Our second victory over a ranked team in a week. Our only loss so far was by 2 points to undefeated & 15th-ranked Butler, who beat Tennessee and Gonzaga on its way to the preseason NIT championship. It's a long, long season with many tough games ahead in the Big East, but we are off to a good start. Tonight was a big confidence builder.
Hey maybe Mike Brey finally has "his" type of team, I didn't watch the game because I have been so disappointed in the basketball program the last few years...but I may have to rethink that!! I won't get toooooo excited though, even though both the MD and the Bama wins were great wins, we have played a pretty cushy schedule. Big East play will be pretty tough! We'll see. I like Mike Brey and I hope he succeeds. ...but time is short for him. Terry
Terry, I watched the game. This team is different...so far. I can't put my finger on it, but there seems to be more depth off the bench, a smoother flow on the offense, crisper ball movement, and some lights-out long range shooting. The D also seems scrappier than in the past. Alabama is an excellent team, and - can you believe it? - we wore them down. Like you, however, I won't get too excited until I see how we fare in the conference.
Another... <t>Thing that was nice to see last night was a loud wild crowd back at ND. Great win for the Irish.</t>
The only negative I saw in lasts nights game was rebounding. I watched for boxing out and they were doing a terrible job. Offensively they move the ball better and have guys that can drive. It wasn't the usual ND passing around outside the three point line. Green and the other big guy frosh look really good too.
kp, One of our guys missed two free throws with 4 seconds left. Otherwise we would have scored 100 points. Your term "shootin' fools" is appropriate. That's why I'm not quite ready to declare us a ranked team. Teams who live by hot shooting tend to die by cold shooting. As NDfan observed, we were outrebounded 45-32. That needs to improve. Alabama is a good team that unfortunately caught us on a hot night. Good for us, but Alabama is going to make a lot of noise in the SEC.