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: Coach O, Commentary, Contributors, Notre Dame
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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: Coach O, Commentary, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Postseason, Villanova
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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: Coach O, Commentary, Notre Dame
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Several bloggers (including our own Big Willie) have noted on Notre Dame’s ability to snatch defeat from the claws of victory. Today was an exception, however, as they kept West Virginia’s comebacks at bay. It was the Mountaineers turn at Groundhog day as they got to within 5 (exactly!) an astounding four times in the second half. Each time Notre Dame would break the 1-3-1 and put the Irish back up by 7. If UConn wants to figure out how to break down the West Virgina defense, they need only look at the Irish, which put together a textbook attack. If they are able to dissect other defenses with the same precision, Notre Dame will be a force. That seems like a big “if”, though.

West Virginia, on the other hand, looked small and seemed to depend too much on the outside shot. Eight of the Mountaineers’ 14 field goals in the second half were three pointers. They made exactly one free throw. Without a threat of scoring through penetration, the Mountaineers look to be a bit one-dimensional. They had great success in their first three Big East games, but my belief is that you’ll mostly die if you live by the three.

More on the game from the West Virginia perspective.

Categories: Commentary, donald, Notre Dame, West Virginia
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For all of you who don’t know Dan’l B, he’s a genius. The guy has this formula for picking games, and more times than not, he’s right. So when he predicted the Irish would win, being an ND fan, of course I got all giddy and stupid, ever excited that he actually thought they would win as well. You see, I could make the prediction that ND will beat Alabama, but everyone would say, “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” But when Dan’l B says so, we stop, pause, and then nod and agree and say, “Yeah, that makes sense.” Then, of course, his prophecy became true, and we can all chalk another one up for the Biggest Conference in all the land.

Like everyone else, I thought Notre Dame would suck this year, but it appears I may be wrong, and these two victories over Bama and Maryland are going to help a lot come Selection Sunday. Dan’l B’s prediction was 9 Big East teams in on that day. Here’s the nine I figure he was talking about: Pitt, UConn, Georgetown, Marquette, Villanova, DePaul, Syracuse, Notre Dame and either West Virginia or Louisville. More likely the Cardinals. Anyway, chalk another one up for the Biggest.

Categories: Big Willie Style, Commentary, Notre Dame
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