Archive for the ‘Notre Dame Basketball’ Category

Here are some quick thoughts from first half action of tonight’s Big East Quarterfinal contest with Marquette.

• Considering Luke Harangody played just over 7 minutes in the first half after getting into foul trouble, being up six on Marquette is about as good of a scenario as anyone could have hoped for.
• When Luke went to the bench, ND held just a one point lead but extended it to 6 thanks to a three pointer from Kurz with about 4 seconds remaining.
• Zach Hillesland has been HUGE during the first 20 minutes.  He’s been very active on the offensive glass and stepped up with Luke on the bench.  If only he had connected on that two handed dunk that caused Zeller to crash into media row.
• I have a feeling that McAlarney is just about to get hot from beyond the arc.  He’s made just one three pointer so far, but I think we’ll see much more out of him in the second.
• Back to Harangody’s foul trouble for a second.  His second was a little too ticky tack for me considering this is the Big East Tournament.  Of course, after the UConn-West Virginia game, I guess that is to be expected.
• Losing McNeil would certainly be an enormous loss for Marquette.
• I wouldn’t mind seeing a little more of Ayers in the second half.
• Even with Harangody in the game, we’ve been having trouble working the ball down low.  Jackson’s been his normal self driving the lane, but no one else is having much success.
• Zeller gave some pretty good minutes after Harangody went to the bench.
• Both teams have been pretty active on the offensive glass so far.  ND is going to have to do a better job preventing Marquette from getting second chance points.

All in all, not a bad first half at all.  If Harangody can keep himself out of foul trouble in the second half, we should be in good shape here.

Luke Harangody was named Big East Player of the Year and Mike Brey the Big East Coach of the Year tonight on the eve of the BE Tournament.  Congrats to both men as they were very deserving of the awards.  I posted an article on the main site earlier tonight - Harangody, Brey Take Home Top Big East Honors.

Nice way to kick-off the Big East Tournament.  Let’s hope it’s just the start of the celebration for the hoops team.

Luke Harangody got the first of what is sure to be a series of honors and awards on Monday when he was named to the First Team All Big East squad along with teammate Kyle McAlarney. Unfortunately, neither Rob Kurz or Tory Jackson garnered sections.

I had been hoping that Jackson specifically would at least be named to the Honorable Mention squad because his determination and leadership on the floor as just a sophomore was extremely impressive. At times, Jackson was the glue that held this squad together. Other than Harangody, Jackson is the one guy on the team who can consistently take it to the hole.

The Big East will announce it’s player of the year tonight. Harangody should be considered the front runner at this point.

See the entire All Big East Squads after the jump

Here’s a little Big East Tournament Bracket I made up tonight.

Marquette’s slump at the end of the season here didn’t do Notre Dame any favors. The Golden Eagles beat the Irish by 26 in the first meeting of the two teams this year. We rebounded nicely and beat them 86-83 in the Joyce Center in the second game, but it’s still a tougher draw than playing either a beat up Pitt team we beat by 12 a couple weeks ago or a Cincinnati team we beat by 27 in mid January.

Good news is that all potential Notre Dame games in the BE Tourney will be at 9:00 so there won’t be any need for calling out “sick” Thursday to catch the quarterfinals game.

Here’s some highlights from tonight’s 67-60 win over South Florida which clinched a 2nd place tie and #3 seed in the BE Tournament. More to follow.

Here’s Notre Dame’s statistics from today’s win over Syracuse. Check out the recap article I posted on the game as well.

Notre Dame rebounded from Wednesday’s loss in Storrs by escaping New Jersey with a 3 point 71-68 win over Rutgers. As has historically been the case, the Irish struggled at times playing on Rutgers home court and had to hold onto the win after leading by 8 at half time.

Tory Jackson turned in one of his best performances in an Irish uniform with 17 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds - two board shy of his first career triple double. Overall, Notre Dame had four players in double figures led by Jackson’s 17 - Harangody (10), McAlarney (16), and Kurz (11).

Notre Dame won despite a sub par game from sophomore center Luke Harangody. Harangody came up two rebounds shy of his seventh consecutive double-double and his 10 points were his second lowest output of the season. He struggled from the field hitting just 5 of 16 attempts from the floor and made only one trip to the free throw line.

The Irish held on to the victory despite Harangody’s struggles and improved their chances at a first round bye in the Big East Tournament.

Notre Dame is now 4-7 all time against Rutgers with 3 of those wins coming under the guidance of Mike Brey.

Below is some video from ESPN with some highlights for those of you, like me, who do not get ESPNU even though you may be already paying extra for Sports Pack on Comcast and can’t switch to Direct TV because Comcast doesn’t make your local Comcast Sports Net available to satelitte providers which would then mean you’d miss all of the Phillies, Sixers, and Flyers games. Thanks Comcast, you’re AWESOME.

