The Fieldhouse

Time to shut the doors

2007-01-16T19:57:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, it has come to this and The Fieldhouse is going to be shut down. Thank you for all of the emails, comments, and visits to the site, but I just haven't been able to give Notre Dame basketball the attention it deserves. To have the blog just sit here and not be updated gives the impression that ND hoops isn't worthy of constant coverage or fan interest and nothing can be further from the truth.

And while I'm upset that I don't have the time to keep this blog going, the fact that people have been annoyed at the lack of updates here lately makes me happy that fans are again interested in ND hoops and eager to learn more about the team. Honestly, this is a fantastic year to follow Mike Brey's crew. Nearly written off as a dead man walking in the off-season, Coach Brey is rightly in the running for Coach of the Year awards with the attitude and production transplant he has given this team. The older players, Falls, Carter, and Kurz, are chipping in in all of the right ways while the younger guys like Tory Jackson, Zach Hillesland, and Luke Harangody are adding energy, much needed defensive help, and maturity beyond their game experience. The whole team is playing solid defensive, the bench is much, much deeper, than in years past, and there is an undeniable passion in the players when they are on the court. This team is a joy to watch and I can't wait to follow them all the way into the NCAA Tournament this year.

Luckily for Irish fans, there are many places on the net to continue to still get a fix on Irish hoops. Obviously, the South Bend Tribune is a must read for coverage of the team. Colin Burns and Steve Wiltfong also do a great job covering Irish hoops on IrishEyes, which also features articles from Kevin O'Neill, who wrote for this blog last year.

Blog-wise, Notes from the Geetar is a great read on the current state of the program while both Rakes of Mallow and the newly formed Black and Green blogs have done a great job running down the day to day performance of the Fighting Irish basketball team. Definitely check out all three sites.

Message board wise, the best daily back and forth on Notre Dame basketball can be found, in my opinion, in The Pit on ndnation. It's a long running site with plenty of passionate fans ranging from those who cheered for ND before Digger stepped foot on campus to current students filling the Leprechaun Legion and rooting for Brey's bunch.

Again, I apologize for running such a crappy blog about a subject that deserves much better. In the future I will go back to sticking an occasional hoops post in over on BGS, but for now I think the best thing to do is to shut down the blog as opposed to leaving a rarely updated mess. Doing something half-assed is never the right solution.

Thanks again to everyone that stopped by. Keep up the interest in the program that is giving all indications now of being back on the right track and I'll see you on some of the previously linked blogs and message boards. Go Irish.

And we're back...

2006-12-09T08:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay folks, but the real world intervened. New jobs, a case of the flu, and the birth of a new child (congrats KevinC!) have kept us all pretty busy lately. Now, to catch up on a wild and woolly three and a half weeks of Irish hoops....

When we last tuned in, things weren't looking great. The Irish had lost to Butler of all teams, but more disappointing than the actual loss was the fact that Brey fell back into the short bench habits that have hurt him in the past. Following that nadir though, the team has shown remarkable resilience and have worked their way back up to heights that, quite frankly, not many anticipated.

The Irish rebounded from the Butler loss to put away Lafayette 92-66 in the consolation round of the pre-season NIT. The short bench issues of the game before disappeared as nine different Irish players saw at least 16 minutes of playing time. The Irish also dominated the boards, another past weak spot, by not allowing the Bulldogs an offensive rebound until the final few minutes of the game.

A cupcake game against The Citadel followed and ND made sure the game was never in doubt by jumping out to a 40-12 halftime lead and turning that into a 74-50 win. Freshman Luke Harangody continued his strong play by not only posting his fourth straight game in double figures, but by also outscoring the entire Citadel team in the first half, 16-12. For his efforts, Harangody was then named Big East Freshman of the Week. And once again, the substitutions flowed freely as eight Irish players were on the floor for 17 minutes or more.

The Irish then squared off against Irish alum and former Brey assistant Billy Taylor and his Lehigh Mountain Hawks. The Irish offense kept up the hot pace with a 93-87 victory that saw Rob Kurz hit a career mark in points. Lehigh built a lead that stretched into double figures in the first half, but the Irish battled back and took the lead for good with just under 15 minutes to play. There was some concern that speedy Lehigh point guard Jose Olivero was able to consistently shake Irish defenders on his way to 32 points.

One final tasty treat showed up on the Irish doorstep in the form of the Winston-Salem State. An easy 90-45 victory followed that again saw nine different Irish players hit the double digit mark in minutes played with no one getting more than 25 minutes. Rob Kurz continued his hot play with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Finally, the easy part of the Irish schedule was over and a ranked team had shown up in the opposing locker room in the form of the 23rd ranked Maryland Terrapins. The game started with the Irish falling behind and working to keep the game close, which they did as the first half ended with ND only down by three. The deficit grew to 7 before the Irish ripped off an impressive 25-7 run, spurred on by Kyle McAlarney who scored 8 straight at one point during the run. The Terrapins tried to rally back and re-take the lead, but the Irish held strong down the stretch and came away with an upset 81-74 victory in the BB&T Classic. And showing that things have changed from the Butler game, Brey kept going to his bench in a close game against a tough opponent. Eight different players saw at least 12 minutes of playing time and the scoring was very distrubited with four different players hitting double digits in points. As a key part of ND's upset win and 3-0 week, Rob Kurz was named to the Big East honor roll, which highlights stellar play by Big East members during each week.

The Irish were riding high with a lot of optimism and confidence, but a threat in the form of #5 ranked Alabama came into South Bend with the type of long, athletic team that has always given Brey's teams fits. With ESPN coming into town and giving most of the nation their first look at the revamped Irish, everyone was getting excited for the game. Vitale gave a special shoutout to fans about the game while the ND Promotions department planned a "Black Out" night were fans were encouraged to wear black to show support for the Irish. (It sounded a bit silly to be honest, but didn't look bad at all on TV)

Once the game started, 'Bama showed just how athletic they are by dominating on the boards and throwing down a few dunks that shook the JACC. But ND never backed down and even survived an offensive drought by picking things up on the defensive side of the ball. Key in the game was the play of freshman Tory Jackson who came off the bench to slow down the Crimson Tide's stud point guard Ronald Steele. Quick guards had given the Irish trouble earlier in the year and the move of having Jackson, along with Russell Carter, slow down Steele was excellent coaching. Jackson and Carter also combined on a Carter steal followed by a Jackson reverse to tie the game up at 49 with 30 seconds left in the half. Excellent team defense kept 'Bama from getting a good shot off and the teams headed off the court all knotted up.

In the second half the Irish kept shooting lights out, especially Russell Carter who put on a show. On defense the Irish switched to more man-to-man defense which certainly helped cut back on the number of Alabama rebounds. Also, ND stayed in the game by converting points off turnovers. In the first half, ND out-scored Alabama 11-4 in points off turnovers and that increased to a 18-5 margin in the second half. That alone largely accounted for the fact that with 5 minutes left in the game, ND enjoyed a comfortable 10 point lead, 85-75.

But then Irish fans all over the nation started to have uncomfortable flashbacks to last year as Alabama scored a quick handful of baskets aided by back to back Irish turnovers, their first in nearly 20 minutes of play. Suddenly there were 3 minutes left and the Irish were desperately clinging to a 3 point lead.

What followed was one of the most exciting and enjoyable Irish runs that I can remember. Game hero Russell Carter nailed a three pointer to stretch the lead to six. Zach Hillesland then stole the ball down low and Carter stepped up once again by drilling an outside shot setup by a great dribble move to create separation. Back on defense, Luke Harangody stripped Steele and drove the length of the court with two 'Bama defenders closing in fast. In a athletic move not expected out of the bullish Harangody, Luke fended off the defenders and converted the layup while getting fouled. He hit the free throw to give ND an eleven point lead.

Russell Carter then stole the ball for ND's third straight defensive forced turnover which lead to two Colin Falls free throws and the rout was on. ND tacked on four more points and Alabama hit a three to reach the 99-85 final score.

Words don't really do that final run justice, so I highly suggest you watch it. Thanks to und.com for putting that up on the web.

With back to back wins over ranked teams for the first time since 2002 and again excellent use of the bench (8 player with double digit minutes once again), Coach Brey and his young Irish team are really riding high. A slew of easily winnable games await the Irish before kicking off the Big East regular season. Not only that, but Butler has also been a surprise team and the Irish loss doesn't look so bad as Butler is currently has an RPI rating of #1. The wins over Maryland and Alabama are absolutely huge for ND's NCAA tourney resume and with the relatively easy Big East schedule (no Pitt, no UConn), the Irish are poised to make a serious run at not only a tournament berth, but a decent seed.

Granted, the season is still young, but the 7-1 Irish have already shown that they will fight for rebounds, play solid defense, share the load in terms of scoring and minutes played, and most importantly, not wilt when things get tight at the end of the game. I don't know how the rest of the season will play out at this point, but I can say that this team is a lot of fun to watch and Coach Brey is working extremely hard to correct the mistakes of the past few years.

Déjà Vu

2006-11-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

I think we all recognize this one by now. The game gets tight, the clock winds down, and the Irish fail to grab victory from the jaws of defeat. More depressing than the game itself, is the familiarity with this type of game.

Things hadn't started like this though. In the first two exhibitions game, the Irish appeared that, just maybe, there were signs of turning a corner. Against Rockhurst, the Irish won 79-44 and saw 9 players all play more than 10 minutes. In the next exhibition game against a similarly overmatched Bellarmine, once again the team concept shone through in an 87-55 win. Players were having fun and it seemed like the bench would be a key weapon all season with no absolute "go-to guy".

"I think they kind of like that -- let's see who's the double-figure guy tonight," Brey said. "That's a great frame of mind to have right now."

The Irish insist they have no problem relying on different guys each night out. That nobody looks to lead the team in shot attempts. That team basketball, where the rotation is at a solid nine, all of whom could see double-figures for minutes, can work.

The first game of the regular season continued the theme that perhaps this young team had the right mix of chemistry and hustle to perhaps surprise many this season. Against a IPFW team that returned most of the starters that only lost by 2 to the Irish last year, ND dominated in a 92-49 blowout.

And not only did the Irish win big, but again they all seemed to be saying the right things.

That the Irish have done that thanks to a change in philosophy. Instead of leaning on his starters for 37, 38 minutes a game, Brey has extended his bench to include a solid rotation of nine. No starter played over 30 minutes Friday. That allowed everyone to attack the basket and defend in waves of fresh legs.

"You're able to rebound better because nobody's tired," said Brey, whose team out-rebounded IPFW 54-28 and received 35 points, 25 rebounds, five assists and three steals from reserves. "We're beating people down the floor. Again, it's fresh guys.

"I tell them, 'Don't pace yourself. Play your spurt and we'll get a guy in there fresh.'"

But then, it all seems to have come crashing down with the second game of the season; a close loss to Butler in the first round of the pre-season NIT that not only will ultimately impact ND's strength of schedule (ND now won't face Indiana and possibly other high stature programs) but also brought back many of those old issues that for a moment appeared to be a thing of the past.

Defensively the Irish had a hard time switching over to defend against Butler shooters like A.J. Graves who hit a career high 8 three-pointers on the way to 28 points. And all of the promises of the deeper bench appeared to vanish as only 6 players reached double figures in minutes with four of them (Carter, KMac, Falls, Kurz) playing over 30.

Perhaps the worst thing to come out of the game though was this quote by Coach Brey.

"We've kind of been four-year guys, and if you hit us at the right time, we're pretty good," he continued, and now he was explicating how his program resembles a midmajor. "But we've got to wait for our guys to grow up in our program. That's a little bit of the school, the kind of kids we attract. A guy who wants to hit it for one year and go, two years and go, he's probably not going to choose us.

"We could use a marquee guy. We've got a lot of good players here, guys who can develop. Here's who we are, really. When you look at our program, our four guys in the NBA (Matt Carroll, Troy Murphy, Pat Garrity, Chris Quinn), none of them was a McDonald's All-American. Those are the kind of guys we get. The problem is, the league we're in, the league we signed up for … whew, it's brutal."

I do like and respect Coach Brey, but this quote sounds eerily familiar to similar excuse-making and "throw the players under the bus" comments made by Coach Davie and Willingham over on the football side of things. Losing a tight game is one thing. Losing and then not taking accountability is another.

Now, the season is still young and it's possible this game was just an aberration, or perhaps the final kick in the ass needed to really implement some coaching/strategy changes. All hope is not lost, as Zach Hillesland has showed plenty of athletic potential early and freshman Luke Harangody is off to a spectacular start in what looks like will be a fantastic career. But one or two talented players don't make a team, and even the best of players can be limited by lackluster coaching.

Again, it is early. But at the same time it appears to be getting pretty late for Coach Brey. It's time for him to show that he can junk what isn't working and develop a new identity. Sure, the team is indeed young and there will be growing pains along the way. But growing pains and freshman mistakes are almost forgivable. Repeating the same things that have led to losses in years past in the hopes that suddenly they start turning into wins is not.

A season of questions

2006-11-01T20:04:00.000-08:00

Back from a long summer's nap, The Fieldhouse is back and ready to cover the Irish hoops program as they open what is shaping up to be a very interesting season with an exhibition game against Division II Rockhurst tonight (streamed live from und.com). But before we get to the upcoming season, let's do a quick review of the noteworthy items that have happened since the last Fieldhouse update.

The Team

Practice started about a short time ago and expectations, at least from the media and fans, aren't too high this year. The Big East Coaches Poll picked ND as the 11th best team in the 16 team conference and the only player to earn pre-season all-conference honors is senior Colin Falls, who was named All-Big East Honorable Mention. Personally, I thought Russell Carter deserved some recognition and I look for him to be named to some post-season lists.

Und.com put up some practice video from an early practice, but really it's too soon to know what fans can really expect from the team. My premature stab at a starting five includes Kyle McAlarney at point, Colin Falls as the shooting guard, Russell Carter at the small forward spot, Rob Kurz at power forward, and Luke Zeller as the center. The thing is, Carter would also be very effective at the 2-guard spot, and Ryan Ayers would add a lot of height and athleticism as a small forward. And what about 6'9 Zach Hillesland, who apparently is the pre-season front-runner for breakout player of the year based on practice chatter and 2nd-hand reports? Oh, and don't forget the four man freshman class either, which includes quick point guard Tory Jackson and hopeful rebounding machine Luke Harangody. As you can see, there are plenty of lineup possibilities with this young team. One hand, that is pretty exciting, as fans get to see which young players step up to replace stalwarts Chris Quinn, Torin Francis, and Rick Cornett. On the other hand, given Brey's tendencies thusfar to play a short bench, fans are curious to see if he will keep it short or go to a deeper pool of subs more often.

One thing that Irish fans do hope to see is an increased focus on defense and hustle. Not that past Irish teams didn't work hard on the floor, but there almost seemed to be an attitude of the best defense is a good offense. Hopefully with plenty of athletic young players fighting for playing time, the Irish won't be near the bottom of the Big East again in many defensive categories.

I hesitate to give a prediction, because honestly I'm not really sure what to predict. I think that the team will be fun to watch, but there will definitely be some mistakes along the way due to the inexperience of many of the players. There is a concern that ND will be pushed around due to a real lack of low post size, so the quick adaptation of Luke Zeller to the low post and Luke Harandgody to the physical Big East are going to be keys to the season. Seeing as how Zeller is the only player on the team over 6-9, he's going to have to his work cut out for him against tall teams. I'm fairly confident in the guard play as Kyle McAlarney has all the traits of a solid floor leader and quick freshman Tory Jackson should provide a quality backup while Colin Falls and Russell Carter will make the shooting guard spot the most experienced position on the floor.

The Coach

I think it's fair to say that Mike Brey is on the hot seat this year. Not that it's burning, but it has been three years since the Irish have made the NCAA tournament and this year doesn't have the early look of a Big Dance season either. There was a vocal set of Irish fans last year who were calling for his job and certainly they will grow in number this year if Brey can't turn things around and show some positive momentum. Honestly, I think getting to the NCAA Tournament and perhaps even winning a few games are about the only thing Brey can do to quiet the masses. I don't know what Kevin White is thinking about the future of the men's basketball team, so it's possible that Brey's job will be safe even if the team, admittedly young, fails to make the tournament. Still, at some point a program has to decide if the status quo is good enough or if the goals and expectations are going to be set at a higher level.

Personally, I'm going to try and enjoy this season, win or lose. If the Irish are able to win games and look like an improved lot, that's fantastic. However, if they struggle and fail to close out close games and generally look like an inexperienced group of undersized shooters, then I'd like to think that the powers that be will recognize the situation and move to rectify it. If they don't, I'll complain then. In the meantime I'm going to assume that the people that matter are paying attention.

Facilities

One thing that many Irish fans have been clamoring for are improved basketball facilities for the hoops program. Not that better locker rooms and a video scoreboard will make the team play better defense or open the flood gate of 5-star recruits, but it will put the Irish coach on a more even setting with many of his Big East counterparts. The program has lost a bit of its mojo lately, and while coaching is the key factor in that equation, it's a fact of modern college basketball that facilities play a major role.

As it turns out, ND is moving to improve the amenities in the JACC, although for now the early drafts call for more gameday atmosphere changes than items high on the Irish fan wishlist like a new practice facility. Still, the announcement of the $25 million renovation of the South Dome of the JACC is very welcome news indeed. Plans aren't final so I expect a few changes from the proposed drafts and I suspect it's possible that the lack of finality in the plans is also by design. If it comes that ND is in the market for a new coach, the promise of a say in how the University updates the arena. Either way, the fact that ND is moving to update the physical plant is a positive move that helps out the entire program and I'm sure has already helped Coach Brey in recruiting. Speaking of...

Recruiting

Somewhat surprisingly, Notre Dame has four commitments heading into the early Signing Period (early November). The first came in August and then in a whirlwind 3-day span, ND picked up three more players for the Class of 2009. We'll get to the ramifications of the large class in a minute, but first, let's meet the players.

Carlton Scott - This 6-8, 200 pound small forward from Texas was the first to hop on board on August 13th. The athletic forward was a bit of an unknown, as Vandy and Texas Tech were the only other programs to offer, but a broken leg that kept him out his entire junior year and can partially explain that. Described as an emerging prospect, the #12 junior in the Texas Class of 2007 just might see his stock rise even further before getting to campus.

Ty Proffitt - A point guard who potentially projects to shooting guard in college, Proffitt is a favorite for Mr. Basketball in Kentucky after being named 1st Team All-State his junior year. Picking ND on October 22nd, the 6-4, 190 pound guard had offers from schools like Stanford and Western Kentucky and was being recruited by Kentucky and Florida, but neither of the latter got to officially extending an offer.

Tyrone Nash - Just 48 hours after Proffitt gave Brey his word, so did Nash, a 6-8, 220 pound guard/forward combo. Nash is probably the highest rated of the four recruits, even though he is only a three-star recruit according to rivals. Still, he had a rather impressive offer list including Indiana, Kentucky, Marquette, St. Johns, and Seton Hall. Like Scott, Nash appears to be an active player who will be helpful on defense and on the boards as he fine-tunes his offensive game.

Tim Abromaitis - Flying under the radar completely, Abromaitis committed to Notre Dame on October 25th. Apparently ND was his only major conference D-1 offer, although Tim was mainly looking at smaller east coast schools near his Connecticut home. At 6'7, 210 pounds, Abromaitis is still a bit of an unknown to Irish fans. His coach raves about his hustle and work ethic and notes he was 1st team all-state as a junior.

The common theme with these four players seems to be position flexibility. All four seem to be able to handle a few different spots on the court. Proffitt probably will end up as a shooting guard, ala Falls, but his background as a high school point guard is nice to have. Scott, Nash, and Abromaitis all seem like fairly athletic guys and could handle either small forward or power forward. Which one, if any, ends up at power forward probably depends on who can add the most bulk as none of them seem overly bulky now.

The decision to take four recruits, which leaves the next class with only one available scholarship, is a bit interesting. You never want to blame a kid for accepting an offer (who wouldn't take a free ride to ND?), but I'm a bit unsure why the staff went after a 3rd 6'7, 200 pound kid when there were already two in the class. Maybe they all have a different skill sets, but from the admittedly sparse reviews online they don't seem all that different from each other. It will be interesting to (hopefully) hear Brey address this during his Signing Day press conference. Until then we'll hold off on too much speculation.

Past, Present, and Future

2006-07-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

As the off-season slugs along, here is a rundown of news on Irish players past, present, and future.

Past

Recently departed seniors Chris Quinn and Torin Francis didn't expect to hear their name called during the 2006 NBA Draft and that was the reality as Notre Dame went another year without hearing an Irish player's name called.

Good news followed for Quinn and Francis though as both signed contracts with the Miami Heat to play for the Heat's summer league team. The pair will report to Florida soon as the Heat's summer team starts play on July 10th against a Charlotte Bobcat team that will likely feature ND alum Matt Carroll. Playing alongside Quinn and Francis will be 2005/06 opponents Daniel Horton from Michigan, and Mike Gansey and Kevin Pittsnogle from West Virginia.

Present

Good news for those looking for any sign that the Irish low post presence will be somewhat servicable next season. Junior Rob Kurz and sophomore Luke Zeller are both going to be spending time at the famed Pete Newell Big Man Camp. Zeller will have a pretty busy summer as before the Big Man Camp he will be spending time in China as a member of the Athletes in Action team participating in the 2006 William Jones Cup. Zeller will update his progress with a travel diary on und.com so hopefully there will be some interesting stories in the near future. The roster for the trip shows that Zeller is listed at center and one of only two players over 6'10", the other being Belmont center Justin Herndon, so hopefully Luke will get plenty of time working with his back to the basket and fighting for position in the paint. I'll restate the obvious that his ability to provide a low post presence will be a large key to ND's fortunes next season.

Future

Speaking of low post presence, incoming freshman Luke Harangody is continuing to impress with his work on the Indiana All-Star team. Harangody started things off by replacing consensus National Player of the Year Greg Oden at center for the Indiana team and notching a game high in both points (16) and rebounds (14) for the Hoosiers against the Kentucky All-Stars. In the followup game, Harangody chipped in another 12 points and 4 blocked shots. His impressive play down low earned him accolades from the All-Star coach and should give a glimmer of hope for Irish fans that next year there will actually be a few options when it comes to a low post threat on offense and an ability to grab rebounds in the rough and tumble Big East.

Back to the midwest

2006-06-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since the last post so apologies. First things first, Notre Dame's basketball coaching staff is complete. Gene Cross was hired by Notre Dame and will fill the empty spot on the bench left by Lewis Preston's departure to Florida.

My initial reaction to his coaching bio is that he is a very solid hire. Nice mix of experience and familiarity with the midwest. And getting him to leave Coach Leitao at Virginia to come to ND is a good sign to others that ND is still a desirable place to be. What was especially interesting to me though were some of the quotes from Brey and Cross in the articles that covered the hiring.

The first was that Brey hasn't exactly nailed down the exact responsbilities for Cross yet. Lewis Preston coached the big men at ND, but it sounds like, at least initially, Cross is going to help out all over the place.

"That's something we'll work out in the future," said Cross, who hopes to start full-time in the second week of June. "All I want to do is get out there and get the job done."

