give you my best effort in the remaining posts and hope to continue going for as long as possible!

Regular Season Year in Review (Part II)

2010-03-15T08:50:00.002-04:00

Remember this post from last week? Here are Matt's responses to the same questions:

1. There have been multiple nationally televised Big East conference games where the lower bowl of the student section wasn't even close to full. To be perfectly blunt, it seems that the majority of the student body couldn't care less about the basketball team. You're a current student. Is the indifference that comes through on TV--and the message boards--as bad as it seems?

As much as I'd love to still be a student I'm not. I will now pull out my old student ID, stare at it, and silently sob. But for the record I think the student body should be ashamed of their showing this year.

2. Mike Brey deserves applause for getting Cooley, Scott, and Broghammer to contribute when Harangody went down... but does he deserve equal criticism for not utilizing them more at an earlier point in the season?

He absolutely does. I don't understand why he's so slow to move toward putting in younger players who can make a contribution if even it's limited. It happened with Russell Carter a couple years back, it happened with Nash, and it happened this year with Cooley and Scott. To me there is little to no upside having Jonathan Peoples on the court yet all year he ate up minutes while Scott and (even more so) Cooley collected splinters on the bench. Everyone--especially the media--has short-term memory though and the only thing people will talk about is how Brey brought the team out of the ashes when his superstar went down. Those that watched all season will realize he was responsible for being in the ashes in the first place.

Perhaps the thing that blows my mind the most is the fact that it took a shade under ten years for Brey to adjust to an effective strategy that neutralizes the athleticism of elite Big East teams. He's cried about how we can't possibly match up with the top tier of teams in the conference yet did little or nothing to adjust until three weeks ago. Now he's in the middle of a month-long coaching clinic where we might—HUGE, HUUUUUGE might--be on the verge of taking the leap to the next level. It's beyond baffling. When I try to understand it my nose starts to bleed.

3. Who is your MVP of the regular season?

I'm really torn. Ben Hansbrough blew away the expectations I had for him coming in to this season, but when push comes to shove I have to go with Tory Jackson. He's been a gutsy performer all year who was a big part of keeping the high-octane attack going for the first part of the season and an even larger part in making the adjustment to a slow, grind it out attack a smooth one. He's a sparkplug and when Brey gushes about him it's totally deserved. Tory really helped the team stay afloat when they could have closed up shop after Harangody's injury

4. In your eyes what was the season's biggest disappointment?

Uttering this on ESPN would lead to my public crucifixion, but honestly it's Luke Harangody. I'm of the opinion he got terrible advice when it came to what he needed to do this season to prove he could make it in the NBA. Luke had shown over the course of his first three seasons that he could be an extremely effective scorer on the interior. What he needed to do this year was prove he could man up and be more than a human turnstile on defense while continuing to be a Barkley-esque force on the boards despite being a little on the short side (you can call this the DeJuan Blair Strategy). Instead he went the route of trying to prove he could be a perimeter threat. The result was a softer Luke Harangody that hovered around the three point line Luke Zeller style and launched twice as many threes this year as he did last year.

To say we're a better team without Luke is inaccurate, but I commented a couple weeks ago that if there was a way I could have freshman year Luke instead of senior year Luke down the stretch I'd make that trade in a heartbeat. Harangody was much more raw then, but he went down low and punished people with his physicality. He used to knock teeth out, he was like the big kid who didn't know his own strength and hurt all his little friends. I blame Brey a lot for enabling him to take on this new approach at the expense of the team's success.

Fortunately, since he's returned from his injury it seems like he's snapped back into freshman year mode at least a little bit. He attempted zero threes in his first two games back—the only two games all year he didn't launch one. Perhaps he's finally seen the light. Or maybe Brey flatout demanded he see the light. I don't really care which it was, but I hope he embraces his new role because we'd become a FAR more dangerous team. Until we confirm that though I'll still label him with the unsavory title of biggest disappointment.

5. How did this season play out in terms of your preseason expectations?

Before the season I predicted we'd be living on the bubble which means we're right about in line with what I thought. It's been a roller coaster season but it appears we're peaking at just the right time. If we get the right draw (please for the love of God throw us in a 7-10 game with Purdue as the 2 seed in our pod) we can do some serious damage, which would far surpass my preseason expectations.

6. Let's take a small lead of faith and say the Irish sneak in the Big Dance. What's their ceiling when they arrive?

Well this isn't a leap of faith anymore. Their ceiling is based 100% on the draw they receive. If they land in the 8-9 game and have to match up against Kansas or Kentucky then the buck will stop there (see: ND-Arizona Sweet 16 game from '03). If we're in the 7-10 spot and find a weak 2 seed then we can start to dream big (Elite 8 isn't likely, but not totally unreasonable). It's just a matter of how the deck breaks. Check back on Sunday night and I'll tell you exactly what our ceiling is.

7. Nearly ten years are in the books of the Mike Brey era... do you believe he's the guy who takes Notre Dame to the next level?

As recently as three weeks ago I would've answered with a resounding NO, but I'm granting him one last reprieve. The reinvention of his squad has been a beautiful thing to watch and it's the most striking evidence as to why he's held in such high regard by colleagues. My decision as to whether he's the guy to take us to the next level will not be determined in the NCAA tournament; rather, it will come this offseason when Brey will be faced with the choice of talking his team down or embracing the challenge of being the hunted. I really think next year's squad has a lot of potential and thanks to this late surge of success it won't be under the radar like he hoped it would be. If he spends the entire offseason campaigning to avoid the "TV Schedule" like he did during the '08-'09 season then it'll prove to me he's not the guy. Should he go the other route then maybe there's hope.

8. What will be your lasting memory of the 09-10 season?

Boy has this changed over the last few weeks. It was going to be Harangody's de-evolution at the expense of the team's success, but now it will forever be how the team rallied after Harangody's injury and played itself back from miles off the bubble to potential middle seed in the tournament. No matter what happens in the Big Dance I'll vividly remember the fantastic stretch of basketball we played to end the season.

Irish in the Tournament

2010-03-15T08:10:00.004-04:00

It feels a lot better to be talking about a tough first-round matchup than another year in the NIT, especially considering how this season started.

ESPN's Bracketologist Joe Lunardi pegged the Irish as an 8-seed (as did the majority of people who predict this stuff). Thankfully, the Committee decided to look favorably on the Irish this year and grant them the same seed as three years ago... when ND went 24-7 and 11-5 in the Big East.

That year, a very talented Winthrop team picked up the first round upset. Notre Dame's opening matchup is no easier this season, as Old Dominion will present as close to an equal opponent as one can find on the opening weekend. However, the other 6/11 games are just as tight.

ODU is ranked 33rd by Ken Pomeroy, boasting a quality win over Georgetown and just one bad loss to George Mason on its way to the CAA title. The other 11-seeds, San Diego State (40th), Washington (29th), and and Minnesota (25th), all pose similar challenges to their first-round opponents. Indeed, each game is predicted to be a one-point contest by Pomeroy.

Should the Irish advance to the second round, a date with Baylor is most likely in store. The Bears are ranked 12th nationally, a better matchup than one of the top seeds we would have seen as the winner of an 8/9 game. However, Pitt (30th) and New Mexico (47th!) are 3-seeds just waiting to be upset.

Selection Sunday

2010-03-14T23:10:00.003-04:00

Irish land a 6 seed. Old Dominion is a very talented first round opponent, but it is hard not to see this as a best case scenario for a potential run. We avoid the 8/9 game and could take on a pretty beatable opponent in Baylor in the second round. I like it.

BET Semis Live Blogging

2010-03-12T15:18:00.010-05:00

Pregame: test

7:34- Gtown up 26-21. Two Catholic schools, so it's a bit tough to decide who to cheer for.

8:02- 37-34 Gtown at the half. I've decided to cheer against the Hoyas now. Personal reasons (their admissions department).

8:51- Georgetown for the win. Let's go Irish.

10:09- Down 17-12. Tory is struggling. Abro and Hansbrough also not shooting well. What else is new.

10:25- Down 23-20 at the half. Not too bad, it's a slow pace, which is good.

11:01- Have to shut down Da'Sean Butler. He is killing us right now.

11:26- Down 48-45. Bring it back!

11:45- 53-51 not the end of the world, sorry about the bad blogging. See you Sunday.

BET Semis

2010-03-11T21:35:00.004-05:00

So here's the deal. I will be without internet from tomorrow morning to Sunday night. I did not predict that this would be an issue at all when the trip was planned. I will do my very best to figure out how to do some (limited) blogging via Blackberry. Go Irish, keep this going!

Notre Dame 50, Pittsburgh 45

2010-03-11T21:04:00.002-05:00

Somehow, this team just keeps getting it done. The Irish controlled the pace once again and will play in the Big East semis tomorrow. Hopefully this will help us avoid that dreaded 8/9 game in the NCAAs.

ND overcame a nine minute drought without a field goal and only scored 18 in the second half, but was able to come up with consecutive stops with the game on the line. Tory Jackson led the team with 12 points, going 4-6 from beyond the arc. One of those was an ultra-clutch bucket with 3:30 left that put the Irish up 6 when we couldn't manage a point for two full minutes. His classmate Harangody also scored 12 but was not quite as efficient as we saw last night.

54.5% from the field, 46.2% beyond the arc, a very hot night shooting. The Panthers relied on eight offensive rebounds to keep this one close all night, but only managed to shoot 37% for the game. Another strong defensive effort for the Irish.

Tory only took one attempt inside the arc. He shot lights out on those three-pointers, however, and showed a ton of confidence in his ability to just step up off the dribble and knock a few shots down.

Ben Hansbrough has had some trouble getting his points off of the slower pace the last few games. He has just two made three pointers and has not scored in double-figures since our win against Georgetown. 5 points tonight with 3 assists. He also racked up 4 fouls. However, he and Tory have done a very nice job forcing the team to slow down. On multiple occasions, he was the guy to motion to his teammates to hold the ball. Good leadership.

Tim Abromaitis continued his offensive struggles. He only attempted five shots (one three pointer) and wound up with 7 points. Like Hansbrough, he isn't getting his looks in the "burn" offense, but has stepped it up a bit on D. His two blocks were SportsCenter-worthy and took a pair of easy buckets from the Panthers.

Carleton Scott had foul trouble again tonight, scoring 6 points before fouling out. He made all three of the shots he attempted but just managed to pull down one rebound.

Ty Nash impressed with his tenacity on the blocks. While Harangody forgets to post-up from time to time (more on that later), Nash manages to put his body on someone every time on the floor. In the first half, he racked up a career-high 6 assists by distributing the ball out of the low block. He also managed 8 points and 6 rebounds for a very strong stat line, especially in such a slow contest. The one big negative in his performance was his 2-6 line from the charity stripe. A couple more of those free points could have been vital at the end.

Luke showed off a bit of his frustrating old self again off the bench. He picked up an offensive foul by driving to the post with his head down in double coverage, took a few bad jumpers, and completely forgot to use his body in the post for several long stretches. That final note was most frustrating to watch. Harangody's post-ups led to many of his points last night, but on several possessions tonight he just stood around looking lost. He needs to watch how Nash uses his body every chance he gets on offense. Of course, beyond the negative points Harangody had a very solid game. 12 points on a decent 4-9 shooting. Just a pair of rebounds, but there weren't a ton to be had.

Jonathan Peoples also played off the bench. I only know that because he picked up one foul.

And now we are headed to the Big East semifinals, matching the deepest run ever by a Notre Dame team. The winning streak is six and shows no signs of stopping. "Burn" might be a boring offense to watch, but I hope we never go back to the old run-and-gun style. This has been incredibly effective.

Notre Dame 68, Seton Hall 54

2010-03-10T20:05:00.004-05:00

Fantastic win. The Irish are really rolling right now.

Give Coach Brey some credit for how he has reorganized this team. Bilas and Raftery talked about the slow-down offense all game. It has improved our overall efficiency and, more importantly, forces the guys to work harder on defense. Hopefully this style will continue the rest of the year and into next season with a less star-centric team.

Harangody was great today, looking like his sophomore self all over again. This is how he should have been performing all year: avoiding the jump shot and racking up a ton of points on layups and fastbreak dunks. He was ruthlessly efficient tonight, such a difference from how he has played most of the year.

We struggled a bit with Seton Hall's press, but controlled the pace very well for most of the game. The Pirates wanted to run, but the Irish stuck to the gameplan and didn't panic after falling behind by seven early. Our slowdown offense may have been ugly to watch and seemingly ineffective when we used it to protect big leads earlier in the year, but now it is very hard to beat.

Tory Jackson had the play of the game when he dived to save the ball from going out of bounds and tipped it forward to a streaking Harangody for the basket. Great hustle. For the game, he had 14 points (all in the second half) and 6 assists to just one turnover. On defense, he was very effective in slowing down the Seton Hall fast break. He came away with one very heady steal that led to his own layup on the other end of the floor.

Ben Hansbrough had a tough night, but recorded one very nice offbalance three pointer. He added in 4 assists and 3 boards, but has struggled a lot the past three games. 5.6 points per on 14% shooting since the win over Georgetown.

Tim Abromaitis was not able to take advantage of a less physical defender in Jeremy Hazell and just scored 9 points, but didn't force it out there. He shot 3-5 from the field and played very well in a support role. He was named the Big East Scholar-Athlete of the Year yesterday, a much deserved honor. I didn't realize that he is on track to graduate in three years. Congrats, Tim. He will be back next season while completing the accelerated MBA program.

Carleton Scott was limited with foul trouble, but still had a very good night. I believe Sean McDonough mentioned how surprising it is that the Irish now look for Luke Harangody to fill in when we're missing Scott's production. 8 points, 7 rebounds. He missed a pair of threes, but otherwise had just about as much production as you could want in 19 minutes.

Ty Nash had 7 points and 5 rebounds, but played in the shadow of Harangody and Scott most of the game. His free throw shooting woes came back, just 1-4 from the line.

Off the bench, Harangody was the star. 20 points and 10 boards. He just let the game come to him tonight and didn't try to dominate anything. If that is what we can expect from him the rest of the year, the Irish will be very dangerous at any pace. Jack Cooley played pretty well in a couple of minutes. It was interesting to see mimi-Gody play alongside his doppelganger. Jonathan Peoples turned the ball over twice on a couple of really dumb plays, but did score a pair of baskets.

On to Pittsburgh, the team that started this current winning streak. Keep it up, Irish.

Seton Hall BET Preview

2010-03-10T11:41:00.002-05:00

Seton Hall-
Pomeroy Ranking- 57th
Record- 19-11 (9-9)
Best Win- Pittsburgh (ranked 27th)
Worst Loss- South Florida (ranked 72nd)
Pomeroy Prediction- ND 80-79

Key Players-
#21 Jeremy Hazell- 21.1 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 35.0% 3PA- Dropped 35 on the Irish who came in talking a big game after shutting down Dominique Jones. Production has dropped off somewhat recently as he has not been the team's leading scorer in the past four games.
#32 Jeff Robinson- 11.8 PPG, 5.6 RPG- Production has hovered in the teens since the ND game in February. Has gotten in foul trouble in three of the past four games.
#15 Herb Pope- 11.8 PPG, 11.1 RPG- Has stepped it up lately. Didn't score in double digits for nine straight, but has had two 20+ outbursts in the past three game.

Last Game- Seton Hall 90-87

-This was the game we lost Harangody to an injured knee.
-Irish clawed back from a ten-point halftime deficit to pull the game close in the second half.
-Tory Jackson scored 25, going 9-12 from the field.

Regular Season Year in Review

2010-03-09T10:03:00.005-05:00

This is one of two pretty big posts for the day, so be sure you also check out the Championship Week post below.

Matt from We Never Graduate sent over a batch of questions for a year-end collaborative post. I'll share a link to his responses when he completes them, but here are mine:

1. There have been multiple nationally televised Big East conference games where the lower bowl of the student section wasn't even close to full. To be perfectly blunt, it seems that the majority of the student body couldn't care less about the basketball team. You're a current student. Is the indifference that comes through on TV--and the message boards--as bad as it seems?

The student support has been up and down this year. Obviously ND never has the kind of support seen at universities where basketball is king, but we typically can get a much better turnout than has been the case in several of the games this year. While there has been an uptick recently (the student section was pretty full for the UCONN game), Sunday afternoon contests against South Florida and St. John's barely drew anyone.

I think the way last season ended and this season began has been the number one factor behind our low student attendance. With the football team struggling and Coach Brey's squad ranked in the top-ten, basketball was king on campus for the first couple of months of the 2008-09 season. The College Gameday experience and subsequent support for the Irish against Connecticut that January was one of the highlights of my basketball watching career. At the time, I felt that the program could carry that momentum and the construction of a new arena into a permanent place amongst the college basketball elite.

Unfortunately, that opportunity was wasted. The UCONN game just became loss number three of a seven game slide and even a huge win over Louisville and deep NIT run were not enough to keep the students interested. The football team may have sucked again this year, but the hiring of Brian Kelly has kept students looking forward to next fall instead of focusing on the present.

With last year's letdown still a recent memory and nonconference losses to Northwestern and Loyola Marymount seemingly dooming the season from the start, it's been hard for anyone to get excited about a bubble program. The recent success has helped turned things around in the students' minds a lot, but it has come too late to display a consistent increase in attendance.

I think much of the internet bashing of students has been a bit unfair. It's a consistent topic for the message boards, but I haven't really addressed it too much on the blog. Yes, student support is too low and we need to see a change in the way the student body views the basketball program. However, there are so many factors involved: hangover from yet another frustrating football season, terrible South Bend weather, cupcake nonconference opponents, the sheer number of home games. Without a good team to watch (a Sweet Sixteen contender), the students just aren't going to put in the effort to follow the program like they do for football. That's not an excuse, it's just a fact we have to deal with.

2. Mike Brey deserves applause for getting Cooley, Scott, and Broghammer to contribute when Harangody went down... but does he deserve equal criticism for not utilizing them more at an earlier point in the season?

Absolutely. As always, this help has been better late than never, but there is no reason why we could not have been playing Scott on a more consistent basis all year and giving Cooley/Broghammer at least five minutes per game. Scott has really come into his own recently and developed into the kind of athletic rebounder that the program has needed for years. His offensive development has been surprising, as he seemed to struggle with the ball at the start of the year, but could have come even sooner with a bit of game experience.

We could have used a big man off the bench all season and there is no excuse for why Coach Brey would have been willing to burn redshirts on two of his freshman bigs in meaningless contests without giving them a chance to spell Harangody in short stretches during the Big East season. Gody's injury forced him to open up the rotation a bit and we were able to see that these guys actually do have a bit of talent.

3. Who is your MVP of the regular season?

That's a really tough one. Harangody was the obvious choice, but the team has improved so much without him that it's hard to stick with the All-American. Scott is most-improved. He has been the most valuable guy during this winning streak and has kept a level head while persevering through a playing time crisis to develop into one of our best players. Abromaitis has come off a redshirt year to score in double digits on all but three occasions. His scoring ability and support on the glass has been much-needed all year. He's been utterly reliable in every game this season and should continue to develop into a star.

But I'll go with Tory Jackson. He scores less than ten points per game, frequently takes ill-advised shots in the lane around much taller defenders, and has seen a sharp decrease in his rebound numbers this season. Yet his contributions to the team have been immeasurable. For two-thirds of the year, he was the only guy who seemed to give a damn about playing D. He will continue to be matched up with the best scorers from our opponents in the postseason and I can't wait to see him challenge some of the best players in the country. On top of everything, he is the heart and soul of the program. He is a passionate leader and bleeds blue and gold. Many will remember his 22 points against UCONN that kept the Irish Tournament hopes alive, but I'll never forget the pure excitement that was in his voice for the postgame speech. The Notre Dame senior class of 2010 boasted a former Big East Player of the Year whose individual accomplishments rank amongst the greatest in Notre Dame and Big East basketball history, but he pales in comparison to what Tory has meant to this program. Harangody will go on to have a very successful pro career, but I can think of few better players to start a team around than Tory Jackson.

4. In your eyes what was the season's biggest disappointment?

Just the overall underperformance we saw for much of the year. Obviously, this team had the talent to perform amongst the league's best, but managed to throw away contests to Northwestern, Loyola Marymount, Cincy, Rutgers, and St. John's. I blame the short bench and the handling of Harangody for much of those problems.

Luke used this season as an extended pro tryout. I don't hold that against him too much, but the coaching staff should have had him riding the pine every time he threw up yet another dumb three pointer. He vacated the paint and destroyed the offensive flow by operating as a shooting guard in a center's body. The rest of the players were more than willing to watch him jack up 20+ shots a game and be our sole rebounding threat on the floor. With him out of the lineup, the ball movement has improved and every guy has been able to play to his ability. Call it the Ewing Theory or whatever you want. Luke Harangody's injury was the best thing that could have happened to our Tournament chances this season.

5. How did this season play out in terms of your preseason expectations?

That's such a tough question. I entered this year thinking we would be better than last season's team. Not the top-ten early season ranking for the program a year ago, but certainly good enough to merit NCAA consideration. Tim Abromaitis has been everything I expected and more. His performance has been such a great improvement over the Hillesland/Ayers fiasco that we should have been two or three games better on that basis alone. On paper, the addition of Abro and Hansbrough replacing McAlarney should have made this team a lock for the NCAAs.

Yet they weren't. Until recently, this team would have been lucky to nail down an NIT bid. Its defensive effort was god-awful for 27 games. The once great star of the program turned into a selfish shell of his former self and Mike Brey was another losing streak away from finding a new job.

The recent success hasn't made me change my mind about this season being a disappointment, indeed I think we should have played like this all year, but there is something endearing about the current squad. Without Harangody, they have been transformed into something we haven't seen on campus in years: a gritty underdog that is willing to fight with anyone and can actually play a little defense when it counts. Sure '07 and '08 were surprises, but this one is different. I have never seen a team completely transform its identity over the course of the year like this. They could very well make a run over the next few weeks and reach a level of success that Mike Brey has only seen once. Or they could completely flame out and lose their next two. Regardless, it's hard to be surprised anymore. This season has been nothing like what I expected.

6. Let's take a small lead of faith and say the Irish sneak in the Big Dance. What's their ceiling when they arrive?

Again, I really need to stop predicting this team's behavior. With the right draw and the current momentum, I could really see them making it to the second weekend. However, this luck could play itself out very quickly. Regardless, it will be interesting watch.

7. Nearly ten years are in the books of the Mike Brey era... do you believe he's the guy who takes Notre Dame to the next level?

