Notre Dame 95, St. Francis 72

Solid win, if not as great as Saturday. We showed a lot of offensive firepower, but the defense certainly leaves some questions. I mentioned in the preview that St. Francis would not be a very good three point shooting team, but they really came through, going 13-19. Lots of open looks from beyond the arc.

Tory Jackson showed why I believe he will finish with a triple double at some point this year. 9 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds. Really good all-around game.

Ben Hansbrough had 18 and 7. I mentioned at halftime how he looks like a better point guard than Peoples and the stats seems to showcase his ability to distribute. I love how we now have a shooting guard who can take it into the paint.

Peoples was pretty depressing. Only 4 points in 24 minutes. With Abromaitis looking so good, it's only a matter of time before he loses his starting spot.

Ty Nash lost more minutes than Peoples to Abro tonight, which is surprising. Tim looks much more like a small forward and I would hate to take our rotation's one true post presence away from teaming with Harangody. Just 18 minutes for Ty, but he took advantage and scored 11.

Harangody finished with 27 and 9. A very good game to be sure, but once again the offense performed really well without having to rely too much on Luke. We'll need that against better teams.

Off the bench, Abro scored 17 with 5 boards in 27 minutes. Starter-like playing time, if not actually getting to take warmups off before the tip. He could be our second best player by the end of the year. 5 points, 4 rebounds for a solid Carleton Scott. Garbage time for Brooks, Cooley, and Broghammer. A seven man rotation scares me, so I really hope that Coach Brey is just waiting for one of the freshmen to earn 8-10 a game. Wishful thinking, perhaps.

St. Francis Halftime

A little in-game blogging:

1. I can't believe I have not commented on this yet, but the new arena really looks great. Add in the proposed standalone practice gym and our facilities will finally approach the quality seen at high-major basketball schools around the country.
2. I don't know how long this will last, but the decision to have only one championship banner (women's national championship) in the rafters is a good one. No more celebrating just making the Tournament sounds good to me.
3. Once the Jonathan Peoples experiment ends (please God, let it end), this team could very well be better at every position than last year. Jackson and Harangody are back and presumably improved with time and Ty Nash is a better post guy than the very disappointing Zach Hillesland.
4. At one of the other two positions, I'm really starting to like Ben Hansbrough. He looks to drive a lot more than K-Mac (which is more than, say, never) and really resembles Kyle's shooting ability. #23 was a good choice. He is a better passer and more athletic than Jonathan Peoples and could very well run the point in Tory Jackson's absence. A great first half transition stop on defense showed off what he can do on the other side of the floor, as well.
5. Tim Abromaitis is also very fun to watch. If he finally does move into the final starting spot, he looks to be more complete player than last year's small forward, Ryan Ayers.
6. Even with all of this improvement and what seems to be a potent offense, this could still very well be an NIT team. Last year's squad finished nowhere near the Sweet Sixteen predictions that were thrown its way. You have to think we'll find some holes in this version of the Irish, too.
7. The first issue seems to be on defense, where we still look very disappointing even with all of that extra athleticism. This is clearly a coaching defect. Coach Brey has never been a stickler for D and there is no reason for him to change now. We'll have to outscore a bunch of people, as usual.

EDIT: And welcome to the show, Jordan Cornette. The former player takes LaPhonso Ellis' spot calling radio broadcasts of the Irish.

St. Francis Preview

Game two tomorrow. St. Francis comes into town off of a 65-61 win over American University on Friday. The box score from that contest tells us two things: 6'6" wing Devin Sweetney is the star of the show and the rest of the team will do their collective best to chip in by heaving shots from long range. A couple of these three point specialists were simply awful against the Eagles. Sorena Orandi and Anthony Ervin went 0-10 from downtown. No idea if Ervin, a freshman, has the talent to take so many outside shots, but Orandi shot 15% from three point range a year ago. Pass the ball, young man.

#1 Sweetney and #33 Will Felder carried the team with over half of the Red Flash's scoring between them. Felder, another freshman, scored 17 off the bench. Sweetney overcame a 5-14 shooting night to finish with 21 points. Don't expect a repeat performance from the senior, however. He got lucky by knocking down half of his attempts from long range. His highest three point percentage in a season? 26%.

Another easy win in store? Let's hope so. Another easy start with a more complete second half would be very nice. Let's go Irish.