Preston worked with Irish post players during his six seasons in South Bend. Brey said that Cross likely will work with both the perimeter and post players to begin, a flexibility that separated him from other candidates.

Maybe Brey is reassigning responsibilities throughout the entire staff or maybe he just wants to see if Cross works out better with the outside or inside guys. He has coached both during his 10 year career so neither assignment would be new to him.

The second thing that I noticed was that Brey is really being open about looking to Cross for his input on the ND program. It really does sound like Brey is trying to shake things up within the Irish basketball program.

He also plans on soliciting advice from Cross on how the Irish do things, as new blood breeds new ideas in a program.“How are we going to get used to his strengths is something we are going to learn over the summer,” Brey said. “When you bring guys in with experience, you want to hear their thoughts, how they do it. I’m always open to Gene, here is what we do, what do you think.

Finally, one of the things Brey said about Cross really seemed to reinforce the recent push to land kids from the midwest.

“I’m looking forward to using his experience in Chicago,” Brey said. “With the way the Big East has changed, and at times you look at our roster, we’ve been strong in the Midwest. We really need a good base in this area.”

Obviously the program will still go after the best players regardless of location, but I do like the push to establish a bit more of a foothold in the midwest. The program isn't all that strong right now, so battling other Big East and ACC powers on the east coast isn't always going to be successful. But with a roster full of local kids like Zeller, Harangody, Jackson, Falls, Hillesland, and Peoples, I think building up a solid core of midwest players is a good strategy.

Home Improvement

2006-05-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

When Kevin White sat down with the media to give a mini-state of the athletic department address, he managed to get a few words in about the basketball program. Before talking about the long-awaited JACC upgrades, he did address his views on last season's struggles.

“Who isn’t frustrated?” White said. “The guy that is most frustrated is Mike (Brey) and our players. We have a very high set of expectations for all our programs and we’re not going to back down from that. Some days are better than others, but we’re not going to overreact.

“I think we’re going to continue to try and create a positive trend line and find a way to realize the expectation that is in play. None of that is subject to review and we’re not going to redo the calculus on that. That’s what we are committed to."

Now, the second paragraph is positively Willingham-esque in its ability to use a lot of words to say very little. It's pretty clear that this upcoming season is going to be a very important one for Brey's career, but the real question is; just how high are those "very high set of expectations"?

As for the long overdue JACC renovations, White spelled out some of the proposed changes as part of an overall athletic facilities overall. The "Athletics Master Plan" is a long-term $100 million investment in facilities for all of the Notre Dame sports teams. Already $21.25 million has been spent building the Gug for the football program and currently the golf teams are watching as a new $2.1 million indoor practice facility is being constructed.

White highlighted that $40 million has been earmarked to update the JACC, with $25 million going into the South Dome, the "hoops" dome for the directionally challenged, and $15 million for the North Dome, home of the hockey rink. The $15 million for the North Dome reportedly will mainly go into building a more permanent 4,000 seat home for the hockey team.

Many Irish fans (and players I'm sure) had hoped for a new practice facility to be built adjacent to the JACC, but that doesn't seem to be in the current plans. What White did reveal is that preliminary plans to modernize the aging basketball facility.

“We think it’ll represent a pretty significant face-lift,” White said of the proposed Joyce south renovation, which would include an expanded lobby, new chair backs, a new club room on the second level and state-of-the-art ticketing. “We’re working hard to make it our next project.”

I would hope that those plans also include a new centrally located video scoreboard and a new basketball court as a new ticket office and expanded varsity shop, while perhaps needed, aren't going to thrill too many recruits. Should the renovations interfere with an upcoming basketball season, at least one location is already hoping to host a few future Irish games. The Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne had great success with the Irish NIT game against St. Louis in 2004 and is looking forward to the next ND visit.

Memorial Coliseum General Manager Randy Brown said he hopes Notre Dame considers Fort Wayne as a potential replacement site for games, if necessary, while the Joyce Athletic Center is improved. No date has been announced for the renovation.

“We haven’t talked directly about it, but we’ve had some ongoing discussions,” Brown said. “They know they draw here, they really want to be here and they have a great Notre Dame presence in the marketplace. The relationship our staff has with their staff will also help.”

As the plans came about five years ago, I would hope that some modernization of the blueprints is one of the reasons for the delay in a publically announced start date. Whatever the reason, it is good to hear that things are moving forward. But as colleges are breaking ground all the time on new basketball facilities, hopefully ND will be able to join them soon.

By the time I get to Arizona

2006-05-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

One transfer that Notre Dame won't be getting is former Duke big man Eric Boateng. He announced yesterday that he's headed to Arizona State.

"I just feel very comfortable with Coach Sendek's vision for Arizona State," said Boateng, who visited the Tempe campus within a few weeks after the announcement on April 3 that Sendek was leaving North Carolina State for ASU.

Had Boateng come to Notre Dame it would have resulted in a crowded 5-man freshman class, but his size would have come in very handy on a team a bit on the smaller side for Big East play.

Still no official word on Tim Morris or Dan Werner, but another possibility is out there in the form of Iowa State transfer Farnold Degand. Degand is a 6'3 point guard who redshirted last year as a freshman and is considering Notre Dame along with Michigan, UMass, and Rutgers.

Degand grew up in Boston and while he admits he likes Michigan, he's also partial to playing in the Big East.

"The lure to play in the Big Ten (at Michigan) is big, though there would have to be something special about those schools to make me consider them more than those East Coast schools. The Big East was a major part of college basketball for me growing up."

I can't imagine ND getting Tim Morris and Degand, but it could be possible as Morris would only have one year of eligibility left after sitting out a year and Degand would have three. Time will tell.

Basketball bits

2006-05-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

The off-season for basketball is far quieter than the football off-season so the updates don't come nearly as often. Still, it's a busy time for the Irish program this off-season with assistant coaches to hire and potential transfers checking out the program. Here's a rundown of some of the latest questions surrounding the program and what's been going on lately.

Who's the new assistant coach?

Everything is still quiet on this front, although one name did pop up in Mike DeCoury's Inside Dish column.

Expect Brey to take a good look at Utah Jazz scout Troy Weaver, who was an assistant on Syracuse's 2003 championship team. . . .

Of course, that article was posted over a week ago and there are rumors that Weaver is no longer a candidate. The silver lining though is that it appears that Brey is actively searching for an assistant with specific qualities -- Weaver is a noted aggressive recruiter and had a successful track record coaching Syracuse's big men -- and will not just settle to promote from within and hire a new Director of Basketball Operations.

What's the latest on the rumored transfer targets?

In addition to previously mentioned Tim Morris from Stanford and Duke's Eric Boateng, North Carolina State recruit, and New Jersey State Player of the Year, Dan Werner has asked for a release from his letter of intent and is now considering other schools. Notre Dame is one of those schools and Werner is visiting campus this weekend. Reports also have it that Boateng visited campus last weekend to check things out. News on where the three will end up should start coming out in the next few weeks.

When can we expect any news on the proposed facilities renovations?

Not much public news here, but it should be noted that the Board of Trustees had a meeting this past weekend and some of the internet scuttlebutt is that a renovation plan was officially approved. What that plan consists of is still up in the air and likely still subject to modifications to the final architectural designs. The most likely changes to the basketball arena are new seatbacks and more permanent seating in the upper level, a new scoreboard, and a new floor. Other enhancements like box seats on the south end of the arena and 30,000 square feet additions to either end of the JACC complex aren't quite as certain. Hopefully sometime soon a public announcement will be made with more specific plans and a general timetable for completion.

How is next year's schedule shaping up?

The newest bit of news on this front is the news that Notre Dame will be a part of the pre-season NIT tournament and will open up against Butler in the Canseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Should they win, the Irish will then face the winner of the Indiana-Lafayette game.

The Pre-NIT has changed formats this year and features four regional matchups of four teams with the winner from each bracket advancing on to battle it out at Madison Square Garden on November 22-24. Here's the breakdown of the four regions.

East - North Carolina, Sacred Heart, Winthrop, Iona
Midwest - Indiana, Lafayette, Notre Dame, Butler
South - Tennessee, Fordham, UNC-Wilmington, Belmont
West - Gonzaga, Rice, Baylor, Colorado State

Despite not playing each other since 1995, the Irish have faced the Butler Bulldogs 101 times with ND holding a 71-30 advantage in the series. However, Butler has the recent edge as they have won the past four matchups.

Battle for Bookstore

2006-05-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

The 35th annual Bookstore Basketball tournament is over and your champion is U Got a Bad Draw. As you may or may not have noticed, The Fieldhouse failed to really cover the tourney as we had hoped. Part of this was due to the fact that no one sent in any stories or pictures. It's almost as if they had been warned about sending pictures over the internet to a strange man. Is that the kind of thing parents are teaching their kids nowadays?

Thankfully, The Observer was front and center for the tournament and did a solid job as usual covering the event. The top-seeded U Got a Bad Draw pulled out a 26-24 over 10th-seeded The Saltines and grabbed a second Bookstore Championship for the team that features Notre Dame football players Brady Quinn, game MVP Chinedum Nduwke, and David Fitzgerald. Quinn missed the final so it was up to Nduwke and Fitzgerald along with captain Eric Laumann, Dan Shultz, and Chris Devitt to hold off the Saltines and surprise Mr. Bookstore winner, freshman Carl Anderson.

The Bookstore champsionship was the 2nd for the core members of U Got a Bad Draw who might have been gunning for a third straight championship if not for a semi-final round disqualification last year. You can read more about the final game at the Observer's website here. Congrats to all who played and helped put the tournament together.

That's that

2006-04-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

After a brief afternoon of rumors that Brey was likely interviewing and even possibly was signed as the new Wolfpack coach, an official statement pretty much puts to rest any chance Mike Brey

Statement From Notre Dame Men's Basketball Coach Mike Brey

Irish head coach recently concluded sixth season at the University.

April 30, 2006

Notre Dame, Ind. - "While I am not one to react to internet rumors, I want to make it clear that I did not interview for the North Carolina State job and I am not a candidate for the North Carolina State job. I am the coach at Notre Dame and honored to be it."

- Head Coach Mike Brey

Coach Brey is going to be on the hot seat next season, but for now it is a good thing for the University that he will be returning for the next season.

Where's there's smoke...

2006-04-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

There could be a lot of reasons for him to be in Durham, but...

Make of it what you wish, but a telephone operator said there was a Mike Brey registered for a while Saturday at the Washington Duke Inn in Durham. Brey, a former Duke assistant coach and current coach at Notre Dame, has been mentioned as a candidate for the Wolfpack. Efforts to reach Brey were not successful. By 7 p.m. Saturday, a telephone operator said Brey had checked out.

All I hope is that ND is making moves of their own. If a new coach is needed, I already want things in motion.

More on the move?

2006-04-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

As the North Carolina State coaching search stretches on, Coach Brey's name has once again popped up and this time it looks legit. Is Coach Brey flirting with the Wolfpack to get some leverage at Notre Dame or is he truly interested in moving on from Notre Dame?

Another name to resurface is Notre Dame's Mike Brey, a former Duke assistant. Brey, 47, has been at Notre Dame six years, going 118-70 overall and 55-41 in the Big East. Neither Miller nor Brey could not be reached for comment Friday.

I don't think that Brey has unanimous support at Notre Dame from the powers-that-be and those who write the big checks. And certainly the vocal support of the program overall from the University has been lacking lately. However, I also don't think that having Brey leave the program for another now is going to help the Notre Dame basketball program at all. It's one thing to put a coach on notice, start a replacement search, and then make a final decision based on the outcome of the following season. It's easy to frame that as a University dissatisfied with the status quo and eager to restore the lost luster to the program. It's another for a coach to up and leave and give the impression that the ND job isn't a desirable one.

In Notre Dame's situation, recruiting has been solid the past two years so the extra year under Brey, should he prove not to be up to the task, will not leave much long term damage to the program. But if Brey should leave for NC State now, a move I have to believe would be done out of frustration with the ND adminstration, then the Irish would be the ones scrambling last minute to find a replacement a month after most coaching searches officially started.

Could it end well for the program if Brey leaves? Of course. But if you have to replace a key employee in your company, would you rather conduct a long term search out of the eye of the media or a last minute search after some of the better current options have already been snatched up? Keep in mind that for this last minute search shuffle that the man running the show is the same man who followed up the George O'Leary hiring with that of Ty Willingham.

The next few days could have a very big impact on the Irish basketball program for the next few years. Will Brey get a second chance with a new assistant coach or two, or will the Irish be back into the market for a new coach for the 3rd time in 7 years?

Assistant shuffle

2006-04-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

It has been reported today that assistant coach Lewis Preston will be moving on from the Irish staff to the bench of the national champion Florida Gators. The opening on Billy Donovan's bench was created by the hire of Anthony Grant as head coach of Virginia Commonwealth.

We all wish Preston the best as he moves on from six years spent in South Bend. At the same time, you'll notice a few posts below that many of the writers on The Fieldhouse had hoped for some shuffling of the assistant coaches both as a way to bring in some fresh blood but also as a statement that the status quo was not acceptable.

We also mentioned the low post coaching as a specific perceived shortcoming, which was Preston's area of reponsibility with the team. While the job with the Gators looks like a bit of a promotion on the front, it has all the feeling of a mutual separation. Kudos to both Brey and Preston for accomplishing this job switch outside of the media.

For Irish fans, the spotlight now shifts to the empty spot on the bench and who might fill it. With a handful of young big men on the team, landing a quality big man coach could show immediate benefits in the team play.

This would be a great time for the administration to step in and open up the pocketbook a bit for Brey during the search for Preston's replacement. If they can't show public support in terms of announcing new practice facilities or a JACC renovation, support in terms of upping the financial limits for assistant coaches is a good place to start.

Ideally, Brey will go out and find the best man for the job, whether that be LaPhonso Ellis or some other current assistant coach. What would not be a good sign is if the rest of the coaching staff is bumped up the chain of responbility and Brey hires a new director of basketball operations, as he did when Anthony Solomon left the team in 2003 to become the new head coach of St. Bonaventure.

Hockey on Hardwood

2006-04-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

Among the many topics that drive message board flame wars is that of playing time -- how it's distributed, who deserves more, who should be benched. So, in honor of the impending Stanley Cup playoffs, we thought it would be instructive to somehow adapt hockey's plus/minus stat to gauge the effectiveness of ND's regulars.

If you're unfamiliar with plus/minus, the basic idea is pretty simple. When a player is in the game, any points scored by his team are added to this stat while any points scored by the opponent are subtracted.

Unlike hockey, however, playing time in basketball is not doled out in equal shifts, so we'll modify the raw plus/minus stats in a manner similar to the "Roland Ratings" from an NBA statistical analysis site. For each player, we'll track their plus/minus stat both for when he is in the game and out of the game, scale those numbers per 40 minutes played, and combine the two to get a final rating.

As our data source, we'll use the play-by-play box scores available at und.com, which includes a log of all substitutions. Unfortunately, a few games are missing, but this isn't exactly scientific. Here are the numbers; I'll post some opinions of both the numbers and the rating method itself in a future post.

Player	Min. Per Game	+/- While In	+/- While Out	Total Rating
Chris Quinn	38.0	7.5	2.4	5.0
Rob Kurz	21.8	8.5	5.7	2.8
Rick Cornett	12.0	8.5	6.7	1.8
Colin Falls	35.2	7.3	6.6	0.7
Kyle McAlarney	23.2	6.8	7.7	-0.9
Russell Carter	27.6	6.6	8.5	-1.8
Torin Francis	29.4	6.1	10.2	-4.1
Luke Zeller	14.0	4.4	8.7	-4.3

NOTES:

The MPG listed here do not match those in the official season stats because this rating counts a DNP as a game of zero minutes, while the official stats don't count the game.
Ayers (3.5 MPG), Hillesland (1.1 MPG), and walk-ons Murphy and Piller are omitted due to lack of minutes.
In case you're wondering, the missing games are: NC St., @WVU, @SHU, @PC, GU (BET), @Mich (NIT).

Wrapup Roundtable

2006-04-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

With the season over and the new recruits signed, some of the Fieldhouse gang gathered to discuss the year that was and our hopes for the future over our annual game of poker. Bidding was fierce and the mood was serious as griping over cards and griping over the season mixed interchangeably. Jay's bluffs were called a bit too easily (quit double-checking your hand, Jay) so he was knocked out early. To help pass the time he agreed to document our conversation about the hoops season and what we all took from yet another up and down year. Enjoy.

1. Looking back, what was the most frustrating thing for you with regards to this season?

KevinC - Being so close, so often, coming up just short, and knowing that even as few as two games falling differently might have made a big difference in our postseason destination. While the team is a long way from where it should be -- where so many close games aren't a necessity -- they got crapped on by the basketball gods.

Pat - The quick and easy answer for this is the number of close losses. Everytime you think the Irish might pull one out, they didn't. Still, the most frustrating thing for me this season was the low post play. With Torin Francis and Rick Cornett I anticipated a solid dependable low post presence that would free up outside shooters like Quinn and Falls. Unfortunately, both options down low failed to provide a consistent scoring punch on offense. Teams didn't need to bother with a double-team and could instead focus on extending their defense against the rest of our perimeter shooters. Losing the close games was rough, but being in so many close games due to sub-par production down low was the real killer.

Kevin - I agree that it was post play, both on offense and on defense. Merely mediocre post play, as opposed to terrible, would have made many of those close losses into comfortable ND victories. Just three more wins, i.e. 18-9/9-7 and an NCAA Tournament bid, from credible post play is not a stretch.

The numbers exist to tell how poor Francis's and Cornett's offensive play was. I saw their defense in person about 15 times, and it was just as bad. Francis was pretty good on the defensive boards, but he was consistently abused whenever the ball got to the post. Cornett defended well, but he lost rebounds because he relied more on jumping than getting good position. Neither man learned how to move a man off the block without pushing, and pushing gets called a lot.

Teds - The interior play was obviously a sore spot, but I was more bothered by what I interpret as a general lack of timely adjustment by Brey and the staff. They were too late in making Francis earn his minutes rather than reflexively handing him 30+ a night. On certain occasions when Falls was off his game, I felt that they stayed with him far too long. Down the stretch, there was little change in personnel usage patterns and precious few minutes for the freshmen in spite of the state and direction of the team. And, obviously, going to Quinn in end-of-game situations time and time again was something else I thought could have been avoided or tinkered with, regardless of the percentages.

2. What did you like least about Brey's performance as head coach this year. Like best?

KevinC - Least: His propensity to take the air out of the ball with a small lead late in a game. He seemed to do it a bit less in the last few games, however. Best: Keeping the team up and fighting despite all the close losses. Most other teams, including last year's version of ND, would have folded after the Louisville game (if not earlier).

Pat - Maybe he wasn't ready earlier in the season but after watching Ayers play in the NIT game against Michigan I have to wonder why he didn't see more action during the regular season. Likewise, the decision to not play Francis and Cornett at the same time very often was a bit disappointing. I realize neither were very efficient on offense, but in some of those games I would have liked to see ND try to use some muscle rather than trying to out-shoot teams.

I did like the way that Brey managed the team from a standpoint that they never gave up and quit. There are always teams that fold after a few tough loses and ND never did that. They couldn't quite get over the hump, but Brey did a good job of keeping the players focused on the next game.

Kevin - Least - I understand that Francis was the key to the season back in December, but it was obvious that he was bad by the end of January. I don't think Cornett is particularly good, but I am certain that he's at least as good as Francis. I would have split their time 50-50 and insisted that they play physically. I'd demand that they use their fouls. ND might not have been much better in the post, but it could have been tougher.

Next least - I hated what he did with Zeller. Luke had Jordan Cornett numbers from three point range. Moving him to the free throw line would have increased his shooting percentage, and he wasn't going to get into the mix on the offensive boards from outside of the three point arc. Zeller looked like a good rebounder at times. If that had been job one for him, he would have been a solid contributor this season.

Best - The team kept competing in the face of disappointment after disappointment.

Next best - Revamping the offense on the fly at midseason was not easy. Plan A was to go through the post. To say that failed is soft peddling. Brey switched to a four guard offense with Quinn and Carter penetrating, and that offense was quite effective. Then he worked Kurz's skills into the mix. If Francis and/or Cornett could have held their own on defense, ND would have been able to rally back to the bubble, at least.

Teds - Least: noted above. Lack of timely adjustments. Most: he's very controlled, and I believe that this had a good bit to do with the scarcity of blowout losses and the uncanny ability of the team to dig itself out of huge deficits against often superior opponents time and time again. In spite of our record in close games this past year, I don't think that Brey rattles easily.

3. What is your take on the current state of recruiting?

Pat - Despite the absence of signing a true big man, I have to say the shift in recruiting philosphy is a positive sign. Rather than just shoot for the best players and duke it out with programs like Duke and Michigan State, Brey seemd to focus on midwest kids that possess skills that fit the team needs (rebounding, physical play, quickness). It's also the second straight year that Brey signed four players so it's nice to see him using up the scholarships to build team depth.

KevinC - Recruiting is significantly improved over the rising senior and junior classes. Brey suffered from some problems outside of his control and made some mistakes of his own, but he seems at least to have learned from that. We need another big man or two, especially in the Big East, but the rising sophomore and freshman classes are otherwise well stocked and seem to have a greater emphasis on quickness than past classes.

Teds - Difficult to judge. I would tend to label it "suitable but less than spectacular", but I'm not sure that the state of our playing and practice facilities makes it possible to outrecruit the Dukes and UConns for kids any longer. I don't think Rick Pitino could sell what we're offering them today. As noted elsewhere, I like the direction in which Brey has chosen to go with more physical prospects, kids with the ability to become good, full-court players in this conference. Perhaps Carter proves to be an outlier, but given other current constraints, it's not the worst idea to pursue players like Peoples and Harden with that sort of long-term growth potential in mind.

Kevin - Anyone would like a few consensus stars, but the program isn't there right now. I like the infusion of toughness, speed, and quickness. It's what Brey should have been recruiting all along.

4. What returning player do you consider most vital to success next year?

Teds - McAlarney, because he's charged with replacing ND's best and most efficient player since Troy Murphy left. Those are huge shoes to fill, and the dropoff there stands to be larger than the hole created by Francis and Cornett's departure if he can't have a positive impact on the team's play right out of the gate.

Pat - Honestly, I think Zeller is the most important person on the roster right now. I'm comfortable with MacAlarney running the show and Falls and Carter are now proven assets. Kurz showed a lot of potential last season and hopefully will continue to develop. Zeller is the big question mark. He'll be the biggest guy on the team and his size will be needed in the rough and tough Big East. Harangody is being counted on for a lot, but as a freshman that's sometimes hard to deliver. Zeller needs to add some strength and show a willingness to get inside that 3-point arc and mix it up with the other big men.

Kevin - First McAlarney because he's going to have the ball. Then it's Carter because he'll be the go-to scorer. He has been immature during a lot of his career, so it will be interesting to see how he handles the responsibility. Somebody has to defend the post and rebound - Zeller and/or Kurz.

KevinC - Kurz. We need an interior presence, and he's the most experienced big man we've got. He plays better defense than either Francis or Cornett, and he has a decent offensive game inside and out. The biggest question marks are his size and whether he can stay out of foul
trouble.