No, I really don't. I like Mike Brey a lot as a person and still think he is a very good coach, but my patience finally wore out on him this season. Unfortunately, I have no idea who the right guy could be. Is it Fran McCaffery? I like what he's done at Siena, but it is hard to say definitively that he would be an improvement over Brey. Earlier in the year, I supported a coaching change if only to breath new life into the program. Now however, that would be a much harder sell. There simply is not a Brian Kelly-type coach (or better) available for the hoops program. Any new blood would involve a lot of risk. If Brey continues to make the Big Dance at the current rate, he's going to be retained. I don't think that is the right mentality for the program, but I really don't know if there is anyone out there who can bring about the success we should strive for under the current conditions.

8. What will be your lasting memory of the 09-10 season?

That is still to be determined. I'm glad we didn't do this two weeks ago, because it would have been pretty negative. That still might be the case if the team regresses from its current form. However, if the season ended today I would have two major memories of this year.

First of all, the Loyola Marymount loss now seems like a harbinger of the struggles we saw in Big East play. There was no need for good defense, little intensity all day, and a late-game collapse against a vastly inferior opponent. My proudest moment right now is that UCONN game. It wasn't our best win (that would be against West Virginia way back in January, a game that was seemingly ages ago), but it was one we needed to win. After two big upsets, the team was due for a letdown but somehow pulled out a much needed victory in a low scoring defensive battle. The Marquette game came close to topping it, but there's nothing like getting the W on Senior Night like that with your best player in street clothes.

Championship Week

2010-03-09T08:08:00.002-05:00

As Mike Brey has wanted all season, the Irish are officially "in the conversation" for the NCAA Tournament. Riding high after a four-game winning streak, that conversation has shifted somewhat to talk about seeding and first round matchups when just two weeks ago it seemed unlikely that ND would even make it in. First things first, however.

The Big East Tournament begins today. Obviously, the game of note is that 10/15 matchup tonight which will decide our second round opponent. With a 15 point win over Providence in hand (from way back in December), it's pretty fair to say that a Friar win would be beneficial. However, this Irish team can expect to be favored against Seton Hall, as well.

As far as Big East bubble teams go, watch the Pirates and South Florida this week. Seton Hall doesn't have any really bad losses this year and could potentially steal our bid with a win against the Irish on Wednesday. The Bulls have a bit of a tougher road, with Georgetown and Syracuse potentially waiting in the wings. If they made it all the way to Thursday and played the Orange tough, however, this could also be a late entry into the Tournament.

What about Notre Dame's hopes? I think that it is safe to say that the Irish are in with at least one win in the BET this week. That would place the Irish at 11-9 in the conference and 4-1 in their last five. The committee loves to see teams that step their game up down the stretch, perform well without a star player, and beat other bubble teams when it counts. This ND team has done all of that, a huge improvement over previous seasons.

Notre Dame's Record over its Last Five Games (Regular Season and BET)-
2010- 4-1 (barring a Big East Championship)
2009- 2-3
2008- 3-2
2007- 4-1
2006- 2-3
2005- 1-4

While the Irish faltered big time under the microscope in other big bubble years such as '05, '06, and '09, this squad has been able to turn it on when it counts and has been successful against much better competition than the 2007 and 2008 Tournament teams faced in crunch time.

Other Bubble Teams-

Of course, the other part of this postseason equation relies on how other potential Tournament teams fare in their conference playoffs. With Saint Mary's, Siena, and Old Dominion all taking care of business, the bubble picture has cleared up just a little bit. By comparison, the Irish are 21-10, 10-8, 49th (Pomeroy), and 59th (RPI).

Washington- (21-9, 11-7, 33rd Pomeroy, 49th RPI) Joe Lunardi and The Bracket Project's first team out, the Huskies face Oregon State before a probable bubble play-off against the Sun Devils.

Arizona State- (22-9, 12-6, 37th Pomeroy, 52nd RPI) Split the season series with the Huskies and performed well in a very bad Pac-10, but most likely need to reach the conference finals to earn a bid. Friday could be a very big matchup.

Illinois- (18-13, 10-8, 56th Pomeroy, 74th RPI) Has just fallen apart down the stretch, losing five of their past six. Play a very good Wisconsin team in the Big Ten Tournament that just trounced them. Even a win in that game may not be enough. It will be a travesty if this conference gets more than four teams in.

San Diego State- (22-8, 11-5, 44th Pomeroy, 36th RPI) The exact opposite of Illinois, San Diego State is a pretty good small conference team that has performed well enough when it counts to merit some consideration. As long as they don't drop a first round matchup with Colorado State, they will have a shot at solidifying an entry into the NCAAs against top seed New Mexico.

Mississippi- (21-9, 9-7, 51st Pomeroy, 57th RPI) Have played well down the stretch and could potentially face Kentucky in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. Need a win there to be a lock, but could still make it as long as they are not upset by the Tennessee/LSU winner on Friday.

Seeding-

As always, The Bracket Project does a nice job of compiling a whole bunch of different projections for you. Currently the Irish are listed as a 10 seed and make the Tourney in 73 of the 76 brackets. I'd take that in a heartbeat over the 8/9 game.

All-Big East

2010-03-07T17:38:00.001-05:00

Congrats to Luke Harangody for making first team All-Conference and Tim Abromaitis for making Honorable Mention.

Notre Dame 63, Marquette 60

2010-03-06T17:36:00.004-05:00

Irish cap off the season on a four game winning streak with an incredible come-from-behind performance. Down seven with a minute to go, a pair of Ty Nash free throws and two clutch threes sent the game to OT, where the Irish outlasted the Golden Eagles.

That just might have been enough to send this team to the Tournament. A BET win should seal the deal. Huge congrats to Coach Brey and the whole team.

Tim Abromaitis pulled the game within three with just under a minute remaining, but was unable to deliver the tying basket at the end regulation. However, some great hustle by Ben Hansbrough kept the possession alive and set up Carleton Scott to notch things up at the buzzer. Can you imagine a better finish than this one? For a program with notorious history in close games (2006 still burns in my memory) and a reputation for keeping a tight rotation, the Irish miraculously pulled themselves out of the grave with a clutch basket by the poster child of limited playing time.

This finish was our season in a nutshell. With Luke Harangody on the bench, the rest of the team was able to rally with their backs against the wall to defeat another very talented opponent in a defensive battle. This game, along with the three previous contests, was the polar opposite of what we have been used to watching in the Joyce Center for the past several seasons. Good defense, loads of hustle, and a lineup composed of a bunch of unselfish overachievers. I love it.

Tory Jackson wrapped up his regular season career with 9 points and just a single assist. After an incredible performance against Connecticut, the point guard was a bit of an afterthought in a weak Irish offensive performance. On defense, however, he helped to hold Maurice Acker and David Cubillan to just five points apiece.

Ben Hansbrough was 0-5 from beyond the arc. That was pretty standard for the game, as neither team shot over 17.4% on their three-point attempts. He also tacked on 4 fouls and 4 turnovers in a bit of a struggle.

Though the backcourt failed to impress, Abro, Scott, and Nash cleared up on the glass and provided some necessary offensive oomph. Abro struggled with his shot for the third straight game, but was able to contribute 7 points from the charity stripe and 18 total (with just one three-pointer). He is so much more of a complete player than we had in Ryan Ayers last year. A fantastic shooter, to be sure, but he has enough athleticism get rebounds from the perimeter and take the ball inside to draw fouls or create offensive opportunities for the rest of the team.

Just as I love watching Abromaitis develop, his classmate Carleton Scott seems to be growing in front of our eyes. 14 points, 13 rebounds. His offensive output is expanding with each game and that freakish leaping ability has made him the best rebounder on the team right now. It's a shame that he couldn't have gotten more playing time at the beginning of the year, but no one can complain with his performances now.

Ty Nash also scored in the double-digits and grabbed 9 rebounds. Five of those resulted in second chances for the Irish. Most importantly, Nash sank 7 of 10 free throws, including a clutch pair to help the Irish tie the game at the end of regulation. If he can continue to improve his reliability from the line, he will be pretty dangerous as a scorer with how often he draws contact in the lane.

Luke Harangody will come off the bench the rest of the year. That's a sad way for such a great player to end his career, but I wouldn't want to mess with the system we have going right now. In just eleven minutes, he had 5 points and a pair of rebounds. We will see what kind of role he plays the remainder of the season, but I have to think that bringing an All-American off the bench in limited stretches will provide a nice boost in the postseason.

The Irish have claimed the seven seed for the Big East Tournament. They will play either Seton Hall or Providence on Wednesday at 7. Bracketography, one of the better independent projection sites, lists the Irish as solidly in the NCAAs as a nine seed. I'll break down more of that this week as other sites update their projections.

Four straight wins through our hell stretch to end the year. Remember this? Seems like an awful long time ago.

Marquette Preview

2010-03-05T01:12:00.002-05:00

Marquette-
Pomeroy Ranking- 19th
Record- 20-9 (11-6)
Best Win- Xavier (ranked 20th)
Worst Loss- DePaul (ranked 165th)
Pomeroy Prediction- Marquette 75-67

Key Players-
#32 Lazar Hayward- 18.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 33.5% 3PA- Has been Mr. Reliable for the Golden Eagles this year. Eight double-doubles to his credit.
#33 Jimmy Butler- 15.2 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 50.0% 3PA- Takes very few three pointers, but has made half of them. Good for 6 or 7 boards just about every game.
#1 Darius Johnson-Odom- 13.0 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 48.9% 3PA- Dead-eye shooter from long range. Went 4-6 from downtown for 22 points against Louisville.

Scouting Report-

In the top ten nationally in fewest turnovers allowed.
7th in the nation in three-point percentage.
Block very few shots on defense.

Bracket Project

2010-03-04T19:36:00.002-05:00

I didn't think we'd need this, but all of a sudden it's time to start watching the bubble.

The Bracket Project lists the Irish as a twelve-seed, just a couple steps down from the vanquished Huskies. We'll see if anything changes before Saturday.

Notre Dame 58, Connecticut 50

2010-03-03T21:46:00.003-05:00

Huge win. It was an ugly one, but the Irish took one step closer to a possible NCAA bid and, perhaps more importantly, eliminated the Huskies from Tournament contention. ND has moved into a tie for seventh in the Big East and holds the tie-breaker over Georgetown.

Both teams shot very poorly from the floor. Give the Notre Dame D some credit, but UCONN also missed a few open looks and airballed a bunch. Someone forgot to turn on the heat in the building.

However, you can't overlook the effort our guys put in tonight. This has been a huge improvement the past three games. In addition to moving their feet on defense, the Irish threw their bodies around inside to nearly break even in rebounding against a team with three guys at 6'10" or taller. Led by Tory Jackson and Ben Hansbrough, ND forced 15 turnovers, tying a season-high against Big East opponents. Out 10 steals for the night marked just the third time this year the Irish finished with double digits in that category.

The offensive output was the second worst of the year (to the Northwestern game) but that just underlined how effective the home team was in other areas tonight. If we can win with 37% shooting and ten missed foul shots, more success will follow with a good night shooting the ball.

What a fantastic Senior Night for Tory Jackson. The vocal leader of the team for the past four years, Tory led the way with 22 points. He was ruthlessly efficient at the rim with 8-14 shooting and added in a pair of assists and three rebounds even though the Irish put the brakes on the pace of the contest, frequently waiting until the shot clock read five before attacking the basket. When he was pulled from the game with a few seconds remaining, he received a much deserved standing ovation and gave a very nice postgame speech after putting the team on his back tonight. Thank you for four great years, Tory.

Ben Hansbrough had no shooting touch tonight, but tied Tory Jackson with 4 steals. Like any good shooter, he tried to get shot back with multiple trips to the free throw line. He was able to come away with 6 points even though he finished 0-8 from the field. He was also the second highest rebounder with 4.

Tim Abromaitis also struggled a bit with his shot, but had a little success inside the arc. 10 points and 4 rebounds for the Alumni Dawg. At the end, his teammates had some trouble getting him the ball in an opportunity to get fouled, which needs to change. Going 4-8 as a team from the foul line during a crucial minute-long stretch allowed UCONN to cut the lead by four.

Carleton Scott was excellent. 12 points, 14 boards, 2-4 from three-point range. His athleticism overcame the height disadvantage and allowed him to finish as the game's highest rebounder. Add in a pair of assists and 3 blocks for a great all-around effort. He combined all of his best attributes: solid wing defense, athleticism on the glass, and a bit of clutch shooting, for a fantastic performance.

Ty Nash had a bit of trouble putting the ball in the basket like a few of his other teammates. 5 points, just 3 rebounds, and 2 assists. When the Irish looked to kill the clock, he caught the ball far too away from the basket to be effective and we relied on some perimeter drives for points. That's not the kind of offense in which he can be effective.

Off the bench, Jack Cooley combined 3 points with 3 offensive rebounds in just 7 minutes on the floor. Jonathan Peoples' Senior Night was forgettable, just 2 minutes and a turnover, though he did get the token start in Abromaitis' place. Joey Brooks got in at the last second and so did Tim Andree, senior walk-on. Thanks to him for playing hard in practice all these years with so little reward in games.

So now we're looking at a very realistic NCAA bid all of a sudden. Who would have thought? With no Harangody tonight, you have to think we will be out against Marquette on Saturday. Keep playing like this and the Irish could enter the BET riding high on a four game winning streak.

Connecticut Preview

2010-03-02T11:05:00.003-05:00

Connecticut-
Pomeroy Ranking- 40th
Record- 17-12 (7-9)
Best Win- West Virginia (ranked 7th)
Worst Loss- Providence (ranked 85th)
Pomeroy Prediction- ND 76-74

Key Players-
#11 Jerome Dyson- 18.4 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 4.5 APG, 30.3% 3PA- Double digits in every game this year, 20 and 10 against the Irish in the first contest. He really is not a great three point shooter, but keeps throwing them up. 5-30 in the past seven games.
#21 Stanley Robinson- 15.5 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 36.6% 3PA- Double-doubles in the past two games. He is another guy who is guaranteed at least ten points. Against the Irish in January, he dominated the glass with 16 rebounds.
#15 Kemba Walker- 14.8 PPG, 4.1 APG, 37.6% 3PA- His acoring average has shot up recently with his ability to get to the foul line. 23.5 PPG in the past four contests, with an average of 11.5 free throw attempts per.

Last Game- UCONN 82-70

-Led by Robinson and Alex Oriakhi, the Huskies held onto a ten rebound advantage.
-Irish pulled the game within three with five minutes remaining, but UCONN answered with seven straight points to put the game out of reach.
-Luke Harangody finished with 31 points and 9 rebounds to lead the Irish.

Less Than 50/50 Chance Luke Returns for Senior Night

2010-02-28T12:19:00.001-05:00

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/4967/without-harangody-irish-earn-another-key-win

That really is too bad, it's awful to see his career end like this, but I'd hate to mess up the team's flow right now. If the current squad can keep playing the way they are, Luke will come back for the Big East Tourney with a shot at the NCAA's on the line.

Notre Dame 78, Georgetown 64

2010-02-27T13:47:00.002-05:00

WHO ARE THESE GUYS?

The Irish used some great ball movement and high-intensity defense to grind away at the Hoyas on the road. This was exactly what you want to see from a team on the ropes: unselfish play with loads of hustle and smart decisions on both ends of the ball. Once again, I liked how this team played without its All-American. Everyone was on their toes today, looking to contribute for forty minutes, instead of letting one guy take most of the responsibility. There were a few stretches that were simply beautiful to watch.

ND stole the ball ten times, equaling its total from the double-overtime loss to Louisville. That also marks only the third time all year that the Irish have finished in double digits in that stat. Tory Jackson led the way with five takeaways, but everyone helped out. Ben Hansbrough's steal at the top of the key with five minutes left was one of most heady defensive moves we've seen all year.

The Irish outrebounded Georgetown by eleven, an incredible stat when playing without our top rebounder and facing one of the best big men in the conference. Carleton Scott had a big coming-out party, hitting the glass hard for nine boards. We haven't had anyone who can rebound from the perimeter like that in a very long time. Glad to have him in the rotation, better late than never.

Georgetown's leading scorer Austin Freeman was out of his element with just five points. We caught a break with him being sick, but the Hoyas certainly had enough fire power to win without him. Playing without our top guy, I have to rate this as the best win of the year.

Tory Jackson had 9 points and 3 assists to go with his fantastic defensive performance. His step-up three when the lead had dwindled to four was clutch. Without that shot, Georgetown could have gotten right back into the game. That bucket ended a five-and-a-half minute scoreless streak and snapped an 8-0 Hoya run. Bigtime play by the senior leader.

Ben Hansbrough carried the team at the beginning of the second half, going on a personal 10-3 run in the first three minutes after the break. 19 of his 21 points came in the second half and in a variety of ways. His three three-pointers were standard fare, but he also took it to the basket with confidence. He was 4-5 on shots inside the arc. He also filled in the stat sheet in a variety of other ways: 4 assists, 3 rebounds, a block, and that nice steal.

Tim Abromaitis really struggled with his long range touch (1-9), but was able to still contribute all over the floor. He managed 19 points, almost entirely inside the arc and from the free throw line. A couple baskets came on broken presses at the end, a nice sign. In recent years, the Irish have caved to late game pressure and have never been able to close out the way we want. Today, Georgetown paid for its decision to keep up the full-court pressure by giving up dunks on the other end. Great job, Irish.

Carleton Scott was the player of the game. 17 points, 9 rebounds. He was 7-8 from the floor, almost perfect. Four of his rebounds came on the offensive end. He blocked three shots with that long wingspan and grabbed a pair of steals as well. We knew that his athleticism could lead to that kind of defensive ability, but the offensive performance was what I was most impressed with again. He drilled three three-pointers with confidence and looks like he is improving as a scorer with every contest.

Ty Nash had 8 points and 6 rebounds. Once again, his free throw percentage was impressive, 4-5. He also finished with 3 assists, as the Irish dished out 16 in an almost perfect distribution among the starters.

Off the bench, Jack Cooley really filled in well in his twelve minutes. Coach Brey used him primarily as a minute and foul eater on defense since Nash has struggled with that so much in conference play. His effort resulted in 4 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 fouls that didn't get called on #1. I like that usage of Cooley and wish we could have seen it a bit earlier this season. Peoples' career seems to be winding down in a whimper. Just one steal in 5 minutes.

The Irish opened the second half with two great stretches of play. My favorite came right before the 12:30 mark, as our ball movement led the way to a 7-2 run capped off by back-to-back Cooley layups. Carleton Scott's dish from the top of the key for an Abromaitis mid-range jumper should be replayed over and over as the team heads back to South Bend. When Harangody gets back into the lineup, I hope that the guys are able to keep up that kind of movement and unselfish play. We are very hard to stop like that.

UCONN at home Wednesday and at Marquette next Saturday. Win both and a BET game and the Irish are in the Tournament. Who would have thought?

Great job, guys. Please keep this up.

Other Stuff

2010-02-26T17:41:00.001-05:00

Great article.

Better video (you've seen it before, of course).

Georgetown Preview

2010-02-26T16:49:00.002-05:00

Georgetown-
Pomeroy Ranking- 16th
Record- 19-7 (9-6)
Best Win- Duke (ranked 1st)
Worst Loss- Rutgers (ranked 143rd)
Pomeroy Prediction- G'town 81-70

Key Players-
#15 Austin Freeman- 17.5 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 48.1% 3PA- Has been clutch against Big East competition. Hasn't scored less than 17 in the past month.
#10 Greg Monroe- 15.7 PPG, 9.6 RPG- Living up to his bidding after a ho-hum freshman year. Nine double-doubles on the season.
#4 Chris Wright- 14.0 PPG, 3.8 APG, 32.6% 3PA- Hot and cold. Either drops 20+ or doesn't get into double-digits. Also gets into foul trouble a bit.

Scouting Report-

Up and down, have beaten some very good teams in Duke and Villanova, but also lost to South Florida and Rutgers.
5th in the nation in effective field goal percentage.
Have played the 2nd hardest schedule in the country.

Notre Dame 68, Pittsburgh 53

2010-02-24T22:26:00.001-05:00

After a rough two weeks, the team was due for a good game. It was great to see them finish off a good opponent after missing a great chance at Louisville. Oh, what this season might have been...

Say what you want about yesterday's result, whether it was merely a blind squirrel finally finding a nut, how the team should have been performing all year, or an example of Luke Harangody's (negative) impact on the team's cohesiveness. To be honest, there is a little bit of all three there.

The Irish played very good defense, holding Pitt to just 42% shooting for the night. They hustled out there. I haven't seen the Irish go after loose balls or challenge shots with that kind of effort all year. They would have been a lock for the tournament if last night's performance had been the norm this season.

Jack Cooley and Mike Broghammer really showed up off the bench. While it is easy to use their success now as an indication for how Coach Brey has mismanged the rotation, I guess it's better to play the two freshman bigs late than never. Cooley's four boards helped the Irish finish with a nine rebound advantage for the contest. When was the last time that happened against a ranked opponent?

Tory Jackson had a great offensive game. 14 points and 7 assists with just 3 turnovers. He shot extremely well, including 3-5 from beyond the arc. While Tory has never developed into a primary scorer, the team needs him to contribute like this in order to be successful.

When your top rebounder is injured, you need other people to step up and hit the glass. Ben Hansbrough had 9 rebounds last night to go with his 15 points. His outside shot wasn't falling, but he was able to take it inside and get most of his points on layups and midrange jumpers. That's an important quality in a shooting guard, one that we did not get a whole lot from Kyle McAlarney or Ryan Ayers last year.

Abro was the leading scorer with 17. 9 of those points did come from downtown and he chipped in with a perfect 4-4 from the charity stripe. Throw in 5 rebounds for good measure.

Carleton Scott is starting to look more and more comfortable in his starting role. I liked how he was able to chip in with a couple open threes when he got a chance, but never forced anything with the ball. For most of the year, that shooting touch has been lacking. If he can develop into an under-the-radar scorer (usually the fourth or fifth option on offense) in addition to the solid defense and rebounding he provides, it will be hard to take him off the floor.

Ty Nash might have been the most impressive one of the bunch. Finally looking confident as a post scorer, he was able to pick up 13 points on the night. Most importantly, he went 7-8 from the line. That physical style will rack him up points in a hurry if he can figure out how to shoot free throws. Last night was a huge step in the right direction. He also finished with 7 rebounds. This was the first game where he really started to look like he belonged as a Big East post player.

Off the bench, Coley earned 13 minutes. He did not score, but played a huge role in filling the paint on defense and grabbing 4 rebounds. Likewise, Mike Broghammer played well as another large body, though he didn't do anything too impressive on the stat sheet. Five minutes for Jonathan Peoples marked the first time all year he hasn't earned double-digit playing time.

I like this team better without Harangody than when he is healthy, I really do. This squad plays tough defense, hustles all over the floor, and is very unselfish. While I love Luke and have enjoyed watching him put up big numbers the past four years, games like this make me excited for next season. With the right work ethic and a chip on the shoulder mentality, next year's bunch might actually see a bit of sustained success.

