Marquette’s victory over Nova last night put pressure on the four teams ahead of them working for a bye in New York in two weeks. The Eagles can now finish 13-5 with wins in their last two games against Georgetown and at Syracuse. With the Hoyas looking more and more vulnerable, this is entirely possible with Marquette on a 5 game roll, winning handily in each. Let’s take a look at the leaders and their prospects for a bye.

Georgetown - The Hoyas are 12-3 and finish with St. John’s, at Marquette and Louisville. If the Hoyas were to lose to Marquette and Louisville they would end up 13-5 and lose a tiebreaker to both teams. Two wins would assure the Hoyas of a bye. Even though GTown is in a good position, they have to be careful of a letdown and must defeat either Marquette or Louisville to enter the BET with some momentum.

Louisville - The Cards are 12-3 and finish with home games against Notre Dame and Villanova along with a final game at Georgetown. Although the Cards should win both home games, ND is capable of an upset. If the Cards lose to ND and GTown they will end up with a record of 13-5 and lose tiebreakers to the Irish and UConn. Louisville has two wins over Marquette and a win over Georgetown. If the Cardinals win two of the last three they will secure a bye.

Notre Dame - The Irish are 11-3 and have three of the final four games on the road. Although they have been unbeatable at home, they have shown some vulnerability away. With splits against UConn and Marquette, the Irish lose tiebreaker vs. Georgetown and still have to travel to Louisville this Thursday. The game at DePaul is not a gimme, seeing that it is a rivalry game. ND should beat St. John’s at home and USF away. If the Irish split their remaining four games they will end up 13-5. A Marquette victory over Georgetown might force the Irish to play a Wednesday game.

UConn - The Huskies are 10-4 and suffered a crucial loss at Nova on Saturday. Remaining games are at Rutgers tonight, West Virginia Saturday and at Providence and home to Cincinnati next week. The Huskies must win 3 of the last 4 to put themselves in a good position at 13-5. UConn has trouble with Providence and West Virginia is still a mystery team. Two losses will probably push UConn to a Wednesday game. The Huskies lose a tiebreaker to Georgetown and win tiebreakers vs. Louisville and Marquette. The UConn-ND tiebreaker will be determined by the Irish game vs. Louisville this Thursday.

****UPDATE***** In checking all possibilities, if Marquette were to lose one of their final two league games, UConn and ND would have to win 2 of their remaining four games to receive a bye.

Complicated???? Not really…… Typical???? You bet….. WELCOME TO THE BIG EAST!

Categories: Commentary, Georgetown, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Marquette, Louisville, Coach O, Postseason
4 Comments »

This is the secret to success:

1. Get some weed.
2. Smoke up.
3. Get kicked out of school.

What can I say? It worked bigtime for Kyle McAlarney on Saturday night when ND downed UConn 73-67. What did he do? Oh, just score 32 points on 13-19 shooting (6-7 from three), pass for 5 assists, and not turn the ball over once. Throw in four rebounds and call it a day. All I have to say is: damn, that must be some crazy good weed.

I was only able to watch the first half of the game. It was just too depressing as a UConn fan. You see, it was a rainy day here in the Bay Area and I ended up on the couch all afternoon. ESPN Classic was on a Big East bonanza, and I saw two old games — St. Johns vs. UConn (February 9, 2002) and the Georgetown vs. UConn Big East Championship (1995). Those were some totally different times for UConn and it was such a treat to see players I had forgotten about — Eric Hayward (and his gap-toothed smile), Doron Sheffer (what court sense!), Ricky Moore (his unbelievable heart and defense on Allen Iverson), Taliek Brown (again, a bull on defense), and Kirk King (I forgot what a huge game he had against Georgetown). I remember the days that I used to be frustrated with Travis Knight. I long for those days, because we were so damn spoiled.

Bonus points for those who know where the title of the post comes from.

(Correction — this was the 1996 Big East Championship game, not 1995, as Big Willie notes in the comments)

Categories: Commentary, donald, Connecticut, Notre Dame
3 Comments »

ND lost the heart of its offense when Falls and Carter graduated. They will not shoot it like they did last year. And they might benefit from the lack of reliance on the long bomb. McAlarney is back and that will help in the backcourt. But ND will find it hard to match last year’s record.

Frontcourt - The good news here is that Luke Harangody is back. The bad news is that he tore ligaments in his thumb and will miss the first 4 weeks of the season. Harangody (11.2ppg, 6.2rpg) was a bear last year. He was the perfect compliment to Rob Kurz (12.6ppg, 8.0rpg). Kurz can take it inside or shoot from the perimeter. Luke Zeller (3.8ppg, 2.2rpg) was once a starter, but after Harangody arrived he now provides excellent depth down low. The only problem with that is that Zeller likes the 20 footer more than the banging in the post. Freshmen Carleton Scott and Tim Abromatis will look for minutes. GRADE - B+

Backcourt - The good news is Kyle McAlarney is back. The bad news is that his point guard position has been taken by Tory Jackson (7.8ppg, 4.3apg). Jackson is a slasher and did a great job stepping in midseason last year. McAlarney will move to the SG position. He has the range and ability (10.3ppg, 5.4apg) to play either guard slot. Zach Hilleland (5.8ppg, 4.8rpg) will take over at SF. Hillesland is a whirlwind on the floor but many times plays out of control. Jonathan Peoples (1.8ppg, 0.7apg) got some PT in the Big East and NCAA’s but he will be a bit player. Look for Ryan Ayers (2.9ppg, 1.4rpg) to push for time at the SG or SF positions. He was the Irish best shooter down the stretch last year. Frosh Tyrone Nash and Ty Proffitt will watch for the most part. GRADE - B-

Depth - Zeller and Ayers are quality players off the bench. After that there is very little. This bench is better than some but ND is not especially deep this year. GRADE - C

Outlook -The Irish look like they have the makings of a pretty good squad this year. Haragody’s injury is a big question. There is no way they can replace Falls and Carter. Mike Brey is going to have to change the style they played last year. The 3 point shooters just are not there. GRADE - B-

Categories: Commentary, Contributors, Notre Dame, Coach O
1 Comment »

Well the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament is almost over and the Big East results are in….some good and some not so good. Looking at the teams that did not advance here are some observations.