5. After missing the tournament for three straight years, what changes (if any) would you like to see in the ND basketball program.

Teds - Defense, absolutely. We cannot thrive in the Big East over the long haul without playing solid defense.

Kevin- Emphasis on defense should be reflected in changes on the staff. (a) I want someone who can coach the bigs... not just by telling them what to, by getting onto the floor and pushing them around a little. (b) There will be enough quick bodies to pressure the ball without worrying about tiring the starters. (c) I want quickness to mean that guys get through screens instead of playing under them most of the time. Getting through screens requires determination and quickness. I don't know if the Irish didn't play screens well because of the former, but the latter was a problem regardless.

KevinC - Facilities, admissions, assistants, and, oh yeah, facilities. Enough bytes have already been spent lamenting the facilities situation, so I won't rehash it except to say this: ND is supposedly waiting for a donor to pledge the necessary funds. The longer we wait, the more expensive it gets. It has been reported that the basketball program is held to a markedly higher standard in admissions than the football program. For a program that has not once misbehaved on the court, in the classroom, or elsewhere, that is unacceptable. Finally, this program lost something when Anthony Solomon took the St. Bonaventure job. Brey needs a bad cop, and one with experience in tutoring post play and defense. I'm not ready to fire Brey yet -- partially because I don't believe our odds of upgrading are at all good -- but he needs to shake things up.

Pat - The changes I'd like to see involve a shuffling of the assistant coaching staff with a move to get a defensive minded and/or low-post oriented coach. I agree with Kevin that Brey should not be fired now, but changes must be made. The big thing is that I want the Notre Dame administration to make a clear and public committment to the Irish basketball program. JACC renovations, a new practice facility, and letting Brey spend a bit more on assistants are all things that I'd like to see the University publically commit to with a definite timetable.

More on the way?

2006-04-14T01:30:00.000-07:00

One last note about the Brey press conference concerning the signing of Peoples and Harden. Brey mentioned to the assembled media that the Irish may not yet be done with bringing in players.

"We are exploring all the time," he said. "You certainly feel good adding these two to the two in the fall. But we'll continue to explore the transfer avenue as well as the high school avenue."

I'd personally be surprised if the Irish brought in another high school recruit into the class, but the transfer route is something not unfamiliar to Irish fans lately. Dan Miller (Maryland), Ryan Humphrey (Oklahoma), and Dennis Latimore (Arizona) all came to the Irish as transfers from other programs and with the exception of Latimore, all contributed in a positive manner to the team both on and off the floor.

If the Irish get another transfer, the two major names are Duke's Eric Boateng and Stanford's Tim Morris. Both are players who have already received a release from their current program and considered Notre Dame during their high school recruiting campaign.

Boateng at 6'10" has the size that Irish fans would love to see as recent recruiting years for ND have failed to yield a sizable big man. However, it may be a longshot to see the Irish pick up the Duke transfer. For starters, Boateng was only a freshman last year so adding him to the program will take up a scholarship for the next four years and only leave the team with four scholarships to distribute over the next two years. I do like Boateng's size and he was a McDonald's All-American coming out of high school so the potential is very tantilizing. However, the effect of basically adding a 5th player to the Class of 2010 really will make the scholarship distribution rather lopsided. He may end up at Notre Dame, but I have to say I'd be surprised.

A far more likely candidate is Morris. In fact, Morris' former high school coach thinks South Bend is the logical destination.

"Notre Dame is definitely high on his list; they're the front-runner," Whitefield (Ga.) Academy coach Tyrone Johnson said Wednesday of his former pupil, who finished runner-up for Georgia Mr. Basketball his senior season. "He should have gone there out of high school, but now he has an opportunity few of us get -- a second chance."

What aids Morris' cause is that he only has one year of eligibility left. After sitting out a mandatory transfer year, Morris will be a senior in a class that only has one other senior in Rob Kurz. Such a move will only occupy an additional scholarship for two years, as opposed to four years for Boateng and will even out the scholarship distribution as well as add more senior leadership to the team in 2007/2008. Not only that but Morris, a 6'4" shooting guard, will help the Irish replace shooting guard seniors Colin Falls and Russell Carter.

I'm always a bit cautious when guys transfer late in their careers because normally that means they aren't producing and have to search out playing time on less competitive teams. But Morris seems to have a mix of skills that mesh well with the current Irish roster. As a shooter, Morris was not terribly effective last year at Stanford. He only shot 39% from the floor and an abysmal 42% from the free throw line. However, Morris is also described as the best defender and athlete on the Cardinal team and those attributes certainly can be put to good use on an Irish squad that normally lacks the top to bottom quickness seen on other teams.

Any news about transfers will likely come in the next few weeks so it will be interesting if ND picks up another (or two) more players.

Two more to the mix

2006-04-14T00:42:00.000-07:00

The late signing period has arrived and the Irish officially added two more prospects to the roster. Jonathan Peoples and Joe Harden both faxed in their letters of intent and bring the class of 2010 up to four players. This gives the Irish back to back classes of four players, something that has never happened under Coach Brey.

For more information on the two new signees, check out our earlier reviews of Peoples and Harden.

As for the opinion of someone just a bit closer to the situation, with the letters of intent in, Coach Brey can finally talk about the two new members of the team. And from the sounds of things, he isn't planning on redshirting either of them.

"We want everyone to come in right away and compete for playing time," Brey said. "I want them to put pressure on the older guys."

"I think because they have pretty good size and strength already and they have a feel for the game, guys like that have a chance of being in there quicker than a guy who needs to gain weight or get stronger," Brey said.

Brey took the opportunity to also bring up early signees Tory Jackson and Luke Harangody. On Jackson, Brey singled out Tory's team run to the state championship.

"He was driving his team to it," Brey said. "He was physically, emotionally, spiritually, leadership-wise driving the train to it. I love that."

While for Luke, Brey brought up the physical nature that many Irish fans hope to see.

"He can't wait to get to college basketball and especially the Big East, where some of those mauling moves are now legal," Brey said.

One interesting thing that Brey mentioned was one of the benefit of a second straight four man class.

"One of the things I've looked at is more numbers, more bodies," Brey said.

As many Irish fans know, Brey has never been one to dip too frequently into his bench. The starting five play the vast majority of the minutes and his regular rotation usually is limited to seven, perhaps eight players. Does this quote mean that Brey is looking to start a more distributed scheme with regards to playing time? With such a young team and no dominant player next season, it might make sense to keep shuttling guys in and out to not only keep the team fresh but also give the freshman and sophomores a chance to gain valuable experience. Given his track record in the past, I'll believe it when I see it, but for now it looks like Brey is serious about getting more out of his bench.

Team MVP

2006-04-14T00:19:00.000-07:00

The Irish basketball team capped a tumultous and roller coaster season with a night of speeches and awards at the annual Notre Dame basketball banquet. The main attraction was departing senior Chris Quinn who was awarded both the Notre Dame Monogram Club Team Most Valuable Player award and the Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley Rockne Student-Athlete Award. In his usual efficient manner, Quinn summed up his career in two sentences.

"It's been a great four years," Quinn said. "I love the game of basketball."

While Quinn swept the major awards, others were honored for their contributions in other areas. Here is a list of the other award winners from the banquet.

Russell Carter - Most Improved Player
Torin Francis - Top Rebounder Award
Rob Kurz - Best Defender
Kyle MacAlarney - Outstanding Freshman Award
Colin Falls - Team Irish Award

For those wondering, the Team Irish award is "symbolic of his hard work, dedication, effort and leadership both on the court and in the classroom". To be honest, I don't recall this many awards being given out at previous banquets, but it is possible they just weren't mentioned in the banquet recaps.

Quinn will leave ND as one of my own personal favorite players of the past few years. He wasn't as energetic as Ryan Humphrey or as big a star as Troy Murphy, but there was just something about the way Quinn played and handled himself that made me a fan.

Arrested Development? (wrapup)

2006-04-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Arrested Development series of posts all included a small bit of stats analysis centered on the Big East stats of each player. Read parts I, II, III, and IV here. Based on these numbers and my conclusions, I think it's fair to say that player development has been a mixed bag under Coach Brey. However, while every program has successes and disappointments, I do think that the player development has not been consistent or effective enough for a program that has the goal of finishing near or at the top of the Big East on a yearly basis.

I had hoped to write a tidy little summary detailing which players developed and which didn't, but I'm not so sure a tidy little breakdown would do the players' justice. After all, Jordan Cornette and Torin Francis both didn't develop as one might expect or hope, but the reasons seem completely different. Taking their careers out of context and just putting a "yes" or "no" next to their name seems a bit incomplete. If I have to make a general statement though, it seems that the guards tended to improve their game while the big men on the whole did not see much of an improvement. It will be very interesting to see how Rob Kurz and Luke Zeller do next year, especially Luke who has quite a bit of room for improvement statistically.

Since all the Big East tempo-free stats have already been computed, here's a look at those numbers on a season by season basis. If you need a primer on what each stat measures, check here. I'm not sure there are any hard and fast absolutes than can be taken away from these numbers, so just consider this more of resource for future discussions than an attempt to prove anything with stats.

2000/2001

Class	Min/G	PpWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%
Murphy	37.8	1.15	51.6	29.5	0.53	76.1	12.2	2.63	4.88	1.5	3.2
Humprhey	30.8	0.95	46.2	23.8	0.50	51.3	14.5	3.07	5.41	1.2	8.7
Graves	31.8	1.03	46.7	23.1	0.29	81.6	8.6	2.91	3.35	2.5	1.6
Carroll	33.5	1.21	56.5	19.1	0.27	87.2	7.1	6.57	3.39	1.4	0.5
Inglesby	38.4	1.22	57.4	10.7	0.36	76.5	3.6	6.57	3.42	2.4	0.3
Swanagan	17.8	1.08	50.0	14.3	0.76	61.4	11.7	2.19	3.79	1.8	1.8
Macura	7.4	0.87	42.5	13.5	0.45	44.4	11.2	1.09	3.82	0.5	2.5
Jones	4.5	1.02	50.0	11.7	0.89	50.0	1.9	1.05	9.46	3.1	1.6
Timmermans	1.4	0.40	20.0	35.1	0.00	na	5.1	0.00	11.36	0.0	0.0

2001/2002

Class	Min/G	PpWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%
Humphrey	36.9	0.99	47.1	27.1	0.46	57.3	15.6	3.68	4.07	1.9	4.7
Thomas	40.2	1.04	44.6	21.1	0.39	87.2	4.6	11.56	4.89	2.8	0.8
Graves	34.4	1.08	49.7	22.1	0.28	82.4	7.3	5.20	4.16	1.8	0.5
Carroll	32.4	1.19	57.8	22.9	0.14	78.3	6.8	3.30	2.59	1.2	0.2
Swanagan	23.6	1.12	54.1	15.0	0.20	73.3	14.2	3.12	2.77	0.9	1.9
Macura*	9.2	0.78	25.0	4.9	4.0	43.8	10.2	2.07	5.18	0.0	4.8
Jones	16.3	1.08	51.2	10.8	0.74	58.1	4.9	3.73	4.39	2.4	1.7
Cornette	15.7	0.89	45.1	11.7	0.32	38.5	13.2	2.43	1.70	2.4	2.6
Timmermans	9.7	0.73	34.5	15.4	0.48	42.9	12.5	1.81	3.17	0.5	1.4

*Macura only played in 5 games. He played 34 total minutes to Timmermans 121.

2002/2003

Class	Min/G	PpWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%
Carroll	37.2	1.18	53.4	28.4	0.38	85.4	8.0	2.75	3.04	1.5	0.3
Thomas	38.1	1.04	46.2	28.9	0.33	84.9	6.7	10.00	5.93	2.8	0.1
Miller	36.2	0.98	44.6	19.4	0.30	74.0	7.4	3.70	2.73	1.1	0.5
Francis	28.0	1.06	46.2	15.6	0.80	67.5	12.6	2.39	3.53	0.9	4.5
Jones	19.4	1.19	56.5	11.5	0.44	70.8	1.5	3.39	3.92	1.4	2.8
Quinn	13.1	1.27	60.6	10.6	0.30	8.0	5.1	5.93	1.89	3.2	0.4
Timmermans	12.3	1.09	51.0	16.4	0.35	70.6	13.4	2.58	4.02	0.3	0.4
Cornette	19.4	1.01	49.0	11.0	0.27	57.1	12.7	2.18	1.64	3.1	8.7
Cornett	2.0	0.69	0.0	16.8	4.0	50.0	13.5	0.00	0.00	0.0	0.0

2003/2004

Class	Min/G	PpWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%
Thomas	38.8	1.01	46.4	31.1	0.25	81.4	6.2	7.16	3.83	2.1	0.4
Quinn	36.4	1.10	52.2	21.5	0.29	73.1	4.5	6.28	1.99	2.7	0.6
Francis	37.5	1.13	56.7	22.4	0.53	54.2	13.1	1.33	4.2	0.2	4.3
Jones	33.8	0.96	44.1	16.3	0.44	64.3	11.0	3.61	3.72	1.3	1.5
Timmermans	24.5	1.02	46.9	14.2	0.43	68.6	9.6	2.95	3.41	0.8	0.5
Cornette	29.2	0.94	43.5	12.5	0.21	77.8	10.8	2.87	1.56	2.3	5.1
Falls	12.3	1.24	60.0	15.7	0.36	68.8	4.9	3.41	1.86	1.9	0.5
Cornett	8.6	0.80	35.1	21.0	0.73	51.9	19.3	0.00	2.01	2.5	1.5
Carter	1.3	1.67	83.3	41.2	0.00	na	10.6	0.00	0.00	0.0	0.0

2004/2005

Class	Min/G	PpWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%
Thomas	38.3	0.94	40.0	23.6	0.33	89.2	7.2	10.54	4.55	2.6	0.3
Quinn	36.8	1.30	63.4	18.0	0.21	77.4	5.0	5.82	1.94	1.4	0.7
Falls	35.4	1.22	55.8	21.9	0.34	89.7	3.6	2.68	1.34	1.3	0.5
Francis	27.5	0.97	41.8	22.1	0.51	72.1	15.5	1.15	4.46	0.9	3.5
Latimore	18.2	0.88	44.7	23.4	0.14	30.8	11.1	1.96	5.01	1.7	2.0
Cornette	26.6	0.81	40.0	12.8	0.07	60.0	9.7	3.12	1.64	2.1	7.1
Cornett	10.1	1.27	68.6	19.4	0.54	42.1	15.2	0.48	7.74	1.0	2.2
Carter	5.4	1.37	75.0	17.4	0.28	20.0	6.8	2.53	9.29	1.7	1.3
Isreal	8.9	0.65	40.0	11.7	0.50	0.0	14.7	2.04	7.15	0.0	1.6
Kurz	1.0	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na

2005/2006

Class	Min/G	PpWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%
Quinn	41.3	1.23	58.0	25.0	0.26	87.1	5.0	9.36	4.08	2.1	0.3
Falls	36.8	1.21	57.6	20.9	0.23	82.5	4.3	3.12	2.08	0.7	1.0
Francis	28.8	0.90	42.0	21.6	0.43	56.5	18.7	3.99	3.59	0.7	2.7
Carter	30.0	1.21	57.3	19.8	0.58	68.8	10.6	2.81	3.70	2.8	0.8
MacAlarney	24.4	1.21	57.3	13.4	0.19	92.9	5.0	7.54	4.08	0.9	0.0
Kurz	21.2	1.12	49.3	14.6	0.62	75.0	12.4	1.08	1.81	1.3	3.3
Cornett	14.2	0.94	46.7	23.0	0.29	45.5	15.1	1.62	2.43	1.4	2.2
Zeller	11.8	0.82	40.5	17.7	0.10	50.0	10.9	4.83	2.23	0.4	1.9
Hillesland	1.4	2.0	100.0	9.9	0.00	na	0.0	8.75	8.75	0.0	0.0
Ayers	3.4	1.00	50.0	12.9	0.00	na	4.2	0.00	0.00	6.8	0.0

Draft-a-bility

2006-04-08T02:10:00.000-07:00

With the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament winding down, the annual pre-draft event looks like it elevated the draft profile of Chris Quinn while only raising more questions about Torin Francis' future.

Fresh off a 2nd place finish at the 2006 College Three-Point Championships, Quinn was remarkably efficient in his two games notching 27 points on 58% shooting and 12 assists versus only two turnovers. The summary of his performance on draftexpress.com was extremely complimentary.

Quinn took his heady play from the first evening and put it to even better use. Quinn plays a metered and professional floor game that balances both his own ability and that of his teammates. Very few of his passes that are intended for assists fail to be converted as Quinn has displayed an excellent awareness of his teammates abilities and “hot spots” on the court. It’s impressive to see a PG on a team just thrown together able to orchestrate the tempo and rhythm of the game with such effect.
Offensively, Quinn has shown a complete arsenal. He pulled up for effortless 3 pointers on several occasions and utilized the threat of the outside shot to stutter his way into the lane with excellent change of pace. Quinn showed no over reliance on either his left or right handed drives and withstood some heavy pressure defensively numerous times, always choosing when to relinquish the ball instead of being forced to give it up.

Quinn keeps his head up, is able to finish with floaters and quick pull up jumpers, and has both fundamental passing ability to go along with some flashier dime skills which he mixed in. Quinn’s production was extremely consistent throughout the game as he really let every play develop without needing to force the issue. A great example of his on court recognition was during a sequence when he drove into the lane for a leaner and got pinned by Justin Williams as he tried to release the ball. On the next possession Quinn drove in Williams' direction and drew the attention to himself before passing back against the grain of his drive to find the open man for the easy shot. When Williams got taken out, Quinn went right back to the floater again. To me, this sequence was an awesome display of recognizing the oppositions strengths and weaknesses as the game unfolded. Considering how little time these “teams” have played together, it was quite a showing.

Defensively, Quinn fought through his screens and was able to maintain his position, but a bit more “in your face” defensive pressure would be a welcome addition to his already solid two-way showing. I look forward to seeing him down in Orlando, when the competition level should increase. I don’t think he’ll have a problem with it.

From the sound of things, if Quinn can continue this level of production at the Orlando, where most of the events will be televised on ESPN U and the NBA network, he just might hear his name called on draft night.

Torin Francis on the other hand appears headed for a European contract. The draftexpress summary of his play really cast doubts on his ability to make it to the NBA. He certainly has the size, but just doesn't seem to be able to use that to his advantage. I've critiqued the coaching he's received at Notre Dame as his low post fundamentals are not noticably better than when he was a freshman, but it really does seem that something else is holding him back. Much has been made about the transformation of Ron Powlus from incredible prospect to solid, but not spectacular college QB after breaking his collarbone his freshman year. The injury healed, but he never regained the production that had Coach Holtz and upperclassmen raving during those early summer practices. Perhaps Francis is a similar case. Everyone likes to point at Torin as proof that Brey can't develop talented players. But as this summary attests, it seems that Torin's play is suffering from more than just shoddy coaching.

I didn’t think it was possible for Torin to be any less aggressive than his first game, but I was wrong. Torin is exactly the type of player that drives a scout insane because he has all the physical tools to be a prototypical PF in the Antonio McDyess mode, but he is so traumatized by his back injury he’s lost all aggressive tendencies.
A source at the invitational told me that Francis is 100% recovered from his back ailments and that medically he checks out fine. So, all of Francis’ problems are his own making.

Even with his tentative nature he’s able to contribute both offensively and defensively just by the instincts and ability he seems to try and quell at every opportunity. You can actually see him hesitate in every situation where he has the opportunity to “go for it”. He’ll rebound with his reach and timing while creating separation from his man by stepping away from him. He’ll show a bunch of nice drop step moves and reverse pivots, but won’t lean in for the dynamic finish, instead electing to stay in place and finish softly.

While talking about Francis with some scouts, we were debating whether or not Francis will be drafted, for surely anyone who drafts him will be doing so with the idea that he can be worked with. My feeling is that if he’s put in a good situation with aggressive and active frontcourt teammates he’ll just naturally raise his level of play through osmosis.

The bottom line is that if Francis is to realize any of his former glory he’ll have to forget the past and think about his basketball future. Apparently, Francis has studied the nature of his injury quite thoroughly, so this shows tremendous intelligence. But, the level of attention he’s paid to it also belays a fear that just cannot be if he is to find success in this game.

Looking around?

2006-04-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

The Oregonian reports that the University of Portland has interviewed Notre Dame assistant coach Sean Kearney for its open head coaching position. Kearney was one of three potential coaches interviewed with Stanford associate head coach Eric Reveno and California associate head coach Louis Reynaud also getting an interview.

The article also notes that Portland's athletic director, Larry Williams, was at Notre Dame as the director of licensing from 1999-2003 so there should be some familiarity with Kearney I would think.

The common thread between the three candidates is experience at a university that has higher academic admissions standards.

Kearney, Reveno and Reynaud could be attractive to Williams because they share experience with successful Division I basketball programs at universities with high academic standards. Previous UP coaches have complained that the school's academic standards and support make it difficult to recruit and retain elite-level basketball players.

Kearney was passed over in the Delaware head coaching search so it will be interesting to see how the Portland opening plays out. I have to think that Kearney is at a disadvantage to Reveno and Reynaud since they are both West Coast guys.

Banned in the USA

2006-04-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's amazing what you can find on the internets these days. Enjoy.

The Censored Lists.

Top names

2006-04-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

The annual Bookstore Basketball brackets are out. Overall the names are a bit of a disappointment. Seeing as how 136 of the 568 team names were banned, I'd have to say that either the censors were especially strict or the students just weren't trying that hard to get around them. Here's our rundown on the more notable names in the tourney.

Top Ten

10. Gobias Industries
9. Two Scorers And Three Guys Whose Contributions Are Less Obvious
8. We met Adam Sandler, and he's a giant tool.
7. Right Said Fred Calls Skins
6. Someone You Know Has Hooked Up with One of Us
5. We Don't Pay 40 G's a Year to Lose in Bookstore Basketball
4. We Shoot Like Dick Cheney (you should wear orange)
3. Someone may have pooped on or around the Bookstore Court Area
2. We Always Make it to Oregon Before You
1. Sending kids to BC since 1842

Names You See Every Year

5 Reasons Your Girl Left You
Cobra Kai
The Little Lebowski Urban Achievers
BYE

It always sounds cooler in Spanish

Los Pantalones de Cristo

Obligatory Brokeback Mountain joke

Brokeback Ballers

As for the banned names, we heard one was We Know Kobe's Therapist and we have to admit that's a pretty good one. If your team name was banned and you want to get some credit for creativity, drop us a comment. Also, everyone else should feel free to pick out their favorite team name from this year, or great names from years past, and leave it for us in the comments section.

One last note. This year South Bend lost a local legend when long time WNDU on-air personality Dick Addis died. Aside from his numerous contributions to the South Bend community, Dick was also the inspiration for one of the all-time great Bookstore team names, Wave, you're Dick Addis. Rest in Peace, Mr. Addis.

Calling all students

2006-04-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

Every year, Bookstore Basketball is one of the highlights of the spring semester. And every year, the tournament gets a few articles in the Observer and then quickly fades from memory. Even the official site is missing the information from the past few years.