Pittsburgh Preview

2010-02-23T10:32:00.002-05:00

Luke Harangody will be honored before the game Wednesday, but will not play. ESPN will also be there to film a special on Luke before the game.

Pittsburgh-
Pomeroy Ranking- 20th
Record- 21-6 (10-4)
Best Win- Syracuse (ranked 3rd)
Worst Loss- Indiana (ranked 150th)
Pomeroy Prediction- Pitt 70-68

Key Players-
#12 Ashton Gibbs- 16.4 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 38.4% 3PA- Sophomore has picked up a big role this year in the offense. 20+ points in three of the last four games.
#22 Brad Wanamaker- 12.3 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 4.4 APG, 33.3% 3PA- All-purpose guard leads the team in assists. Second in points and boards.
#52 Gary McGhee- 7.4 PPG, 7.0 RPG- Hasn't played a big scoring role on the team, but is a very strong rebounder. Could have a breakout game with no Gody.

Scouting Report-

Very good at defending shooters, 19th in effective field goal percentage allowed.
Don't force many turnovers on defense, however.
Unselfish. Assist on a higher percentage of made baskets than the Irish.

Two Weeks Left

2010-02-22T07:48:00.003-05:00

Just a few more games remain in the regular season. Though the Winter Olympics might be taking up the brunt of ESPN's attention (and every single channel operated by NBC), there are a few very good stories to watch in the Big East.

1. Villanova is starting to slide away from a chance at the Big East regular season title. With two straight losses and games remaining against Syracuse and West Virginia, the Wildcats could find themselves dropping as low as fourth in the standings after leading for much of the year.

2. Syracuse may have locked up the first seed. Pomeroy now places the Orange as an eight-point favorite at home against 'Nova with their toughest game coming on the road to a Louisville team that defeated them a week ago. The law of averages could play a role in a 'Cuse win there, but expect no more than one loss for the Orange as they finish atop the standings at 15-3.

3. The list of Big East teams receiving bids to the Tournament this year could be pretty slim. ESPN just list five teams as "locks" from the conference with four needing to boost their resumes a bit. After eight a couple years ago, the league will receive no more than last year's total of seven this season, but even that could be a serious stretch.

Bracket Busters

2010-02-19T19:17:00.002-05:00

The Irish will not be in action again until Wednesday, so you can turn your attention to other sports for a few days. By sporting events, I mean anything other than Tiger Woods' mess of an apology.

Actually, there is still a lot going on in the world of college basketball with Bracket Buster weekend upon us. It's always interesting to see the mid-majors get their shot at glory.

Louisville 91, Notre Dame 89

2010-02-17T21:44:00.001-05:00

Just an awful way to lose a really hard fought game. Completely wasted possession at the end of the second overtime, but this thing should have been won in regulation. Four straight missed free throws from our guards threw it away then.

Can't fault the team for its effort, though. Without Harangody for the second straight game, our reserves showed why they should have been playing all year. Carleton Scott earned the minutes he took from Peoples, Mike Broghammer was tough as nails on both ends of the floor, and Jack Cooley picked up 5 rebounds before fouling out.

The officiating left much to be desired, as Samardo Samuels single-handedly fouled out four (almost five, with Abromaitis) of our players. While a lot of the whistles tonight were bad calls, I also have to think that guys like Broghammer and Cooley would have benefitted from more experience in their post defense.

Tory Jackson was a real leader on the floor tonight, but just couldn't get it done at the end. His shot selection in clutch time was a bit frustrating and he missed a pair of free throws in the final minutes of regulation, however. For the game, he shot very well (6-11) for 19 points and had 7 assists while playing all 50 minutes.

Ben Hansbrough was the culprit of missed freebies with just over a minute left. Other than that, he was a perfect 10 for 10 from the line, though his shooting touch failed to carry over to the rest of the contest. His three-point attempts, including a couple K-Mac-esque 25 footers, were frequently off the mark and he turned the ball as many times as he had assists (3). He did chip in with 8 boards, as the Irish were able to maintain an even rebounding total with the home team.

Carleton Scott played 34 minutes. That's a career-high (though helped by the overtimes). 9 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks. Coach Brey finally realized that he deserved more of a look than Peoples and he delivered. The open three he sank to put the Irish up late in the second half was a clutch shot. You expect that from our veteran guys, but it was nice to see someone who has struggled mightily with his scoring step in at a critical moment.

Tim Abromaitis finished with 29 points and 5 rebounds, his second straight big performance with Gody out. Hats off to the Alumni Hall resident once again. He very nearly fouled out, like four of his teammates, but was able to finish the contest while playing 45 minutes.

Ty Nash did foul out. Just 4 points and 4 boards in 28 minutes for him. Though he struggled, it was a bit of a mixed blessing, because I really liked what we saw from the reserves tonight. It's unlikely that they would have gotten as much playing time with him in the whole contest.

Off the bench, Mike Broghammer really stuck out for me. More than what he did in the stat sheet, he hustled all game and created opportunities with his energy. His bone-crushing screens were great to watch and the energy he displayed on defense has been missing from this team for a long time. Jack Cooley also played very well in the paint. His 5 rebounds in just 19 minutes tied for third on the team.

The commentators loved to talk about those two guys stepping up tonight after not playing all year, but the real story is how the Irish have been coached into a seven-man box when there is some talent on the bench. Neither Brogs nor Cooley is anything near starting material, of course, but you can't tell me that a few minutes for one of the two would be a worse scenario than leaving a bunch of tired started in all day. Joey Brooks should be taking a lot of Jonathan Peoples' minutes, as well. This should be happening regardless of an injury or foul trouble. Credit Coach Brey for having these guys tested enough in practice to be able to contribute in a pinch, but they should be getting more game-experience than this.

Tough, tough loss. They really deserved to win this one. Hopefully we can get Harangody back soon and continue to make things difficult for some Tournament teams down the road.

Louisville Preview

2010-02-16T10:46:00.002-05:00

As much as I'd love to see this again, it's probably not going to happen. Luke Harangody will be a game-time decision.

Louisville-
Pomeroy Ranking- 26th
Record- 16-9 (7-5)
Best Win- Syracuse (ranked 5th)
Worst Loss- Western Carolina (ranked 170th)
Pomeroy Prediction- Louisville 84-74

Key Players-
#15 Samardo Samuels- 15.4 PPG, 7.4 RPG- He has the talent and strength to stay with Harangody if he plays. Without Luke, the Irish could struggle to stop him inside.
#10 Edgar Sosa- 13.0 PPG, 4.2 APG, 38.7% 3PA- Averaging double-digits for the first time since his freshman year. Didn't score in their loss to St. John's.
#34 Jerry Smith- 8.7 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 26.9% 3PA- Played a big role in wins over UCONN and Rutgers, but has disappeared lately. Shooting struggles are perplexing. He was a 41% guy beyond the arc a year ago.

Scouting Report-

For the first time since 2005, the Cards' offense is more efficient than its defense (10th ranked offense, 80th ranked D).
The defensive struggles have been mostly due to an inordinate amount of offensive rebounds given up, but they also get more than their fair share of second chances on offense.
Very rarely have shots blocked, but take too many three-point attempts for shooting such a low clip (32.7%).

St. John's 69, Notre Dame 68

2010-02-14T23:12:00.004-05:00

The slow-motion train wreck just keeps rollin' along. With a one-point lead going into the final minute, the Irish managed to drop another close game. Two awful shot choices by Tory Jackson at the end put the icing on the cake. The Irish went 2-3 in their "easy" five-game stretch. The hellish end-of-season games await. This could be a seven game losing streak.

In fairness, the team did fight hard to come back after falling behind by nine in the second half. They played without their top scorer, a guy who is third nationally in percentage of shots taken. The Irish had to start completely from scratch. Additionally, having no experienced post player available to come off the bench was a big, though self-inflicted, handicap.

Still, this loss is the worst of the conference season for a variety of reasons. The one-point defeat to Rutgers came on the road. While the Scarlet Knights looked like a very bad team two weeks ago, they have been improving with every game, beating the Red Storm and now boasting a three-point victory over Georgetown. Tonight's loss in South Bend served only to highlight coaching failures including the mismanagement of timeouts and a horrid final possession. There is not much of a silver lining.

Tory Jackson's final two three-point attempts displayed a complete lack of self-awareness by a guy who should be the most reliable player on the floor. Down by one, the Irish needed to take the ball to the basket, either to get a high-percentage look inside or potentially draw a foul. Tory dribbled to the left side of the court and took a contested off-balanced three pointer. There was enough time left on the clock for him to get the ball back and heave it up again. Such a waste.

For the game, he shot 1-10 and displayed bad decision-making throughout. 5 turnovers to go with his 3 assists. With the other senior leader off the floor, we needed Tory to step up and carry the team a bit. It did not happen.

Ben Hansbrough scored 13 and had a pretty good night shooting the ball. Thankfully, Jonathan Peoples only saw twelve minutes of action. He didn't do a whole while on the floor.

Tim Abromaitis filled the scoring void rather admirably. His 24 points led the team and he only needed eleven attempts to get them. Throw in 6 rebounds for a pretty good night.

Ty Nash also played pretty well. He had 16, but was not nearly as much of a force on the boards as Harangody normally is. Just 3 rebounds for the fill-in center.

Off the bench, the Irish really only played two guys. That's a bit of a disadvantage against an opponent that went eleven deep. Carleton Scott ate up a lot of Peoples' floor time, which was good to see. 5 points, 6 rebounds in 27 minutes. Joey Brooks played for a few minutes, as well.

Buckle your seatbelts, it just gets harder from here on in.

St. John's Preview

2010-02-13T15:20:00.002-05:00

St. John's-
Pomeroy Ranking- 87th
Record- 13-10 (3-8)
Best Win- Louisville (ranked 38th)
Worst Loss- Rutgers (ranked 156th)
Pomeroy Prediction- ND 75-69

Key Players-
#1 D.J. Kennedy- 15.0 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 34.1% 3PA- Team's leading scorer has been up and down in conference play. Dropped 27 in their loss to Rutgers, but has scored in the single digits in four of the past eight games.
#12 Dwight Hardy- 10.7 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 38.5% 3PA- Streaking shooter has not made a three-pointer in the past three games. He is 0-8 since January 28th.
#23 Paris Horne- 8.2 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 36.4% 3PA- Has seen his minutes and production slashed dramatically this year. He averaged 14.6 points a game a year ago.

Scouting Report-

Struggle shooting the ball as a team.
Rarely make it to the free throw line.
One of the worst foul shooting teams in the country.

View From the Opponent's Bench: St. John's

2010-02-13T11:11:00.001-05:00

Thanks a bunch to Pico Dulce from East Coast Bias for his answers to my questions.

1. What went so right against Louisville after a five game losing streak?

The thing about the losing streak is that the team has been the same in Big East play - they just cannot score. At all. They're out of sorts, they need more of a playmaker at the point, and the team doesn't look to the post. Even in the wins, the team didn't look great (except against DePaul... no, not even then.

The Louisville game was bizarre and I don't have a strong, rational explanation for it. Louisville was terrible. Their press was terrible, unenthusiastic. And for once, St. John's found a weakness they could take advantage of. It helped that the team had faced Louisville and played pretty decently against them before their offensive lull in the second half (happens every time). The Johnnies were aggressive at going to the basket and the Cardinals were lax in defending the basket. You can see that St. John's didn't shoot particularly well from beyond the arc; but guys who had been struggling drove the ball. And they got the ball to Justin Burrell, who has been on fire in the past 4 games (but still isn't starting).

Think about it this way: St. John's has posted a higher offensive efficiency twice - once against Long Island University and once against Bryant University (they got close against Cornell). They played great, but I'm not assuming I will see that game again.

2. D. J. Kennedy is your leading scorer, but has been up and down
against Big East competition. How can the Irish stop him?

Kennedy likes to shoot threes or drive from the baseline. He'll take some straight on jump shots, but doesn't often shoot the pull up mid-range jumper which he can hit. He's more of a jack of all trades than a scorer, though; he rebounds, brings the ball up, slashes, makes plays. The team leans on him to make plays but the Red Storm aren't constructed to have a "star"; the team's best offenisve performances have a number of double digit scorers. I would say the Irish have to get a player or three to stop Justin Burrell.

But the coaching staff stops him by leaving him on the bench for half the game.

3. Who could have a breakout performance on Sunday?

Aforementioned - Burrell. He's had good games against the Irish, I think, in the past. And without the "slow Harangody" assignment, I could see him pulling off a rare road win for Norm Roberts' team - he's been playing that well, drawing fouls, hitting the jump shot, and even rebounding again.

Given room, Dwight Hardy and Paris Horne can stroke it from outside.

4. How much more time does Norm Roberts get? It's about time that a
New York university turns into an upper-half Big East program.

... well... rumor has it this is likely his last year. What happens if they beat the Irish, maybe win 2-3 more games for 7 wins? I don't know. The fans have jumped far, far from his ship, but still love to see a win; but most die-hards also think the NY school should have a winner , or a near-winner.... something close to competing with the top of the league. There were Pitino to St. John's rumors flying around last week; the fans would love McCaffery (but I think I read the Irish job would be his dream job).... I think even the administration has gotten past their notion that the job is so very hard and the school is well-served by a hard worker who keeps his kids out of trouble and academically solid. The team needs to win, and with 9 seniors next year, the team needs to establish that they can win so they can continue to win.

5. How will the rest of the year go for the Red Storm? The next three
games seem pretty winnable, but St. John's has also played pretty well
against good competition at times.

It's hard to say. If they play like they played yesterday, they could beat Notre Dame, Seton Hall (two defensively indifferent squads), and USF/ Marquette are winnable. As is DePaul. But I don't believe in it. If the other teams are playing hard and keep the Johnnies out of the lane, they could lose most games, winning at DePaul and vs. Seton Hall. Even the DePaul contest isn't a gimme, St. John's has been just terrible on the road. The inability to score consistently in the halfcourt will hurt them against most teams, and Seton Hall is better scoring in transition.

After the Louisville game, I don't know. Coach Roberts, to his credit, keeps the guys motivated. But they usually get one "WTF!!" win at home. Last year it was Notre Dame + Georgetown; this year, Louisville... they could get another, but I predict no more than 3 more wins for this team.

Seton Hall 90, Notre Dame 87

2010-02-11T21:11:00.001-05:00

The jig is up. A great game on offense just wasn't enough to overcome how bad this team is on D. It's fitting, really.

Luke Harangody hyperextended his knee and missed the final several minutes of this contest. However, the team rallied around the flag and reduce a nine-point deficit to one with four minutes left. Tory Jackson led the way with 25 points, including a clutch three with 53 seconds left. Two last second attempts to tie the game were off-target, as the Irish just failed to come back from being down double-digits at the break. Kudos to the team for working hard to come back and playing well without their top scorer. Make no mistake, there really is some scoring talent on this roster.

But the defense... wow. For a bunch of guys that made a big deal out of shutting Dominique Jones down on Sunday, they sure let Jeremy Hazell run wild tonight. 12 three-pointers from Seton Hall for the night, including 8 for Hazell. He went 12-16 from the field and finished with 35 points, his highest total since December. Going into this game, the defensive strategy should have been pretty simple, especially so soon after playing another star-centric offense. All we needed to do was stop Hazell, but we gave him open looks all night.

My reviews tend to be pretty offense dominated, which surely was not the problem in this game, so I'll skip the individual reviews for the most part. As a team, the Irish shot 54% from the field, 53% from beyond the arc, and had five guys in double figures. While Tory had a career-high in scoring, he also was a bit reckless in the lane at times with six turnovers. Tim Abromaitis scored 18, two-thirds of which came from the line. Hansbrough scored 10, but couldn't tie the game at the end. Both Harangody and Nash scored 13.

Of course, the Pirates were even better. You would be hard-pressed to find another game with both teams shooting over 50% with so many three-point attempts. Hazell carried Seton Hall, but he got plenty of help with four other guys scoring at least eight.

The scariest outcome here is Harangody's injury. Without him the rest of the year, the team could lose out. I would hate to see such a great player's career go down the drain like this, though we are assuredly in the NIT (at best) now.

Seton Hall Preview

2010-02-10T15:29:00.003-05:00

Seton Hall-
Pomeroy Ranking- 64th
Record- 12-9 (3-7)
Best Win- Louisville (ranked 24th)
Worst Loss- South Florida (ranked 65th)
Pomeroy Prediction- Seton Hall 86-80

Key Players-
#21 Jeremy Hazell- 22.0 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 33.8% 3PA- Averaged only 5.5 points in two games against Pitt. Has scored at least 25 in his other three previous contests.
#15 Herb Pope- 11.8 PPG, 10.9 RPG- One of the better unknown big men in the league. Has struggled with his shot during their current three game losing streak.
#32 Jeff Robinson- 9.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG- Transfer from Memphis has played well since starting in December. Does get into a bit of foul trouble, with at least three in 7 of his 13 games.

Scouting Report-

Great handling the ball, second lowest turnover percentage in the country.
Allow a lot of offensive rebounds.
Rely heavily on Hazell on offense.

Harangody Player of the Week

2010-02-09T18:16:00.002-05:00

Luke Harangody was named Big East Player of the Week for his performances against Cincy and South Florida last week. That's the second time this season he has picked up the award and sixth time in his career. Against Cincinnati, he had 37 points and 14 boards. His performance against the Bulls was less efficient, but he still finished with 19 and 15. Congrats to Luke.

Larger than Average Monday

2010-02-08T18:41:00.002-05:00

Yet another BIG(!!!) Monday on ESPN, this one with a few very interesting contests. 'Nova/West Virginia headlines the evening, with a shot at the regular season title on the line. Afterwards, #1 Kansas travels to Austin to face a struggling Longhorn team. This would have been a fantastic contest a few weeks ago, but now it's just the undercard. Enjoy.

Notre Dame 65, South Florida 62

2010-02-07T15:12:00.004-05:00

Very good win against a team that could be knocking on the door of the Tournament in a month. Things could have fallen apart when South Florida took the lead in the second half, but the Irish pulled things together and gutted out a very important win.

After a 16-2 run to start the game, ND let the Bulls get back into the contest over the next fourteen minutes, finally tying it up at the half. In the second period, South Florida threatened to break open a tight game, taking a six point lead with ten minutes remaining. Instead of buckling to the pressure, the Irish responded with six straight points of their own.

Offensive efficiency down the stretch was the key. Scoring at least two points on six straight possessions put Notre Dame ahead by five with a minute remaining and some clutch free throws by Harangody at the end gave this game its final margin. The Irish made their final ten attempts from the charity stripe, taking care of business when they needed to.

Hats off to Tory Jackson for a great defensive effort on Dominique Jones. The conference player of the year candidate who hadn't scored less than 20 in nine straight games was held to just ten points on 3-17 shooting. Tremendous job, Tory. On offense, Jackson scored 18 himself and dished out 4 assists. 4-5 from the line for a guy who is only shooting 61% on the year.

Ben Hansbrough was pretty efficient. 13 points, 6 rebounds. Like Tory, he played 39 minutes. Our backcourt is going to be on life support by the end of the season if they continue to play entire games.

Abro scored less than ten for only the third game this season. That should underline what a great year the breakout junior has been having. To be honest, it was still a pretty good performance by Tim, but he only had six shot attempts for the afternoon.

Ty Nash was very effective on the glass, which should be his first priority in every game. I'll take 8 rebounds in 24 minutes, even if that means he is using a little extra energy and only winding up with one basket of his own.

Harangody finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds. However, he did have a couple stretches where he decided to jack up jumpers early in the shot clock. I was impressed with his effort on the boards, as he tied his season-high. It would have been very interesting to see him matched up against Gilchrist, but the Irish were fortunate enough to avoid playing him in both contests this year.

Off the bench, Peoples logged 20 minutes. There is absolutely no reason for him to get that much playing time when our guards are not getting any rest. He is taking time away from Abromaitis and Nash, when Carleton Scott and Jack Cooley are better fits at those respective positions. Scott played nine minutes with not a lot to show for it. Cooley got in for a few seconds, as well.

On to Seton Hall. Tory will certainly have his hands full again, this time with Jeremy Hazell.

South Florida Preview

2010-02-06T10:09:00.003-05:00

After the Cincy win, you have to feel a bit more confident going into Sunday. However, the Bulls (our second-easiest opponent left) are riding a four game winning streak and just knocked off Georgetown on the road.

South Florida-
Pomeroy Ranking- 67th
Record- 15-7 (5-5)
Best Win- Georgetown (ranked 16th)
Worst Loss- Central Michigan (ranked 186th)
Pomeroy Prediction- ND 76-73

Key Players-
#24 Augustus Gilchrist- 18.8 PPG, 7.4 RPG- Out with an ankle sprain for most of the year. Could be a huge difference-maker down the stretch if he gets healthy and plays to his potential.
#20 Dominique Jones- 22.4 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 4.2 APG, 36.2% 3PA- 26 points in the first contest. Hasn't scored less than 20 in a game since December. Dropped 46 in an overtime win against Providence.
#31 Jarrid Famous- 11.3 PPG, 7.7 RPG- Has filled in admirably in Gilchrist's absence. 6 double-doubles this year. Could create a very dangerous tandem down low if #24 comes back.

Last Game- ND 74-73

-South Florida shot 53% from the floor, but the Irish survived by turning the ball over a little less and picking up extra points from beyond the arc and the charity stripe.
-Luke Harangody scored 36 points, including a 4-5 night from three-point land.
-#2 scoring threat Gilchrist was out with injury. He might be back for the first time since December 2nd.

Watch this team as the season goes on. They are favored by Pomeroy in 5 of their remaining games and could get much better with a healthy Gilchrist. If the Bulls go 10-8 in the conference, the committee will give them an at-large bid and ignore the losses without their second-best player. The fact that Stan Heath has been able to coach his players to a win over Georgetown shows that everything is pointing up right now.

Notre Dame 83, Cincinnati 65

2010-02-04T23:11:00.003-05:00

A very good win. It's hard not to just see this as a flash in the pan after Rutgers, but a game like this should always be appreciated.

The 2-3 zone worked very well for much of the game. Since the Bearcats shot only 25% beyond the arc, our defense was able to shut them down pretty much all game. The big difference this time compared to our last contest was how the Irish controlled the glass. 37-31 tonight. Great job, boys.

On offense, the Irish shot the ball very well, always necessary for a Notre Dame win. Luke Harangody pulled down 6 offensive rebounds, helping the Irish gain more second chances than Cincinnati for the night.

Tory Jackson really struggled, going 0-6 from the floor. He dished out 8 assists to 2 turnovers in 38 minutes. If the missed shots continue down the road, especially Tory's effectiveness from beyond the arc, you have to wonder about the intelligence of continuing to play him for almost 40 minutes a game. Hopefully this is just an outlier, because we will definitely need some points from Tory in the home stretch.