ND’s men’s basketball team won its 34th consecutive home game in a row on Saturday with a nail biting victory over rival Marquette.

Five Irish scored in double figures - Luke Harangody (18), Tory Jackson (14), Kyle McAlarney (12), Luke Zeller (11), and Zach Hillesland (10) - and Haranfody added 11 boards for his 5th straight double-double.

Here’s some highlights from Brey’s post game presser:

On ND’s play at the end of the game:

We played smart. We did a good job not giving up the three-point shot on their last few possessions. Our fans certainly helped us.”

On the success of Notre Dame’s bench players…

Luke Zeller is in such a rhythm right now. Ryan Ayers stepped up again with 9 points today.”

On the upcoming game at UConn:

“We need some rest. This one was a heck of an emotional and physical investment. We need to get our legs back under us before we go to Storrs (Connecticut) and face as hot of a team as us right now. I think they’re better than when we played them in the second game of the (conference) season, but I also think we’re better. I know that they want to get their hands on us.”

On the play of Tory Jackson:

“He was really good. He’s one of the big reasons we are in such a rhythm. When your point guard is playing as well as he is, that certainly helps the rest of the team out.”

According to the Sporing News from a couple days ago, McAlarney is back at Notre Dame:

Notre Dame PG Kyle McAlarney is back at school after his spring semester suspension, which followed an arrest on marijuana charges. He is one of three players enrolled in a summer minisession and is working out regularly with Fs Luke Harangody and Zach Hillesland. The Irish are looking forward to pairing McAlarney with sophomore PG Tory Jackson–a revelation coaches had after McAlarney’s departure–in a dual-point backcourt similar to the one that featured Chris Thomas and Chris Quinn. . . .

Getting McAlarney back should be a huge boost for the Irish bball team this year. Had they had his services at the end of the year last year Notre Dame may have been able to make some noise in the tournament.

A backcourt of McAlarney and Jackson to go along with Notre Dame’s strong and young frontcourt could make for a very dangerous team in 2007-2008. Jackson was really starting to mature towards the end of the season and when paired with McAlerney should form a backcourt that is even stronger than the Quinn-Thomas duo from a few years ago.

Notre Dame may not have gotten a great first round draw, but when looking at the other top seeds in this bracket, the Irish faired pretty well.  I still think it stinks that Notre Dame will be the only 6th, 7th, or 8th seed to face a ranked opponent, but the Midwest bracket shapes up nicely for the Irish with one of weaker #2 seeds in Wisconsin and despite the run Oregon is on, no one had them as a 3 seed until the Pac 10 Tourney.

Here’s a look at the other 15 teams in Notre Dame’s bracket.

#1 Florida Gators (29-5)
Notre Dame didn’t luck out with defending national champion Florida in their bracket.  The Gators returned everyone and made short work of the SEC Tournament this past weekend.  Personally, I hope the Gators get tripped up early if for no other reason than Florida has won the last football and men’s basketball titles and enough is enough.  I also would prefer not to have to watch too much of Joakim Noah in this year’s tourney.  Still, the Gators are the safest bet of all the #1 seeds to make it to the Final 4 and if the Irish were to face Florida, they would need to play absolutely perfect to have a chance.  One of the few advantages of being the 6th seed, however, is that Notre Dame wouldn’t have to face Florida until the Elite 8 at the earliest.  If that were to happen, I think its safe to say most Notre Dame fans would be happy no matter the outcome.

#2 Wisconsin (29-5)
Wisconsin limps into the tourney as losers of three of six and without the services of big man Brian Butch.  In their defense, two of the three losses were at the hands of #1 seed Ohio State, but the Badgers also struggled with Michigan State in their regular season finale.  Butch started 30 games and was the team’s leading rebounder which makes them a fairly vulnerable #2.  When compared to Georgetown, Memphis, and UCLA; I’d gladly take my chances with a banged up Wisconsin team amongst the four #2 seeds.  Butch’s absence, should the Irish and Badgers meet could be exploited by Luke Harangody.  These two teams wouldn’t have to meet until the Sweet 16.

#3 Oregon (26-7)
The Ducks are one of the hottest teams heading into the tournament after their impressive run through the Pac 10 Tournament this weekend.  They can shoot the lights out from three point range – they were 34 of 65 from beyond the arch in their three games in the Pac 10 Tournament – yikes.  The only good news about having a team like Oregon as a 3 seed is that if they go cold, they could be in for a long night – just as the Irish have found themselves all too often in recent years.  Should the Ducks and Irish meet in the second round, it would definitely be a fun game to watch with both schools having excellent shooting squads.  Could Notre Dame’s low post game with Harangody be the difference in such a game?  Very possibly.