What I'm proposing is a chance for the students, faculty, and staff who make up the tournament to help us document the greatest of all basketball tournaments. We'll do our best here at The Fieldhouse to cover some of the bigger and better games from afar, but there is only so much we can do. To get a real sense of the tourney, we're going to need help of people actually on campus.

So put down your books, grab your camera phone, and head out to the courts in the evening. Send in any stories, photos, or anything else you deem worthy to thefieldhouseblog@gmail.com. Every year some team works hard to cover themselves in duct tape or have a few cocktails before storming the court dressed up like Braveheart and it's a shame that their dedication and effort goes largely unnoticed. Do your best to help capture the silly and the serious of the biggest outdoor 5 on 5 tournament in the world.

If you're one of the handful on campus who check out this blog every day, make sure to pass this note on to other friends and enemies so even more people can help chip in.

The Harden They Come

2006-03-29T19:17:00.000-08:00

Notre Dame appears to have received its fourth verbal commitment from the high school class of 2006 - 6' 7" SG Joe Harden of Stockton, California. Harden was recently selected the most valuable player of the Tri-City Athletic League. Local newspaper The Record reports:

St. Mary's senior Joe Harden said he is close to accepting a basketball scholarship to Notre Dame after Fighting Irish coach Mike Brey offered one Tuesday night.

"It's pretty much a done deal," said Harden, who averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds in leading the Rams to a 31-4 record and the CIF Division III runner-up spot. "When he calls me later this week, I'll make it official."

Upon hearing the news, we knew little about Harden other than that he bears any uncanny facial resemble to Saved by the Bell star Mark-Paul Gosselaar and sports the same floppy hair as fellow Stockton native Stephen Malkmus, so we canvassed the information on Harden's game available on the internet.

One of the more complete descriptions of Harden's game is Scout.com's write-up of his performance at the Pangos All-American camp.

Harden had an outstanding camp, displaying a very good outside shot and a great feel for the game. He’s much bouncier than we remembered him from last summer and, overall, he’s a good athlete. He’s got a solid frame and should end up pretty strong by the time he gets to college. He’s got great hands on defense – he had a ton of deflections and steals. He’s very good at ripping the ball from unsuspecting opponents who let him get too close. Harden’s unselfishness was refreshing in a camp full of gunners. We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: in an age where very few kids know how to play the game, the ones that do get it stand out in a very obvious way. Harden gets it and that’s why he is, in our opinion, a high major prospect.

Additional insight can be gleaned from perusing the stories chronicling the journey of Harden's St. Mary's team to the CIF Division III finals. One of the themes that emerges from the articles in Harden's local paper is his versatility:

Harden has played the point guard spot for EBO [Elite Basketball Organization, Harden's Fresno-based AAU basketball team sponsored by Adidas and EA Sports] but anticipates playing shooting guard or small forward in college.

In additional to positional flexibility, Harden contributes whether he is close to or far from the basket.

"He's a tough guy to guard, and he's got some outstanding range on the perimeter," [St. Mary's coach Ken] Green said. "He's an animal on both the offensive and defensive boards. I just think he's relentless."

In the first round of the playoffs, Harden had one of the best games of his career, dropping 40 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. He also displayed his dunking ability and trademark modesty.

Harden, who scored his previous high (36 points) against Edison this season, had two dunks, including a one-handed jam and a thunderous slam on a breakaway.

"Thanks to Ty Kelly - he hooked me up with both of those (dunks)," Harden said. "We had some guys step up, and they gave us a little energy - we fed off it."

Two days later, Harden scored 31 in another playoff victory, throwing down an alley-oop dunk at one point. Unfortunately, Harden's season came to an end with a loss to Artesia of Lakewood in the CIF Division III final. Nonetheless, even his opponents were impressed with Harden.

It came as no great surprise that when Joe Harden's glorious three-year career at St. Mary's came to an end, he left to a loud, heartfelt ovation.

What was a little shocking was that it was opposing players, from Artesia of Lakewood, who led the applause.

James Harden, who'd been in Joe Harden's face guarding him throughout the game, hugged him. So did Artesia sophomore Malik Story.

Shawntell Norman, a 6-foot-11 bear of a player who'd traded elbows with Harden underneath, walked to midcourt, turned and clapped as Harden made his way down the sideline to the Rams' bench.

The gesture screamed class act on the part of Artesia, which was well on its way to winning the California Interscholastic Federation Division III basketball championship, 60-41, by the time Harden fouled out with 3:17 left.

It also spoke volumes about Harden.

Artesia, ranked sixth in the country by USA Today, saw enough film of St. Mary's to know Harden was the player it had to stop if it was going to win a fourth title for the school. If holding him to 17 points and seven rebounds constitutes a stop, the Pioneers succeeded.

They did so by fronting him on the perimeter with their own Harden, James, and sticking the behemoth Norman underneath to impede his drives.

In reading the descriptions of Harden's game, the comparison that comes to mind is Dan Miller. While Harden lacks Miller's high school accolades (Miller, after all, was a McDonald's All-American), Harden is described as a player with height, a handle, and the ability to hit the outside shot. In the "outside-in" offense that Notre Dame has run for much of Mike Brey's tenure, this is a critical piece.

Given the glowing descriptions of Harden's game, one wonders why Harden had not yet received many high-major offers. Virginia and Southern Cal were mentioned as schools still staying in contact with Harden , but his only other reported offer was from UC Santa Barbara. He is rated a three-star prospect and a two-star prospect by Rivals and Scout, respectively. If we were to speculate based on the published reports on Harden - and this is nothing more than rank speculation - we might guess that some view Harden as a "jack of all trades, master of none" who uses his versatility to exploit the weaknesses presented by the average high school player, but who may not be able to do the same against high-major college opposition. Consider the difficulties Harden described in facing Artesia's James Harden.

"I've been face guarded this season, but usually I'm taller or quicker than the person guarding me and I can get by him," Harden said. "James is my size and he's quick."

Of course these difficulties were relative to Harden's earlier playoff performances. Harden still finished with 17 points and 7 rebounds.

He penetrated and took feeds from his teammates to deliver those rolling lay ups that are something of a trademark. He'd scored eight in a row during a two-minute span and looked like Joe Harden.

Against this speculation, consider that one of Notre Dame's weaknesses in recent years has been an abundance of players who did one thing extremely well but often had difficulty finding a way to contribute on nights when that one thing wasn't going well. By the end of this past year, Notre Dame's two most productive players were Chris Quinn and Russell Carter, the two players most capable of hurting opposing teams in multiple ways.

Everyone seems to expect that Harden's initial role will be to provide depth. Harden stated that Brey told him, "We're looking for more depth." Harden seems willing to begin with a lesser role and work for more playing time.

"A lot of the Big West and WCC schools said I could potentially start as a freshman," Harden said. "If I played high-major basketball, I'd have to work on a few things and possibly redshirt. I think I want to play at the best place where I can play."

Notre Dame's need for backcourt depth was evident in the NIT loss to Michigan, where Kyle McAlarney's injury and Russell Carter's foul trouble led to enormous difficulties handling the Michigan press. With Quinn's graduation this May, and the loss of Colin Falls and Carter after next year, it's nice to see that Kyle McAlarney will be joined by three guards with ball-handling skills - Harden, Tory Jackson, and Jonathan Peoples.

As he did with Peoples, Mike Brey is taking a chance on a prospect who appears to have the potential to emerge as an important player but has not yet shown enough to garner offers from many high-major programs. While a recruiting class composed entirely of such players would be cause for concern, that is not the situation here. Harden and Peoples appear to offer skills that complement the class's Top 100 recruits, Jackson and Luke Harangody. If you are going to take players you hope will develop in college, it helps to take high-character guys who were winners in high school. Peoples and Harden fit the bill. From another Record article:

EBO coach Darren Matsubara said Harden is a unique talent, but he hopes that the St. Mary's talent will compromise his unselfishness.

"He's a very good basketball player who brings a little bit more to the table," Matsubara said. "One thing that stands out is his willingness to make everyone better. Right now, because he's so humble, he's such an unselfish player that sometimes he doesn't look out for himself."

The Honorable Chris Quinn

2006-03-28T08:07:00.000-08:00

The AP All-America team list was just announced and Notre Dame senior Chris Quinn was named Honorable Mention All-American. The award is the first AP All-America honor for an Irish hoopster since Matt Carroll and Chris Thomas were both named Honorable Mention in 2003.

Additionaly, Quinn was selected to perform in the College Basketball Slam Dunk and Three-Point Shooting Championships to be held this Thursday in Indianapolis as part of the Final Four celebration. (In case you were wondering, Quinn is only in the Three-Point Shooting portion of the contest.) Shooting in the long range competition with Quinn are conference mates Steve Novak (Marquette) and Kevin Pittsnogle (Pittsburgh) as well as Bruce Horan (Butler). The contest can be seen on ESPN at 9pm on Thursday.

Irish star Megan Duffy will also be participating and und.com has the rundown on the history of ND players in the event.

Quinn and Duffy are the fifth and sixth Notre Dame basketball players selected for this event, although this will mark the first time the Irish have had both a man and woman compete in their respective competitions in the same year. Sheila McMillen (1999), Martin Ingelsby (2001), David Graves (2002) and Alicia Ratay (2003) also have represented Notre Dame in the three-point shootout, but none advanced beyond the semifinal round.

So far for the season, Quinn has added up the following awards and honors.

• AP Honorable Mention All-American
• CBS Sportsline 3rd Team All-American
• 1st Team All-Big East
• Big East Sportsmanship Award
• ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team

State Champ

2006-03-27T12:10:00.000-08:00

A quick update on incoming recruit Tory Jackson. This past weekend Jackson led his Buena Vista team to the Class C title in Michigan. It's the second state title for Jackson who also won one his sophomore year and was also named to the 2006 Detriot News Dream Team.

In addition to his basketball skills seems he will also be bringing a bit of confident, bordering on cocky, brashness to the Irish program. To be honest, that's something that the team can use after such a rough 2005-2006 season. Expectations will be low next year and the team will have a chance to play with a chip on their shoulder all year. Let's hope they do.

Arrested Development? (part 4)

2006-03-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

Here is the last player update on the look at Mike Brey and player development. Part 1 (Carroll/Jones/Timmermans) can be found here, Part 2 (Thomas/Cornette) here, and Part 3 (Quinn, Francis, Cornett) here. A final summary will be put out shortly.

Class of 2007

Russell Carter

High School:
RSCI ranking - not in Top 100
Rivals.com ranking - not ranked
Scout.com ranking - not ranked

A knee injury kept Russell Carter off the radar of most colleges despite his reputation as a scorer and all-around athlete. Surgery on his knee kept him out of the summer AAU tournaments before his senior year so many schools did not have Carter high on their lists. His final year at Paulsboro he was named Basketball Player of the Year by the Courier-Post and Newark Star Ledger but still didn't attract much interest. He bypassed the early signing period and when Notre Dame started to seriously recruit him the following spring, his only scholarship offers were from Penn, Drexel, and William & Mary.

Carter at Notre Dame:

Class	PPWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%	Min/G
Freshman	1.67	83.3	41.2	0.0	na	10.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.3
Sophomore	1.37	75.0	17.4	0.28	20.0	6.8	2.53	9.29	1.7	1.3	5.4
Junior	1.21	57.3	19.8	0.58	68.8	10.6	2.81	3.70	2.8	0.8	27.2
Senior	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Summary:

Carter didn't play much his first two years so it is hard to really draw any conclusions from his junior year statistics. On their own, the numbers are all very solid as Carter combined an efficient shooting touch with a very high FTR for a guard. Usually that comes as a result of repeated drives into the lane and that certainly describes Carter's game. If his junior year numbers were broken into a season-long chart, a definite improvement would be seen from the start of the Big East season to the conclusion. After losing his starting role to freshman Kyle MacAlarney, Carter refused to sulk and elevated his game to the point where he was the team's leading scorer in the final three Big East conference games and earned a first ever nomination to the weekly Big East Honor Roll.

Next year's numbers should offer a better idea on how Carter has improved, but despite the short sample period, Carter definitely developed as a basketball player. He is the runaway choice as this year's Most Improved Player.

Colin Falls

High School:
RSCI ranking - not in Top 100
Rivals.com ranking - 113
Scout.com ranking - not in Top 100

Coming out of Loyola Academy near Chicago, Falls had a reputation as a shooter with unlimited range. He managed to find a spot on some of the earlier editions of the scout.com Top 100 list but ultimately was left off the final version. Scout still tabbed him as the 13th best shooting guard in the country. Mainly recruited by midwestern schools like DePaul and Marquette, Falls decided on the Irish over runner-up Northwestern.

Falls at Notre Dame:

Class	PPWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%	Min/G
Freshman	1.24	60.0	15.7	0.36	68.8	4.9	3.41	1.86	1.9	0.5	12.3
Sophomore	1.21	56.5	19.1	0.27	87.2	7.1	6.57	3.39	1.4	0.5	35.4
Junior	1.21	57.6	20.9	0.23	82.5	4.3	3.12	2.08	0.7	1.0	38.9
Senior	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Summary:
Falls saw plenty of early playing time at ND so even though he's only a junior, some take on development as a player can be made. After a solid debut as a freshman, Falls nearly tripled his playing time in his sophomore year yet still managed decent numbers. His PpWS stayed about the same, which is hard to do with such a large jump in playing time. Likewise he showed an improvement in rebounding, which is always a good thing to see out of a young guard. During his junior year his stats stayed nearly the same though. Nearly every number was the same sort of the same, save a dip in rebounding and steals. To his credit though he did reduce his turnovers. It should be noted that Falls battled through plantar fasciitis this season and perhaps that might explain some of the dip in his numbers.

Falls started off his career with very high offensive efficieny numbers so it's hard to just look at those numbers and highlight development. Even the best players can only be so efficient. One number on Falls that does jump out a bit is that his FTR has dropped all three years. Usually that results from a player staying out of the fray so to speak and shooting more from behind the arc. If Falls truly does continue to develop into a better player, he will have to add a mid-range and/or dribble drive aspect to his game. Whether he does that or not will be reflected in next year's FTR. On the whole, I feel that Falls is developing as a basketball player, but the gains are not that noticeable when looking at his stats. Part of this is due to the fact that he came into ND as a very accomplished perimeter offensive player and thus far has not been asked to be anything more than that on offense. How he does next year when he will be one of the senior leaders will determine if he winds up as a definite development success story.

Class of 2008

Rob Kurz

High School:
RSCI ranking - 97
Rivals.com ranking - 85
Scout.com ranking - 81

Kurz came into Notre Dame as a versatile 6'8" forward with a nice mix of skills for a player of his size. Despite needing to add some more strength, Kurz impressed at summer camps with his toughness inside and willingness to attack the basket. Colleges also liked his ability to handle the ball and shoot from the outside. After getting attention from programs like Stanford and UConn, Big East schools Syracuse and Villanova offered Kurz a scholarship as well as finalist Indiana so Kurz did have his pick of a number of quality programs.

Kurz at Notre Dame:

Class	PPWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%	Min/G
Freshman	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1.0
Sophomore	1.12	49.3	14.6	0.62	75.0	12.4	1.08	1.81	1.3	3.3	21.2
Junior	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Senior	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Summary:

It's way too early to judge anything with regards to Rob Kurz, but I just wanted to get his numbers out there for comparison's sake. After no real contribution in the Big East season his freshman year due to a broken jaw, Kurz made a very large leap in playing time and put up some solid numbers. His rebounding in particular kept improving as the year progressed. Even though the point of the above stats is to show things on a per-possesion basis, I do think it is relevant to point out that after the first 8 Big East games, Rob Kurz totaled 31 rebounds. In the following 8 Big East games, Kurz grabbed 44. With more quality coaching, and perhaps a trip to a Big Man camp this summer, Kurz looks likely to show even more development next season. He is on the right track. Perhaps the best place to look for development will be on his offensive numbers, specifically his effective field goal percentage (eFG%).

Arrested Development? (part 3)

2006-03-24T22:20:00.000-08:00

This post is Part Three in a continuing series on player development under Coach Brey. Read the Intro and Part One (Carroll/Jones/Timmerman) here, and Part Two (Thomas/Cornette) here.

Class of 2006

Torin Francis

High School:
RSCI ranking - 37
Rivals.com ranking - 3rd best Center
Scout.com ranking - 16

In a battle that came down to the Irish and North Carolina with schools like Duke, Maryland, and Virginia on the outside looking in, Brey landed a power forward from Massachusetts who seemed to have a very bright future. While still relatively new to basketball, Francis more than held his own against the nation's best during AAU tournaments and All-Star camps. In fact, looking back at some of the descriptions of his game from recruiting websites paint the picture of a very talented player. Reading things like "his quick moves in the paint are starting to make him more dangerous – as he showed on one occasion by beating a defender baseline and throwing down a one-handed reverse dunk on Friday night" from one story, a Nike Camp recap that states "Torin is well schooled in a number of effective post moves--including the drop step, the baseline spin, and the up and under", and a McDonald's All-American practice report that states "Torin Francis put a power move on Amare Stoudamire and took it strong to the rack -- afterward thumping his chest a la WWF" highlight just how impressed Francis left everyone.

Francis at Notre Dame:

Class	PPWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%	Min/G
Freshman	1.06	46.2	15.6	0.80	67.5	12.6	2.39	3.53	0.9	4.5	28.0
Sophomore	1.13	56.7	22.4	0.53	54.2	13.1	1.33	4.20	0.2	4.3	27.5
Junior	0.97	41.8	22.1	0.51	72.1	15.5	1.15	4.46	0.9	3.5	27.5
Senior	0.90	42.0	21.6	0.43	56.5	18.7	3.99	3.59	0.7	2.7	28.8

Summary:

Well, the thing that really jumps out at you is that nearly all of Francis' metrics got worse as he progressed through college. Clearly, he is far less effective as a senior than he was as a freshman and that is never what you want to see. Like Chris Thomas, not only did he not really develop, he actually regressed as a player. So how did this happen?

His first year at Notre Dame saw him burst onto the scene. In his first nine games he collected five double-doubles including a nearly triple double with a 21 point, 8 block, 10 rebound performance against #2 Texas. In Big East play he notched an impressive 0.80 free throw rate, which indicate a player that managed to get to the free throw line very often, and was named to the Big East All-Rookie team. He notched a career high in points (25) in a losing effort against Arizona in the Sweet Sixteen and the future seemed very bright for Francis.

After a summer spent participating in the trials for the USA Basketball Men's National Team, Francis came back to ND as one of 50 candidates for the John R. Wooden Preseason All-America Team. However, things started to head downhill for Francis as back spasms started to limit his ability to play. Two-thirds of the way into the Big East conference schedule, Francis was sidelined for the rest of the season due to injury. A month later he underwent back surgery to repair a herniated L5 disc in his lower back. Still, Francis performed well enough early in the year to ultimately be named honorable mention All-Big East.

His junior year Francis clearly was not the same basketball player. However you want to describe it, it was obvious that his back injury was affecting his play and the spring in his step. The dunks became fewer and lay-ins around the basket increased. Perhaps as a result, his shooting efficiency suffered and he actually dropped under the 1.00 PpWS level. His defense was solid, but with the ball on offense his fundamentals were not any better than they were his freshman year. In the entire year he had only one more double-double (6) than he did in those first nine games his freshman year. Curiously, at the end of the year he made the decision to declare for the NBA Draft despite a season that saw him passed over for All-Big East honors. Francis claims that it was an attempt to see where he stood regarding other draft prospects and, given his well-known back injury, I can understand a player trying to see if making the leap to the NBA was possible before the injury scared off too many teams. He did not hire an agent and after performances at the pre-draft camps that saw him labeled "inconsistent and somewhat passive" he dropped out of the draft as expected and returned to ND.

This season, Francis offensive efficiency is even worse and one of the worst from an Irish starter in the past six years. Worse yet, I see the same mistakes he has been making for four years. It's obvious to me that his back injury has affected his ability to develop as a basketball player. He clearly has lost some of his flexibility and vertical leap. But at the same time his hands are still inconsistent when it comes to corralling entry passes and his hesistant low post moves don't reflect the years of experience he has accumulated. So while I am sympathetic to the back injury, I feel that Francis' lack of development is largely the fault of Coach Brey and specifically his assistant coach who specializes in instructing the big men. One of the main reasons I feel this way is because while his offensive numbers declined, Francis became statistically a better rebounder every year on the team. If his back injury was the sole reason for his decline, then I would expect his rebounding numbers to suffer as well. Since they didn't, it leads me to believe he has received sub-par coaching at Notre Dame, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

Chris Quinn

High School:
RSCI ranking - 75
Rivals.com ranking - 13th best Point Guard
Scout.com ranking - 66

Quinn was a bit of a sleeper in the recruiting world as a broken ankle after his junior year of high school kept him out of many summer camps that make or break a player's reputation. However, during his senior year in Columbus he established a reputation as a dead-eye shooter and a calm, efficient leader at point guard for his team. As the point guard for Team Ohio, Quinn lead his team to back to back championships in a 24-team international competition, was named MVP both years, and won the Three Point Shooting competition one of the years. While he didn't have the hype of other players, Quinn was noted by many as a player who should have a very solid Big East career.

Quinn at Notre Dame:

Class	PPWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%	Min/G
Freshman	1.27	60.6	10.6	0.30	80.0	5.1	5.93	1.89	3.2	0.4	13.1
Sophomore	1.10	52.2	21.5	0.29	73.1	4.5	6.27	1.99	2.7	0.6	36.4
Junior	1.30	63.4	18.0	0.21	77.4	5.0	5.82	1.94	1.4	0.7	36.8
Senior	1.23	58.0	25.0	0.26	87.1	5.0	9.36	4.08	2.1	0.3	41.3

Summary:

As a freshman backing up sophomore Chris Thomas, Quinn put up a quiet, but remarkably efficient freshman campaign. With only 13 minutes a game, he was more of a spot player, but his 1.27 PpWs and 60% eFG percentage are terrific numbers. So early on it was apparent that Quinn made the most of his time on the court. As a sophomore his playing time nearly tripled so it's natural that his efficiency stats took a bit of a slide. However, his minutes per game stayed nearly the same his junior year and his offensive efficiency numbers took a big jump up. That is a sure sign of development. As a senior and the major offensive threat, Quinn is seeing more attention and likely being assigned the opponent's best defender. It's not surprising to see his efficiency numbers dip a bit, but considering that he is taking over a quarter of the Irish shots and playing pretty much every second of every game, the fact that he is still staying so efficient is truly remarkable. Another positive sign is that his FTR improved, showing an ability to draw more fouls. The drastic jump in assists is impressive, but not terribly unexpected as he finally became the lone point guard with the graduation of Chris Thomas.

This summary is short and sweet because there isn't much to explain. The stats clearly show that Chris Quinn became a better basketball player during his four years at Notre Dame. His steal totals did dip a bit, but I attribute that to the fact that as he assumed more responsbility, he began to be assigned to defend better players on the other team. Speaking for this season, Quinn is normally matched up with the other team's best outside scorer and his steal totals have increased from his junior year. In what is shaping up to be a mixed bag of player development results under Brey, Chris Quinn clearly stands out as a success story.