Ben Hansbrough sniffed a triple-double yet again. I'd be shocked if he doesn't end up with one this year or next. 12 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds. He chipped in a pair of steals to make up for his two turnovers, as well.

Tim Abromaitis played very well before fouling out. 22 points on 6-10 shooting and a perfect 7-7 on free throws. He also had a career-high four assists.

Ty Nash was in foul trouble, as well. He picked up four in 26 minutes of play. Just 4 points and 6 rebounds to show for those minutes. We didn't need a whole lot more from him, though, as Harangody pulled down 14 rebounds by himself.

Luke also scored 37 points and was very close to a new career-high in scoring. As it stands, Gody has pulled into second place on the Big East all-time rebounding list and fourth in scoring. Big congratulations to him. He has also tied Adrian Dantley for second place on Notre Dame's list of 20+ point games. He was a very efficient 15-25 from the field, hitting a mix of jumpers and off-balance driving layups in the paint.

Off the bench, Carleton Scott was actually a part of the rotation again. He scored 2 points and pulled down 2 rebounds, not the best stat line but still better than Peoples. It's ridiculous to think that the Irish can survive in the Big East with a backup point guard as the only guy coming off the bench. Joey Brooks and Jack Cooley also got a minute, with Brooks banking in a nice three.

This was a great game to see and the best way to bounce back from an embarrassing loss. Of course, it's hard not to just see this as a tiny ray of hope after so many disappointments. Hopefully the team will do this again a few more times.

Cincinnati Preview

2010-02-03T20:52:00.003-05:00

Cincinnati-
Pomeroy Ranking- 60th
Record- 14-7 (5-4)
Best Win- Maryland (ranked 12th)
Worst Loss- St. John's (ranked 88th)
Pomeroy Prediction- ND 74-73

Key Players-
#33 Lance Stephenson- 12.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG- 9 points, 5 rebounds in the first meeting, turned the ball over three times and was just 3-9 from the field.
#5 Deonta Vaughn- 12.0 PPG, 3.5 APG, 36.0% 3PA- Had a tough shooting night, but kept at it enough to lead the team with 15 points. 3-9 from beyond the arc, 7 rebounds, no assists.
#34 Yancy Gates- 10.5 PPG, 6.7 RPG- Owned the offensive glass. 6 of his 13 boards led to Bearcat second chances. Added 11 points of his own.

Last Game- Cincy 60-58

Bearcats outrebounded the Irish 48-28.
Notre Dame squandered a seven-point halftime lead and led by one with two minutes to go.
Yancy Gates tipped in a last second game winner.

Morning Practices

2010-02-02T18:46:00.003-05:00

The 8 AM practice this morning made one of the top headlines at ESPN. It's a good gesture, but a few of the quotes in the article stuck out to me.

First, Coach Brey mentioned that winning five of our next nine games will put us in the NCAA discussion. That would make the Irish 9-9 in the Big East, a record which most assuredly would have kept us out of the Tournament even before the loss to Rutgers. To say that finishing .500 in the conference would put us "in the discussion" is both unrealistic and disheartening. That's a pretty low standard to shoot for.

Also, Tory Jackson: "We have to outfight teams. We're not the tallest group. We're not the most athletic group," he said. "We have to be able to fight and not lay down or back off."

I can safely say that I have not seen a Notre Dame team in the last several years that consistently outfought its opponents. In the one big win of the year, against West Virginia, the Irish were still outhustled. The only thing that keeps ND in big games against superior opponents is a strong shooting streak, which is a tough thing to rely on.

NCAA Tournament Expanding

2010-02-01T14:59:00.003-05:00

The NCAA may be expanding its field to as many as 96 teams, perhaps as soon as next year. This has been on the table for a while and coaches love the idea, but like many fans I think this will be a disaster.

It will water down the best postseason in sports. There are many reasons why people hate the BCS. One that is commonly overlooked is how it continues to support mind numbingly pointless endeavors such as the "R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl." Middle Tennessee State and Southern Miss on national TV? No, thanks. Now imagine taking the next step and making a game like this one of many to decide the national championship.
In a similar vein, bad coaches will keep their jobs as bad teams can now "boast" about making the Tournament. While going back to the NIT this year could put Mike Brey on the hot seat, making an expanded tourney could provide inept athletic directors with enough reason to keep underachieving coaches around.
It will ruin the regular season. While the regular season is already overshadowed by what happens in March, it at least plays an important role in deciding who gets to compete for the big crown. The last few weeks before Selection Sunday are especially exciting as bubble teams fight for their playoff lives. Every game becomes must-win. Now those teams will be subpar programs in small conferences or really bad squads in the major leagues, who very few people will care about.

Rutgers 74, Notre Dame 73

2010-01-30T20:07:00.004-05:00

No excuses for this one. Rutgers is AWFUL. Harangody showed some terrible leadership with his shot selection and the rest of the team was dominated on the boards and played really poor defense. Give Rutgers credit for winning this one, they deserved it. The only positive aspect of this outcome may be a change in the future of the program. Time will tell.

The most frustrating aspects of this game come down to hustle. While the Irish certainly display really poor fundamentals with regards to boxing out and switching on defense, much of Rutgers' success on the boards and getting to the foul line just came from the fact that they wanted this one more. Don't tell me that Fred Hill is some coaching genius or that Rutgers has a strong talent advantage. This team will be lucky to win more than one or two more Big East games this season. All that mattered last night was that they outworked the Irish for 40 minutes on both ends of the floor.

Tory Jackson played the entire contest before fouling out with 19 seconds remaining. He was one of the four starters to be on the floor for at least 37 minutes. That's an insane distribution of playing time. He performed fairly well, with 11 points and 6 rebounds, but you cannot possibly convince me that a tired Jackson in crunch time is worth avoiding playing a freshman for 5 or 6 minutes in the middle of the contest.

Ben Hansbrough had a very impressive night statistically. 18 points on 6-12 shooting, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals. Unfortunately, two of his three-pointers did nothing more than reduce the margin in the final ten seconds. The high number of steals was due to Rutgers' poor decision making and ball handling ability (that's been a real issue for them all year) and Hansbrough's surprising talent for on-the-ball D. His real Achilles heel, however, comes when we need a guy to chase a shooter around get a hand in his face. Hansbrough may force the most turnovers on the team, but he isn't the guy you can call on to lock down someone like Mike Rosario.

A double-double for Abromaitis. He played 39 minutes and earned 4 fouls while going for 17 and 10. Again, I really have to question the intelligence of keeping so many guys in foul trouble on the floor. While most of Jackson's fouls came at the end of the game, Abromaitis picked up two in the first eight minutes of the contest. Most coaches would sit a star player for much of the rest of the half after that, but Mike Brey needlessly risked our number two scorer in an asinine attempt to keep a six man rotation.

Ty Nash had 6 points, 1 rebound, and 4 fouls. He is the biggest reason why Notre Dame was so dominated on the glass. Of course, my biggest beef with this has less to do with Nash's playing time (he only was on the floor for 26 minutes), but who replaced him when he came out of the game. Instead of turning to the second-best rebounder on the team, Coach Brey put in a backup point guard whose rebounding average barely bests Jack Cooley's. Carleton Scott's per-minute rebounding average puts him just below Harangody. Though he is abysmal on offense, he could hardly have performed worse than Peoples last night. Awful coaching by Brey.

If Luke Harangody plays like that for the rest of the year, Notre Dame will be better next season without him. I truly believe that. I like the comparison to Chris Thomas after last night's performance. Brey will never take the big man out for poor shot selection, which just allows him to continue to waste possessions and keep the Irish from performing to their potential as a balanced attack. He had twice as many attempts as any other player for Notre Dame, yet managed just two more points than Abromaitis and one more than Hansbrough. There were plenty of other problems with the Irish last night, but our All-American was a huge reason for why we lost to the worst team in the conference.

Off the bench, Peoples somehow earned 16 minutes. He didn't do much of anything but foul when he got the chance. I didn't catch the postgame quotes, but if there was an honest reason for why Carleton Scott didn't play until the final minute, please let me know. If this was simply an attempt to show Scott we could win without him, Mike Brey should be fired on the spot.

A lot of times, I try to diffuse some criticism after bad losses. It is a long season, but sometimes the team performs so poorly that I cannot disagree with the conclusions of many. Last night was the final straw. Though I like him a lot as a person and believe that he has done a tremendous job in bringing the program out of the mess of the '90s and putting us back on the college basketball landscape, there is no further doubt in my mind about what needs to happen at the end of the year. With any hope of the NCAA tournament gone and one of the best players in program history turning into a shadow of his former self, let me finally say it.

Fire Mike Brey.

Rutgers Questions

2010-01-28T21:33:00.001-05:00

From On the Banks of the Raritan:

1. It's been a rough month for Rutgers. What has gone wrong during this nine game losing streak?

RU is averaging 56.6 ppg through nine Big East games and its opposition is putting up 73.6 ppg. Mike Rosario is the team's only proven scorer and he's pretty easy to shut down when opposing teams know he's the only player that can explode offensively. As a result, Rosario has been pressing. He's shooting 27.5% from the floor. The team is turning the ball over way too much, averaging around 14 a game in league games. By the time they start to take better care of the basketball, they're often down 20 or more points.

2. How will the rest of the year go? Please tell me this isn't the second coming of 2009 DePaul.

Expectations aren't high. At least we have two games with DePaul this year. It worries me that DePaul somehow figured out to beat Marquette. Marquette has some real athletes. I hope we can manage at least a split with the Blue Demons, but a winless season in the Big East is a real possibility. Fred Hill won't be let go before the season ends, but he's losing the kids a bit more with each loss. He may have completely lost them at this point and that is sad for all involved.

3. Mike Rosario seems to be carrying the team with Echenique out. What has made him successful?

Rosario is struggling and until we get another guy to step up and consistently put points on the board, Rosario will continue to have a tough season. Mike has been scoring of late, 15 against Georgetown and 16 against Marquette, but he's still only shooting 41% from the floor. Unfortunately, we need him to drain shots with more efficiency. Teams are content to let him go 6-18 from long range.

4. Who else can step up to the plate to provide some additional scoring?

Junior Jonathan Mitchell and freshman Dane Miller have had big games. Miller went for 26 points against both Providence and Villanova while Mitchell struck for 21 against Georgetown. The problem is we can't get Rosario, Miller, and Mitchell to have solid games at the same time. Consistency is the problem. I expect one of them to lead the team in scoring while at least one of them will be a non-factor.

5. With no Echenique, does Rutgers have what it takes to stop Harangody in the post?

Hamady Ndiaye will give it all he's got, but if Notre Dame continually pounds the ball inside to Harangody it may get ugly. Harangody will likely get Ndiaye in foul trouble forcing RU to go to freshman Brian Okam. Okam will be overmatched and Harangody could have a monster game. Hopefully, Harangody will fall in love with the long-distance jumper against RU. In all likelihood, Harangody will have a great inside/out game. I just wonder who will be on hand to witness it. The team was selling $5 tickets. Never a good sign.

Rutgers Preview

2010-01-28T19:21:00.003-05:00

Villanova-
Pomeroy Ranking- 177th
Record- 9-11 (0-8)
Best Win- Drexel (124th)
Worst Loss- Vermont (173rd)
Pomeroy Prediction- ND 80-74

Key Players-
#3 Mike Rosario- 15.3 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 32.4% 3PA- Not the biggest shooting guard in the world, and not a very good shooter. Has 90 more attempts than any other guy on the team in spite of these facts. Pass it a bit, bud.
#24 Jonathan Mitchell- 10.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 34.6% 3PA- Florida transfer has added a decent perimeter shooter to the team. Only player besides Rosario to earn more than 25 minutes a game.
#5 Hamady Ndiaye-9.1 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 4.7 BPG- Bigtime senior shock blocker. Can disappear on offense at times but has blocked as many as ten shots in a game this year.

Scouting Report-

Give up plenty of offensive rebounds.
Turn the ball over a lot.
Currently struggling through a nine game losing streak.

Villanova 90, Notre Dame 72

2010-01-27T21:28:00.003-05:00

The Irish put up a good fight for 30 minutes, but the wheels came off near the end. A huge upset turned into a road drubbing very quickly.

A strong zone defense kept the Nova guards at bay throughout the first half but ultimately the small Wildcat lineup wore us down. Not only did Antonio Pena stay in the game and avoid foul trouble, but he outrebounded Luke Harangody and picked up his first double-double in 13 contests. Our All-American was unable to control the paint against the weakest interior team in the conference. This was a great opportunity for him to stamp himself as the player of year but just 5 points and 3 rebounds in the second half allowed Villanova to run away with things.

Tory Jackson had a so-so night, but he paled in comparison to the athleticism demonstrated by Nova's backcourt. All four of Villanova's starting guards outscored Tory, as did Maalik Wayns off the bench. He dished out 7 assists to just 3 turnovers, but couldn't take the ball to the basket and missed both of his free throw attempts.

Ben Hansbrough fouled out in just 19 minutes, as all of the Wildcat guards managed to get to the charity stripe. 7 points, 2 assists, and an uncharacteristic 3 turnovers. His foul trouble, a demonstration of his lack of comparative foot speed, just made him ineffective.

Tim Abromaitis had a really tough night shooting, but did the correct thing by getting to the foul line as often as possible. He shot 8-10 from there, managing 16 points on what otherwise would have been a very disappointing night. The ability to draw fouls and continue to contribute is a very veteran move. I was impressed by him on that account.

Ty Nash had 12 and 6. Not really a poor night statistically, but he was another culprit on defense with 4 fouls. Just 23 minutes on the floor for our power forward.

Luke Harangody kept the Irish close in the first half, but disappeared when the Wildcats took control. He displayed surprisingly poor foul shooting and turned the ball over four times. When you are outrebounded by such a perimeter-based program, much of the blame has to fall on our big guy for not having a bigger presence.

Off the bench, Peoples earned 25 minutes with all that foul trouble. He played pretty well, but the comparison between the kind of quickness demonstrated by Villanova and our backup point guard is quite comical. Carleton Scott played 11 minutes, but fouled 3 times and just pulled down a pair of boards. He made an effect on the ball with 3 blocks and a steal but was another reason why Villanova was able to win the rebounding battle. Joey Brooks earned 7 minutes. Though he is the most fundamentally sound defender I've seen on the team, he is at a bit of a disadvantage against such a small lineup. Jack Cooley got in for a few minutes, as well.

Tough loss, but not unexpected. We really have to bounce back and get at least four of the next five.

Villanova Q&A

2010-01-26T15:28:00.002-05:00

Thanks again to Villanova Viewpoint for providing the answers below:

1. Jay Wright and Mike Brey have been continuously compared since their days in the America East. While Brey had instant success in the Big East (three straight NCAA Tournament bids, one Sweet Sixteen), the Irish have been up and down since 2003. Villanova, however, has found a lot of success (especially in the NCAA Tournament) after Jay Wright's first three years wound up in the NIT. What has made Wright so successful over the last six years?

That's a complicated answer. Probably the most significant factor was that as time went on, Wright recruited players that fit into his system and philosophy, and as more Wright-recruited players assumed leading roles, the team improved.

However, he did not inherit a bad team from Steve Lappas, his predecessor, who had been here for nine years.. Lappas had gone to the NIT in his last two years (2000 and 2001), and he left some decent players to Wright, such as Gary Buchanan and Ricky Wright (ones that were good enough to get him into the NIT during his first two years, which were still dominated by Lappas recruits). It wasn't that he inherited bad players - not at all. It was that those players were recruited to fit into Lappas's motion offense, which Wright doesn't use.

Also, Wright did very well at developing his own recruits, once they got here. His second year (2002-03), there were really high expectations, because he had his core of Lappas-holdovers, plus Allan Ray, Randy Foye, Curtis Sumpter, and Jason Fraser - his first recruiting class filled with blue-chippers. But the team never found its way, and it only reached the NIT.

Finally, there was the fact that unfortunately, Fraser's career was wrecked by injuries. He had been the top post prospect in the country, and had he become a star, we probably would have made the NCAA tournament in both 2003 (Wright's 2nd year) and 2004 (Wright's 3rd year) - given that we almost made it anyhow. Instead, Fraser's injuries forced him into a supporting role, and we never had that dominant inside presence that Wright had hoped for.

So how did we get better?

One major reason, often overlooked, was that from the day Wright arrived here in the spring of 2001, Wright courted the Villanova students, and did so in a very genuine and sincere way. He knew that having intense student support was vital to success. (To the best of my knowledge, Lappas, although a genuinely nice guy, did not make any similar overtures to students.)

Wright would serve as MC at pep rallies. He decreed that during Pavilion home games, that the players should dramatically take the floor by descending through the main corridor of the student section (you won't see this tomorrow because it's at the Wachovia Center, which is where we usually play you.) At the end of every contest, win or lose, the players walk over to the student section, and acknowledge the intense support that the students had provided with their enthusiasm.

As a result of all of these practices, Wright was - instantaneously - a hugely popular figure on campus. And during those first three years when the team was struggling, the students - who were grateful for the attention and acknowledgments, that they hadn't received under Lappas - were always 100% behind Jay. The rabid student support helped Jay's teams enormously, even when the team was mediocre. They provided an environment that helped in the recruiting process. And the enormous home-court advantage that the students' enthusiasm has generated, has been a major factor, in ensuring that we've won 35 games in a row at the Pavilion.

Ironically, the only time we've played ND at the Pavilion - January 17, 2007 - was the first game of that current 35-game winning streak.

Thanks to Wright, Ray, Foye, and Sumpter developed into stars, and with more Wright recruits who fit into his style added, the team got better. He not only recruits well, but the players show marked improvement from one year to the next. His first NCAA year was 2005, and as the team has continued success on the court, the easier it becomes to recruit.

Another aspect was (this is a Philadelphia-centric answer) that Wright launched a major charm offensive, with the very sophisticated, talent-rich, and influential Philadelphia basketball community. And not just coaches and players, but the media, and the large metro Philadelphia fan base. We have six Division I teams in the region (ourselves, St. Joseph's, Temple, La Salle, Penn, and Drexel), and Villanova had been viewed suspiciously for a while, for a host of reasons too complex to go into here.

As a result, Villanova is now once more viewed as one of the family, and the city and region is really behind the team now. Which in turn leads to more fan interest and support, which leads to more success, and it has snowballed ever since 2005.

(Note: We generally play you at the Wachovia Center, because you're Notre Dame! And ND sells tickets. Due to the recent success, filling the Wachovia Center generally hasn't been difficult. But under Lappas, and during Wright's early struggles, Notre Dame was generally played in Philadelphia, because you guys really help fill up the building! And so it was more money for the program.)

2. Scott Reynolds has been one of the better players in the conference since his freshman campaign. How has his game changed over the course of his career?

He's just remarkably talented. He's from suburban Maryland, and he was all set to head to Oklahoma, but Kelvin Sampson left, and we were able to snap him up. He's been a star player since the day he got here. Reynolds started 32 of the 33 games during his freshman year (2006-07), and he averaged 14.4 points/game as a freshman.

One factor is that he happened to arrive, the year after the 2006 season (the one where we ended up with a #1 seed and reached the Elite Eight), since we lost our two star guards, Ray and Foye, to graduation after that season. So he had a chance to play a lot, right from the get-go.

I have never seen a player better at driving into the lane (especially at his size), and who can just float up layups that nobody else can make, and they always seem to drop in.

Of course, he is already a legend in Villanova history, thanks to The Shot (the drive against Pittsburgh in the Elite Eight at the buzzer last season... he's on track to score his 2,000th point soon...

3. Besides Reynolds, who are the impact players on Villanova's offense?

We're fortunate, in that we have a lot of Wildcats who can score. Here's a capsule on each one:

The Two Coreys - Fisher and Stokes (both juniors)

Fisher is a combo guard, like Reynolds, that can play either the "one" or "two". He averages 13.1 pts, which is really good when we consider that he only averages 26.9 minutes last year. Last year, we had an eight-man rotation, with Fisher as the sixth man - a role he played so well he was named Big East Sixth Man of the Year. He can take someone off the dribble, and can also shoot from beyond the arc.

Stokes is a forward, known as the Bayonne Bomber, due to his New Jersey hometown. His role is to take three-point shots, which he does a lot of, and he's also a 90% foul shooter. He averages 8.9 pts/game, and was the seventh player in last year's rotation.

Antonio Pena, a redshirt junior, is the most improved player on the team. He was the eighth man in the rotation, who would come in to spell Dante Cunningham or if he were in foul trouble. While he's always been a good rebounder and defender, he's turned into a potent threat underneath, averaging 10.7 pts/game. He can finish with authority, and he's also become adept at passing the ball to the guards in transition for easy baskets.

Taylor King, our current sixth man, averages 9.7 pts/game. He spent his freshman year at Duke and transferred, sitting out last season. But the year of practicing with the team really has paid off, as he's the glue of the team. He's a great three-point shooter, and because he's a "four", a lot of opponents' fours aren't fast enough to cover him out on the perimeter. He also just has a nose for the ball, and dives on the floor for loose balls all the time.

Finally, Reggie Redding is a senior "two" guard, whose role, historically, was as a defender and rebounder. He was suspended for the first semester this year, but since he's come back, he's starting to score more than he used to. He's averaging 9.3 pts/game, the highest of his career.

4. How will 'Nova counter Luke Harangody in the post? Can Pena be called upon to stay in the game and, if not, will the Wildcats have to go to a zone or double-team on the Irish star?

Although we of course miss Dante Cunningham, now with Portland, we could really use him tonight against Harangody. Given that even with Dante, Harangody scored 18 points with 7 boards against us last year.

Pena averages 3.1 PFs a game, and if he gets into foul trouble early, we're going to have major problems with Harangody. Our only other post options are Mouphtaou Yarou (everyone calls him Mouph, rhymes with "roof"), a freshman and a true five, who has good size and is a decent defender. But he's not as good as Pena, and in particular, he is much less polished than Pena on offense.

Mouph also is recovering from hepatitis, which he contracted right before the Puerto Rico Shootout at Thanksgiving, and he missed 11 games due to it. Since he's come back, he's still not 100%, and he's a 15-minute player right now, not more than that.

We also have our 11th man, Maurice Sutton, a redshirt freshman who needs to get bigger. Sutton's role is to block shots and come in when Pena is in foul trouble, to absorb the five fouls that we can't afford Pena to get. But that's all we can ask out of him. If Sutton has to play a lot tonight, we're in serious trouble with Harangody.

Jay likes to play man-to-man defense, but he'll adjust if necessary, and order a zone. Also, I could totally see using King in particular to help double-team Harangody from the four spot, especially if your gunners aren't dropping in threes in the beginning. There's also the possibility of using both Pena and Mouph at the same time, given Harangody's skills.