NOTRE DAME - A very disappointing loss in round one to Winthrop. I know everyone and their brothers were talking up Winthrop before the tourney began but the Irish didn’t lose because Winthrop is another George Mason. When a team shoots 4-13 from the free throw line you just assume they are a bad free throw shooting squad. Not the case here. The Irish shot about 75% for the year from the line. Shooting 31% in a tourney game is sure to get you a loss. ND shot 40% from the 3 point line this season but could manage 4 for 22 or 18% in the Winthrop game. They were also outrebounded 43-41. All this from a team that looked very good coming off the tough Georgetown loss in the BET. But let’s not forget that Winthrop was on an 18 game win streak with their most impressive wins over Mississippi State and High Point (twice). The Irish picked a bad time to have tourney jitters against a team that dominated squads like Radford, Coastal Carolina, and Liberty in conference. This loss was a huge blow to the reputation of the Big East.

Marquette - The Eagles just are not very good. I’m sure with McNeal they would have made a better showing but any team with a warm body up front could dominate Marquette at the end of the season. Shame because they were on a roll early on and just couldn’t get it going when it counted. 

Villanova - The worst thing that could have happened to Scottie Reynolds was scoring 40 against UConn. The Cats went 2-3 from that point on. Reynolds began to play like he had no teammates and wanted to be the whole show. He pushed Sumpter into a supporting role and Nardi was too injured to take charge of the team. Was Jay Wright looking to sell a package to the Sixers with Reynolds as the star and Wright as coach? When Reynolds got the ball it was time for all teammates to go wait in the bench area until he either took a 35 foot jumper or tried to drive through all 5 opponents on the floor. Don’t get me wrong, Scottie is a tremendous talent. He should just try a little to be a team  player. His one-man show probably cost Villanova a chance to move on to the 2nd round.

Louisville - Nice first round crushing of Stanford, an average team from a weak league (with way too much respect in the seedings). Sosa had 16 in that win, but the troubling fact from that game is that he only had 1 assist. Today against Texas A&M he took one of the worst shots at the end of a game that I have ever seen. Oh, yeah, he did have 31 points. AND 1 assist. Here is a point guard who is a Scottie Reynolds wannabe. 47 points in two games and 2 assists! I’m sure that’s not the shot Pitino called for, down one with 15 seconds left. Or would Rick wind the clock down to have his freshman point guard fire one up from 25 feet? Someone has to tell these Freshmen point guards that there are TEAMMATES who are on scholarship too.

Pitt - Still going! It took an overtime to extend the Panthers’ season after blowing a 19 point lead in the second half. But they do play like a team and deserve to be where they are. More on them later.

Georgetown - The Hoyas are the toast of the Big East for making toast out of Jared Dudley and his headband teammates. BC is home again…… knocked out again by a Big East team (Nova erased them last year). Still fun to watch the Hoyas run an offense like no other BE team and when they turn up the heat on D they can put the brakes on most teams. More on them later.

Maybe when the pundits claimed this a down year for the Big East they weren’t far off target. Sure looked like our crying about ND’s 6 seed was off target. Syracuse almost lost the 1st round of the NIT, UConn could only beat Division One bottom dwellers and three of our six went out on Day 1. But we still have two in the dance.

So…… at this point we have 2 teams in the Sweet Sixteen. The scoreboard shows the ACC has one, SEC has three, Big 12 has two, Big Ten has one, Pac 10 has three, Conference USA has one, Missouri Valley has one, Mountain West has one and the Horizon has one.

Categories: Commentary, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Villanova, Marquette, Louisville, Coach O, Postseason
6 Comments »

The dismissal of PG Kyle McAlarney from the University of Notre Dame is a major injustice to both the student and the men’s basketball program.

Now, I don’t condone drug use nor do I feel that McAlarney should not be punished for having marijuana in his car during a routine stop. As an educator and former coach I do feel that student athletes should be held to the same standards as all other students. And as a coach, I would have done exactly what Coach Brey did in suspending McAlarney immediately and possibly for the remainder of the season. I commend Coach Brey for his quick and definitive action.

Where I have a problem is the fact that this occurred off campus at the corner of Grape and Douglas. About 5 miles from the campus. He was put on one year probation and made to do community service and attend classes. That is fine. After one year his record will be clean. He has no history. If he had been caught by ND police on campus with drugs I agree that the school has every right to expel him. What he was charged with by Indiana State Police is a misdemeanor. What would have happened if he was stopped in his hometown in Long Island? Would he have been expelled? What if it was a student who was not an athlete? From the article in the South Bend Tribune he may reapply for next year. I wouldn’t blame him for going elsewhere.

This smacks of the expulsion of Julius Jones for being in a dorm room of a female after 9PM a few years ago. Jones did reapply after a year out of school and the rest is history. But that was an on-campus incident. This was not.

I just feel that this was not a university issue. It was handled very well by both the authorities and Coach Brey. Suspending him for the season would have been fine. Expelling him is an injustice that will affect recruiting in what is already a very tough area for Brey what with admission standards being what they are. Will a top recruit choose another program where, if they make a mistake will be dealt with in a much fairer and less embarrassing way?

Only time will tell,

Categories: Commentary, Notre Dame, Coach O
4 Comments »