Rick Cornett

High School:
RSCI ranking - not in Top 100
Rivals.com ranking - 13th best Power Forward
Scout.com ranking - 89

Cornett came into Notre Dame with a reputation of being a tough, physical basketball player who was a solid rebounder and burgeoning low post threat. Coming from a very small school, Cornett attracted the most attention from his work on his AAU team that captured the 17 and Under AAU national championship. Cornett's team also featured current 76er's star Andre Iguodala and Michigan State Spartan Shannon Brown (as well as Colin Falls) so Cornett was not the first or second option, but he still contributed. In the championship game he chipped in 15 points, 11 boards (6 offensive) and was 7-8 from the free throw line.

Cornett at Notre Dame:

Class	PPWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%	Min/G
Freshman	0.69	0.0	16.8	4.0	50.0	13.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.0
Sophomore	0.80	35.1	21.0	0.73	51.2	19.3	0.0	2.01	2.5	1.5	8.6
Junior	1.27	68.6	19.4	0.54	42.1	15.2	0.48	7.74	1.0	2.2	10.1
Senior	0.94	46.7	23.0	0.29	45.5	15.1	1.62	2.43	1.4	2.2	14.2

Summary:

His first year at Notre Dame, Cornett barely played and as such his stats can't really be viewed as anything other than numbers picked up in garbage time of various conference games. I'm inclined to discount many of his sophomore year numbers as well since he didn't even hit a 10 minutes per game average, but given that he hasn't averaged much more than that since I figured I'd leave them in. Still, given the smaller sample size for Cornett, it shouldn't be terribly surprising to see larger year to year flucuations since statistical outliers had a greater impact on the final numbers. Whether or not Cornett should have played extra minutes is another debate entirely, but at some level it does play into the development discussion. After all, the best way to get better is to play. It is difficult for a player to get better each year if they don't see much time of the floor.

One number that jumps out is his free throw rate. Sure, his free throw percentage was never good and the fact that it actually got worse is not a good sign. But as a power forward, the free throw rate, which basically tells you how much a player gets to the free throw line, dropped every year. His sophomore year his FTR was excellent at 0.73 (note this was also the high water mark for his free throw percentage). But then it dropped nearly 25% his junior year and then took another 25% drop going into his senior year. Cornett spent his time on offense banging in the low post in the rugged Big East and yet only got to the free throw line about the same percent of the time as guards Chris Quinn and Colin Falls. Compounding the problem is Cornett took 23% of the team's shots while he was in the game. That is second on the team only to Chris Quinn. This despite the fact that only Torin Francis and Luke Zeller had lower Points per Weighted Shot (PpWS) and effective Field Goal (eFG%) numbers.

The summer before his senior year, Cornett did attend the Pete Newell's Big Man camp. So he had the coaching to improve his low post game and in some spots that showed as his assist numbers went up while his turnovers went down. But even though it might seem like he played better offensively his senior year, his Big East stats don't really back that up. Like Francis, Cornett seems to have the ability to play -- he was the team's best offensive rebounder -- but his contributions in the post don't reflect that. Seeing as how both he and Francis both did not improve, especially offensively, I have to conclude once again that they were receiving sub-par coaching that hindered their development.

Next up: Class of 2007/2008 - Russell Carter, Colin Falls, and Rob Kurz.

POY

2006-03-24T09:40:00.000-08:00

Incoming point guard Tory Jackson recently was named Associated Press Class C Player of the Year (for the second straight year) and finished 6th in Michigan's Mr. Basketball voting. Jackson has been leading his team through the Michigan Class C playoffs and now has them poised to play for the State Championship tomorrow. In the state semi-final game Jackson finished with 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists in an easy 70-41 victory. An article in the Detriot News talks about "Mr. Everything's" ability to adapt to the current game conditions.

"You got to be able to adjust. That is what makes a great player," Jackson said. "If you can't adjust to a defense or you can't change your role then you can't be a good player. You are one dimensional. If you don't make smart plays they will know how to stop you and that stops the whole offense and that makes your team lose."

Jackson still has one game left in his high school career and the South Bend Tribune covers how not being named Mr. Basketball fuels his competitive fire for that final game. Jackson also mentions his plans for seeing the floor early when he shows up at Notre Dame.

"I played quarterback for two years, so I can take contact," said Jackson, who has gained 25 pounds during his high school years. "The Big East is a guard's league. Notre Dame is a great school, top-notch academics -- and, they need a point guard."

"If someone is going to beat Tory out at Notre Dame, they're going to have to fight him for it," Chaffer said. "He's a fighter; a warrior. He doesn't back down from anything."

A Fitting End

2006-03-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

Final Score

Michigan 87, Notre Dame 84 (2OT)

The Essentials

AP Game Recap
Box Score
SBT Game Story
Photo Gallery

This and That

I suppose it is fitting that the Irish season end on a buzzer-beating shot. It has been an extremely frustrating season for Irish fans, players, and coaches and while I hate to see Notre Dame lose, perhaps it is for the best that this season finally be laid to rest.

• The most interesting part of this game was the presence of freshman Ryan Ayers on the floor for 34 minutes and the early cameo for Zach Hillesland. The injury to Kyle MacAlarney's ankle and foul trouble by Russell Carter most likely lead to the large spike in Ayers' playing time, but Brey went deeper into the bench early in the game more than he has all season. And when on the floor, Ayers didn't look like a freshman getting his first taste of extended minutes. He looked comfortable and competent. Competent enough in fact to raise questions about why he didn't see the floor in similar situations earlier in the year. I'll table those kind of questions until a later date and just note that Ayers looks like he can and should play a major role on future Irish squads. He made a few freshman mistakes, like letting Horton blow by him on a head fake, but on the whole he played under control, added a much needed defensive presence to the perimeter, and even hit a few big shots and free throws during the game.

• After his strong game against Vanderbilt, Torin Francis started off strong during his extremely physical low posts battles with Michigan's Graham "It's clobbering time!" Brown. The scuffles for position down on the block were some of the most heated I've seen all season. Rick Cornett fought admirably for position too and made some pretty nice low post moves of his own. Still, some of the old bad habits surfaced late in the game with probably none being worse than Francis taking an unnecessary dribble to steady himself before rising for a dunk that was spectacularly rejected. That play definitely helped swing the momentum Michigan's way as the Wolverines capitalized on the turnover for a four point swing.

• Colin Falls started off the game hot and his shooting resulted in a early Irish lead they held on to until the final seconds of the game. But once again he was more or less shut out of the offense once teams adjusted and committed to denying him the ball wherever he was on the floor. Colin is going to see this type of jersey-grabbing attention more and more next season so he's going to need to work on his dribble drive and pull-up mid-range jumper to keep defenders honest. To his credit, he hit a few in the game against the Wolverines which was great to see and a step in the right direction. And honestly, what will really help him are better screens from this teammates. It's always the responsibilty of the player using the screen to wipe his defender off on the set screen, but too often players like Francis and Cornett were a step slow getting to the screen and failed to set a solid screen. As with most sports, the attention to detail on fundamentals means a lot and when a player sets a mediocre screen, they have to resort to moving picks, like Cornett was called for in the game, in order to block out the defender. Fans hope Luke Harangody can come in and be an instant impact next year on offense. Well, the best thing he can do is provide a solid, dependable screen for Colin Falls so that Falls can get open and set himself for the three-pointer without a hand right in his face.

• The injury to MacAlarney stung the Irish late in the game when Michigan decided to stretch its press full court. In a sequence of plays that will replay in Irish coaches' (and fans') heads all off-season, ND was unable to get the ball inbounds, even after calling a timeout to regroup and settle down. It is those type of "minor" mistakes that afflicted the Irish all season long and most likely kept a few of those close losses from being close wins. Another factor is that far too often the Irish use timeouts to avoid the 5-second call when trapped by an aggressive defense. At least two, and perhaps three timeouts last night were used in that manner. It is never a good thing to turn the ball over, especially late in the game. But at some point a coach and the players must understand that holding on to that one last timeout can mean the difference between getting a chance to set up that final play or hoping everything comes together on the fly. Yes, Brey does tend to call a lot of timeouts for strategy reasons and sometimes leaves himself empty-handed at the end of the game. But what really saps the Irish ability to halt play late in the game are those quick player-called timeouts to avoid turning the ball over earlier in the half.

Stat Line of the Night

                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
42 AYERS, Ryan.........    2-3    1-1    2-2    0  4  4   1   7  0  0  1  0  34

Inside Out

2006-03-21T05:40:00.000-08:00

Final Score

Notre Dame 79, Vanderbilt 69

The Essentials

AP Game Recap
Box Score
SBT Game Story
Photo Gallery

This and That

A bit late on this recap so I'll be brief.

• Torin Francis made his final game on his home court a memorable one with his 23 point, 11 rebound performance. But to be honest, the lackluster Commodore interior defense had as much to do with his offensive output as anything else. The Irish all played a quality game and just wore down a Vanderbilt team that never could recover from the quick Irish start. The key to the victory was the ability of the Irish to establish an effective inside game, which in turn later opened up the outside game for some easy three-pointers. This type of gameplan would most likely have resulted in an NCAA berth had the Irish been able to accomplish it during the regular season. But ND never did seem able to force teams to respect the inside game most of the time.

• The Irish defense wasn't great early on, but it did settle down. He had an off night shooting, but ND did hold Vandy's leading scorer, Shane Roberts, to only 4 points on 1-9 shooting.

• Only 3,317 fans bothered to show up for the game, but they were a loud group that sounded a lot better than they looked on TV.

• Kudos to Colin Falls for breaking Matt Carroll's single-season made three pointer record. Carroll made 99 three-pointers on 243 attempts (40.7%). Falls finished the game with a season mark of 100 three-pointers on 252 attempts (39/7%).

Stat Line of the Night

                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
34 Francis, Torin...... f 10-14   0-0    3-5    3  8 11   4  23  2  2  0  1  35

NCAA Tournament - Final Four

2006-03-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

Rounds Five and Six:
Overall in the final three games, the better seeded team holds a 3-2 edge, specifically 30-19, with matchups between equally seeded teams occuring 22% of the time (14 out of 63 matchups). The best advice history tells us is to pick one upset in the final three games, and probably avoid more than one match-up between teams with the same seeds.

The Semifinals
Of the past 42 semifinal winners, nineteen were #1 seeds, and at least one #1 has made it in 76% of the championship games. Interestingly, four of the five times there hasn't been a #1 seed, the matchup was #2 vs #3. Last year, two #1 seeds made the championship game, ending a two year draught for the #1 seeds. Prior to that hiatus, however, #1s had made it for four years in a row and ten of the last eleven years, including a matching of two #1s in '99. In general, the matchups here are toss-ups with a slight edge going to the better seeded team (winning 56% of the time).

Seed	Chance for any one team to make the Championship Game	Average number in Championship Game
1	45%	0.90
2	21%	0.43
3	17%	0.33
4	5%	0.10
5	5%	0.10
6	5%	0.10
7	-	-
8	2%	0.05
9-16	-	-

The Championship Game
#1 seeds have faced each other in the final game three times (in '93, '99, and '05), and #3 seeds have squared off only once (in '89). Ignoring those equally seeded matchups, better seeded teams hold a 12-5 advantage over the worse seeded team, for a 71% winning pecentage. However three of those five upsets came between 1985 and 1988 (#8 Villanova over #1 Georgetown in '85, #2 Louisville over #1 Duke in '86, and #6 Kansas over #1 Oklahoma in '88). The last 16 years have produced only two upsets in the Championship Game. Overall, since 1985, #1 seeds have won twelve times, #2 seeds have won four times, #3 seeds have won twice, and a #4, #6, and #8 seed have each won once.

Seed	Victories	Percentage
1	12	57%
2	4	19%
3	2	10%
4	1	5%
6	1	5%
7	-	-
8	1	5%
9-16	-	-

Some stats on the past champions:

Year	Seed	Team	Regular Season Record			Conference Champs
Year	Seed	Team	Overall	Conf	Conf Tourney	Season	Tourney
2005	1	North Carolina	26-3	14-2	1-1	Y	N
2004	2	UConn	24-6	12-4	3-0	N	Y
2003	3	Syracuse	23-4	13-3	1-1	Y	N
2002	1	Maryland	25-3	15-1	1-1	Y	N
2001	1	Duke	26-4	13-3	3-0	Y	Y
2000	1	Michigan State	23-7	13-3	3-0	Y	Y
1999	1	UConn	25-2	16-2	3-0	Y	Y
1998	2	Kentucky	26-4	14-2	3-0	Y	Y
1997	4	Arizona	24-5	17-1	-	Y	-
1996	1	Kentucky	26-1	16-0	2-1	Y	N
1995	1	UCLA	25-2	16-2	-	Y	-
1994	1	Arkansas	24-2	14-2	1-1	Y	N
1993	1	North Carolina	26-3	14-2	2-1	Y	N
1992	1	Duke	25-2	14-2	3-0	Y	Y
1991	2	Duke	25-6	11-3	1-1	Y	N
1990	1	UNLV	26-5	16-2	3-0	Y	Y
1989	3	Michigan	tbd	tbd	-	N	-
1988	6	Kansas	20-10	9-5	1-1	N	N
1987	1	Indiana	24-4	15-3	-	Y	-
1986	2	Louisville	24-7	10-2	2-0	Y	Y
1985	8	Villanova	19-10	9-7	1-1	N	N

Commodores are coming to town

2006-03-14T11:21:00.000-08:00

After last year's paltry showing for the first round loss to Holy Cross, it was a bit curious when Notre Dame was selected to host the first round game this year against Vanderbilt. It was especially curious since Notre Dame is the #5 seed and yet will host the higher ranked #4 seed Vandy. When you factor in the fact that the ND students will be on spring break, just why did the Irish get picked to host the game?

The answer turns out to be the dreaded scheduling conflict. The official N.I.T website has the explanation.

With two exceptions - Butler and Notre Dame - the team with the better seed will play at home through the early rounds. The two Indiana teams were spared initial games on the road because of conflicting events at their opponents' gyms. The normal seeding would determine the home teams should Butler beat Miami or Notre Dame advance against Vanderbilt.

Hopefully the Irish won't be playing in front of a near empty house this Wednesday.

NCAA Tournament - Round 4

2006-03-13T18:00:00.000-08:00

Round Four:
(Picking your Final Four)
This time, there are 64 combinations to go through, again, it's not worth it to go through them in detail. However, only 20 of the 64 possible matchups have ever occurred, and only 13 of those have happened more than once. The Final Four generally works out as follows:

Put in at least one #1 seed (every Final Four has had at least one), with a 86% chance of a #2 seed, and and a 90% chance of either a #3 or a #4 seed. The remaining spot will most likely be filled by a #1 seed (71%), and there is a 50-50 shot that a #5-#11 seed will make it in as well. There has never been a final four consisting entirely of #1 seeds, and only three times have three #1s made it. The average number of teams by seed is listed below:

Seed	Chance for any one team to make the Final Four	Average number in the Final Four
1	43%	1.71
2	21%	0.86
3	13%	0.52
4	10%	0.38
5	5%	0.19
6	4%	0.14
8	4%	0.14
11	1%	0.05

A little history on the Final Four:

Seed	Average per year	Occurrences				Comments
Seed	Average per year	No teams	One Team	Two Teams	Three Teams	Comments
1	1.71	-	9	9	3	-
2	0.86	6	12	3	-	-
3	0.52	13	5	3	-	-
4	0.38	14	6	1	-	-
5	0.19	17	4	-	-	Mississippi St '96 Florida '00 Indiana '02
6	0.14	18	3	-	-	Providence '87 Kansas '88 Michigan '92
8	0.14	19	1	1	-	Villanova '87 Wisconsin & UNC '00
11	0.05	20	1	-	-	LSU '86

N.I.T.-Bound

2006-03-13T08:05:00.000-08:00

The brackets are out and the Irish will host the Vanderbilt Commodores in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament this Wednesday. Check out the full N.I.T. bracket here. UND.com has the rundown on the history between the Irish and the Commodores.

The contest will be the ninth meeting ever between the two schools with the series tied at 4-4. Notre Dame has been victorious each of the last two times the teams have met. The last matchup between the two schools was during the 2002-03 campaign when the Irish earned a 76-63 victory at the Joyce Center on December 30, 2002. Wednesday's contest will mark the fourth visit by a Commodore team to the Joyce Center. Vanderbilt teams are 2-1 in the three previous games they have played at the Joyce Center. It's last victory over Notre Dame was an overtime decision (87-85) at the Joyce Center on December 4, 1999.

Historically, the Irish are 22-9 in the N.I.T. with this being their 10th appearance. Notre Dame has never won the post-season tourney, but out of the previous nine showings, the Irish finished second four times (1973, 1984, 1992, 2000). ND placed third overall in 1968 and participated, but failed to make the N.I.T. Final Four in 1983, 1997, 2004, and 2005.

While just getting to the N.I.T. was an accomplishment for this program prior to Brey's arrival, the level of expectations surrounding the program have risen and this year's trip is a lackluster consolation for a team that suffered through a heartbreaking season. It will be interesting to see if the team decides to re-group and attempt to end the season on a winning note or if they will pack it in early like last year's embarrassing first round defeat at the hands of Holy Cross.

Personally I do hope that the Irish keep advancing and winning. Not only because I enjoy watching ND basketball, but because the N.I.T. can be a great way to build up playing experience for the younger players on the roster. As much as I appreciate the efforts that Quinn, Francis, and Cornett gave to the program, there needs to be some sort of push for the future.

Hopefully Brey will adopt a bit of a pre-pre-season mentality for the N.I.T. and give some of the underclassmen such as Ryan Ayers, Luke Zeller, and Zach Hillesland some more time on the court to see what they can do. The seniors should still start, but they should also spend plenty of time watching the game from the sidelines. I'd love to give Ayers 10 minutes and see if he is able to raise the defensive intensity of the team. Zeller has had some time on the court and not been entirely efficient, but added experience is just as valuable as time in the weight room. Finally, I haven't seen a single minute of Hillesland this season but his redshirt is gone so he might as well get out there.

MacAlarney has been seeing regular playing time already and has impressed me so far with his hustle, outside shot, and relatively quick adaptation to the Big East. But he's going to be our point guard next year so hopefully Brey hands him the reins for a decent amount of time during each game the Irish play. Quinn doesn't have to take the bench during that time. He can slide over to the 2-guard spot the way that Chris Thomas slid over when Quinn was allowed to run the show for a bit last year.

There is precedent for doing this type of roster shuffling. Last year heading into the N.I.T., Rob Kurz had played a grand total of four minutes during the Big East regular season. True he was out with injury for much of that time, but he definitely wasn't part of the regular rotation come the postseason. But then during the Holy Cross game, Brey put Kurz out on the court for 19 minutes to see what he could do. And while the Irish lost, Kurz did manage 11 points and 7 rebounds and gave a few glimpses of someone who would be able to contribute in his sophomore year. Could Ayers or Hillesland accomplish something similar given the same amount of time? Time will tell.

NCAA Tournament - Round 3

2006-03-12T16:17:00.000-08:00

Round Three:

OK, the math will get really ugly here, because there are 32 possible matchups in this round. So we’ll just take it all with two fell swoops.

In the upper half of the bracket, your Elite Eight should consist of at least two #1 seeds, with an 70% chance of three (there are an average of 2.71 number one seeds in every Elite Eight). The odds for the other seeds are listed below, but a good rule of thumb is to pick a #4 seed or possibly a #5 or a #8.

Seed	Chance for any one team to make the Elite Eight	Average number in Elite Eight
1	68%	2.71
4	17%	0.67
5	6%	0.24
8	7%	0.29
9	1%	0.05
12	1%	0.05
13	0%	0.00
16	0%	0.00

And in the lower half, the likely participants are two #2s seeds, a number #3 (81% of the time), and one team from the #6, #7, and #10 group. The #11 seeds rarely make it (4% of the time) and the #14 and #15 seeds need not apply. A good bracket would be two #2s, a #3, and one from the rest of the teams available.

Seed	Chance for any one team to make the Elite Eight	Average number in Elite Eight
2	48%	1.90
3	20%	0.81
6	14%	0.57
7	7%	0.29
10	7%	0.29
11	4%	0.14
14	0%	0.00
15	0%	0.00

Check previous posts for matchups in the first and second rounds.

Good Sport

2006-03-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

While the Irish await their NIT future, I just wanted to throw out some of the awards and accolades that continue to pour in for senior Chris Quinn.

In addition to his 1st Team All-Big East nomination, Quinn was awarded by the league's coaches the Big East Sportsmanship Award. As you might expect from such a winner, Quinn deferred praise to his teammates.

"Both of them, just a great honor for myself," Quinn said. "Being thought of by these awards, it's a tribute to our team. My teammates have been tremendous with me this year."

Big East coaches weren't the only ones to notice Quinn's year. CBS Sportsline columnist Gregg Doyel included Quinn on his list of All-Americans, putting Quinn on the All-Ameican 3rd Team.

Chris Quinn, PG, Notre Dame: Has had a better year than Chris Thomas ever did. Among Big East leaders in scoring (18.2 ppg), assists (6.2), 3-point shooting (44.4 percent) and steals (1.6). And the toughest SOB in college hoops.

Coach Brey has already said that Quinn is an NBA caliber guard although he might have to go the Matt Carroll route to get there. Brey mentioned that Quinn is already planning on playing in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, which is the main pre-draft tournament where scouts evaluate players on the NBA Draft bubble. Looking at the early rosters for the tourney, Quinn isn't listed yet, but ND center Torin Francis is.

NCAA Tournament - Round 2

2006-03-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

Surprisingly, upsets are even more common in the second round than they are in the first round. The higher seed wins 75% of the time in the first round, but only 69% of the time in the second round. After adjusting the numbers to remove closely seeded teams (8/9 in the first round and 4/5 & 12/13 in the second round), the gap grows even larger: 79% in the first round, and 71% in the second round.

Round Two:

No 1 vs No 8/9
#1 seeds hold a 71-13 advantage against #8 (26-10) and #9 (45-3) seeds. There is about a tho-thirds chance that a single #1 seed will lose, but if it does, it is much more likely to be against a #8 seed than a #9 seed. Actually, it may make sense to couple this with the next set of picks. By the way, since no #16 seed has ever made it this far, if you did pick one to knock off the #1 seed, history is no help. But if you made a correct #16/#1 upset pick in the first place, you certainly don't need to take advice from me.

Matchup	W	L	Percent
1 v 8	26	10	72%
1 v 9	45	3	94%
8 v 16	-	-	-
9 v 16	-	-	-

No 2/15 vs No 7/10
No #15 seed has ever won a second-round game (they are 0-4), so if you picked an upset here, it may be time to go back to the favorite. However, the #2/#7 and #2/#10 matchups are intriguing. While 85% of the #1 seeds have made it to the Sweet Sixteen, #2 seeds make it only 64% of the time. And interestingly, the #10 seeds are twice as likely to upseat a #2 seeds than #7 seeds, with a record of 14-15 (48%) against the #2s compared to the #7 seeds record of 12-39 (24%). Because of their 3-0 record against #15 seeds, #10 seeds actually have a winning record in this round.