5. What is the ceiling for this Villanova team? Are they a legitimate national title contender?

This is a tough question, because of course, I'd like to think that we are a legitimate national title contender. This team is arguably better than the one that went to the Final Four last year, despite the loss of three starters, including an NBA player in Cunningham. That having been said, nobody (certainly, myself included) expected that we'd start the year 18-1 (it's the best start since 1950-51) and 7-0 in Big East play (the best ever in school history.

The big factor, of course, was that we ended up getting Reynolds back for another year, since the NBA mock drafts indicated he wouldn't be drafted.

Also, the rest of the players (Pena especially) have really improved, and Wright added the newly eligible King as the sixth man. Finally, Wright brought in another class, about which recruiting analysts raved.

Last year, we used seven guys plus Pena (and Pena wasn't anywhere near as good as he is now). We now can go 10, 11 if we count Sutton. The freshmen Wright brought in (Mouph, point guard Maalik Wayns, wings Dominic Cheek and Isaiah Armwood) have all made significant contributions to the team. Wayns is a true point who's really, really fast. Armwood's a superb defender, and Cheek just scored 17 points in a blowout win over Rutgers last week.

The big weakness is in the low post. You guys are going to give us trouble with Harangody. If we happen to draw teams in the NCAA tournament with dominant post players, that's a big matchup problem for us. But if we draw smaller, quicker teams, we have a real chance at another deep NCAA run.

Villanova Preview

2010-01-25T20:37:00.002-05:00

Eagerly anticipating a Q&A with Villanova Viewpoint, so I'll post that tomorrow and put the normal preview here.

Villanova-
Pomeroy Ranking- 15th
Record- 18-1 (7-0)
Best Win- Maryland (11th)
Worst Loss- Temple (30th)
Pomeroy Prediction- Nova 97-80

Key Players-

#1 Scottie Reynolds- 18.7 PPG, 3.4 APG, 42.4% 3PA- The star of the team since his freshman year, Reynolds has greatly improved his shooting this year. Field goal percentage is up almost 9% from last year.
#10 Corey Fisher- 13.1 PPG, 4.2 APG, 35.0% 3PA- Fisher has turned into more of the point guard with Reynolds shooting the ball so effectively this season. Has a positive A/T ratio in only one of his past four games.
#0 Antonio Pena- 10.7 PPG, 7.5 RPG- Has become a non-factor in the Big East after a string of very good nonconference performances. Double digits scoring in just one of his last eight games. His last double double has on December 2nd.

Scouting Report-

Great offense (3rd), above average D (69th)
No real weakness with the ball. They shoot a high percentage, get the the foul line, and rebound really well.
Biggest issue is fouling. Pena has fouled out in three of his last four games and had four fouls in the other. That's 19 in 4 games.

Big East Weekend

2010-01-24T16:19:00.002-05:00

With UCONN beating #1 Texas yesterday West Virginia knocking off #25 Ohio State yesterday, the conference picked up a pair of very nice nonconference wins to bolster the Big East's reputation. Since the Irish are currently projected to finish 9th by the end of the season, we will need for the selection committee to take as many Big East teams as possible. That also means that teams like UCONN, Louisville, and Marquette have to drop a few contests down the road. A Marquette win against Syracuse could have really set back Irish NCAA dreams.

Notre Dame 87, DePaul 77

2010-01-23T16:18:00.003-05:00

Decent win over a really bad team. After starting the game off at a breakneck pace, the game slowed down considerably. 21 points in the last 90 seconds of the game made this seem like a much more high-scoring affair than it truly was.

Will Walker had no trouble scoring 35 points, most of which came against our best defender in Tory Jackson. That's really the only negative point you can make. The Irish rebounded well, turned the ball over only twice, and played pretty decent defense against the rest of the Blue Demons. However, there is really no excuse for letting the clear star of the team have so much success.

I loved seeing Joey Brooks get into the game early in the first half. He has fantastic defensive fundamentals, keeps his head up, and moves his feet well. In the final seconds of the first half, he made a great play in backing off his man and causing a jump ball on a DePaul drive. There's no reason why this guy shouldn't be eating into Jonathan Peoples' minutes. Yet he disappeared in the second half and totaled just two minutes for the game.

Tory Jackson dished out 7 assists. He had a few nice drives into the Blue Demon zone that turned into points. We haven't seen that kind of assertiveness from Jackson as much this season, possibly an effect of having a more athletic backcourt mate. Can't argue with the numbers, however. He is still putting up big assist totals.

Hansbrough flirted with a triple double once again. 15 points, 7 assists, 10 rebounds. He shot well and played a pretty mistake-free game on offense today.

Abro was fantastic, scoring 30 points while making over half of his attempts. Add in 6 rebounds, a pretty solid total from the small forward position. He was overshadowed, however, by the three men with double-doubles. We haven't seen that since 2002.

Ty Nash had a pretty solid game. 13 points, 10 rebounds. Obviously, the competition was pretty weak today, but this performance is what we really need from him. 34 mistake-free minutes, a decent line from the charity stripe, and really good effort on both the offensive and defensive glass.

Harangody struggled with his shot at times, but still finished with some great scoring and rebound totals. He is now second all-time in career rebounds at ND and tied for third place in the Big East. Hats off to him for that. Hopefully he will continue to steadily rise up the rankings.

Not much bench production. Coach Brey kept his starters out there for 33+ minutes a piece. Once again, I am frustrated to see how Peoples managed to earn 12 minutes while Scott and Brooks got 10 minutes between them. To be honest, Brooks looked like the best player out of the three today. Maybe it's a product of only playing two or three minutes, but he was the only guy who seemed locked in on defense and showed off some good instincts.

On to Wednesday, a road trip to Nova. After that, the Irish will be favored in four of their next five games.

EDIT: Hats off to UCONN for what looks to be a VERY impressive win against #1 Texas.

DePaul Preview

2010-01-22T12:18:00.003-05:00

DePaul-
Pomeroy Ranking- 191st
Record- 8-10 (1-5)
Best Win- Marquette (ranked 22nd)
Worst Loss- Florida Gulf Coast (304th)
Pomeroy Prediction- ND 74-60

Key Players-

#30 Will Walker- 14.9 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 30.8 3P%- The lone star of the team with Mac Koshwal out. Shooting a low percentage from the field (35.2%) but still leading the team in scoring by far.
#25 Eric Wallace- 6.8 PPG, 5.4 RPG- Transfer from Ohio State is now the team's leading rebounder with the absence of Koshwal. I think that says more about the rest of the team than the ability of this 6'6" wing.
#11 Jeremiah Kelly- 5.9 PPG, 3.1 APG- The sophomore point guard has a good assist to turnover ratio, but has only dished out more than four in two games this season.

Scouting Report-

Second-to-worst free throw percentage in the country.
On offense, shoot the ball very poorly but don't turn it over a whole lot.
Rack up a decent amount of steals on defense as they switch between man and zone D.

EDIT: Scott Martin could return in February. You have to think that's a bit of a stretch, but the Irish could use all the help they can get in that final stretch run.

5 Questions for DePaul

2010-01-21T15:25:00.003-05:00

John from Chicago College Basketball has been kind enough to split a "Five Questions" segment with this blog in preparation for the DePaul-ND game on Saturday. Check out his site to see my answers to his questions in the coming days.

His answers to my questions about DePaul:

1. Obviously Jerry Wainwright's dismissal has been expected for some time, but what is the feeling around the program of his being fired midway through this season? Has Tracy Webster had any demonstrable effect on the team?

Everyone felt like a change was needed, most as far back as midway through last season. Wainwright was obviously not having an impact on the players anymore. There was a good start to the season, but ugly losses to Florida-Gulf Coast and American (at home), really got people up in arms. Webster has taken over the reigns of the program and done the best he can in a difficult situation. The Blue Demons still don't have the talent to consistently compete on the level of most Big East teams, but they're making up for it with effort. Webster has played different players and lineups than Wainwright, and he seems to be getting results. The defense has tightened back up and the victory over Marquette was a huge bonus for the program.

2. Who are a few candidates you would like to see DePaul go after to fill the permanent head coaching position?

The name that keeps popping up is Chris Lowery from Southern Illinois, but I'm a little hesitant considering his team's performance lately. One of the other names I like is Detroit's Ray McCallum. A longer discussion of the matter is here (http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-college-basketball/2010/01/possible-depaul-coaches-of-the-future.html). When Wainwright was fired Jean Lenti Ponsetto said that DePaul would pay for a top-level coach. If that's the case, then maybe the Blue Demons could draw every DePaul fan's dream, Brian Gregory, away from Dayton. Of course the Blue Demons have tried twice before to no avail, so it's probably going to be someone else.

3. After knocking off Marquette, the Blue Demons have one Big East win since 2008. What went right against the Golden Eagles after so much recent futility?

The Blue Demons aren't going to ever be a good offensive team. They scored 51 points on 53 possessions against Marquette, but the key was holding the Golden Eagles to 50 points, including just 18 in the second half. DePaul really clamped down on Lazar Hayward in the second half. He didn't score a point after totaling 14 in the first 20 minutes. Also, Will Walker played one of his best games of the season. He was aggressive, made shots and seemed to give the team great energy. The Blue Demons got out and guarded the perimeter as Marquette only attempted 12 threes and made just 4. Finally, Marquette choked a bit down the stretch. Still, it was a big win for DePaul.

4. Will Walker has carried the team this year, especially in the absence of Mac Koshwal. If any other DePaul player could surprise Saturday and make a big impact Saturday, who will it be?

Will Walker has been the guy, but I think Jeremiah Kelly might be the player that steps up in this one. Kelly is a good shooter when he can get open looks from the perimeter and in the few Notre Dame games I've seen thus far this season it appears like that happens quite a bit. Kelly is probably the best shooter on the team after Walker and I think he'll take advantage of the open space. Also, the hero from Wednesday, Mike Stovall, can get hot if given the opportunity. After his two clutch shots he'll certainly come in with a bunch of confidence.

5. Without Koshwal, how will the Blue Demons offset the inside scoring and rebounding ability of Luke Harangody.

What I said above about DePaul's ability to contain Lazar Hayward in the second half makes me optimistic that the Blue Demons can at least slow down Harangody. DePaul still has some big bodies in Krys Faber, Eric Wallace and Devin Hill. All three played a lot of minutes against Marquette as Tracy Webster went with a bigger lineup for most of the game. Each of them brings something different to the table. I'd expect to see Wallace trying to use his athleticism to both Harangody on the defensive end.

Michigan/Notre Dame Comparison

2010-01-20T15:00:00.002-05:00

This post was e-mailed to me today comparing the Wolverines' plight this season with that of the Irish a year ago. Interesting analysis.

The rest of the college hoops world is watching Jim Calhoun's health closely. He's back on a leave of absence after three bouts of cancer (it is unclear whether the current issue is related or not).

After Texas dropped on Monday, the final unbeaten is Kentucky. The Wildcats are not in action until Saturday. Georgetown/Pitt is a good matchup tonight, but has unfortunately been relegated to ESPNU.

Syracuse 84, Notre Dame 71

2010-01-18T22:28:00.002-05:00

The Irish fell behind by eight late in the second half and the deficit remained pretty much the same the rest of the way. Though ND closed the game to two with about ten minutes left, six straight Orange points kept it at arms length for good.

On offense, we saw mixed results against the 2-3 zone. Syracuse is so effective with that defense, holding the potent Notre Dame attack below 40% shooting for the game. Like against Northwestern, the Irish took awhile to get comfortable against a mostly zone team. Much of our success came on secondary breaks with the Orange unable to get settled. In the half-court, ball movement suffered a bit with the Irish finding a few opportunities in the low post with Tim Abromaitis or Luke Harangody running the baseline. Harangody is much more suited to this task as a true post player, while Abro seems better on the wing especially since it keeps Gody from getting touches near the top of the key which limit his effectiveness.

Defensively, Syracuse had their normal success in the paint. 261 pound Arinze Onuaku and 240 pound Rick Jackson took turns battering around our weak power forward combination (Ty Nash, Carleton Scott, and Abromaitis) and combined for 19 points and 11 boards. Onuaku has really taken a backseat this year with the arrival of Wesley Johnson, but he simply dominated Nash all night. Johnson is the real deal, the kind of player everyone hoped Scott would grow into. His 22 points and 8 boards looked so fluid and effortless. Andy Rautins is a true punk in the vein of Eric Devendorf, but was hot from the start. Ben Hansbrough could not defend him off the ball.

Tory Jackson struggled mightily shooting the ball and driving amongst the trees of the Orange, but made up for it a bit by finding open teammates in the holes of the zone. A career-high 15 assists on an otherwise forgettable night.

Hansbrough could not stick with Rautins off of screens enough to hold the fifth-year senior down. Though he is a much better on-ball defender than was Kyle McAlarney, he sometimes gets lost in man-to-man defense and makes poor decisions leaving his man to help out his teammates. Also struggled shooting the ball, 2-7 with all of his attempts from three-point land.

Abro was impressive, however. Though he certainly was nothing special on defense, it is certainly impressive that he was able to outscore one of the best players in the conference and be one of only two Irish players in double figures. He knocked down most open looks afforded to him against the zone and also had a bit of success finding open spaces in the low post.

Ty Nash had another awful performance. His last 32 minutes: 9 fouls, 2 rebounds, 1 point.

Harangody was very good, demonstrating a reborn effort on the glass with 14 rebounds and scoring all over the floor. He was most effective in the low post, like Abro, and is much more suited to it. Every possession in which he decides to catch the ball beyond the arc is a wasted opportunity. He turned the ball over just twice, but one was real backbreaker. With four minutes remaining and the Irish only down six, he went back into point guard mode and abruptly turned it over in transition. Though he certainly did more good than harm tonight, decisions like that are inexcusable for a senior All-American.

Off the bench, Carleton Scott really hit the glass well. 9 boards, 6 on offense, which repeatedly gave Notre Dame chances and kept this one competitive for as long as possible. On offense, however, the differences between Scott and Wesley Johnson are enormous. Johnson's quick first step and viable outside shot make him a scoring machine. Scott's jumper is unreliable at best and he lacks the mechanics and confidence to beat people to the rim. While there is still time for him to gain a bit of polish, I would hope we would see more flashes of scoring ability from him by now. Peoples had 13 forgettable minutes with 2 rebounds and 3 fouls. This was an interesting night, because our seven man rotation was equaled by Syracuse. The Orange clearly have more ability from top to bottom even with such a short bench.

Not a whole lot of people would have predicted a win tonight, but this makes the DePaul matchup critical. If the Irish can get an easy home win Saturday, they will face a tough Villanova team before hitting the easiest five-game stretch of the conference slate.

Syracuse Preview

2010-01-17T14:42:00.002-05:00

Added a new blog to the roll, On the Banks of the Raritan is a brand new Rutgers site. Check it out.

Quick turnaround now after a week between games. Syracuse comes to the JACC tomorrow night. If the Irish can bounce back with their second big home upset in a row, we'll be back on track.

Syracuse-
Pomeroy Ranking- 5th
Record- 17-1 (4-1)
Best Win- West Virginia (ranked 7th)
Worst Loss- Pittsburgh (ranked 24th)
Pomeroy Prediction- Syracuse 87-77

Key Players-

#4 Wesley Johnson-16.8 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 44.6% 3PA- The fantastic transfer from Iowa State is playing very well in his first year wearing orange. He's skinny at just over 200 lbs., but has enough athleticism to get to the basket. He will give us the same problems as Cincy's Darnell Wilks (8 rebounds in just 12 minutes)
#1 Andy Rautins- 10.4 PPG, 5.3 APG, 40.6% 3PA- The fifth year senior point guard exploded for 23 points against Rutgers, but is typically pass-first with a good three-point shot. Has also pulled down 15 rebounds in the last two games.
#25 Brandon Triche- 10.5 PPG, 3.1 APG, 44.9% 3PA- Tough to pick out the third-best player on the team because Boeheim spreads out the minutes very evenly, but this freshman has made a big impact with a great shooting ability on limited playing time. Scored 27 in 20 minutes against Oakland.

Scouting Report-

Very good on both ends of the floor (ranked 6th and 15th in offensive and defensive efficiency).
Own the paint, 2nd in the country in two-point shooting percentage and 5th in blocked shots.
Biggest weakness is turning the ball over. Only about 20 teams in the NCAA allow more steals.

Cincinnati 60, Notre Dame 58

2010-01-16T18:35:00.003-05:00

With very poor rebounding and atrocious free throw shooting, the Irish threw away a great opportunity to win one on the road. Cincinnati didn't deserve to take this one either, but they just managed to struggle a little less.

9-19 for Notre Dame from the charity stripe, a very surprising stat since ND typically puts together a pretty decent foul shooting team. Though we were able to overcome an offensive rebounding disparity against West Virginia, giving up 16 additional chances to the Bearcats ultimately led to our demise this afternoon. Fitting that the final points came on a Yancy Gates putback.

Harangody really hurt the cause, managing only 5-20 from the field with some really poor shot selection. His uncharacteristically poor foul shooting (2-6) was par for the course for ND. Good to see Joey Brooks get a little playing time, but overall this game was quite forgettable.

Tory Jackson bounced back after a few subpar nights on offense. 12 points on 6-8 shooting was good to see. He chipped in on defense with a couple steals, including one with 2:30 left in the game and the Irish holding onto a one point lead. That should have given us a chance to put the game away. Instead, the next possession led to two missed free throws, a huge wasted opportunity.

Ben Hansbrough was the culprit from the line with two minutes to go. He made a pair forty seconds earlier, but succumbed to the same issue as the rest of the team with a chance to go up three. He struggled shooting from outside, as well, but dished out five assists with no turnovers. Strange to see how he and Tory swapped roles a bit.

Tim Abromaitis also had some problems with his three-point shooting and was surprisingly rough from the line. Having missed only three attempts all year, he left three more points on the charity stripe. He did see some success hitting the glass, with 8 rebounds. Can't complain about his work in the paint, but he and Harangody didn't get nearly enough help boxing out.

Ty Nash fouled out in 13 minutes. No rebounds, one assist. A very poor showing when we needed a strong effort from our power forward.

Harangody was just awful on offense. 5-20, 14 points. His two point attempts were mostly related to midrange shots that would not fall. Normally very reliable from the foul line, he went 2-6.

Off the bench Peoples made a three pointer, but didn't do a whole lot other than that. Carleton Scott found a little success in 15 minutes, with 3 boards. Joey Brooks got on the floor for a couple minutes.

Once again, the team dropped this one for two reasons: lots of second chances for Cincy (especially Yancy Gates, including the game winner) and a really rough night on the foul line. Very frustrating to see a great chance slip through our fingers.

Cincinnati Preview

2010-01-15T12:21:00.002-05:00

A lot has changed since Cincy upset a top-ten UCONN team to start the Big East season. the Huskies have fallen to Georgetown and Pitt, dropping them to the middle of the conference. For itself, the Bearcat basketball program has also fallen on hard times, losing consecutive away games at Seton Hall and St. John's. This is still a tough opponent, but a much more winnable game than it seemed two weeks ago.

Cincinnati-
Pomeroy Ranking- 56th
Record- 11-6 (2-3)
Best Win- Vanderbilt (ranked 23rd)
Worst Loss- St. John's (ranked 82nd)
Pomeroy Prediction- Cincinnati 76-70

Key Players-
#33 Lance Stephenson- 12.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG- A small wing at just 6'5", he struggles shooting the three. Certainly a talented freshman, but can be neutralized by a zone defense or a soft man that forces him to stay on the perimter.
#5 Deonta Vaughn- 11.3 PPG, 3.6 APG, 34.7% 3PA- Not nearly the scoring threat he was as a sophomore, but the senior leader continues to contribute. Scored 20 against Seton Hall and had three straight 17 point games to begin the conference slate.
#34 Yancy Gates- 10.7 PPG, 6.6 RPG- The rebounding leader on the team, but just gets 24 minutes a game.

Scouting Report-

Never gets to the foul line.
Play pretty solid defense, top 25 in effective FG% allowed.
Rebound well on both ends of the floor.

Irish Football Just Keeps Getting Better

2010-01-13T18:07:00.003-05:00

As if Pete Carroll leaving wasn't good enough, USC's knee-jerk reaction hire of Lane Kiffin is a glorious thing to behold. Not only is Kiffin fantastically unaccomplished as a head coach, he's one of the most despicable personalities in college sports. If Southern Cal wanted someone who could clean up the program's image or return the Trojans to perennial national championship contenders, they failed dramatically on both accounts.

In college hoops, Purdue dropped again and there's a good Big East matchup between UCONN and Pitt on tap tonight. After today though, the good games are on hold until the weekend.

Harangody "Midseason" All-American

2010-01-12T17:26:00.002-05:00

Somewhat more impressive than the completely pointless honor of "Preseason All-American," Luke Harangody has been named an All-American by ESPN. The other first-teamers are John Wall, Jon Scheyer, Wesley Johnson, and Damion James. Jay Bilas' write-up is very complimentary:

"Some may believe that Harangody has not won at the same level of the other first-teamers, but it is not his doing. At times a volume shooter, Harangody has continued to be impossible to shut down and as productive a player as there is in the nation. Barring something strange befalling him, Harangody will lead the Big East in scoring and rebounding for the third straight season. As conference play begins, Harangody is averaging 25 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2 assists, while shooting 52 percent from the floor and 80 percent from the line. Harangody can step away, he can face you up and drive, and despite the best interior defenders and detailed scouting reports, nobody in the Big East can shut the big redhead down. Harangody will leave Notre Dame as the most productive big man ever in South Bend, and only Austin Carr will be in his category as an achiever on the stat sheet."

Crazy Weekend in College Sports

2010-01-11T08:07:00.002-05:00

Lots of upsets to watch in hoops the last couple of days, highlighted by Notre Dame's win on Saturday. Wisconsin beat Purdue, Georgia Tech defeated Duke, Mizzou took down K-State, and there were a pair of great Big East games in Marquette/Nova and UCONN/Georgetown. Yesterday, Kansas became the latest unbeaten to fall, dropping one on the road to the shorthanded gun totin' Volunteers.

Of course, none of that excitement equaled the news of Pete Carroll's departure from USC. At least for Irish fans, this ends an eight year reign of terror (leaving out Carroll's first season) and makes the upcoming football season even more interesting. Now, we'll just wait and see what kind of sanctions are about to drop (the Trojans are eligible for everything up to and including the death penalty).

Notre Dame 70, West Virginia 68

2010-01-09T22:10:00.005-05:00

Well I'm stunned.

The second half went much along the lines I expected the whole game. West Virginia's athleticism was too much against our man-to-man, racking up easy buckets on drives. The 2-3 zone was a good idea, but it opened up rebounding lanes for lots of Mountaineer second chances. Catch-22. The physical and tenacious West Virginia defense forced Notre Dame turnovers in bunches, as well. At the end of the day, the Irish gave up a 20 point lead and needed lucky bounce at the buzzer to hang out. But hang on they did, against the #8 team in the country.