#4 Maryland (24-8)
Something tells me Notre Dame might be able to beat these guys.  Maybe it was the 81-74 victory the Irish secured over the Terrapins back in December.  Maryland was on a roll heading into the ACC Tournament with two wins over Duke and another over North Carolina as part of a seven game winning streak to end the regular season.  A shocking loss to 12-20 Miami in the first round of the ACC Tourney, however, has some people wondering which team will show up.  As the 4th seed, Maryland will need to get passed Florida before potentially seeing the Irish and that seems unlikely.

#5 Butler (27-6)
The Bulldogs beat the Irish back in November, and despite a shocking loss to Wright State in the Horizon League Championship, this is a good team that could make some noise.  Unfortunately for them they were given a 5 seed will face another strong mid major who had a disappointing conference tournament – Old Dominion.  I’m pulling for ODU to represent my alma mater’s conference, the Colonial, and I’d also like to see Butler lose since their loss to Wright State very likely could have kept my boys from Drexel out of the tournament.  For Notre Dame to potentially see Butler again, the Bulldogs would have to beat the 5-12 jinx, then most likely beat Maryland (although Davidson is looking like a nice upset pick to me), and then go through Florida.

#7 UNLV (28-6)
A senior laden team that just won the Mountain West Conference title over BYU.  The  Runnin’ Rebels are a pretty balanced team and play well at both ends of the floor and could be a tough out because there isn’t one guy that kills you – three players averaged between 13 and 14 points for the Rebels this season.  UNLV didn’t get a good draw with a fairly hot Georgia Tech team in round 1.

#8 Arizona (20-10)
Lute Olsen’s team won 20 for the 20th straight year, but his Wildcats had a pretty inconsistent season.  They beat #2 seed Memphis early in the season and beat Oregon once in Pac 10 play, but lost to UCLA twice, USC once, Oregon once, and Washington State once – not exactly an impressive run through the top of the conference.  Arizona is always a tough out in the tournament, however, and as an 8 seed last year they took #1 seed Villanova down to the final minute in the second round.  Don’t expect much of the same from these Cats though even if they get past the Boilermakers in round 1.

#9 Purdue (21-11)
Purdue was a bubble team heading into the conference tournament week, but an impressive 19 point win over Iowa secured a bid for the Boilermakers.  Purdue played three teams in this bracket – Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, and Butler – and lost all three.  Purdue’s a pretty good team, but no one would be surprised if their record against teams in this bracket was 0-4 by the weekend.

#10 Georgia Tech (20-11)
The Yellow Jackets can up and down the court about as good as anyone in the country, but an early exit in the ACC Tourney at the hands of 15-15 Wake Forest raised some questions about what kind of team they would be in the Big Dance.  Tech is the kind of team that can make a run from a low seed because of their speed and athleticism.  Tech has struggled on the road this season and won’t find much help in Chicago should they advance to the second round against Wisconsin.  Should Tech get hot, Notre Dame could potentially face the Yellow Jackets in the Sweet 16.  Notre Dame likes to run and play a fast paced game which could make a matchup with Tech favorable.

#11 Winthrop (28-4)
Winthrop played four ranked teams this season and gave all but one a run for their money.  Two of those ranked teams happen to be in this bracket – Maryland (a 71-60 winner) and Wisconsin (a 82-79 winner).  Winthrop is becoming one of this year’s media darlings prior to the tournament as a potential Cinderella team.  Good news for Notre Dame is that the teams picks as potential bracket busters usually get busted up themselves.  Still, as a top 25 team, its kind of crazy to see an 11 seed next to Winthrop, but Notre Dame should have enough fire power to get by the Eagles in the first round.

#12 Old Dominion (24-8)
ODU is a solid mid major school with some impressive wins – including a win over Georgetown on the road and two impressive wins over Drexel.  I think ODU will upset Butler and then upset Maryland in the second round to give the Colonial a Sweet 16 team for the second year in a row.  Don’t expect ODU to be able to upset a #1 seed like fellow Colonial conference mate George Mason did to UConn last year though.

#13 Davidson (29-4)
I mentioned earlier that I’m thinking about Davidson over Maryland as a potential upset pick, but I’m not exactly sold yet.  They haven’t really been tested this season, but I just have a gut feeling they could give Maryland a game – so expect a HUGE Maryland win now.

#14 Miami (Ohio) (18-14)
Miami upset Akron to get into the Tournament but won’t have enough magic left in them to get past Oregon.

#15 Someone
Wisconsin might be a bit banged up, but they have more than enough gas in the tank to get past Texas A&M Corpus Christi

#16 Someone else
No 16th seed as ever won and Jackson St. won’t challenge defending champ Florida.