Matchup	W	L	Percent
2 v 7	39	12	76%
2 v 10	15	14	52%
7 v 15	1	0	100%
10 v 15	3	0	100%

The message with the #1 and #2 seeds is to pick six teams seeded #1 or #2 to make the Sweet Sixteen, with one upset coming from the #2 vs. #7/#10 match-up and the other a coin toss between a #1 seed and another #2 seed. When picking which #2 will fall, a good place to look is the #10 seed.

No 3/14 vs No 6/11
The math can get a little ugly here, so just trust me on this one (and the next one) and I’ll give you a good rule of thumb. For the record, #3 seeds are 39-31 (.557) against #6/#11 seeds and #14 seeds are 2-12 (.143). The math works out nicely if you combine this with the next matchup, but for the record, the numbers are...

Matchup	W	L	Percent
3 v 6	24	24	50%
3 v 11	15	7	68%
6 v 14	9	2	82%
11 v 14	3	0	100%

No 4/13 vs No 5/12
The record for #4 seeds is 36-30 (.545) against the #5/#12 combination and the record for #13 seeds are 3-15 (.167) against #5/#12.

Matchup	W	L	Percent
4 v 5	23	20	53%
4 v 12	13	10	57%
5 v 13	11	2	85%
12 v 13	4	1	80%

So basically, the rule to follow is this: Pick five teams among the #3, #4, and #5 group (of course, since #4 and #5 will be playing each other, you cannot pick just any teams among the group). At least one of each seed should make it, and there should probably be two #3s in your group of five, with more #4s likely to make it than #5s. Pick a #6 seed to advance, and pick the last two from the remaining pool of #6, #11, and #12. If you want to go out on a limb, you can try a #13 or a #14 seed, but they’ve only shown up 14% and 10% of the time, respectively.

Seed	Chance for any one team to make the Sweet Sixteen	Average number in Sweet Sixteen
1	85%	3.38
2	64%	2.57
3	46%	1.86
4	43%	1.71
5	37%	1.48
6	39%	1.57
7	15%	0.62
8	12%	0.48
9	4%	0.14
10	20%	0.81
11	12%	0.48
12	17%	0.67
13	4%	0.14
14	2%	0.10
15	0%	0.00
16	0%	0.00

NCAA Tournament - Round 1

2006-03-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

A break in the action from ND hoops for a bit. The NCAA Tournament might be a touchy subject now for Irish fans, but there are office pools to be won so we soldier on.

Using history as a guide, I put together a 21-year synopsis of how each of the seeds has performed in each round. While it's anyone's guess as to how the bracket will unfold, at least this will give you a starting point for picking this year's Cinderellas and this year's disappointments. I'll be posting subsequent rounds over the next few days.

Round One:
No 1 vs No 16
The top seeds are a perfect 84-0 against the bottom seeds, so there is not much to discuss with this matchup. There have been some close calls in the past (#1 Kansas vs #16 Holy Cross in '02, for example), but the odds strongly favor all #1 seeds to advance.

No 2 vs No 15
The #2 seeds are good, but not quite the lock that #1 seeds are. They are 80-4 over the last 21 years, which makes picking an upset here a risky proposition. The four upsets were Richmond over Syracuse in 1991, Santa Clara over Arizona in 1993, Coppin State over South Carolina in 1997, and Hampton over Iowa State in 2001.

No 3 vs No 14
Here’s where it gets a little interesting. The #3 seeds are 70-14 against #14 seeds, which starts to get us close to one upset per tournament. There is about a two-thirds chance that a single #3 seed will lose, however, there has only been one upset in the last six years.

No 4 vs No 13
The first round records of the #4 seeds (66-18) are slightly worse than the #3 seeds (70-14). Coincidentally, the 18 losses is exactly the same as the combined losses of the #2 and #3 seeds. There have been five upsets in this matchup over the last five years, and overall a single upset happens about 85% of the time.

No 5 vs No 12
The #5 v #12 matchup is the classic upset pick, and rightfully so. The #5s have swept the #12s in only three of the last twenty-one tournaments, and the #12 seeds have actually performed better than the #11 seeds, winning 28 times vs the #11 seeds' 25 victories. Overall, #5s are 56-28 vs #12 seeds. This is a good spot to pick at least one upset, with a 33% chance for another.

No 6 vs No 11
As mentioned above, the #6 seeds have actually performed slightly better than the #5 seeds, with a past record of 59-25. Similar to the #5 v #12 matchup, you should pick at least one upset here, with a 20% chance of a second.

No 7 vs No 10
The #7 v #10 matchup is not too far behind the #5/#12 and #6/#11, but #7 seeds have only won 62% of these games (52-32), including an even .500 record since 1996. There has been an upset in this matchup for eleven straight years, and there is a second upset just over 50% of the time.

If you add up the records of the previous three matchups, you get a total of 167 wins and 85 losses, which is basically 4 losses year. So one way to view the #5/#12, #6/11 and #7/#10 matchups is as a group with four upsets per year. Pick one upset per matchup, and an additional one from the group of three.

No 8 vs No 9
This is perhaps the most interesting matchup, because the lower seeded team actually has the edge here. The #8 seeds are twelve games under .500 at 36-48 against #9 seeds. So, the #9 seeds win this match-up 57% of the time, with each seed having swept the other three times in the last twenty-one tournaments. So the odds say pick two #9 seeds, and maybe a third. But then again, this matchup hasn't been 2-2 since 1993.

Seed	Average Wins	Seed	Average Wins
1	4.00	9	2.29
2	3.81	10	1.52
3	3.33	11	1.19
4	3.14	12	1.33
5	2.67	13	0.86
6	2.81	14	0.67
7	2.48	15	0.19
8	1.71	16	0.00

Play it again, Sam

2006-03-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

Final Score

Georgetown 66, Notre Dame 61

The Essentials

AP Game Recap
Box Score
SBT Game Story
Photo Gallery

This and That

• While the results were the same, this game had a bit of a different start from the traditional late game ND loss. The Irish raced out to a quick early 11-0 lead thanks to the hot-shooting Colin Falls and the ice cold Hoyas. Georgetown was getting a few open looks against the Irish 2-3 zone, but just couldn't make a basket to save their lives. Unfortunately, the Irish failed to capitalize on the poor shooting by going into an offensive funk of their own. Eventually the Hoyas battled back to take the lead and ND was back in the familiar role of playing a tight game that ultimately came down to the wire. Yet, while the gripes about defense and rebounding do have merit, the Irish lost this game due to offense. Second chance points for the Hoyas did indeed hurt the Irish, but not as much as the long six-plus minute stretch in the 1st half where ND failed to convert a field goal.

• Then again, the defense didn't do the Irish many favors. Georgetown adjusted to the 2-3 zone by sending a forward to the soft gooey center of the zone where he was free to spot up for an easy jumper or kick out to a player waiting on the wings. Both Francis and Cornett seemed hesitant to attack the player and leave the low post. The hesistation hurt by allowing the player too much time to consider his options. Time after time the Hoyas were able to convert a relatively easy 8 foot jumper. The 7'2" Hibbert demanded attention down on the low block, but at times it seemed the Irish were too worried about him rather than closing off the free-throw line safety valve the Hoyas exploited as the shot clock dwindled. Still, the Irish were able to buckle down and force some poor Hoya possesions late in the game only to see Georgetown bailed out by NBA-range threes. It was by no means a steller defensive outing. The Irish are still too passive when in their zone defense. But it also wasn't as horrible as it looked at times.

• It's disappointing that Torin Francis and Rick Cornett could only combine for eleven points on thirteen shots. Too often they were able to get good position on Hibbert only to miss the lay-in. Once again Notre Dame was far more effective from behind the 3 point line (47.8%) than inside it (35.4%). Even Rob Kurz, who had a solid game and notched a double-double, saw the bulk of his points come on three-pointers. I can't explain exactly why the Irish frontcourt are so ineffective with their back to the basket. But from airballed bunnies to a failed dunk attempt that was blocked by the rim, the Irish low post game once again showed an inability to finish.

• I'd like to give the stat line of the night to Colin Falls. After all, his six three pointers and 21 total points are what gave the Irish a chance in this game. However, I think I'm going to go with Rob Kurz. Not only did he hit some big 3's late in the game, but he was the one who kept battling on the boards and collected as many rebounds as Torin Francis, Rick Cornett, and Russell Carter combined.

Stat Line of the Night

                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
31 Kurz, Rob........... f  4-9    3-4    0-1    4  7 11   1  11  1  2  2  1  32

Don't forget about us

2006-03-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

As tip-off in Madison Square Garden looms, I figured now is as good as time as any for a quick recruit update.

After leading his high school team to the #1 spot in the final regular season Class AA state rankings, Jonathan Peoples was named Conference MVP and to the Sun-Times All-Area Boys Basketball Team

JONATHAN PEOPLES
ST. JOSEPH, 6-3 senior guard: Committed to Notre Dame. Averaged 15 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists per game. Helped Chargers to Proviso West tournament titles in 2004 and 2005. Shot 51 percent from the field, 48 percent from three-point range.

Meanwhile, Luke Harangody and his team continue their playoff run. In a recent game Harangody took charge with an impressive 39 point, 15 rebound performance.

"I saw him starting to get riled up and it's a good riled up," Andrean coach Mark Horvath said. "I thought, 'don't wake the giant. He's a sleeping giant and if you wake him, he'll go after you.'"

And last but not least, Ryan Slocum of the ABC-Affliate WJRT gives Tory Jackson the nod in his post-season honors column.

We start with the category of Best Cinematography for the player that gave us the best highlights of the season. The nominees are Dar Tucker, from Saginaw Arthur Hill, Noopy Crater, from Southwestern Academy and the seven-footer from Powers, Tom Herzog. The surprise winner is Tory Jackson, from Buena Vista.
TJ dazzled the Academy, especially Grandpa Clarence, with his hustle and flow. Tory wasn't shy about celebrating. He backed it up with 30.5 points, 8 dimes, 7.5 boards, and 4.5 steals per game.

All-Big East

2006-03-07T16:15:00.000-08:00

Despite the lackluster season, the individual awards continue to pour in for point guard Chris Quinn. Recently, the Big East coaches voted Quinn to the conference's All-Big East First Team.

The First Team does have a rather unwieldly eleven members, but Quinn certainly was one of the best point guards in the Big East this year. Not only did he lead the conference in assists, but he also finished the season 3rd in assist/turnover ratio, 5th in the conference in scoring, 2nd in Three-point FG percentage, 3rd in Free Throw percentage, and first in minutes played per game. Check out all his statistical feats here. I have to say he's been one of my favorite players to watch these past few years. Always moving and never out of control, Quinn is the calm and cool leader every coach hopes for.

The South Bend Tribune has a nice article on Quinn and his selection and includes some very complimentary quotes from other Big East coaches.

"Quinn is terrific," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said Monday.

"He's easily in the top five or six players in this league," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said late last month.

Quinn is the fourth player to be named First Team All-Big East under Brey and fifth ever since the Irish joined the conference. Here is a breakdown of the Irish players named to post-season All-Big East teams.

First Team
Pat Garrity ('97, '98)
Troy Murphy ('00,'01)
Ryan Humphrey ('02)
Matt Carroll ('03)
Chris Quinn ('06)

Second Team
Chris Thomas ('03, '04)
Troy Murphy ('99)

Third Team
Chris Thomas ('02, '05)
Ryan Humphrey ('01)
Pat Garrity ('96)

Honorable Mention
David Graves ('02)
Torin Francis ('04)

All-Rookie Team
Torin Francis ('03)
Chris Thomas ('02)
Martin Inglesby ('98)

It's a bit interesting that ND has had any many First Team nominations (7) as Second and Third Teamer combined. Quinn's First Team appearance ends a two-year skid after ND placed an Irish player on the list six out of the seven previous years. Russell Carter finished his strong second half of the conference by being named to the Big East Honor Roll and honestly should be in definite contention for post-season All-Conference accolades at the end of next year. First Team might be a reach, but I don't think it's impossible. After all, of the 21 (!) players named to the All-Big East First and Second teams this year, only seven will return next year and that number would drop to six if UConn star Rudy Gay declares for the NBA Draft.

Ninth Time's a Charm

2006-03-04T17:31:00.000-08:00

Final Score

Notre Dame 66, DePaul 61

The Essentials

AP Game Recap
Box Score
SBT Game Story
Photo Gallery

This and That

• Eight times this season, ND has been one bucket or one stop away from a win, and eight times ND has lost by one, two, or three points. Today, finally, ND got that one stop, with Russell Carter securing the rebound of Draelon Burns's three-point attempt with 2.6 seconds to play. Carter continued his stellar play after his come-to-Jesus moment in Brey's doghouse earlier this season. His 22 points led the Irish, and every one down the stretch seemed to come at a crucial moment when ND was in desperate need of a basket to maintain its lead.

• The win clinches a berth in the Big East Tournament. While scrapping just to get to the Garden wasn't on anybody's to-do list this year, ND got there from an almost incomprehensible 1-8 start that would have caused most teams (including last year's Irish) to throw in the towel. ND will now wait to see what happens between St. John's and Rutgers tomorrow. If St. John's wins, ND will be the 11th seed and face Pitt; if Rutgers wins, ND will be 12th and face Georgetown, who today gave South Florida their first Big East win.

• The 66 points scored by the Irish is their fifth lowest offensive output of the season, following games against NC State (48), South Florida (62), IPFW (65), and Marquette (65). Interestingly enough for such an offensively-oriented team, ND won three of these five (and the Marquette loss was on Novak's off-balance buzzer-beater).

• Likewise, only five Irish opponents scored fewer than DePaul's 61: Hofstra (50), FIU (47), Niagara (59), Fordham (49), and South Florida (55). Not exactly a murderer's row, that. DePaul is no world beater either, but they're at least respectable — particularly after dropping 108 on Syracuse on Thursday.

• Here's a stat sure to win you a $10 bar bet: in the previous nine games, only Connecticut and Louisville have out-rebounded Notre Dame (The Fieldhouse: educational and profitable). Not so today, as DePaul won the battle of the boards 36-31. More precisely, not so in the second half, as ND actually held an 18-14 edge at the break. The Irish could have put this game away easily if not for DePaul's 9 offensive boards leading to 11 second-chance points in the second half.

• Speaking of putting the game away easily, despite recent solid performances at the line, ND was a miserable 8-17 from the charity stripe. The breakdown is pretty simple: our guards can shoot, our big guys can't. Carter and Falls were a combined 7-8 while Cornett and Francis managed to hit only one of their nine. For all the things Troy Murphy gave us in his time under the dome, his free throw shooting was probably my favorite. When you have a big man who is capable of making teams pay for playing rugby in the paint, it's a lot easier to build and maintain leads in the Big East.

Stat Line of the Night

                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
43 Carter, Russell..... g  7-13   3-7    5-6    3  2  5   2  22  1  1  0  2  37

Show your support

2006-03-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

In what is one of hopefully many honors to come his way, Chris Quinn was recently named an ESPN the Magazine First Team Academic All-American. And while Notre Dame is second in the nation in Academic All-Americans with 164, only seven have been Irish men's basketball players.

Quinn joins a short list that includes Pat Garrity ('97 and '98), John Paxson ('82 and '83), Rich Banning ('80), Kelly Tripucka ('79), Gary Novak ('74), and Bob Arnzen ('67, '68, and '69).

It is quite an accomplishment and one Quinn should be very proud of. His evolution and development as a basketball player and team leader has been a joy to watch these past four years. And that leads me to the point of this post. Allow me a soapbox moment.

Tomorrow afternoon will be the final regular season home game for Chris Quinn, Torin Francis, Rick Cornett, and walk-on Chris Murphy. At 4pm they will take on DePaul University with a trip to New York City for the Big East Tournament riding on the outcome. But more importantly, the game will be the final chance to watch Quinn and his fellow classmates take the court and represent the University of Notre Dame in a regular season contest.

I don't care if you want Mike Brey absolved of the current program woes or publicly fired in a humiliating halftime ceremony. There is time for all that later. Tomorrow at the JACC, there should be one goal. And that is to show up, stand tall, and show support for the Fighting Irish basketball team, especially for those four seniors who have given so much time and effort to the program.

I was at the Providence game last Wednesday, their last home game of their season, and when the loss was inevitable, Friar coach Tim Welsh took senior point guard Donnie McGrath out of the game with a few seconds remaining. Doing so allowed the crowd to acknowledge the impressive career of the senior captain with a standing ovation. One problem though. By that point of the game, nearly two-thirds of the already sparse home crowd was already filing out of the arena and heading back to their homes. There were barely any Providence fans left to show their congratulations. It was an embarrassing showing and I honestly felt bad for the kid.

So I implore you...students, season ticket holders, and anyone else that can make the game...no matter what the score is tomorrow, put aside any criticisms of the coach and administration for the time being and show your appreciation for those seniors. Pass this post around, email people, call them. Just make sure that the JACC is full and loud for the entire game this Saturday. The only time you should be getting out of your seat before the final buzzer is to rise to your feet when those seniors walk off that court one last time. They have earned it.

A team effort

2006-03-02T10:15:00.000-08:00

Final Score

Notre Dame 82 , Providence 75

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This and That

It was fun to be able to sit back and watch the Irish cooly finish off the Friars at the free throw line while the hometown crowd filed out early. Finally, the team seemed a bit relaxed down the stretch and was able to hit their free throws and put the game away. No last second shot required.

• Before getting into the bulk of the recap, I just wanted to mention that some players have a knack for being in the right place at the right time. And for the Irish that player seems to be Rob Kurz. He still has a way to go as a player, but really seems to be the one player that is near the ball on every missed shot. His 8 rebounds in 18 minutes last night, with a notable five offensive boards, keep up what has been a recent surge in productivity from the only sophomore on the roster. The first ten Big East conference games, Kurz grabbed 38 rebounds, or 3.8 a game. In the last five games, Kurz has grabbed 34 rebounds (6.8/game) and that includes a lowly one rebound performance against UConn. Most of the talk about replacing Francis and Cornett next year focus on the Lukes (Zeller and incoming frosh Harangody). But I really think that Kurz is going to be the best rebounder on the team next year. If he's able to get to a big man camp this summer and continue to add size, he might even be one of the offensive surprises next year.

• Now, as for the Providence game, Brey shortened his bench for the must-win road game, but at the same time freely interchanged the seven who did see the court. The distribution of minutes was more even than probably any game this year and Brey kept mixing things up to keep Providence off balance. He played a small ball lineup (Quinn/KMac/Falls/Carter/Francis) then switched it up to a big lineup (Quinn/Carter/Kurz/Cornett/Francis) and sometimes went with a faster lineup (Quinn/KMac/Carter/Kurz/Francis) in order to harrass the outside shooters for Providence. Of note is that Falls didn't have a great shooting night -- more on that later -- and in turn played his fewest minutes all season. Kurz (18 min.) sat a few minutes when he banged his elbow and Cornett (18 min.) stayed on the bench a bit longer due to Francis' great game, otherwise ND would have had seven players with at least 20 minutes of playing time.

• The main reason for Falls' off-night was the pressure of the Providence defense. Now, they didn't play great defense as a team, but rather decided to take away Falls and let the other players try and beat us. The good news is that the team (and Falls) didn't try to force anything. Rather than trying screen after screen to free Falls up, the Irish keep feeding the ball down low to Francis. The Friar low post defense was pretty awful and despite a few early misses on, frankly, some really easy shots, Francis settled down and had a very productive night. He secured his 7th double-double of the season with 18 points and 12 boards, but also had four assists, including a beauty to a cutting Falls for a lay-up. His play down low is what kept the Irish in the game when the outside shooting wasn't readily available. The Providence center was no match for him physically and Francis could have abused him for even more points, but it was nice to see Torin attack the basket more. If the Irish want to head to Madison Square Garden and maybe even win a game or two, Francis is going to have to keep up the aggressive effort on the offensive side of the court.

• Francis wasn't the only one who had a great game as Russell Carter looked like the best player out on the floor last night. Quinn and Falls had some trouble getting started on the offensive end but Carter kept the team in it with 13 first half points. He was able to hit his outside shots, drive to the basket effectively, and hit his free throws. Most importantly was his superb job on defense. His four steals and seven defensive boards don't even reflect his overall defensive effort as I counted at least three passes that he deflected that ended up going out of bounds. Carter has really come into his own during the second half of Big East play -- he's been the Irish's leading scorer 3 out of the last 5 games -- and I have to think that the Providence game was his best all-around performance of the year.

Stat Line of the Night

                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
43 Carter, Russell..... g  5-8    2-5    9-11   1  7  8   3  21  0  4  0  4  35

Marquette Recap

2006-02-26T11:05:00.000-08:00

Final Score

Marquette 80 , Notre Dame 72

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This and That

If you had told me before the game that Torin Francis would have sixteen points and fifteen rebounds and that Steve Novak would make only six of his fifteen shots from the field, I would have predicted an easy Notre Dame victory. Instead, Marquette won by eight on the strength of its defense, holding the Irish to 39% shooting from the field and forcing sixteen turnovers.

I have been to every home game this season, as well as the first ND-Marquette game in Milwaukee, and Marquette is by far the best defensive team I have seen this season. Officials allowing body bumps throughout the game helped the already-physical Warriors’ cause, but that’s par for the course when Tim Higgins is one of the referees. If Notre Dame is ever going to be a consistent force in the Big East, pushing back must become part of its game.

The Irish played good defense themselves, holding Marquette to 41% shooting from the field, five percentage points below its average, and making the rebounding battle a virtual push, forty-one for ND and 40 for MU. Colin Falls and Rob Kurz took turns shadowing Novak, and he had few uncontested shots. Even his consecutive three point baskets with under seven minutes to play, blunting an ND run, were fade-away shots against good defense.

It was ND’s inability to handle the Warriors’ physical defense that cost it the game. Since going to a four guard line-up, the Irish offense has thrived on penetration by Russell Carter and Chris Quinn. The Marquette guards successfully bumped the ND guards off of their dribble, repeatedly forcing turnovers and offensive resets.

The game was decided by ND’s three consecutive offensive possessions without a shot starting with a possession at the 3:04 mark. Trailing by three points at the beginning of the sequence, ND had a shot clock violation, a turnover after a steal, and an errant pass by Francis as he was bumped with no foul call. It can’t be that easy to make a 6’11”, 252 lb. man throw a ball out of bounds, can it?

Marquette came out of that sequence with just a five point lead, but time remaining demanded a free throw shooting contest, and the Warriors made more than enough to win comfortably.

The real treat of seeing the game in person was watching the Kyle McAlarney vs. Dominic James match-up. James scored eighteen points (6-14/1-4) and added three steals and an assist. McAlarney scored fourteen points (6-12/2-8) and had eight assists. More importantly, McAlarney was the one ND guard who was quick enough to get past the Marquette guards and their physical defensive tactics to force defenders to rotate. The McAlarney-James match-up will be a treat for the next three years.

Other game notes:

• It’s always good news for the Irish when Colin Falls hits a couple of shots early, and it’s bad news when he misses open shots early. Falls missed three open shots in the first eight minutes and finished 1-9 from the field.