That last possession was surprisingly handled very well. With just a two point lead and West Virginia ball, it was easy to give up all hope. However, Tim Abromaitis made a very heady foul (we had one to give and it killed a little time while disrupting the Mountaineer attack) and Tory Jackson's last second defense was spot-on. Hats off to the team and coaches for not folding on the final defensive chance as I know most of you expected them to (as I did).

The first half was all Irish. Every thing the team put up went through the basket, while the Mountaineers forgot to take the celophane off of the top of their hoop. Surprisingly good Irish D, 75% shooting. 20 point lead at the break. Great to see Joey Brooks getting significant playing time and contributing. I honestly expected the rotation to shrink to just six deep tonight.

Pure Huggins ball in the second period, which I have to admit I admire. They are athletic and tenacious and physical (even a bit thuggish at times) but are never outhustled. Sometimes you really wish Notre Dame would play with that kind of effort. Plenty of energy being expended on both ends of the floor, with high-intensity D leading to transition buckets and everyone crashing the rim on the offensive glass. The Irish were simply outclassed and went over ten straight minutes without a field goal.

West Virginia attempted twenty-nine more shots tonight. Credit the Irish D for holding them to 37.5% shooting. The Mountaineers would have been blown out of this game if it wasn't for their 18 offensive rebounds, but we knew going in how much of a factor that would play. While it's easy to get upset about how Notre Dame failed to box out, essentially shooting itself in the foot all second half, give some credit to West Virginia. They're damn good on the glass.

Tory Jackson struggled in the second half with 3 second half turnovers and had a lot of trouble putting the ball in the basket (1-7). However, he did dish out 7 assists and was pretty clutch from the line (3-4). His defense on that last possession was excellent, but Butler still almost pulled off a miracle.

Ben Hansbrough flirted with a triple-double. Had he not missed his last three free throw attempts, he would have finished just a basket and a rebound away from becoming just the second Irish player to achieve the feat. 10 assists, zero turnovers. If you follow the comments on this blog's posts, you know that there was a little discussion on how Ben and Tory have played together this season earlier today. I definitely think Hansbrough has had a bit of a negative effect on Tory's offensive performance this year and they make for an awkward pairing, but if he continues to fill the stat sheet like this he deserves some credit.

Tim Abromaitis was fantastic. 17 points, 8 rebounds, the best free throw stroke on the team. Once again, I really liked his last foul to break up West Virginia's final possession. If Coach Brey instructed him to use that, hats off for a surprisingly good defensive coaching tip.

Ty Nash had 13 and 6. Not too bad. He racked up four fouls and still has the ugliest foul shot I've ever seen, but was a perfect 5-5 from the field. He and Harangody needed to have better nights on the glass.

Harangody went through his rough patches with bad shot selection during ND's ten minute dry spell, but finished with a great line from the field. I can live with him just attempting 15 shots a game. That means we're counting on other guys for points and he's not playing out of his element. 30+ points don't mean a thing when you're losing to top-ten teams (see UCONN). 24 points tonight suits me just fine when it comes with a win. Should have picked up more than 5 assists. When your team is getting pounded on the offensive glass, your All-American needs to focus on making a difference on that end as well.

Off the bench, Brooks was great in his 9 minutes. He scored 5 points and impressed Coach Brey enough that the post-game interview sounded like we'll see him a bit more. Better late than never. Nothing from Peoples, except a very pretty steal which he promptly turned into an offensive foul. We'll see if Scott is back over the next several days. A week without games will need some news to fill it.

This is our best win in quite a long time. Enjoy it a bit. This just might make up for Loyola Marymount. Nice job, boys.

West Virginia at the Half

2010-01-09T20:52:00.003-05:00

45-25.

Notre Dame with the 45. Safe to say no one predicted this. The Irish have used tremendous ball movement (almost equaling their season average for assists in the first half) to put together 20 minutes of the best basketball we have seen from a Notre Dame team in a very long time.

Don't hold your breath just yet, there's still plenty of basketball to be played, but color me impressed.

West Virginia Preview

2010-01-08T10:09:00.004-05:00

Another top ten opponent for the Irish, this time at home. They'll need to extend the effort put forth against Connecticut for a full forty minutes tomorrow.

West Virginia-
Pomeroy Ranking- 8th
Record- 12-1 (3-0)
Best Win- Marquette (ranked 25th)
Worst Loss- Purdue (ranked 6th)- Much to my chagrin, the Paint Crew is looking very, very good this year.
Pomeroy Prediction- West Virginia 80-72

Key Players-
#1 Da'Sean Butler- 16.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 35.8% 3PA- Has always been a very talented wing who can both score and rebound, but has become a bit less selfish in his senior season, averaging 3.5 assists per contest. Even though he is taking two fewer shots per game than last season, his scoring average has remained high due to a field goal percentage that is almost six points higher than a year ago.
#5 Kevin Jones- 15.7 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 45.7% 3PA- This sophomore big could teach Harangody a thing or two about shooting the three. He's made one more three pointer in fifteen fewer attempts this year. Also has been great at scoring close to the hoop, with a 65% clip inside the arc. Just under half of his rebounds this year have come on offense and you can bet that many of those buckets were second-chance points.
#3 Devin Ebanks- 13.3 PPG, 8.6 RPG- Like Butler, he has had some success finding open scorers (3.1 APG). Missed significant playing time earlier in the year for unexplained personal reasons. Though most of the Mountaineers struggle with free throws, Ebanks is not the guy you want to foul. He's at 82% for the season. Da'Sean Butler is second on the team, just slightly under 80% himself.

Scouting Report-

Just like last year, they attack the offensive glass with tenacity. They don't shoot an overly impressive percentage from the field but have built a top five offense out of second-chance points.
Play pretty good, physical defense. A few blocks and forced turnovers here and there combined with contested shots have them giving up less than 0.9 points per possession.
Can go nine or ten deep, which is important for a physical Huggins team.

EDIT: In othe news, good luck to Chris Quinn as he hopes to revive his career in New Jersey. He had found some success for a few years in Miami but had gotten buried on the Heat depth chart this year. He still remains one of the more surprising Notre Dame professional stories and one of my alltime favorite Irish players.

Fifteen Games Left

2010-01-06T18:05:00.002-05:00

At 2-1 in the Big East, the Irish stand on the precipice of three distinctly different five game stretches.

The first, which includes games against three top ten teams, will have a significant effect on any NCAA Tournament hopes. 1-4 here could finish Notre Dame off before we even reach the halfway point of the conference season. Predicted scores are by Ken Pomeroy, followed by the predicted number of possessions and percentage chance of victory.

Sat Jan 9	(10) West Virginia	L, 79-73	66	28%	Home
Sat Jan 16	(56) Cincinnati	L, 77-70	67	26%	Away
Mon Jan 18	(5) Syracuse	L, 89-79	74	21%	Home
Sat Jan 23	(183) DePaul	W, 75-62	62	90%	Home
Wed Jan 27	(29) Villanova	L, 92-80	72	17%	Away

The Irish reach a nice run of easier games, all of which are very winnable. Sweeping these contests, or even taking four of five is extremely important.

Sat Jan 30	(157) Rutgers	W, 78-74	69	65%	Away
Thu Feb 4	(56) Cincinnati	W, 74-73	67	56%	Home
Sun Feb 7	(77) South Florida	W, 74-70	65	65%	Home
Thu Feb 11	(58) Seton Hall	L, 90-83	75	27%	Away
Sun Feb 14	(87) St. John's	W, 77-72	67	70%	Home

Finally, a death march to end the year. ND was unlucky to land five of its most difficult games right at the end of the year. Even one win here would be a very good accomplishment.

Wed Feb 17	(34) Louisville	L, 87-77	72	19%	Away
Wed Feb 24	(27) Pittsburgh	L, 72-70	64	42%	Home
Sat Feb 27	(14) Georgetown	L, 82-69	68	12%	Away
Wed Mar 3	(37) Connecticut	L, 79-78	71	47%	Home
Sat Mar 6	(23) Marquette	L, 84-72	67	15%	Away

Though the loss to Loyola Marymount was a huge disappointment that seriously affected our Tournament hopes, I think that final stretch of games is still what will make or break this season. Regardless of Notre Dame's overall conference record (it probably should be 10-8 at least to make the right side of the bubble), those last five games could have the Irish reeling while under the committee's microscope. Of course, if this team cannot pull out an extra win or two in January or drops a game it should win, the final games won't matter.

Notre Dame 74, South Florida 73

2010-01-05T21:14:00.005-05:00

A win on the road in the Big East is always great to see, but this one got way too close at the end. Ultimately, however, you have to be happy about closing out a close game. Especially with the ball in Luke Harangody's hands in the final seconds as opposed to our normal point guard isolation.

With 10:30 left, the Irish held a 13 point lead with some sizable momentum following a back-and-forth first half. Cue the six minute scoring drought. As the Irish went 0-7 from the field, South Florida was able to cut the deficit down to one and the game stayed close from there on in. Bad stretches like that happen, but you can withstand them with good defense. Once again, the Irish allowed a team to perform well over its season average efficiency (13 points higher, in fact) with almost 53% shooting from the floor. We can't just count on our scoring ability to bail this team out consistently.

In the final six and a half minutes, 8 of our last 14 points came from the foul line including really important contributions from Tory Jackson and Ty Nash. Those are two guys who have struggled in the past from the charity stripe so hopefully this clutch shooting will continue. We'll need them on the floor in the closing minutes of key games to come this year.

I did like how the team did not flinch when things started to crumble in the final minutes. Down 2 with 1:48 remaining, the Irish went back to its All-American for a tying bucket, counted on some clutch points from Ty Nash once again, and finally won the game by putting the ball in Harangody's hands with a chance to draw a foul and win it with a free throw. Any Notre Dame basketball fan has seen the same ineffective last second point guard play dozens of times. Coach Brey changed it up tonight and he really deserves some credit for this one-point win.

Jackson had some trouble shooting the ball, but was a perfect 4-4 with his free throws. He's 58% this year, but made them when they counted tonight.

Ben Hansbrough was completely off, especially down the stretch. He nearly killed us in the final minutes and finished 1-6 for 3 points.

Tim Abromaitis also struggled to finish with 10 points. Though four players scored in double figures tonight, clearly Luke Harangody carried the team. That scares me a lot and I do not think we can win any games of consequence with that formula, but it worked tonight.

Ty Nash had a very respectable 11 and 7, but once again those foul shots were what made the difference. 5-6 from the line for him, just about perfect in a couple very high pressure situations. He's also just 57% from there for the year.

Harangody took five three pointers again, but he made four of them. Go figure. His 23 shot attempts were nearly double that of any other Notre Dame player. Too often the team looks to him for option A, B, and C on offense, but clearly we needed it tonight. 36 points with just 6 rebounds. South Florida was able to convert a frustrating amount of second chances when the Irish needed defensive stops, but Harangody and Nash also chipped in with offensive rebounds for Notre Dame.

Off the bench, just 3 points. Notre Dame's lack of an effective bench was less noticeable than usual due to South Florida going basically just six deep. Kudos to Scott for snagging 5 rebounds in his 8 minutes and hitting a three, but you have to wonder why he wasn't on the floor more when his defense and athleticism could have made a difference.

Though the way ND almost gave the game away in the final minutes does not rest well, the ultimate result is a very positive one. Make no mistake, USF is a talented team. We were predicted to lose this by Ken Pomeroy and very well could have, but a Big East win on the road is what we're heading home with. Time to bunker down for a tough upcoming three game stretch (West Virginia, @ Cincy, and Syracuse).

South Florida Preview

2010-01-04T14:00:00.002-05:00

South Florida-
Pomeroy Ranking- 70th
Record- 10-3 (0-1)
Best Win- Virginia (ranked 58th)
Worst Loss- Central Michigan (ranked 191st)
Pomeroy Prediction- South Florida 74-69

Key Players-
INJURED #24 Augustus Gilchrist- 18.8 PPG, 7.4 RPG- Had the Bulls off to a record start before injuring his ankle in early December. Should be out until late January.
#20 Dominique Jones- 17.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 4.5 APG, 38.3% 3PA- The star of the team is now a junior. He's having his most efficient season yet. Though the scoring average is down, he scored 23 points a game in the four nonconference contests without Gilchrist. Was a nonfactor against Louisville before fouling out.
#31 Jarrid Famous- 11.2 PPG, 7.6 RPG- The seven footer formed a great tandem with Gilchrist before the injury. Now he's been called to a bigger role, with three double-doubles in the past five games.
#3 Chris Howard- 9.8 PPG, 4.2 APG, 33.3% 3PA- A pretty reliable five-year senior point guard. Now boasts an A/T ratio over 2 with his highest scoring average ever.

Scouting Report-

Mediocre offense, but above average defensively (41st).
Get to the line a reasonable amount, but only shoot 66% from there.
Can go eight or nine deep, but only six guys have gotten double-figure minutes in their past two games.

This was a pretty good team without Gilchrist but still has a lot of talent. If they can keep everything together until he gets back, watch for the Bulls to make a run at the NCAA bubble with four of their last six games at home.

USC Sanctioned

2010-01-03T21:14:00.002-05:00

USC has imposed sanctions on itself following an investigation into the improprieties of the O.J. Mayo and Tim Floyd era:

Ban on postseason competition for this season (including the Pac-10 tourney)
Vacating all wins from the 2007-08 season (they went 21-12)
One fewer scholarship for this season and next
One fewer coach allowed to recruit off campus next season
Twenty fewer recruiting days next year

Obviously the NCAA could impose more sanctions, but I'd guess they are unlikely to do so. The whole situation with Mayo was suspicious from the beginning and seems to exude the culture of corruption that is Southern Cal.

Connecticut 82, Notre Dame 70

2010-01-02T17:52:00.003-05:00

A great effort on the road goes to waste as the Irish attack wore down in the final minutes. As frustrating as it is to let a three point game get out of hand in the final five minutes, the whole contest seemed to follow Connecticut's season theme of playing down to lesser opponents. Ultimately, it's hard to win a lot of games when you allow 50% shooting from the floor on defense.

Once again, our bench was comically short. It has to be pretty frustrating for the freshmen to only get a minute of mopup time once we're out of contention in a Big East game. I guess it's best to hope we don't see them at all (unless in the unlikely event we have a few blowouts go our way the rest of the year). The minutes distribution amongst our veterans was also a bit perplexing. With Ty Nash only playing 21 minutes, we played a small lineup for half of the game. No wonder the rebounding numbers favored the Huskies. Even though Nash was ineffective in the second half, we can't rely on Jonathan Peoples and Tim Abromaitis to win the rebound battle over bigger and more athletic Big East forwards. That's where a few good minutes from a guy like Broghammer would be golden.

The preview focused on how Connecticut stops strong offenses with its shot blocking ability. Tonight was pretty close to the norm. The Huskies blocked eleven Notre Dame field goal attempts, two more than their season average. Partially as a result of that the Irish managed only 40% from the field, even though they made a pretty decent average of three-point attempts.

Tory Jackson played 40 minutes with 8 assists and only 2 turnovers. Unfortunately, he struggled to create baskets himself. His six points came on two three pointers, with nothing close to the basket. He's just a couple inches too small to get to the rim a la Jerome Dyson or even Kemba Walker. Sure he's an 1000-point scorer, but his four-year starting career will most likely end with only one season averaging double-digits.

Ben Hansbrough fouled out after 38 decent minutes. Like Jackson, his points came from the perimeter. Three of his layup attempts were blocked, and he finished 1-6 on two-pointers for the game. We just don't have a real Big East driving threat in the backcourt.

Abro struggled against Stanley Robinson's good defense and looked a bit spooked in his first game against really tough man defense. It was a good learning experience, but one that should have taken place a year or two ago. This game was a good example of why young players should get a taste of real playing time before they are thrust into the regular rotation. 8 points on 3-9 shooting, he'll get it back together.

Ty Nash had 11 and 8, but only one basket in the second half. His minutes were slashed and he really was not a factor when it mattered. Maybe he isn't the answer full-time, but we need someone in the same mold to help out Luke Harangody in the paint (especially as he continues to play like a wing). Tim Abromaitis and Carleton Scott are much better suited at the 3, so why not give one of the freshman bigs a shot?

Harangody was solid, but continues to feel too comfortable on the arc. He made one of four three point attempts, right on his season average. He has now exceeded the number of three-point attempts from last year. That's very bad. 31 points and 9 rebounds is a great bottom line, but our offense suffers when Luke takes twice as many shots as anyone else. On defense, his post D has really taken a hit this year. He struggles in the post against big guys.

No bench points. Peoples played 12 turnover-filled minutes. Scott passed out two assists and blocked one shot.

On to South Florida. A loss here and we're behind the eight-ball already.

Connecticut Preview

2010-01-01T13:07:00.002-05:00

We'll find out a lot about this Irish team tomorrow. The Huskies will be ready to go after dropping a road contest to Cincinnati on Wednesday.

Connecticut-
Pomeroy Ranking- 41st
Record- 9-3 (0-1)
Best Win- Harvard (ranked 74th)
Worst Loss- Cincinnari (ranked 61st)
Pomeroy Prediction- UCONN 83-74

Key Players-
#11 Jerome Dyson- 20.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 4.8 APG, 32.1% 3PA- The Huskies' MVP so far. He's stepped into a much bigger role this season and contributes all over the floor. To stop him, it's best to give him a little room to shoot on the wing. Don't let this guy beat you off the dribble. Also averages 3.3 turnovers a contest, one of the weaknesses for this team.
#21 Stanley Robinson- 17.4 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 57.1% 3PA- Another guy who has really improved this year. Doesn't shoot a lot from the perimeter, but he has been hitting them when open. 7-11 in his past three games.
#15 Kemba Walker- 12.9 PPG, 6.1 APG, 41.4% 3PA- The sophomore floor general has doubled his assist output with the graduation of A.J. Price. His scoring output has lessened a bit in the last couple of weeks, after a couple 20 point games in the beginning of the year.

Scouting Report-

Block the most shots in the country, even without the overrated 7'3" behemoth.
Along with that, they play great defense inside the arc, but allow a reasonable three-point percentage (93rd in the country).
Allow the fifth-fewest free throw attempts per shot, another result of their shot-blocking prowess.

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T23:10:00.001-05:00

Here's hoping that your 2009 went well and that 2010 will be even better.

Notre Dame 93, Providence 78

2009-12-30T22:57:00.002-05:00

Solid win to start the conference season. A great first half had the Irish looking at a blowout victory, but the team let Providence sneak back into it with sloppy play out of the break. Once the dust settled, however, you can chalk this one down as a solid Irish win led by some unexpected individual performances on offense.

In the first half, Irish shooting was red hot (well above 50% from the floor) and the home team stretched its lead to 21 by the buzzer. Providence came back with a 13-1 run to start the second period, helped in a large way by some bad decision making from ND players on offense.

Notre Dame Possessions in the Second Half:

Tim Abromaitis fouled (23 seconds left on shot clock)
Luke Harangody missed jumper (20 seconds left on shot clock)
Abromaitis missed layup (3 seconds left on shot clock)
Tory Jackson missed three pointer (30 seconds left on shot clock)
Harangody missed jumper (19 seconds left on shot clock)
Ben Hansbrough missed three pointer (30 seconds left on shot clock)
Ty Nash missed layup (24 seconds left on shot clock)
Harangody fouled on putback- 2 missed FT
Nash turnover (24 seconds left on shot clock)

In a critical four minute stretch, Notre Dame went 0-6 from the floor, 1-4 from the foul line, and turned the ball over once. Even with three offensive rebounds, the Irish managed only one point in six trips down the floor. With such a big lead, all we needed to do was drain the clock and look for good scoring opportunities. Instead, seven of our eight shooting attempts (including the two on which ND players were fouled) came with well over half the shot clock remaining. That's poor clock management and shot selection. The result? A 21-point steamrolling decreased rapidly into an 11 point lead, making this game competitive once again.

In the final sixteen minutes, however, the team woke up and refused to let the Friars get any closer. Though the margin never allowed Coach Brey to rest any of his core players (with the exception of a 3 minute stretch by Carleton Scott, this was clearly a six-man rotation), a double-digit win to start the Big East slate is certainly a good result.

Five players finished in double-digits scoring, a great demonstration of balanced scoring that could bode well for the future. Our All-American looked awful all night, but Jonathan Peoples made a big splash off the bench with a career-high and team-high 23 points. Abro was great in his first Big East start and Ben Hansbrough and Tory Jackson proved to be a very unselfish backcourt tandem.

Tory played all 40 minutes, scoring 11 points and dishing out 7 assists. He missed both of his three point attempts, but was 4-5 inside the arc and found some success taking the ball to the basket.

Ben Hansbrough helped out with 11 assists of his own. Unlike Tory, he looked a bit out of control at times and turned it over on four occasions. Of course, a 2.75 assist-to-turnover ratio is still pretty damn good. He struggled from beyond the arc, even with some good looks. 1-5 out there, though he did get a few from the line and inside the arc to finish with 10 points. 8 rebounds for the night, as well, a near triple-double. I have said previously that Tory Jackson could be the second guy for Notre Dame to pick up a triple-double in the school's history, but Hansbrough just might beat him to it.

Abro had 22 points in his frist significant minutes playing in the conference. 5-8 beyond the arc, 8-14 from the floor. Chip in 7 rebounds, 4 of which came on offense. He did struggle with the ball on a few occasions, like Hansbrough, and turned the ball over 5 times.

Ty Nash was the only starter with fewer than 10 points for the night, but had a very successful game with 8 points and 8 boards. That's the kind of game we need from him in conference contests this year.

Luke Harangody was just awful. Bad shot selection the whole game, 6-21 for the night, and a horrid performance from the foul line. He gave away seven points on free throws alone. He did finish with 19 points because he attempted so many shots, but it really was an inefficient night for the big guy. 13 rebounds was a highlight, however, including 5 on offense. With the team clicking without him, I wish Coach Brey or someone would have pulled Luke aside and told him to stop wasting possessions with off-balance looks out there. It's rare, but there are games where Gody is a negative influence out there. Tonight was one of those occasions.

Peeps finished with 23, 6-7 from the field. He had a career-high scoring by the end of the first half and sunk all five three pointers. Throw in 6 rebounds for good measure. For a guy who has struggled so much this season, it was good to see him pull through for us tonight. Carleton Scott played just three minutes. This is a six-man rotation. I don't envy how these guys will be feeling by the end of a long Big East season.

Led by Gody, the team struggled shooting free throws with an uncharacteristicly low 61%. The game was won with great shooting in the first half and 50% from the beyond the arc for the night. Providence isn't that great as a team, though, and we'll find out a lot about how the Irish stack up with really good Big East competition at UCONN on Saturday.

