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Irish Eyes Smiling...All Year 'Round |
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Written by Rob Paden
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Wednesday, 20 December 2006 |
With college football’s bowl season in full swing, the fans at Notre Dame are naturally excited that their Irish are playing LSU in the Sugar Bowl. But take a step inside the Joyce Center on the campus of Notre Dame, and you might be surprised to see another of the Irish athletic teams taking their game to another level, in spite of lowered expectations.
Last year, the Irish expected big things. They were led by Chris Quinn and Torin Francis. They also had big man Rick Cornett to provide senior leadership. Last year’s club lost in agonizing fashion. They finished the season with a 16-14 record, including a 6-10 record in Big East play. However, of their conference losses, none were by more than eight points. Seven of the 10 losses were by three points or fewer. With Quinn, Francis, and Cornett leaving via graduation and the NBA, Notre Dame lost nearly 35 points, 17 rebounds, and 9 assists a game. With Colin Falls returning as the only known commodity, this season’s outlook wasn’t the brightest.
Notre Dame opened the season with a 92-49 route of Indiana-Purdue Ft. Wayne in a snoozer. Then they stumbled in the opener of the Pre-Season NIT to Butler in Indianapolis. That was before Butler would go on to build their tourney resume in the following two weeks. Since then, Notre Dame has been nothing short of blazing. They have won eight consecutive games, and are doing it by scoring by the truckload.
The Irish have always been fond of the trifecta under Mike Brey. With talent like Troy Murphy, Chris Thomas, and Chris Quinn over the years, who wouldn’t? But this year’s team is taking scoring to another level.
In averaging 87 points per game, Brey’s club is shooting 50% from the floor (18th in the nation), and 39% from beyond the arc. The Irish are averaging 8.5 three pointers per contest. But don’t think they’re one-dimensional. They slash out of a motion set as well. And to that end, they have averaged over 27 trips to the free throw line per game – and they knock them down at nearly an 80% clip.
This year’s team has been mighty careful with the rock, and aren’t afraid to share. Assisting on 66% of the team’s field goals, they’ve padded themselves with a comfortable 1.4 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. All while winning with a relatively young squad.
Beyond Colin Falls and Russell Carter, you won’t find another senior in Notre Dame’s top 12 rotation. They blend a variety of guards who can shoot and rebound with bigs who can bang and pass when called on to do so. Junior Rob Kurz is the only other Irish player to have seen significant action last year. This season, he’s nearly a double-double man, averaging 15 and 9 a game.
The rest of the lineup has been filled out with a relative youth movement. Sophomore guard Kyle McAlarney averages nine points and five assists per game, including a game against LaFayette where he dished out 12 dimes.
Freshman Luke Harangody has been a monster at 6-8, 255, and continues to develop. Despite playing just 18 minutes a game, he’s been good for 12 points and five boards, and has two double-doubles on the young season.
Sophomore’s Luke Zeller, Zach Hillesland, and freshman Tory Jackson fill out the rotation. The trio average around 15-18 minutes each and score between five and seven points per game. Zeller, at 6’11, has great touch from outside, canning seven of 11 three point field goals. Hillesland had a double-double in the season opener, and also passes extremely well for a big man – he has multiple assists in seven of the Irish last eight games.
Going forward, Notre Dame has to be confident that this relatively young squad will continue to gel and improve. And if that isn’t enough, they already have wins over ranked Maryland (by seven) and then #5 Alabama by 14 points. The Irish should be 12-1 when they enter Big East play against Louisville on January 3rd. That must certainly give hope to a team that has won progressively fewer games every season since ’02-03, when they won 24 games.
UConn is absent from the conference schedule. As is Pittsburgh. Currently, the only ranked team remaining on the Irish schedule is #21 Marquette, slated to make the trip to South Bend in late February. A winning record and 20+ wins isn’t out of reach.
And if this Notre Dame team makes it to the Dance, the fans in South Bend may quickly realize their program’s best coach isn’t Charlie Weis.
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