• Things I don’t understand, part 1 – The Irish had two fouls to give at the end of the first half. They used one with eight seconds. Marquette inbounded the ball, and good ND defense forced a long shot by MU’s Jarel McNeal with three seconds left. McNeal missed, but Dan Fitzgerald got the rebound in traffic and he made a lay-up with a second left. Did ND’s players forget that they had another foul to give and that they could have fouled Fitzgerald on the rebound forcing Marquette to inbound with a second left to play?

• Things I don’t understand, part 2 – Why do coaches leave their best scorers on the floor for defense with four fouls when they know they have to foul on the inbounds pass? If there is going to be a miracle comeback, won’t they need their shooters on offense? Carter fouled out with thirty-four seconds to play and Quinn fouled out with eight seconds to play. They were replaced by Ryan Ayers and Zach Hillesland, respectively. Wouldn’t it make more sense to put Ayers and Hillesland in to foul on defense and put Carter and Quinn back on the floor for offense? This isn’t just a Mike Brey issue. I never see coaches do it differently, and it seems like an obvious move to me.

• Things I don’t understand, part 3 – After twelve points and seven rebounds in twenty-seven minutes against UConn, Rick Cornett played six minutes against Marquette, only one minute in the second half.

Stat Line of the Night

                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
34 Francis, Torin...... f  7-11   0-0    2-2    3 12 15   0  16  3  3  1  0  36

Back-door cut

2006-02-23T09:45:00.000-08:00

Interesting article in the Chicago Sun-Times today about the Big East and the teams that will be invited to the NCAA Tournament. Specifically, the article highlights the possibility that a Big East team who fails to even reach .500 in the conference could still find themselves selected for the Big Dance.

Littlepage said Wednesday that expansion of major conferences like the Big East, now with 16 members, has created new twists in the evaluation process because of unbalanced conference scheduling. Because of that, a team might have a losing conference record with losses to highly ranked teams but still have credentials to be considered for one of the 34 at-large openings in the 65-team field.

The Littlepage mentioned in the above blockquote is selection committee chairman Craig Littlepage, who then went on to say:

'The record itself in the league will not be a consideration,'' he said. ''It's about who you've played. A 7-9 [conference] record at face value might not look good, but if the losses are to top-25 teams and the wins are against top-50 teams, that might be worth strong consideration.''

If the Irish sweep their final three games against Marquette, Providence, and DePaul -- not to get too much ahead of ourselves here -- will that, combined with say only one win in the Big East tournament, be enough to impress the selection committee? I'm not so sure.

The key phrase to me in the first blockquote is "unbalanced conference scheduling". The past two years this term definitely applied to the Irish as they had to slog through the TV-friendly portion of the unbalanced schedule that saw Notre Dame face the top teams in the league twice, only to fall a game or so short of making the NCAA's.

However, this year ND avoided playing teams like UConn, Pittsburgh, and Villanova twice whereas a team like Louisville did face a harder schedule. So I'm not exactly sure if that will be the feather in ND's cap that help them slide into the tournament.

On the other hand, ND's "bad luck" in close games has been well-documented in the media by Irish-friendly talking heads like Digger and Jay Bilas. And ND's two-point loss to #2 Villanova at home, one-point OT loss to #3 UConn in Hartford, three-point OT loss to #9 Pittsburgh at Pitt, one-point loss to #14 West Virginia in West Virginia, and three-point double overtime loss to #23 Georgetown at home certainly fall in Littlepage's "losses to Top 25 teams" criteria. Switching to RPI rankings, the Irish played five teams with a Top 25 RPI ranking. Stretch that to Top 40 and the number of opponents rises to ten.

As for the "wins against Top-50 teams" qualifier, ND currently can only claim victory over Alabama (RPI ranking: 39) , Seton Hall (RPI ranking: 43), and Hofstra (RPI ranking: 47). Not terribly impressive, but the fact both wins were road wins does help. ND also has a chance to notch a win over Marquette (RPI ranking: 21), which would definitely bolster the resume.

Personally, I think if ND is going to have any chance to make the tournament, they are going to have to sweep the regular season and win two games in the Big East tournament. I feel that that hot finish, combined with the well-documented close losses, will be enough. If the Irish can only manage one win in the Big East Tournament, then ND will find itself once again firmly on the Tournament bubble, which, if the past two seasons are a guide, means get ready for the N.I.T.

Hey, Anyone Remember a Little Flick Called "Groundhog Day"?

2006-02-22T13:30:00.000-08:00

Final Score

Connecticut 75, Notre Dame 74 (OT)

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• The snakebitten Irish lost yet another heart-wrenching conference battle in the final moments, as the Huskies tied the game toward the end of regulation on a Marcus Williams putback. ND had last shots to win the game at the end of regulation as well as overtime, coming up empty in both situations. The cut line on Irish fortunes in conference play appears to be 7 points, as ND is 4-0 in Big East games decided by 7 or more points and a startling 0-9 in contests closer than that. This includes an 0-4 record in games extended to overtime. Even coin-flip success in those nine games would find the team's ticket all but punched for an NCAA at-large bid with two weeks still remaining in the regular season.

• It was a game of absurd streaks and hot- and cold-spells for both clubs that bordered on the cinematic. After Rick Cornett scored to close an early Irish deficit to 24-21 at the ten-minute mark of the opening stanza, Connecticut took control of the game by outscoring ND 24-11 over the remainder of the half. But as they've done so often this year, the Irish gamely stormed back in the second half behind tightened defense, improved rebounding and a streaking Colin Falls, touching off a 25-2 run that included a stretch of 18 consecutive points. And as hot as they'd been, Notre Dame cooled off once more just that quickly, shooting 3/18 (16.7%) over the remaining 12 minutes of the game -- overtime included -- and scoring only 8 more points. Overtime in general was a battle of attrition, with only seven points scored by the two teams combined and a Rob Kurz three-point jumper representing the only score for the Irish in the entire period.

• An interesting sidelight on possession length: during Notre Dame's 18-0 run, they scored on seven consecutive possessions. In the course of those possessions, the average amount of time used before taking the first shot was just over 11 seconds, with 23 seconds representing the longest stretch that the Irish held the ball to work for a shot. Conversely, in the team's final eight possessions over the last 6:30 of regulation (excluding Falls' missed jumper from the corner in the closing seconds, when ND was forced to work quickly), they held the ball an average of over 27 seconds before shooting. In all, there were five trips among those final eight in which Notre Dame burned the shot clock under five seconds before acting; they scored zero points on those possessions. Perhaps Connecticut's defensive presence (or lack thereof) played a role in the shift in offensive tempo, but the Irish did themselves no favors in the final minutes of regulation by getting away from what had led the charge and falling into the familiar late-game trap of what amounted to "prevent offense".

• As noted above, it was another Jeckyll-and-Hyde performance from ND, one that often found both characters on the floor in (ahem) traditional Irish black concurrently. As a team, the Irish committed only 4 turnovers but had 19 (!) shots blocked. Russell Carter's laudable defensive effort in containing Husky star Rudy Gay played a large role in the team's second-half resuscitation, and he continues to show more sustained glipses of vast potential. At times, UConn dominated the Irish on the interior like a college team toying with high schoolers, but Torin Francis, Rick Cornett and Rob Kurz also enjoyed bouts of holding their own against the best that the Big East has to offer. Additionally, Cornett responded to Jim Calhoun's defensive philosophy of frustrating ND's guards at the expense of opportunity on the interior by racking up 8 first-half points on 4-6 shooting. In the backcourt, Chris Quinn wasn't quite his normal babyfaced assassin self and was overshadowed by Marcus Williams' triple-double (18 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds) on the Connecticut side. Overall, the Irish guards who were a collective 22-25 from the charity stripe at Seton Hall on Saturday mustered only one free throw attempt against the Huskies, converted by Russell Carter. Falls earns the stat line of the night, not only for an unprecedented four two-point baskets but also for doing the unthinkable: outlasting Quinn on the court, 45 minutes to 44.

Stat Line of the Night

                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
15 Falls, Colin........ g  9-19   5-14   0-0    1  4  5   0  23  0  0  0  0  45

Men in Black

2006-02-20T08:25:00.000-08:00

Final Score

Notre Dame 102, Seton Hall 91

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This and That

• Wearing new black uniforms, the Irish broke the century mark for the first time in regulation since a 102-71 victory over DePaul on December 14th, 2002. Leading the way were Chris Quinn and Colin Falls who combined for 66 points, which is four more points than the entire Irish team scored in the previous game, a 62-55 win over South Florida.

• As the Seton Hall Pirates kept fouling, the Irish kept shooting free throws and ended with a season-high 38 attempts. The good news in an inconsistent year from the line is that ND made 30 of them and notched a 86.8% completion percentage. The only games that saw the Irish shoot better from the charity stripe was a 17-19 (89.5%) effort against IPFW and a perfect 2-2 night against West Virginia. Of special note was Chris Quinn, who was a perfect 14-14 from the line.

• Recent trends of sharing playing time and player development continue. Rick Cornett saw more playing time (23 min.) and his PT nearly mirrored that of Torin Francis (26 min.) as the two have slowly been splitting time more evenly lately. This includes some stretches where both are on the court at the same time. And in the development area, the emergence of Russell Carter continues. In addition to chipping in 17 points and 8 rebounds, Carter was solid on defense once again and really is coming on strong in the latter half of the season. Sophomore Rob Kurz' 9-10 effort from the free throw line also hints at a player that has been gaining confidence on the floor this year.

Stat Line of the Night

                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
02 Quinn, Chris........ g  8-16   4-8   14-14   1  1  2   3  34  5  2  0  1  40
15 Falls, Colin........ g 10-17   8-15   4-5    1  2  3   2  32  0  0  0  0  36

Bounce back

2006-02-18T08:03:00.000-08:00

Pretty good story in the Fort Wayne Gazette this morning on Russell Carter's exile/homecoming this season.

Russ won’t exactly go into his feelings during that January week, where he transformed back into the Russ Carter from his first two years, always coming off the bench and wondering whether or not he’d play in a game. He won’t say he was sad or bothered or pressing or unhappy.
Between his words, though, the frustration emerged. This wasn’t the career the 20-year-old envisioned when he left Paulsboro High School a state champion. He saw what every high school kid sees – go to college, play a ton, improve, move to the NBA.

“I didn’t hold no grudges or say ‘Why this or why that,’ ” Russ said. “You can’t stress why you’re playing or why you’re not. When you’re out there, you have to have fun.

“It’s a basketball game. Not a basketball life or whatever.”

During his week off, he saw what he missed. He observed the little things during a game that only players can see and understand. It brought back the joy to his game. It unwound him a little bit. Relieved the pressure and the stress and produced this: the junior guard who has scored in double figures in four of the last six games, part of the 10.9 points a game he’s averaging entering today’s game at Seton Hall.

RPI update

2006-02-18T07:25:00.000-08:00

Official RPI	98
CollegeRPI.com	98
Mike Greenfield's Team Rankings	104
Warren Nolan	103
Ken Pomeroy	37

So what's up with Pomeroy? For the uninitiated, Ken Pomeroy uses a slightly more complex formula in devising his rankings, giving each game played a weight according its significance and when it was played. Significance increases in games involving teams with similar ratings, and increasing weight is also given to recent games.

Most importantly, he only takes into account the margin of victory or defeat, and ignores the result (win/loss). Overall record means nothing; it's all about the points, baby.

A win is a win

2006-02-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

Final Score

Notre Dame 62 , South Florida 55

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This and That

• For a team that was only averaging 4.6 steals per conference game, the 8 steals by the Irish is a good sign that the defense just might be getting more aggressive on the floor. Interestingly though, seven of those steals came in the first half and only one after intermission. While South Florida plays a slower paced brand of basketball and came in only averaging 61.5 points a game, Notre Dame did hold the Bulls to 55 points, which is 23.5 points below the average point total normally allowed by the Irish (78.5).

• Overall the Irish went 20-29 from the free throw line for a 69% total that, like the game itself, wasn't horrible, but also wasn't particularly great. What made those numbers seem worse than they were was the inconsistent manner in which they converted the shots. ND only made 6 of their first 10 attempts to start the game, but then picked it up by hitting 9 of the next 10. However, the final 9 attempts as the game wound down only saw 5 successful conversions.

• I wanted to give Kurz the stat line of the night below for his first career double-double as he really came off the bench and gave the team a spark with his hustle when shots were falling early. But Quinn does deserve some praise for a balanced stat line that includes 12 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 drawn charges. Like Colin Falls (1-10), Quinn had some trouble shooting the ball (3-10), but he definitely made up for it with the rest of his game.

Stat Line of the Night


                      TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
31 Kurz, Rob...........    3-4    1-1    3-4    2  9 11   0  10  0  0  2  1  26

Arrested Development? (part 2)

2006-02-15T14:15:00.000-08:00

This post is part 2 in a series of posts. Part one can be found here.

Class of 2005

Chris Thomas

High School:
RSCI ranking - 34
Rivals.com ranking - info not available
Scout.com ranking - info not available

Chris Thomas came to Notre Dame as heralded as any recruit in recent memory. A McDonald's All-American and the first Mr. Basketball from the state of Indiana to attend Notre Dame, Thomas' committment to the Irish over schools like Indiana, Stanford, Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State and a whole host of others was a coup for the Irish. He was seen as a do-it-all point guard who would hopefully lead ND back to the Final Four for the first time in over 20 years. Rankings-wise he was generally considered a Top 30-50 player. With Martin Inglesby graduating, Thomas was not only an attention grabbing commit, but also a key recruit due to his perceived ability to step right in as the team's starting point guard.

Thomas at Notre Dame

Class	PPWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%	Min/G
Freshman	1.04	44.6	21.1	0.39	87.2	4.6	11.56	4.89	2.8	0.8	40.2
Sophomore	1.04	46.2	28.9	0.33	84.9	6.7	10.00	5.93	2.8	0.1	38.1
Junior	1.01	46.4	31.1	0.25	81.4	6.2	7.16	3.83	2.1	0.4	38.8
Senior	0.94	40.0	23.6	0.33	89.2	7.2	10.54	4.55	2.6	0.3	38.3

Summary:

Chris Thomas' career at Notre Dame is frequently mentioned whenever the topic of player development is brought up. With that in mind, I'm going to be a bit more thorough in this summary than in others in order to try and capture everything.

I don't think any Irish basketball player started faster out of the gate than Chris Thomas. Expectations were sky-high for Thomas before the season started. He recorded Notre Dame's first and only triple double in his first game in an Irish uniform and managed to go up from there. While logging a staggering 40.2 minutes per game in the Big East, the weekly awards piled up for Thomas and he ended his frosh year not only as the Big East Rookie of the Year but also a member of The Sporting News All-Freshman team and the National Freshman of the Year according to Basketball News and Basketball Times. Not only was Thomas a quality shooter, his assists metric show that he was superb when it came to feeding teammates the ball. His defensive abilities were bolstered by an impressive steal percentage as well.

His sophomore year started out just as hot as he was named to the Top 50 list for pre-season candidates for the Wooden Award. The NBA rumors were already starting as Thomas started the season by guiding the Irish to three consecutive wins over Top 10 teams helped to lead the Irish to the Sweet Sixteen. Statistically he improved his shooting efficiency slightly while taking on a much larger percentage of the team's shots. Normally an increase in shooting results in a decrease in efficiency, but Thomas managed to improve his freshman year numbers. He also kept this defensive steals percentage steady while increasing his rebounding total. Clearly, it seems that he was getting better as a player. He was named a finalist for the Wooden award, brought down 2nd Team Big East honors, and joined Matt Carroll as an honorable mention All-American. Those NBA rumors though came true when Thomas announced his decision to declare for the NBA draft. However, not sure that he would be a first round pick, Thomas returned to the Irish for his junior year.

His junior year though is where the story gets a bit more complicated. As with his sophomore year, he started the year on the short list for Wooden Award Player of the Year honors. But things weren't always great as he didn't seem to have the same spring in his step he did the two previous years. His stats all took a bit of a slide and he shot an interestingly large 31.1% of all Irish shots that year. From what I remember, there was a feeling of him trying to do it all and the team accepting that. The Irish were right on the bubble for a tourney bid but fell short and had to settle for the NIT, where they would lose in the quarterfinals. Despite earning another 2nd Team Big East honor, it seemed like Thomas was stuck in neutral a bit in terms of development. Injury rumors had floated around Thomas all year and ultimately were proven correct when he had arthroscopic knee surgery immediately following the season to correct a season long injury.

In his final year, Thomas' NBA prospects were faltering despite yet another nomination to the Wooden Award Pre-season Top 50 list. It seemed to me that he, along with Brey, realized that if he was going to make the NBA, he would have to round out his game as a point guard so as not to just be known as a shooter-scorer. The dip in his percentage of shots taken number (%shots) and increase in assists average tend to back up this theory. Unfortunately, while his assists did improve, his offensive numbers continued their downward trend. He hit career lows as a shooter his senior year and actually averaged under a point per shot, which is not at all what you would hope from an NBA caliber guard that had cut back on his number of shots. As the mounting criticisms of him noted, clearly something was wrong with his game and he was not the same quality of player he was as a freshman and sophomore. This regression also showed up as he was named to the 3rd Team All-Big East after being a 2nd-teamer for the past two years. To top it all off, the Irish failed to crack the NCAA Tournament once again and suffered an embarrasing home loss to Holy Cross in the opening round of the NIT to end his career. To complete his Irish career arc, Thomas went undrafted by the NBA, although he did manage a spot on the Pacers summer league team. Currently, Thomas is playing in professional ball with Fabriano in Italy.

Chris Thomas' career at Notre Dame is an interesting one when trying to determine player development. The fact that he did not live up to the lofty predictions that came during his stellar freshman campaign resulted in many concluding that he was not properly developed as a player. But due to the fact that he actually regressed as a player as opposed to just failing to improve leads me to believe that his knee injury is the major reason for his decline rather than a failure of the coaching staff to develop him. When a player enters a school with some holes in his game and leaves with those same deficiencies, it's fair to say he was not properly developed as a player. But Thomas came into ND with the ability to score, drive, distribute, and defend. He already was an excellent all-around player. But just by looking at the stats, you can see that something happened his junior year to slow down his game and that continued into his senior year. I remember breakaways that were easy dunks his freshman year turned into lay-ins as a senior and his defense was not nearly as aggressive. Combining this with the fact that he is perhaps the only guard to not improve under Coach Brey leads me to believe that injuries are what held Chris Thomas back much moreso than the coaching staff. To be fair though, the coaching staff does deserve some criticism for the sheer amount of minutes they had Chris play. Credit to Thomas for playing through his injury, but I do wonder if he might have not lost so much of the spring in his step if he wasn't forced to play nearly every minute of every game. In the end, Thomas still managed to become a solid player for the Irish, just not the superstar he appeared to be early in his career.

Jordan Cornette

High School:
RSCI ranking - not in Top 100
Rivals.com ranking - info not available
Scout.com ranking - info not available

Coming out of the Greater Catholic League in Cincinnati, Cornette was known as a very versatile player who excelled as a defender and shot blocker. He also was comfortable as a perimeter shooter, which perhaps owes much to the fact that he started high school as a 6 foot guard. He earned all-conference honors both his junior and senior year and was named honorable mention All-State as a senior. In AAU ball, his team finished second in a 120 team tournament in Orlando. As a recruit, Cornette drew interest from Michigan State, Ohio State, Xavier, and Dayton. One recruiting website mentions Cornette as a Top 150 recruit, but overall it looks like he wasn't recruited much outside of the midwest.

Cornette at Notre Dame

Class	PPWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%	Min/G
Freshman	0.89	45.1	11.7	0.32	38.5	13.2	2.43	1.70	2.4	2.6	15.7
Sophomore	1.01	49.0	11.0	0.27	57.1	12.7	2.18	1.64	3.1	8.7	19.4
Junior	0.94	43.5	12.5	0.21	77.8	10.8	2.87	1.56	2.3	5.1	29.2
Senior	0.81	40.0	12.8	0.07	60.0	9.7	3.12	1.64	2.1	7.1	26.6

Summary:

Cornette played around 40% of the Big East minutes as a freshman, but his main role on the team was that of defensive specialist, as that was his strong point coming out of high school. He proved to be a pretty effective rebounder during his time on the floor as well. The following year his defense got even better as he posted a commendable steal% and a spectacular block%. He also managed to improve his shooting efficiency and it seemed that he was developed nicely as a player. However, as his minutes increased as a junior, his numbers all seemed to take a step back. One of the reasons is likely his knee injury that forced him to miss a number of games during the season. In his final year, Cornette's offensive numbers continued to fall as his offensive shooting failed to result in many points. Especially troubling is the drop-off in free throw rate (FTR) from an unimpressive 0.27 to a barely non-existent 0.07. This stat seems to reinforce the memory that Cornette spent his senior season bombing away from the perimeter -- with lackluster results -- and did not drive to the basket much when he had the ball. Based on the decline in his numbers, I'd have to conclude that he did not develop as an offensive player during his career and most of the blame falls on the coaching staff. Cornette was a quality defender for all four years and posted some extremely impressive blocking percentages (equal to any that Ryan Humphrey produced) so his athletic ability was never in doubt. But Jordan came into Notre Dame as an unpolished player on the offensive side of the ball and never really improved. His outside shooting did not get better, but the real issue is that a player of his size remained out on the perimeter and did not develop an inside game or the ability to consistently drive to the hoop. He turned into a vocal team leader and continued to play hard even though his game suffered and that should be mentioned, but I have to say that his offensive output is a black mark on the coaching staff's development resume.

Next Up - Class of 2005 (Chris Quinn, Torin Francis, Rick Cornett)

Arrested Development?

2006-02-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

As the Irish struggle through this season, you hear the criticism "lack of development" over and over again. But there never seems to be much in the way of empirical proof to either support or refute the accusation.

This post will be the first in a series that tries to answer the question about Mike Brey and his knack for developing basketball talent. I'll take a look at the incoming expectations and eventual production of the players that have graced the men's basketball roster during Brey's tenure under the Dome. And while I don't expect everything to boil down to a simple yay or nay, I do hope to at least provide some facts and analysis that will be helpful in future debates about the developmental abilities of Coach Brey and his staff.

Of course, all of this begins with a significant question: How do you measure talent development? My solution will be to present each player under Brey's tutelage, starting out with his high school accolades to try and establish some sort of picture of the perceived strengths and weaknesses of a player prior to his enrollment at the University. I will follow that with a statistical look at his production during their time under Brey and conclude with a short summary.

As for the statistical look at each player, allow me to step back briefly and explain all of the metrics I chose. The excellent Marquette blog Cracked Sidewalks has a side-blog that measures the Tempo-Free stats of the current Big East teams and players, and it's this base that comprises the number-crunching. (As a primer to TPS, I highly recommend you check out this handy intro composed by the Big Ten Wonk.)

Simply put, Tempo-free stats measure a player's effectiveness during the time they are on the court. The benchmark makes sense as a development measure because while anyone can score more points if their playing time is increased, true improvement can be noted if the player actually improves his productivity regardless of minutes played. Also, it usually works on a per possesion basis, so teams that play a faster brand of basketball can be compared to those that play a more deliberate style.