Providence In-Game

2009-12-30T21:23:00.003-05:00

Congrats to Cincy for taking down 10th ranked UCONN tonight. This conference is looking much deeper than anyone thought at the beginning of the year after three top ten teams struggled against unranked opponents.

EDIT: HUGE first half for the Irish. Peoples 5-5 from three. What a great start to conference play.

Providence Preview

2009-12-30T00:35:00.002-05:00

A pair of really great contests in the Big East today. Both Marquette and Seton Hall looked much better than anyone expected as they took West Virginia and Syracuse down to the wire. Providence awaits the Irish tomorrow, one of the few teams that statistically ranks lower than ND in this conference.

Providence-
Pomeroy Ranking- 92nd
Record- 8-4
"Best" Win- George Washington (ranked 96th)
Worst Loss- Iona (ranked 130th)
Pomeroy Prediction- ND 94-86

Key Players-
#21 Jamine Peterson- 6'6", 230 lbs.- 17.8 PPG, 10.9 RPG, 31.1% 3PA
#2 Marshon Brooks- 6'5", 190 lbs.- 15.4 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 43.8% 3PA
#4 Sharaud Curry- 5'10", 170 lbs.- 13.0 PPG, 4.2 APG, 23.9% 3PA

Scouting Report-

Attack the offensive glass as well as anyone (2nd in the country).
Reliable with the basketball (19th fewest turnovers)
Don't force a lot of turnovers on defense.

Big East Preview: Part II

2009-12-28T22:16:00.002-05:00

Big East Teams (By Pomeroy Ranking)-

Syracuse (4th)-

Jim Boeheim's squad hopped onto the national radar with a 16 point win over North Carolina back in November. Syracuse was ranked 24th at the time, the Tar Heels 4th in the nation. The Orange also boast wins over Cal and 11th-ranked Florida (starting the Gators three-game losing streak). The 2-3 zone has been strong this year, ranking 11th in the nation in defensive efficiency. On offense, Syracuse leads the country in effective field goal percentage. The top four scorers on the team have shot 60% or better on the year. It's hard to lose when a guy like Wesley Johnson (Iowa State transfer) has been unstoppable from all over the floor, including 52.4% from three-point range.

West Virginia (5th)-

The other unbeaten team in the Big East boasts a pair of nonconference victories over Texas A&M and Ole Miss, and now a victory over Seton Hall. Last year's edition of the Mountaineers finished the season ranked in the top ten by Ken Pomeroy, but the statistical dominance didn't exactly lead to the kind of success Bob Huggins wants to see in Morgantown. This season should be more successful in the win column. As the Irish learned last year, this program loves to dominate the offensive glass. They are ranked fourth in offensive rebounding percentage this season, led by Devin Ebanks (17 boards against Seton Hall) and Kevin Jones (14 in that game, as well).

Georgetown (18th)-

After a very disappointing 2009, the Hoyas are back near the top of the conference. Wins over Butler, Washington, and Temple have given this squad some credibility. The loss to Old Dominion was a bit disappointing, but the Monarchs are certainly a mid-major team to watch this year. Greg Monroe is starting to look like the player he was hyped to be out of high school, averaging a double-double, and a stable of good guards have the team playing great defense. They won't beat a lot of teams in a shootout, as evidenced by their 46-45 snorefest with Temple, but the Princeton offense does just enough to make this team a winner.

Villanova (30th)-

The preseason favorite has been less than impressive in stretches this year, but they still hold onto a top ten spot in the polls. Jay Wright has been compared to Mike Brey throughout their Big East careers and has taken the clear advantage over the last few seasons with his superb results in the postseason and recruiting. He entered this year with a fantastic opportunity to take the Big East title and mark himself as one of the elite coaches in college basketball. Now the Wildcats find themselves on a tier below looking up at the top two schools. Like ND, they have a very potent offense but struggle on the defensive end of the ball (92nd). The lone loss was to a talented Temple team.

Marquette (31st)-

Outplaying their expectations, the Golden Eagles boast a neutral-site win against Xavier and have performed better than expected in their three losses, including an away contest to intrastate rival Wisconsin. They have combined a top 25 offense with a workable D to leap from a probable NIT bid to competing for a Big East top four finish. Jimmy Butler has been fantastic, ranking 5th in the country with a 142.1 offensive rating.

Pittsburgh (36th)-

Bad loss to Indiana, blown out by Texas, and nothing too exciting the rest of the way. Bad offensively (109th) with a top 20 D. One of the slowest teams in the country, with just 63.3 possessions per game.

Seton Hall (39th)-

Jeremy Hazell is the big star here. He's the second highest scorer in the league with 21.9 points per game. They don't turn the ball over a lot and play pretty solid defense. Yet another Big East team that played Temple, losing 71-65.

Connecticut (41st)-

Lost their two games against good opponents (Duke and Kentucky). Gavin Edwards and Co. block a lot of shots on defense, even without Hasheem Thabeet.

Louisville (45th)-

Surpisingly weak defense so far for a Rick Pitino-coached team. Bad losses at home to Charlotte and Western Carolina. No real nonconference opponents of note.

South Florida (51st)-

Bad loss at home to Central Michigan with no really tough nonconference competition. Pretty much above average as a team across the board.

St. John's (59th)-

Beat Temple, making the Owls 2-2 against the Big East. Lost to Cornell and Duke. D.J. Kennedy has been very good so far this year (16.7 PPG).

Cincinnati (60th)-

Lost to good mid-majors Xavier, Gonzaga, and UAB. Boast a top-25 D but are pretty average scoring the ball.

Notre Dame (77th)-

And here we are. Easily the biggest differential between our strength (offense- 4th) and weakness (defense- 256th). Worst D in the conference, and it ain't even close.

Providence (86th)-

Lost to Iona and BC at home. Jamine Peterson scores 17.8 per game.

Rutgers (171st)-

Block a lot of shots and have held opponents to just 40.5% inside the arc (average nationwide is 47.7%). Mike Rosario is amongst the league's top scorers.

DePaul (188th)-

Just a hair better than last year's awful team. Lost to American and Florida Gulf Coast. Jerry Wainwright is on his way out.

Big East Preview

2009-12-27T21:32:00.002-05:00

West Virginia takes the early lead in the Big East after an overtime win against Seton Hall. The Irish kick off their conference slate on Wednesday.

Once again, the preseason coaches poll from October:

	Pts.
1. Villanova (10)	218
2. West Virginia (5)	215
3. Connecticut (1)	185
4. Louisville	179
5. Georgetown	161
6. Syracuse	152
7. Cincinnati	135
8. Notre Dame	132
9. Pittsburgh	119
10. Seton Hall	110
11. St. John's	82
12. Marquette	78
13. Providence	52
14. USF	44
15. Rutgers	43
16. DePaul	15

*First-place votes in parentheses

2009-10 BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year

Luke Harangody, Notre Dame

2009-10 BIG EAST Preseason Rookie of the Year

Lance Stephenson, Cincinnati

2009-10 Preseason All-BIG EAST First Team

Luke Harangody, Notre Dame (Player of the Year), F, Sr., 6-8, 255, Schererville, Ind.

Deonta Vaughn, Cincinnati, G, Sr., 6-1, 190, Indianapolis, Ind.

Greg Monroe, Georgetown, C, So., 6-11, 247, New Orleans, La.

Lazar Hayward, Marquette, F, Sr., 6-6, 225, Buffalo, N.Y.

Scottie Reynolds, Villanova, G, Sr., 6-2, 195, Herndon, Va.

Da'Sean Butler, West Virginia, F, Sr., 6-7, 225, Newark, N.J.

2009-10 Preseason All-BIG EAST Second Team

Jerome Dyson, Connecticut, G, Sr., 6-3, 190, Potomac, Md.

Kemba Walker, Connecticut, G, So., 6-1, 172, Bronx, N.Y.

Samardo Samuels, Louisville, F, So., 6-9, 260, Trelawny, Jamaica

Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall, G, Jr., 6-5, 185, Bronx, N.Y.

Dominique Jones, USF, G, Jr., 6-4, 205, Lake Wales, Fla.

Devin Ebanks, West Virginia, F, So., 6-9, 210, Long Island City, N.Y.

a tie in the balloting created six positions

2009-10 Preseason All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention

Stanley Robinson, Connecticut, F, Sr., 6-9, 210, Birmingham, Ala.

Arinze Onuaku, Syracuse, C, Sr., 6-9, 275, Lanham, Md

Non-Conference Scoring Leader-

Luke Harangody- ND- 24.2 PPG

Non-Conference Rebounding Leader-

Herb Pope- Seton Hall- 11.8 RPG

Non-Conference Assists Leader-

Kemba Walker- Connecticut- 6.3 APG

Non-Conference Steals Leader-

Andy Rautins- Syracuse- 2.7 SPG

Non-Conference Three Point Percentage Leader-

Darius Johnson-Odom- Marquette- 55.6%

Notre Dame Statistical Leaders-

Tory Jackson/Ben Hansbrough- 1st and 2nd in Assist to Turnover Ratio
Luke Harangody- 1st in Defensive Rebounds
Tim Abromaitis- 1st in Free Throw Percentage

Bowling

2009-12-26T14:58:00.005-05:00

Congratulations to Marshall University for creating the absolute worst school commercial in the country. Of course, I've now watched different variations of it six times and the little ukulele ditty is now stuck in my head, so who's the fool?

After Marshall/Ohio is over, we do have a couple interesting bowl games on tap today, capped off by USC/BC. Now, that's a tough call on who to support.

West Virginia/Seton Hall is a great basketball option, as well. It's on CBS at 3:30. I will try to get in a Big East preview tomorrow or Monday before the conference slate kicks off in full force Tuesday.

Tomorrow will also be dominated by the NFL, as my Broncos have a chance to clinch a playoff spot at Philly, provided a lot of other things go their way. So enjoy a little more time off from hoops this weekend. The season begins in earnest next week.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T20:06:00.000-05:00

And a very happy holiday season to you and yours.

Around the Country

2009-12-23T22:40:00.001-05:00

Texas rolled against Michigan State in a battle of Top Ten teams last night. Christmas will give us a couple of days away from the hardwood, with West Virginia and Seton Hall starting off the Big East season on Saturday. The Hawaii Bowl is tomorrow night, though Nevada and Southern Methodist don't make that great a matchup. Saturday presents two schools Irish fans love to hate, SC and Boston College, in the ever-prestigious Emerald Bowl. Should make for something decent to play in the background at your holiday parties.

Notre Dame 101, Bucknell 69

2009-12-22T20:35:00.004-05:00

Good win for the Irish. Jack Nolan mentioned that the team focused on defense in the pregame shootaround, which is nice to hear. The D was spot-on tonight while the regulars remained on the floor. Once the freshmen entered, both teams got a little sloppy, but that is to be expected.

We pushed the tempo throughout the game, with Luke Harangody chipping in to lead a couple fast breaks. I'd much rather see him learn the art of the quick outlet pass. Let the small guys do the dribbling, Luke. As a whole, however, I was pleased with the team's ability to score in transition. Yes the quick pace led to an unacceptably high 17 turnovers, but the Irish made up for it a bit by getting high percentage shots all night. Almost 60% from the floor is fantasic. They also made half of their attempts from beyond the arc. 28 assists on 37 baskets demonstrated the unselfish play of a Mike Brey-coached team.

The energy on defense was nice to see. A few of Bucknell's three pointers came in garbage time with the reserves reacting too slowly, but the rest of the night showcased some of the best defensive effort we've seen all season. Bucknell's 34% field goal shooting is eight points lower than their season average, which is especially surprising due to the breakneck pace of the contest.

Tory Jackson had a bit of a quiet night. 6 points, just 2 assists and 1 turnover. All three of his shooting attempts came from three-point range. He now boasts 1000 points and 500 assists for his career.

Ben Hansbrough was fantastic, even with that stomach virus. 16 points, 5 assists, a perfect night from the charity stripe and good shooting overall. For a guy who almost sat out the game, he put forth a nice effort and now has a good to get healthy for the Big East.

Tim Abromaitis was great, as usual. He finished with 15 points and 4 rebounds and scored in a variety of ways. The three pointers were falling, as they have much of this season, but almost half of his field goal attempts came from inside the arc. He capped off one drive to the basket with a rather aggressive dunk. Atta boy, Tim.

Ty Nash also showed off a lot of determination on the offensive end of the floor that had been lacking until the last couple of games. He only scored 5 points, but seemed willing to take it to the basket consistently. Of course, that aggression also led to 4 turnovers. If he can be a force in the paint without getting reckless, the Irish offense will add another wrinkle to its attack. His rebounding total was great (7), yet it marked his lowest total of the past three contests. He has made a much larger impact in the past week and a half than has been expected from him.

Harangody has yet another double-double, with 20 and 11. He chipped in with 5 assists and 3 turnovers. The positive assist-to-turnover ratio is a bit surprising due to his frequent leading of fast breaks. He seemed a bit more reckless live, so kudos to him for dishing out so many good scoring opportunities. Luke missed both three-point attempts, but was otherwise 8-10 from the floor. Throw in four made free throws for good measure.

Lots of activity off the bench. Peoples played great in extended time with Hansbrough sick. 7 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, with a perfect night shooting. Carleton Scott contibuted in multiple statistical categories, 5 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Cooley and Broghammer each had 5 points. Little Harangody had 8 rebounds in pretty limited playing time, hopefully that leads to a bright future for him. The Hammer chipped in with 3 boards and finished off one possession with an impressive tomahawk jam. Walkons Kopko and Andree each got in the scorebook with Tim's two points putting the Irish over the century mark. The most impressive reserve tonight, however, was Joey Brooks. I mentioned at the half that he could be a defensive stopper in just two to three minute spurts if Coach Brey wanted to use him in that kind of role, but he was also great on offense tonight as well. 12 points on 3-5 shooting and a perfect 6-6 from the line.

The stats in the post so far are from the always-unreliable ESPN gamecast. I'll edit as necessary when the official boxscore becomes available. Great win for the team and a nice way to finish off the nonconference slate. We're 11-2, compared to 9-2 at this point a year ago. Time for a few days to go home and enjoy the holidays before Big East action starts.

Bucknell at the Half

2009-12-22T19:45:00.002-05:00

Very nice first period of action at the JACC tonight. Great movement on offense, with a few nice backdoor cuts thrown in. Defense has looked fantastic so far. Bucknell is just shooting 24% from the field. They have missed on a few open looks, but the Irish defense has certainly played a positive role so far.

Ben Hansbrough has beaten off the stomach flu with 14 points on a perfect half of shooting (4-4 FG, 2-2 3PA, 4-4 FT). Carleton Scott demonstrated a nice touch from beyond the arc. He could be a factor on offense if that becomes a consistent part of his arsenal. Even Joey Brooks got into the game in the first half and made a difference. He forced a Bryan Cohen travel with a really heady trap with two seconds left in the half. He could make a pretty solid impact with that defensive intensity if given just 6-8 minutes a game.

Bucknell Preview

2009-12-21T11:59:00.003-05:00

Bucknell-
Pomeroy Ranking- 215th
Record- 4-7
"Best" Win- Delaware (ranked 267th)
Worst Loss- Binghamton (ranked 295th)
Pomeroy Prediction- ND 86-70

Key Players-
#13 Darryl Shazier- 6'0", 178 lbs.- 11.7 PPG, 3.9 APG, 35.6% 3PA
#24 Patrick Behan- 6'8", 229 lbs.- 10.5 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 27.5% 3PA
#22 Bryan Cohen- 6'5", 199 lbs.- 9.9 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 42.9% 3PA

Scouting Report-

Not very active on defense, getting very few steals (342nd in the country).
Shoot the ball well from the foul line (74% as a team).
Small on the wing with 6'3" Stephen Tyree. He is a very effective scorer when given the opportunity but only shoots it about four times a game.

Central Florida Almost Knocks off the Huskies

2009-12-21T07:52:00.002-05:00

UCF gave Connecticut a scare yesterday in Hartford. The Knights built up a nine point lead and kept it close until the wheels fell off with six minutes to play. Marcus Jordan had a career high 13 points to lead the away team. That marked the third loss to a Big East opponent this season to Central Florida, the other two being a four point affair at South Florida and the 90-72 beating in the JACC a couple weeks ago.

We're almost into conference play and currently the Big East ranks third in Pomeroy's league standings. Just three schools (Syracuse, West Virginia, and Georgetown) have earned top 25 status so far. The Irish rank third to last.

Notre Dame 84, UCLA 73

2009-12-19T16:40:00.004-05:00

Good win for the Irish as they took control early in the second half and never let it get too close the rest of way. However, we still haven't played a legitimately good team to date and some of the same issues continue to surface. Glad to put Loyola Marymount in the past and get a double-digit win over a rival, but this team's fate lies ahead in conference play.

With Tory Jackson focusing on the Bruins' only accomplished shooter (Michael Roll), Malcolm Lee had a career-high 29 by hitting four of his six three-point attempts. He entered the contest with a three-point percentage below thirty. Several of those made baskets were wide-open looks as the Irish D failed to actively rotate in a zone or was too slow to close out on the perimeter.

UCLA led for the majority of the first half and the game stayed tight through the break, but a quick 8-2 run after halftime put the Irish in charge the rest of the way. The one major positive in nonconference play is how Notre Dame has consistently improved in the second halves of games. Time will tell if that can continue against good competition.

Jackson did his best impression as a defensive stopper against Roll, but he gave up six inches just by stepping on the floor. That's a tough matchup, but we certainly didn't have any better options. On offense, Tory was a bit out of control, with 5 turnovers. He also offered up a bunch of wild shots, finishing four of twelve from the field. He was 29% inside the arc, partially due to the physical nature of the game under the hoop. He just isn't big enough to finish at the basket when a ref like Jim Burr is periodically swallowing his whistle.

Ben Hansbrough was very efficient. 14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists. He made five of the seven shots he attempted and completed a very nice four-point play. Also chipped in with three steals, including one in transition that led to a Notre Dame fastbreak going the other way. He seems like a high-risk, high-reward player on D. He's certainly not consistent enough to be a lockdown defender, but gets his share of big plays. Tonight marks his fourth multiple steal game of the year, matching Kyle McAlarney's total from all of last season.

Tim Abromaitis had 17 points, shooting five of eight from the field. Add in 5 rebounds, a nice total from the small forward position. He collected three fouls, but a couple of those were a bit ticky-tack.

Ty Nash added in 11 points and 8 rebounds, 5 of which came on the offensive end. Every starter finished with double digit scoring, a great display of unselfishness on offense. This team does seem to have a greater ability to spread out the scoring than last year's outfit, which could make a difference if Big East teams decide to key in on Harangody.

Luke got his 23 points, but was quite frustrating to watch. I can't imagine a good reason for our All-American forward to be catching the basketball 25 feet away from the basket. He consistently attempted to generate the offense from the perimeter, which really limits the team's effectiveness. When he sticks to the inside, at least within a dribble and a spin move from the basket, he can be unstoppable.

Off the bench, Peoples had an effective sixteen minutes. 9 points and 3 rebounds. Carleton Scott only played eight minutes and had 3 rebounds and an assist without attempting a shot.

Nice win, but once again the Irish needed to make it a high-scoring contest. We'll see what happens against some good defenses.

UCLA Preview

2009-12-18T20:25:00.002-05:00

In another year, this would have been a great game. Even last season, when the Irish were pounded 89-63, the UCLA matchup provided a nice yearly nonconference opponent that Notre Dame has been lacking for some time. This year, with ND struggling and the Bruins 3-6, the University is going to be very hardpressed to fill three-quarters of the Joyce Center in the continuation of a series that has meant so much to both programs.

Yesterday, news broke that UCLA will be without starting forward James Keefe, who separated his shoulder in a lopsided win over New Mexico State. The 6'8", 235 lbs. Keefe was the most likely candidate to guard Luke Harangody, which should give Luke a bit more freedom tomorrow. Additionally, sophomore forward Drew Gordon decided to leave the team and seek a transfer at the beginning of the month.

UCLA-
Pomeroy Ranking- 146th
Record- 3-6
"Best" Win- New Mexico State (ranked 206th)
Worst Loss- Cal. State Fullerton (ranked 218th)
Pomeroy Prediction- ND 76-67

Key Players-
#20 Michael Roll- 6'5", 200 lbs.- 14.0 PPG, 4.0 APG, 39.6% 3PA
#3 Malcolm Lee- 6'4", 191 lbs.- 13.6 PPG, 3.3 APG, 5.1 RPG, 27.5% 3PA
#11 Reeves Nelson- 6'8", 228 lbs.- 8.2 PPG, 5.9 RPG

Scouting Report-

Only one player (Roll) boasts an offensive rating over 100. Six of the seven guys in Notre Dame's rotation have been more efficient than any guy on UCLA's roster.
The Bruins have been dreadful from beyond the arc as a team (28.2%). Roll is the only guy who could give us trouble on the petimeter.
UCLA rarely gets to the foul line as a team and does not take advantage when they do (56.5%).

Nonconference Notes: Frontcourt

2009-12-16T20:19:00.002-05:00

Starters:

Tim Abromaitis- The surprise of the season so far, our young redshirt sophomore has really blossomed in an expanded role. Now starting at small forward, he has scored in the double digits in all but one contest. His 15.7 points per game rank him fifteenth in the Big East, no small feat when playing alongside the leading scorer in the conference. He has been incredibly efficient on offense (his offensive rating is 8th in the country) and has only used about 21% of team possessions when on the floor. Defense proved to be a bit of a struggle against Loyola Marymount, but there is nothing to complain about his performance on the offensive end (57% FG, 93% FT, 49% 3P).

Ty Nash- Has been up and down. Field goal percentage has improved a bit, but he continues to be a liability from the foul line. Rebounding has been rather disappointing. We need a starting power forward who can consistently pull down 7 or 8 a game. Nash has only managed more than five on two occasions. He has also racked up a lot of fouls, demonstrating that he needs some help stopping guys with his feet rather than his body.

Luke Harangody- By far the best player on the roster and one of the most talented guys in program history. He leads the conference in scoring and is fourth in rebounding. Overall field goal percentage is improved and he has been able to get more baskets inside than a year ago (though time will tell if he can keep it up). Of course, his annoying tendency to drift to the perimeter has been well documented. He has almost equaled his three point attempts from last year already and is only sinking 30%. Needs to also show a bit more focus on defense (along with the rest of the team) and stop complaining to the refs when calls don't go his way. Sometimes he seems to let his frustration make him ineffective for a couple series.

Off the Bench-

Carleton Scott- Another nice addition to the rotation this year. He has put in a few very good performances but has also disappeared in a few contests. If he can be more consistent in racking up the boards and providing some scoring off the bench, he could give Nash a run for the starting job.

Joey Brooks, Mike Broghammer, Jack Cooley- The freshman have just gotten mopup time so far and it looks like none of them will crack the rotation in conference play. That's a shame because a deeper bench would allow the starters to expend more energy on both ends of the floor. A guy like Brooks could be a solid defensive stopper if given enough minutes.

Nonconference Notes: Backcourt

2009-12-16T00:00:00.004-05:00

With only two nonconference games to go, a few midseason comments:

Starting Guards-

Tory Jackson- The senior point guard has been very efficient handling the ball so far. Though it has come against easy competition, Jackson has averaged over five assists per game. His 4.67 assist to turnover ratio is simply obscene. Scoring has been an issue, however. His two-point shooting percentage of 40% is by far the worst on the tam. Drawing up ineffective last minute plays for him won't help that any.

Ben Hansbrough- Has struggled at times to mesh with Jackson. The most athletic shooting guard we've had in a while, his style seems to conflict a bit with Tory. Can't argue with the results on offense, however. Take away his egglaying performance against Northwestern and he's shooting 56% from three point land. Even with that 0-7 effort, he has posted career bests in three-point percentage, points per game, and assists. On defense, he has struggled along with everyone else, but certainly has more potential than K-Mac.

Off the Bench-

Jonathan Peoples- Started the first eight games and has been terrible all year. His offensive efficiency (96.6) is 13 points lower than anybody else. The fact that his stats actually indicate a marginal improvement over last year's ineptitude indicate just how awful he was under the radar last season. Has failed to score in four games despite averaging 17.5 minutes in those contests. Somehow he managed to convince Coach Brey that he was talented enough to start for a Big East team despite being one of the most unathletic guards in the country.

EDIT: Originally I had intended to hand out grades to each player. Unfortunately, that's pretty tough to do (except for Peoples). We're a top 25 team on offense and everyone has had their share of failures on D.

Eleven Games In

2009-12-14T21:32:00.002-05:00

This week I'll focus a little bit on looking back to what has already occurred. We are a little past the one-third mark of the season and the overall picture for the year is beginning to clear itself up. Of course, we won't know a whole lot about this team until it faces Big East competition (one of the many issues of such a weak nonconference schedule) but a few things are for sure.

This is the worst team defensively that Mike Brey has coached at Notre Dame, by far. 05-06 (Chris Quinn's senior year) used to hold that claim to fame. That season, the Irish finished 120th in defensive efficiency. So far, we are 251st this year. In 2007 and 2008 (when ND made the NCAA Tournament) that ranking was in the 40s.
As usual, the Irish are careful with the ball and don't force any turnovers. A year ago, Notre Dame boasted the lowest turnover percentage in the nation... on both offense and defense. While this year's squad is not quite so extraordinary, in still ranks in the bottom 40 in terms of turnovers forced while claiming the 13th best turnover percentage on offense.
Tim Abromaitis and Ben Hansbrough have been very efficient on offense, ranking 8th and 20th nationally in points per possession used. The offense has relied on Luke Harangody a bit less than the last two seasons, when he ranked in the top ten of possessions used, and he has improved his efficiency dramatically (even with his annoying tendency to drift to the perimeter).
The rest of the year could get ugly. Ken Pomeroy projects ND's final record to be 17-14 with a 6-12 record in the Big East.

As always, Pomeroy's website is one of the best with regards to all basketball stats.

Comments on Mike Brey

2009-12-13T14:13:00.005-05:00

Good comments, all. Obviously last night was extremely disappointing not only in that it added an extra tally to our loss column, but it projects pretty terribly for the rest of the season. We saw a lot of the same issues that have plagued Notre Dame teams in the Mike Brey era: porous defense, a lack of aggression and toughness, and a tendency to desert the post on offense in favor of a perimeter attack. It's year ten and Coach Brey isn't going to change who he is at this point.

In fairness, Brey has accomplished a lot here. His career winning percentage is the second best (to Digger Phelps) of any coach at ND since the '40s. From the depths of the John MacLeod era, during which just making the NIT was an accomplishment, the Irish made it back to the Sweet Sixteen by Coach Brey's third year. To be sure, he was helped by Matt Doherty's single season as well as MacLeod's recruiting, but it took a coaching change to get Notre Dame to the next level. We might be at that point again.

Irish fans should expect a program that contends for the top 4 in the Big East and a Sweet Sixteen big year in and year out. NCAA tournament appearances should be old hat by now. If the team fails to make the Big Dance this year, it will be a huge waste of one of the greatest players in Notre Dame history. To think that Luke Harangody's junior and senior seasons might end in the NIT is a pity.

Hopefully this ends up being just a black mark on an otherwise solid season. However, all analysis both subjective and objective (we're 247th in defensive efficiency) points towards a very disappointing year.

Loyola Marymount 87, Notre Dame 85

2009-12-13T01:09:00.003-05:00

Well, got that one wrong. The Irish were outscored 5-0 in the final minute, with a Jarred DuBois three providing the final dagger with eight seconds left. For sure LMU is better than last year, but this is still certainly a vastly inferior team. We just didn't play anything like a good major conference program today. Four game winning streak down the drain.

This will most likely end up as our worst non-conference loss since 2004. I'm not sure if the Irish were caught looking forward to finals, UCLA, or just plain unmotivated but it was completely unacceptable. We have a week to fix whatever went wrong, but even a win against a 2-6 Bruins on Saturday would not make up for this at all. Bad defense, sloppy rebounding, and just an overall lack of toughness threw this game away against an untalented, but spirited, squad. In the last few possessions, we played tight and resorted to the point guard isolation play that has had very little success since the days of Chris Thomas.

Tory Jackson couldn't put the ball in the basket all night and completely choked with twenty-two seconds to go and the Irish up by one. Not that the fault is all his, though. In the last couple possessions, I would much rather get the ball into the hands of our best player and look for high-percentage shots than just milk the clock. Counting on a 5'11" point guard to create a scoring opportunity in the lane with the shot clock winding down is pretty foolhardy.

Ben Hansbrough played very well. Obviously the turnover with a minute to go and a chance to seal the game was an issue, but statistically he had a very nice night. 14 points, 9 assists, 5-8 shooting.

Tim Abromatis also shot very well. He 23 points, 5 rebounds, and made half of his attempts from long range. However, he also was a big defensive liability. Backdoor cuts, getting beaten on the ball, lots of issues for him and everyone else. It's just a program flaw when Loyola Marymount can hit 52% of their shots against you.

Ty Nash was another one of the culprits on defense, but also contributed well on the offensive side of the ball. 13 points, 9 boards, the majority of which came on offense. He also picked up 4 personal fouls and was unable to move his feet fast enough to play good defense without getting overly physical.

Harangody played pretty well, but his three missed three pointers were wasted possessions in the second half. 24 points, 11 rebounds. To be honest, the biggest issues I have are with the team as a whole. Not a lot of personal complaints here.

We learned tonight that this squad will only go seven deep in close contests. Even a seven-man rotation is stretching it a bit, as the starters all played nearly the whole game and stayed in when it counted. 10 useless minutes for Peoples, Scott was a bit more helpful in his seven on the floor.

Overall, it comes down to this:

Same issues we've always had on defense. A Mike Brey coached program has and will always focus on running a very efficient offensive game. He just doesn't focus on the other side of the ball. Tonight, it really showed.
Mid-major programs see road games like this as a chance to pick up a big upset. We fell into the trap of letting them outhustle us all night. They wanted it more and they took it with a willingness to get after loose balls and push people around for rebounds.
Our endgame strategy is downright horrendous. In the final minute (at the start of which, we led by 3), the Irish completely wasted three possessions. With an emphasis on wasting time instead of continuing to look for scoring opportunities, Ben Hansbrough turned the ball over, Tory Jackson took an offbalance jumper, and we couldn't get the ball inbounded out of a timeout. I don't mind Coach Brey allowing Tory to try to make something happen in transition at the end of the game, but everything else we did pointed to horrendous coaching. I really don't blame the players as much as the coaches tonight.

Obviously, the calls for Coach Brey's head will come out after this loss. That's completely understandable, just try to be objective with your analysis. Venting is fine, just be constructive and give us your ideas on what is going wrong and how you think we can fix it.

Loyola Marymount Preview

2009-12-12T00:11:00.004-05:00

One more game before finals week. Bring on the 3-7 Lions. The scariest part of this game? Even with losses to teams like Montana, Wyoming, and UC Irvine, Loyola Marymount outranks UCLA by Ken Pomeroy's statistics.

Seton Hall transfer Larry Davis has missed the past five games and should sit out again with a swollen Achilles tendon. He was the second highest scorer at the time with 13.2 a game.

#34 Drew Viney has been the surprising star of the team. He sat out last year after transferring from Oregon and has been red hot so far. 17.3 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 53% from long range (single-handedly propelling the Lions to 30th in the nation in three-point percentage). He's 6'7", which creates a big mismatch on the wing.

#1 Vernon Teel, who broke his foot in last year's contest, has been shooting the ball very well and filling up the stat sheet. With twelve points, six assists, and five rebounds per game, he controls everything LMU does on both ends of the floor.

With the injury bug striking freshmen big Edgar Garibay, #32 Tim Diederichs is back in the starting lineup. However, he clearly has not earned the respect of coach Max Good. After playing a lot his freshman year, his minutes have fallen through the floor the past two seasons. Even as a starter, he has averaged eight minutes his last two games.

Remember last season, the Irish stopped at LMU on its way to Maui and struggled through a 65-54 jetlagged win. Coach Bill Bayno had the program feeling positive when he was hired, but he left after three games and the team ended up as one of the worst in the country. Even with an early win over USC, the Lions have a ways to go. This should be an easy win.

Brian Kelly

2009-12-10T19:26:00.003-05:00

Welcome to the university. Best of luck taking this program back to where it needs to be.

Notre Dame 93, IUPUI 70

2009-12-09T22:22:00.002-05:00

Never in doubt, which is nice for a change. The Irish fired on all cylinders on offense throughout and put the game away early with some really good defense. IUPUI shot below 40% from the field for the game and wouldn't have been within 30 if Nobles and Young hadn't shot well from beyond the arc.

Tory Jackson was able to play, which was great to see. He wasn't terribly effective, but that knee might still have been bothering him a little bit. He'll have to suck it up again with a game on Saturday, but then will get a full week to rest before UCLA. 5 points and 4 assists, but his shot was off all night, even from the foul line.

With Jackson a little dinged up, the team did a great job spreading the ball around. Five guys finished with at least three assists. Ben Hansbrough had 5. He also shot very well, his first really good game from three point range since St. Francis, the second contest of the year. He had a season high 22 points on 6-8 shooting.

Tim Abromaitis was great once again. He joined in with Hansbrough in attacking the zone with deadeye long range shooting. He scored 18 and made half of his three point shots. After the game, he talked about how the team was able to play high-intensity defense from the get-go and keep this from turning into another fight. Indeed, that was nice to see. We're not going to hold every team to 22 in the first half, but good defense can really set the tone from the tip.

Ty Nash played pretty well again. He's not going to be a star out there, but he focused on playing a big role in the paint and was did his part. He had a decent night on offense with 8 points on 4-6 shooting and pulled down 5 boards.

Luke Harangody was successful against IUPUI's smaller forwards, but really didn't have to do too much. That's a good sign for Notre Dame. 16 points on only 12 shots, his fewest attempts of the season. He took what the defense gave him, but allowed our other players to contribute. The more we can spread scoring around, the better the Irish will play against good competition. On defense, he finished with 5 blocks which ties his career-high. Also 11 rebounds, as ND controlled the boards very nicely.

Off the bench, Peoples wasn't too bad. He had 6 points and 6 rebounds, but was very cold on a few three-point attempts. Carleton Scott had 4 points, 4 rebounds, and showed off that athleticism with a few blocks. With Jackson healthy, the rotation stayed pretty much the same until mopup time. Broghammer played seven late minutes and had a couple nice dunks. Joey Brooks picked up 5 quick points as well. Cooley had a couple assists and we even saw the walkons for a couple minutes a piece.

Whereas the Irish showed a complete inability to attack Northwestern's 1-3-1, they played IUPUI's matchup zone well all night. Panther coach Ron Hunter said we were the best team they've played all year, a nice compliment considering that Kansas State is a pretty solid team. He also mentioned how Hansbrough and Abro will keep teams from doubling Harangody.

The preview played itself out pretty well. Nobles and Young both shot well. Glenn picked up 19 points, but had his second worst shooting night of the year. He's a talented player and probably would have had more if we hadn't gotten him into foul trouble. Still, nice job overall on defense. The Irish held IUPUI twelve percentage points lower than their season average and grabbed eight more rebounds. Twenty-two assists, another nice sign of spreading the ball around, double-digits in team blocks. Great game all the way around.

IUPUI Preview

2009-12-09T13:50:00.002-05:00

What do you get when you cross an institution that currently has a basketball team ranked #5 in the nation with a school that boasts five national championships? Apparently a mediocre Summit League squad in Indianapolis. That doesn't seem quite right...

The full power of IU and Purdue have combined and will be propelled towards South Bend tonight. Duck and cover, everyone. The Jaguars are 7-2, their best win coming in overtime against Georgia State. This is a team with an even shorter bench than the Irish, so no need to memorize a wide range of players. There are three guys you want to know:

#23 Robert Glenn is a skinny 6'7" forward. Good luck living up to your 18.3 points per game with a 195 pound body against a Big East team. He leads the team at 6.3 rebounds per contest as well and is pretty unreliable with the ball in his hands (averaging 3.7 turnovers). Gameplan: use Luke Harangody to hold down the post and make Glenn beat you by taking the ball to the hoop. Force him to take contested drives to the post, take away easy buckets, and let him make his inevitable mistakes.

#5 Alex Young is a pretty decent shooting guard. He's hitting 38% of his three-point attempts this season, which is significantly better than last year. If he gets hot, that 6'5" frame will be a bit tough to defend. Ben Hansbrough and Tim Abromaitis will have their defensive skills tested.

#1 Leroy Nobles is similar to Young, but a better shooter with a bit of a more conservative trigger finger. Again, either Ben or Tim will have the first crack at this guy, but look at Carleton Scott to get some good minutes.

Jonathan Peoples could be the starting point guard tonight with Tory Jackson's injury, leaving open the possibility of a Mike Broghammer or Joey Brooks getting serious time in the rotation. I'd like to see the freshmen get a little more experience and we could have some of that tonight.

Observations

2009-12-08T10:07:00.006-05:00

First of all, apologies for not posting yesterday. You see, Jack Swarbrick called and apparently he has this job opening so I had to fly into New York for an interview this morning...

I got an e-mail this morning from a recent ND grad who contributes to this blog and had a very nice write-up on the basketball season yesterday. Thrown-in are a few quotes from Kyle McAlarney and Ryan Ayers. Definitely a worthwhile read.

Finally, a few more comments on the game Sunday. There were a few things I neglected to touch on in the main post. Obviously Tim Abromaitis starting is a very good sign. I've lavished praise on the young man from Alumni Hall enough this season already, but once again it seems that the coaches have found a diamond in the recruiting rough. Our competition for this guy came from strictly academic powerhouses (Princeton, Penn, Yale, Rice, and a very bad Northwestern program), so this just seems to be a good scouting job by our staff. His teeth will be cut in Big East play and it is far too early to annoint him the next great Irish player, but I really like what I've seen so far. Now if he had just gotten any experience in his first two years...

One last note on recruiting, it looks like the football coaches have zeroed in on the guy to replace Manti Teo at middle linebacker.

EDIT: Big mistake. Abro started in place of Peoples, not Nash. I missed the start of Sunday's game and had to ask about the starting lineup. Very sorry about the mix-up.

Notre Dame 90, Central Florida 72

2009-12-06T14:12:00.003-05:00

Holy Tim Abromaitis, Batman. The most impressive player of the season turned into a star today with 31 points in an incredibly well-rounded performance. LaPhonso Ellis was right all along about this guy.

Tory Jackson played very well in 27 minutes before leaving the game with an injury. Thankfully, the team continued without him and was able to keep up a strong offensive performance throughout. Jackson scored only 4 points, but had 9 assists with zero turnovers on the day. It's hard to have a better day distributing the ball than that.

Ben Hansbrough scored 11, but was a little careless with the ball. I do like him a lot, but he can be a bit of a bad fit with Tory in the backcourt. Of course, we don't really have any other options in the backcourt, so here's to the two guys getting more comfortable as the year goes on.

Jonathan Peoples- 20 MIN, 0 PTS, 1 REB, 1 AST- No reason to waste any more blog space on that...

Abro really was fantastic today. Yes he did score 31, but only nine of those points came on three pointers. Unlike a Ryan Ayers or some other marginal player who has a breakout game, Tim showed an ability to score in a wide variety of ways. He was 8-9 from the line and shot 59% from the floor. Throw in 4 rebounds for a nice well-rounded performance. Keep an eye on this guy in the future, he has the potential to be a star.

Luke Harangody was just as good, but we expect that kind of performance from him. 29 points, 7 rebounds. He was perfect from the charity stripe and very efficient from the floor. Missed a pair of three pointers, but still finished with one of his better performances on the year.

Carleton Scott had another very solid game with 6 points and 7 assists. He has really found a role as a statsheet filler and is starting to earn a much larger role in the rotation. Ty Nash was great, too. 7 points, 5 rebounds. Hard to complain about anyone today. Except Jonathan Peoples... but let's not ruin the moment by dwelling on him.

Even our defensive performance was pretty solid today. The stats don't show it, but as a whole our guys showed more intensity on D. We're not going to hang 90 on everyone, so the team has to play well on both ends of the floor.

Very good game against a team that I thought could give us a little trouble. Nice job, guys. Hopefully Michael was impressed.

Central Florida Preview

2009-12-05T16:01:00.002-05:00

Back to basketball. Central Florida comes to town tomorrow at noon. They have a win over a bad major conference team to their credit (Auburn) and only one loss, so they could provide decent competition.

The Knights have a reasonably deep bench, playing eight guys for 17 minutes per game or more and none more than 30. Last season, almost all of their scoring came from Jermaine Taylor, who scored 26.2 a contest. #11 Isaac Sosa is the highest returning scorer, averaging 8.2 last year in only 19.7 minutes per game. His playing time has increased significantly and he now boasts the most points on the team. A terrific shooter, he is 16th in the country in three point percentage (51.3%).

#15 Dave Diakite will give Jonathan Peoples trouble. At 6'6", 215 lbs., he has a height advantage over our third guard and likes to crash the boards. He has two double-doubles on the season and has pulled down three or more offensive rebounds in over half his games. The Irish better be careful or this guy will single-handedly lead to a bunch of second-chance points.

There are a bunch of other role players in the rotation, with no one really sticking out. #12 Taylor Young and #3 A.J. Rompza are both reliable point guards who see significant playing time. #25 A.J. Tyler and #33 Keith Clanton are their main guys in the post, but look for #13 Jakub Kusmieruk in spurts. He is 7'4" and has played in every game this season but clearly is not polished enough to merit significant playing time (only 6.9 MPG).

Michael's son Marcus Jordan comes off the bench. The only real thing he has accomplished so far this year was wearing his dad's shoes.

Football Post

2009-12-04T19:43:00.002-05:00

The Civil War was a classic last night. Congratulations to the Ducks and good luck against Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.

There are a couple good hoops games on tomorrow (obviously UNC/Kentucky with Wake at Gonzaga at 5:30 is a nice under-the-radar matchup), but it is the last real football Saturday so I will have my TV tuned into a few championship games. Cincy at Pitt could be interesting, if only to see Brian Kelly. He seems the be the best really possible choice at this point (more on Stoops later), so we should get to know the guy. The SEC Championship at 4 will be the game of the day, of course. Cheer for the Tide and hope Urban Meyer hears God calling him home between now and the Sugar Bowl.

As for your daily unsubstantiated rumor around campus, word is that multiple football players leaked Bob Stoops' imminent hiring on Facebook and Twitter today. Take that for a grain of salt, but if our new coach comes from Norman over the weekend, you heard it here first.

New Intro Video

2009-12-03T19:04:00.003-05:00

Reposting this link from NDNation on the new introduction video for home games. The first few games in Purcell Pavilion were met with merciful simplicity, but of course that did not last long. The Harry Potter theme isn't exactly my style.

In the Big East, South Florida is in trouble. Guard Anthony Carter will be suspended after failing a second drug test (enter Kyle McAlarney reference and schools' drug policy comparisons here). The Bulls are also under investigation for some other alleged violations.

Black and Green Irish Men's Basketball Report

Goodbye

Next Year

Season Report Card

Old Dominion 51, Notre Dame 50

Start the Tourney

Regular Season Year in Review (Part II)

Irish in the Tournament

Selection Sunday

BET Semis Live Blogging

*BET Semis*

Notre Dame 50, Pittsburgh 45

Notre Dame 68, Seton Hall 54

Seton Hall BET Preview

Regular Season Year in Review

Championship Week

All-Big East

Notre Dame 63, Marquette 60

Marquette Preview

Bracket Project

Notre Dame 58, Connecticut 50

Connecticut Preview

Less Than 50/50 Chance Luke Returns for Senior Night

Notre Dame 78, Georgetown 64

Other Stuff

Georgetown Preview

Notre Dame 68, Pittsburgh 53

Pittsburgh Preview

Two Weeks Left

Bracket Busters

Louisville 91, Notre Dame 89

Louisville Preview

St. John's 69, Notre Dame 68

St. John's Preview

View From the Opponent's Bench: St. John's

Seton Hall 90, Notre Dame 87

Seton Hall Preview

Harangody Player of the Week

Larger than Average Monday

Notre Dame 65, South Florida 62

South Florida Preview

Notre Dame 83, Cincinnati 65

Cincinnati Preview

Morning Practices

NCAA Tournament Expanding

Rutgers 74, Notre Dame 73

Rutgers Questions

Rutgers Preview

Villanova 90, Notre Dame 72

Villanova Q&A

Villanova Preview

Big East Weekend

Notre Dame 87, DePaul 77

DePaul Preview

5 Questions for DePaul

Michigan/Notre Dame Comparison

Syracuse 84, Notre Dame 71

Syracuse Preview

Cincinnati 60, Notre Dame 58

Cincinnati Preview

Irish Football Just Keeps Getting Better

Harangody "Midseason" All-American

Crazy Weekend in College Sports

Notre Dame 70, West Virginia 68

West Virginia at the Half

West Virginia Preview

Fifteen Games Left

Notre Dame 74, South Florida 73

South Florida Preview

USC Sanctioned

Connecticut 82, Notre Dame 70

Connecticut Preview

Happy New Year

Notre Dame 93, Providence 78

Providence In-Game

Providence Preview

Big East Preview: Part II

Big East Preview

Bowling

Merry Christmas

BET Semis