So let's go over the metrics that will be used to track each player's development (descriptions cribbed from Ken Pomery's excellent glossary):

Points per Weighted Shot (PpWS). Calculates how many points a player scores per shot attempt. Read more here. The 0.475 multiplier in the equation is a constant you'll see in many of these formulas. It's a number calculated by Pomery to simulate the percentage of time that free throw results in a change of possession. As a general rule of thumb, I would say that a PpWs rating of 1.15 or over would put a player in the Top 20 in their conference.
PpWS = Pts / (FGA + (0.475 * FTA).

Effective Field Goal Percentage (eFG%). This metric is similar to field goal percentage but gives a bit of a boost to three point field goals. Anything over 60% should be considered very good.
eFG% = (FG + (0.5 * 3FG)) / FGA.

Percentage of Shots Taken. A measure of how many shots a player takes as a percentage of all team shots while they are on the floor. It's also a decent approximation for what percentage of a team's possesions that a player uses. As there are five players on the floor at a time, the average is around 20%.
%Shots = FGA / ((Min / (Team Min / 5) * Team FGA).

Free Throw Rate. Good players are able to get to the free throw line more. This stat measures how many free throws a player attempts for every field goal shot they attempt. Anything over 50 is good. Over 70 is excellent. Consider that players that play in the low post or drive to the basket frequently will post higher numbers than outside spot-up shooters.
FTR = FTA / FGA.

Free Throw Percentage. What percentage of free throws does a player make?
FT% = FTM / FTA.

Rebounding Percentage. A measre of rebounding efficiency. It calculates how many rebounds a player gets out of the total possible number of rebounds, based on the percentage of time that a player is actually on the court. 15% and over should be considered very good.
Reb% = Rebounds / (( Team Reb + Opp Reb) * (Min / (Team Min / 5))).

Assist Percentage. A calculation of how many assists a player averages per 100 possessions. I don't have a great estimate for this one, but I would guess that anything over 10.0 is excellent.
A/100% = A / (Min / (Team Min / 5) * (Team Possessions)) * 100.

Turnover Percentage. Like the assist percentage, this metric tracks how many turnovers a player averages per 100 possessions. It's sort of a hard number for comparison since guards handle the ball far more than big men so their numbers are naturally going to be higher. Context is very important for this number. For example, Chris Quinn, as a senior PG, is naturally going to have a higher TO% than Chris Quinn as a junior SG.
TO/100% = TO / (Min / (Team Min / 5) * (Team Possessions)) * 100.

Steal Percentage. Our first defensive metric, it measures how many steals a player gets for every opponent possession. A number over 5% should be considered excellent.
St% = Steals / (Min / (Team Min / 5)* (Team Possessions )) * 100.

Block Percentage. Like the steal percentage, the block percentage is a good way to measure how a player, usually a big man in this case, plays defense. This is more of a rough estimate guide than an exact measure since the number only includes opponent's 2-point field goal attempts. The "very good" benchmark for this stat is anything over 8%.
Block% = Blocks / (Min / (Team Min / 5) * (Opp 2FGA).

Minutes per game. While the above metrics do a great job of breaking things down to a per possession basis, it's still important to recognize simply how much a player plays. If a player gets less than 8-10 minutes of PT a game, their results will tend to be unreliable based on the small sample size.
Min/G = Total minutes / Number of games.

With the math section of the post over, let's move on to the player capsules. A few qualifiers:

• I included only those players that had at least 3 years under Coach Brey -- a reasonable time period to measure development -- but that means no Murphy, Graves, Swanagan, Humphrey, or any of the transfers. Also, Jere Macura never played enough minutes a game -- another debate for another time -- to have statistically relevant numbers so he was left off as well. Today we'll look at the players in the Class of 2003 and 2004. Tomorrow I will cover the Class of 2005, the Class of 2006 on Thursday, and finally the classes of 2007 and 2008 on Friday.

• I only used statistics from Big East conference games. This was done to keep the quality of the opponents as similar as possible as well as the number of games.

• As noted above, the results can be rather misleading if a player doesn't average at least 10 minutes of playing time a game. Otherwise the numbers are skewed by the smaller sample size or by the fact that most PT probably occured during garbage time. I included everyone's numbers for the sake of completeness, but years where a player didn't average a statistically meaningful amount of minutes will be shaded in gray.

• Finally, I want to be clear that any perceived improvement is as much a credit, if not more, to the player in question and his work ethic as it is to the coaches. Likewise though, barring injuries, a failure to develop should rightly fall on the player's shoulders as much as the coaching staff's.

Class of 2003

Matt Carroll

High School
RSCI ranking - 40
Rivals.com ranking - info not available
Scout.com ranking - info not available

Carroll entered Notre Dame with some lofty accolades. He is the only player in Pennsylvania high school history to be named state Player of the Year twice, and in the southeastern portion of the state trails only Kobe Bryant in terms of career scoring. Furthermore, as a two-year member of the USA Junior National Team, Carroll was named to the 12-man roster for the 1999 USA Basketball Men's Junior World Championship team that took home the silver in Portugal. Known as a shooter and a scorer with more experience against top talent than the average high school player, Carroll came to ND ready to contribute right away. Despite the lack of an exact number from rivals or scout, Carroll was generally considered to be a Top 30-50 player by various recruiting gurus.

Carroll at Notre Dame

Class	PPWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%	Min/G
FR *	1.00	46.8	26.2	0.26	73.0	5.8	3.55	1.92	1.5	1.4	25.9
SO	1.21	56.5	19.1	0.27	87.2	7.1	6.57	3.39	1.4	0.5	33.5
JR	1.19	57.8	22.9	0.14	78.3	6.8	3.30	2.59	1.2	0.2	32.4
SR	1.18	53.4	28.4	0.38	85.4	8.0	2.75	3.04	1.5	0.3	37.2

* Carroll's freshman year was under Coach Doherty.

Summary
Although he did arrive at ND with an impressive bunch of creditentials, Carroll didn't need to be the star on a team that featured Troy Murphy. Still his talent was noted early on as Coach Brey called Carroll an NBA prospect during his sophomore year. After a summer touring Europe with the NIT-All Stars, Carroll returned to have a junior year that saw an increase in shooting efficiency but a slight drop in other categories. As a senior he took a big leadership role on the team on route to being named the team's MVP and First Team All-Big East as well as an honorable mention All-American. One statistic of note from his senior year is his improvement in free throw rate from 0.14 to 0.38. That tells me that he worked on his ability to drive to the basket and draw fouls. A shooter who continues to hang out by the three-point line rarely gets to the line and an sudden increase in FTR usually reflects a more aggressive attitude with the ball. His increase in steals also seem to indicate a better job defensively. So while he came to ND with a notable resume, I think it's very fair to say that Carroll continued to develop each year as an all-around basketball player under Coach Brey. Currently Carroll is a member of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats.

Class of 2004

Torrian Jones

High School
RSCI ranking - not in Top 100
Rivals.com ranking - info not available
Scout.com ranking - info not available

A two time all-state selection, Jones received recruiting attention from a few Big East schools as well as Boston College and Stanford before receiving and accepting an offer to Notre Dame. There isn't much pre-college material on Jones out there , but he was an athletic scorer in high school who hit nearly 44% of his three points attempts. Jones was also noted as a good defender. At 6'4" he was probably too short to be considered an elite wing player, yet also not polished enough to be ranked as an elite guard prospect. Still, he had more than enough talent to develop into a quality D-1 player.

Jones at Notre Dame

Class	PPWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%	Min/G
FR	1.02	50.0	11.7	0.89	50.0	1.9	1.05	9.46	3.1	1.6	4.5
SO	1.08	51.2	10.8	0.74	58.1	4.9	3.73	4.39	2.4	1.7	16.3
JR	1.19	56.5	11.5	0.44	70.8	10.5	3.39	3.92	1.4	2.8	19.8
SR	0.96	44.1	16.3	0.44	64.3	11.0	3.61	3.72	1.3	1.5	33.8

Summary
Jones didn't play much as a freshman but as a sophomore started to make more of an impact on the team. Playing in nearly 40% of the team's Big East conference minutes, Jones' Steal % indicate a good defensive mentality and his free throw rate was exceptional for a guard. Considering he wasn't the primary ball-handler, his TO rate was a bit high and that, combined with the high FTR, suggest a player that drove the lane hard looking for the foul but also occasionally turned the ball over. His junior year he seems to have settled down a bit as his shooting became more efficient and he cut back on the turnovers. Also of note is the doubling of his rebounding percentage. His increased blocking percentage is another testament to his defense. As a senior and captain, his playing time and responsibilities increased but Jones seems to have plateaued a bit as his shooting efficiency dipped while the rest of his numbers stayed about constant.

I want to keep the analysis as quantifiable as possible, but I do admit that such an approach can omit other areas of development. While his numbers didn't improve much, Jones definitely took on the role of vocal team leader. Still, while his numbers did creep up his first three years, they leveled off once he saw a lion's share of the minutes his senior year. Overall I'd say that Jones' improvement wasn't perhaps as rapid as some fans might hope, but he did get better and really emerged as a leader his senior year. It would have been interesting to see what he would have done with more playing time as a junior. I'd also suggest that while his pro prospects early in his career were rather dim, Jones is currently a member of the NBA Development League's Florida Flames. The fact that he is still getting paid to play basketball is a testament to his development at Notre Dame. Then again, the fact that he is still playing professional basketball means it's very likely that with better coaching he could have developed even more while at ND.

Tom Timmermans

High School
RSCI ranking - not in Top 100
Rivals.com ranking - info not available
Scout.com ranking - info not available

Growing up in the Netherlands, Tom Timmermans came to Blue Ridge Academy in Virginia as a high school senior to develop his basketball skills and hopefully attract more attention from college coaches. While earning all-state honorable mention that year he managed to attract some attention from schools like Tennessee, Southern Methodist, and Oregon, but was not a highly sought-after recruit. Although he would grow to around 6'11" by the end of his year in Virginia, he entered his senior year of high school closer to 6'8" which certainly limited his initial attractiveness to college coaches.

Timmermans at Notre Dame

Class	PPWS	eFG%	%Shots	FTR	FT%	Reb%	A/100	TO/100	Steal%	Block%	Min/G
FR	0.40	20.0	35.1	0.0	0.0	5.1	0.0	11.36	0.0	0.0	1.4
SO	0.73	34.5	15.4	0.48	42.9	12.5	1.81	3.17	0.5	1.4	9.7
JR	1.09	51.0	16.4	0.35	70.6	13.4	2.58	4.02	0.3	0.4	12.3
SR	1.02	46.9	14.2	0.43	68.6	9.6	2.95	3.41	0.8	0.5	24.5

Summary
Timmermans barely played as a freshman due to nagging injuries and the fact that Troy Murphy was ahead of him on the depth chart. The following year he saw more time but was not a very effecient shooter, especially from the free throw line. He did contribute to team rebounding, but was still a backup option behind Harold Swanagan. Junior year he remained a backup option to freshman Torin Francis but became a much more productive player on offense shooting the ball. As a senior, his numbers seem to remain about the same although he did come on strong later in the season when Torin Francis went out with a back injury. Case in point: a 20-point breakout game against UCLA in late February that isn't included in these conference statistics. Timmermans came into ND as a lightly recruited big man with very little basketball experience and developed into a player who was invited to the Portsmouth Invitational for top senior NBA prospects and ultimately found work in professional leagues in Europe.

Next up: Class of 2005 - Chris Thomas and Jordan Cornette.

Routing Rutgers

2006-02-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

Final Score

Notre Dame 90, Rutgers 63

The Essentials

AP Game recap
Box Score
SBT game story
Photo Gallery

This and That

• In the blowout 90-63 win over Rutgers, the Irish won by a larger margin (27) than the combined losing margin for all eight conference losses (26). On the season, the Irish are +16 scoring in ten conference games but only have a 2-8 record to show for it. Amazing.

• The obvious theme in this game was the return of the Irish inside game. Following up a 1 for 11 performance against Louisville, Francis and Cornett had their way with an injury-depleted Rutgers team that was missing 3 of 5 starters and their 6th man. Individually, they had great games dominating in the low post as the Irish scored more points in the paint (40) than from the perimeter (30).

• More importantly though, Francis and Cornett did some of their damage while playing on the floor together. As of late it was either Francis or Cornett as the lone big man surrounded by the four guard lineup. But now Brey is having thoughts of doubling up the low post men more in future games. Granted not every team will be nearly as defensively deficient down low as the Rutgers team that took the floor of the JACC, but at the very least the Francis and Cornett combo should punish teams that extend their defense out to harass Quinn and Falls behind the arc.

Stat Line of the Night

                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
34 Francis, Torin...... f  8-12   0-0    5-10   2  5  7   1  21  2  2  0  0  25
11 Cornett, Rick....... f  5-8    0-0    4-4    2  5  7   3  14  0  0  0  0  20

tales of a walk-on

2006-02-08T09:16:00.000-08:00

Pretty good story in the Binghampton Press about current Irish walk-on Kieran Piller.

Piller longed to attend Notre Dame — alma mater of his father, Sean, and sister, Brooke — for academic reasons. And in his mind, it was virtually Notre Dame-or-bust out of high school. He'd no doubt he'd gain acceptance, with a No. 6 class ranking among the highlights on his résumé.
Lo and behold, he was not accepted at Notre Dame, and instead spent his freshman year at Villanova University.
He transferred to Notre Dame as a sophomore, again, for reasons purely academic, he said.
He continued a steady diet of pick-up basketball in his free time, and some of his regular competitors were friends of Irish player Jordan Cornette. At the time, the basketball team was short of players in the preseason due to injuries, and Cornette contacted Piller to inquire about his interest in working out with the team.
Piller participated in an open tryout early in his sophomore year, "But more than anything, I looked at it as a good pick-up game," he said.
He remained a fixture on the pick-up basketball scene on campus, and last spring helped his team to a berth in the final eight of the Bookstore Basketball Tournament — the only team without a varsity athlete to reach that stage of what is billed as the world's largest outdoor five-on-five tourney.
Then last fall, Notre Dame conducted an open tryout a week-and-a-half into the season. Piller attended, and afterward received a letter from the coaching staff stating that, while no decision had been made, he'd hear from them.
"A couple days later, Omari Isreal transferred, they called me up and asked if I'd be interested in being the 12th man on the team," he said. "I was 100 percent surprised. Basketball was something I did because I enjoy it, that's all."

Seeing red

2006-02-06T17:00:00.000-08:00

Honestly, what can you say at this point? Saddled with a near celler dwelling record, the Irish faced off against a fellow underacheiving conference member and yet again lost a close one as a Chris Quinn shot failed to find its home as the buzzer sounded.

We still haven't hammered out a set way to recap a game, so in the meantime I hope you don't mind more odds and sods of the good and bad that stuck out during the 89-86 OT loss to the Louisville Cardinals. If you want a more polished review, here is the AP story on the game.

On to the highlights and lowlights.

• Just like Gillette can't stop adding blades to their razors, Notre Dame seized a chance to add yet another guard to their lineup. The starting five against the Cardinals were guards Chris Quinn, Colin Falls, Russell Carter, Kyle McAlarney, and big man Torin Francis. And to be honest, it was a pretty effective offense. Not only that, but the defensive liabilities weren't nearly as bad as I thought they might be. I really think that we're going to see more and more of this small ball type of lineup the rest of the season to start games. If the shooters are off or opposing forwards are feasting on our shorter defense, then Cornett and Kurz will be quick off the bench. But in the meantime look for more of the four around one type of offense that hopefully will lead to more open looks from the perimeter and more room down low for Francis. It's not the ideal offense for the rugged Big East, but at 1-8, I'm willing to give it a shot if it can stop the bleeding.

• Speaking of Torin, I'd like to hammer on his 1 for 7 shooting night, but at least he converted a shot. Rick Cornett and Rob Kurz contributed to the dearth of points in the paint with a combined 0-5 shooting effort. I don't care how hot a hand Quinn or Falls bring into a game, a 1-12 shooting performance from the bigs will sink the Irish just about every time. If ND wants to make it to New York for the Big East tournament, both the players and coaches are going to need to work hard to establish a more consistent low post presence. The fact that Torin Francis has a lower in-conference shooting percentage on short range lay-ups and jumpers than Quinn, Falls, and McAlarney do on 3-pointers is something that needs to change now.

• Thumbs up for Russell Carter. Just a few weeks ago Carter was on the verge of disappearing onto the bench for good. But he cemented his starting status, to me at least, with an all-around superb game against Louisville. It was more than just his 24 points and 6 tough rebounds. It was also his excellent decision making on when to penetrate and when to step back and hit the open 3. Even better, he seems to have brought himself under a bit more control on his drives. If he can add a dependable pull-up mid range game, he really is going to attract even more attention and help free up his teammates. In a season where the postives aren't all that numerous, the continued, dare I say, development of Russell Carter is fun to watch.

• I'm really pulling for the team to finish out the season strong, but the main thing that will continue to keep this team down (in addition to the noted weak low post play on offense) is the subpar defense. I'd love to see a game where everyone had their hands in the passing lanes even when the ball isn't near them. I'd love to see our big men not allow opposing centers to establish position so low on the block. I'd love to see our guards fight through more screens rather than slide under them and leave the shooter the open 3 if they want it. I'd love to see our players do their best to stick with their man rather than causually switch off. Next game when we switch to man defense, watch how many times opposing teams run the high post screen and peel the big man down low hoping for the mismatch. Too often we leave Quinn or Falls fighting a 6'10" power forward or center for low post position while Francis or Kurz get the pleasure of trying to defend an opposing guard off the dribble. Those mismatches aren't fair to either player. I like how Brey is mixing up the defenses and even threw in a box and one and triange in two in an effort to confuse Louisville, but a stronger comittment to aggressive defense when in our standard 2-3 zone or man-to-man is what is going to help this team win more than anything else.

• Despite all the criticisms and day-after coaching, I have to admit that this team is a favorite due to the attitude they show on the court. The inevitable five minute scoring droughts still frustrate me to no end, as do the multitude of 2nd chance points we seem to give up (25 for L'Ville vs. 7 for ND), but consider how bad it is for the actual players out on the court. And yet Quinn and others have not packed it in or stopped fighting to the bitter end. Carter responded to a seat on the pine with a renewed vigor out on the court. Cornett continues to be one of the first off the bench cheering despite his own lack of playing time. We all may find varying reasons why the team is currently 1-8 in the conference, but lack of effort and emotion are definitely not one of them. Sure, moral victories don't show up in the standings and they certainly don't keep coaches employed, but it definitely is worth mentioning that the team is still holding their head high and playing each game as if it were a struggle for first place.

It's going to be tough to climb up the rankings in the remaining seven conference games. The schedule will be much easier, save a trip to Hartford, so it will be interesting to see how the team finishes out the regular season now that a trip to Madison Square Garden will require an immediate halt to the late game losing ways. The conditions are set for the team to salvage some pride this season, but it will take both teamwork and coaching to get there.

Tra La La, La La...oh, to hell with it.

2006-02-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

Well, after 11 consecutive wins, they finally got us. Hair Bear and Pit Snoggle have exacted their revenge, heaping hijinks and plush mountain music down on the Irish and sending them to their seventh conference loss in eight games. The game was all too familiar, complete with a scoring drought, questionable defense, aimless offense, quizzical substitutions, a 15 point deficit, a furious rally, and a loss. Such has been the '05-'06 Big East campaign. I know that we at the Fieldhouse are planning an opening "State of the Program" post, the focus of which will likely be the future of coach Brey. I'm loath to steal any thunder, but I'm compelled to give my reaction to the latest in a seemingly unending string of moral victories, and I can't help but find fault at the top of the pyramid. Quick thoughts on the game:

• I have not been one of those fans calling for increased minutes for Rick Cornett. It's been my opinion that Torin Francis, especially after a strong start to the season, was a far better option down low. All I can say is, "My bad." After watching tonight's game, I'm of the opinion that Cornett not only deserves more minutes than he's getting, but he should be the starter. He is better now, in every regard, than Francis, who has become a liability on both ends (did you see Kevin "Federline" Pittsnogle abuse him 20 feet from the basket?). He's quicker, he's a better finisher, he's a better rebounder, he's a better defender, he's a better passer out of the post and on the outlet. God bless TF, and God love him for working through all the injuries, but he is the new Dale Davis and he needs to be used like the old Dale Davis. He needs to be a physical defensive presence and a rebounder. His offensive touches need to go somewhere else. He is a role player, and there is nothing he can do to help the starting five that can't be handled by Cornett. Brey's loyalty to Torin is a mystery to me. That ship has clearly sailed.

• I don't understand the offense. I know it's far from the consensus view, but I think it was shown again tonight that Colin Falls is our most dangerous offensive player. No, he is not quick. No, he cannot create his own shot. But he is a deadly spot-up shooter, and there have been slower two guards/small forwards than him who went on to be All-Americans. If Chris Mullin could get open in the Big East, so can Colin Falls. Instead of a motion offense geared toward getting the best shooter open, we get Chris Quinn, who deserves better, dribbling around the perimeter looking for a hole or, often, a double team in the corner.

• I don't understand our rotation. Why, when McAlarney is in the game alongside Quinn, is it McAlarney playing the 2 and Quinn running point? There must be something I'm missing, but it's blowing my mind. Imagine, if we must use a three-guard offense, baseline screens and curls for both Quinn and Falls and a defense chasing them. See my first point for the Francis/Cornett conundrum.

• I don't understand why we are the only team in the NCAA that cannot extend its zone defense outside the three-point line. Even West Virginia can, and I'd like to hear someone argue that they have the type of athlete to do so while we do not. We should be able to meet them at half-court and check them man-to-man for all forty minutes. What kind of indictment is it of Francis that Brey does not trust him to handle the middle while the guards push the opposing offense out past the arc, choosing instead to run the most claustrophobically dense zone since Princeton v. UCLA? Defense is about scheme and effort. I think our guys play hard, so what's the deal? Why don't we know how to play a 2-3 zone? It's beyond frustrating. Why can other teams trap our guards at the hash marks, but we can't return the favor?

• I don't understand our play selection at the end of the game. Knowing that WVU had 19 fouls to give, why was the decision made to run a half-assed screen 30 feet from the basket? Francis, who is no threat to "roll", was effectively out of the play, and there were two defenders available to foul Quinn. We needed 2 points, and we put ourselves in a position where we needed to inbound again with less than 4 seconds. It seems to me that the play should have involved some space and some passing, rather than relying on Quinn to try to win the game off the dribble.

I hate to bring Weis-isms into a basketball discussion, because the games are so different, but when he said "you are what your record says you are", he was right. This team loses close games. It loses them at home and on the road, to good teams and bad teams. But it loses them. We are 10-9, and 1-7 in conference. Depaul is also 1-7 in conference, and they've beaten us. Our best win is against 11-8 Alabama, and we have beaten IPFW, Wofford, and Columbia by two, seven, and three points, respectively. We are in real jeopardy of being one of four teams left out of our conference tournament, a defeat I would consider as ignominious as any 5-7 football season.

We are what that record says we are, and it's time to take a hard look as to why.