Irish basketball kicks off the regular season today. The men take on Stonehill, a CSC University in Massachusetts. The women take on Mercyhurst, another Catholic College in Erie PA. It's their first game as a member of Division 1. Both games are pretty much exhibition games, but they count. Hopefully lots of kids get to play and nobody gets injured.
Irish Men open the season tonight with Stonehill and got a solid win(89-60) where a lot of players got on the court. Last years freshmen, Markus Burton and Braden Shrewsberry both played well and the Princeton Grad Transfer, Matt Alloco, looked like he's going to be a good addition.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles Athletic Club John R. Wooden Award announced its Preseason Women’s Top 50 Watch List, and it includes four Notre Dame players: Sonia Citron, Hannah Hidalgo, Olivia Miles and Maddy Westbeld. Notre Dame is the only school with four players on the list, and just five total programs in the country had at least three players make the mark.
Texan Fr. CB Leonard Moore is rated one of the top 3 star freshmen. (Photo: Icon Sportswire, Getty) Notre Dame needed someone to step up after losing All-American cornerback Benjamin Morrison to a season-ending injury, and Leonard Moore has done just that. The 6-foot-2, 191-pounder has played 271 defensive snaps across eight games (three starts) this season, recording 21 tackles (one for a loss), two pass breakups, an interception and a forced fumble. He has allowed just 12 receptions on 21 targets for 171 yards with one touchdown and one interception in coverage. The Round Rock (Texas) product has been particularly effective against the run, as he owns an elite 90.7 run defense grade that ranks first-nationally among cornerbacks with at least 200 defensive snaps. Moore ranked as the nation's No. 42 cornerback and Lone Star State's No. 77 overall prospect.
Grad Transfer Matt Allocco has a lot of ND connections. A native of suburban Columbus, Ohio (Hilliard), Allocco admitted he’s a lifelong Notre Dame fan/follower. Two relatives whom he considers uncles – his father’s first cousins, Frank and Richard Allocco – played football for Notre Dame. One of his closest friends since second grade is former Notre Dame guard Dane Goodwin, who owns the program record for games played (158). Transfer Matt Allocco was destined to play for Notre Dame basketball
Irish are 26 point favorites tonight. But I have to remind myself that this team lost to NIU who isn't even a good MAC team this year. FSU has talent, if they can come together for 1 game, they could be a big problem.
2 long runs for TD by the Irish and we are up 14-3. FSU offense has played well, esp running the football against our defense, they don't look like a 1-8 team so far.
Irish up 21-3 at the half. 1st time I've seen the Oregon rule applied. FSU had 12 men on the field and because of that purposeful 12 man play by Oregon the NCAA changed the rules and there is a 10 sec penalty. The Irish went from 1st and 10 with 12 secs to 1st and 10 with 22 seconds. Riley then throws the perfect TD pass to Mitchell Evans. Irish have looked very good on defense, but the offense has been feast or famine, Riley has been only 8 of 18 passing. Most of our rushing yards came on 3 plays. FSU defense has been pretty good.
Irish win 52-3. FSU offense really stunk and the Irish made some big plays when they needed them. We got 14 points out of the 2nd teamers in the end. Luke Tallich a pick 6 and a great throw by Angelli and an even greater catch by Deon Colzie. I bet though that Alabama jumps us with that thumping of LSU in Tiger Stadium
Irish moved up a little and are #8 in the AP poll. That's about right, some(ND Fans) are griping that IU jumped us. But it doesn't really make any difference if we are # 8 this week or # 5. We just need to keep stacking up wins and we'll be fine. We aren't getting a 1-4 seed no matter what we do, wouldn't have mattered if we'd layed 50 on NIU. #5 is the absolute best we can do, things just need to play out.
We should be fine without Cross for the UVA game but we need him healthy for Army and USC. Notre Dame football will be without nose tackle Howard Cross III for Saturday's game against Virginia. Head coach Marcus Freeman announced Monday that Cross will remain sidelined with a left ankle injury he suffered in the 52-3 win over Florida State this past weekend. Freeman was encouraged that the injury would not keep Cross sidelined for long as Notre Dame approaches the end of the regular season in November. Cross, a graduate senior, recorded 23 tackles, four sacks, 5.5 tackles for loss and three quarterback hurries in the first nine games this season. Notre Dame have three players listed as questionable for Saturday's game: punt returner Max Hurleman, running back Devyn Ford and defensive end Loghan Thomas. Freshman quarterback CJ Carr continues to be sidelined with a right elbow injury. Notre Dame has lost five starters to season-ending injuries this year: cornerback Benjamin Morrison (hip), vyper Jordan Botelho (knee), center Ashton Craig (knee), left tackle Charles Jagusah (shoulder) and vyper Boubacar Traore (knee). Notre Dame previously declared many other players out for the season: walk-on CB Marty Auer (knee), walk-on DL Quentin Autry (shoulder), S Taebron Bennie-Powell (shoulder), walk-on CB Charles Du (shoulder), LB Kahanu Kia (knee), RB Gi'Bran Payne (knee), OL Styles Prescod (shoulder) and CB Chance Tucker (knee).
Irish womens basketball went to Purdue and whupped them pretty badly. Irish stars shined and if anybody was worried that Hildalgo would have a sophmore slump or wouldn't play well with Olivia Miles can forget that, they are a dynamic duo so far at least. Freshman Center Kate Koval has started off very well and the Pitt Grad transfer, Liatu King, looks like she will be terrific for the Irish.
Irish Men had a good win last night over an average at best MAC team in Buffalo. Tae Davis has shown a lot of growth from last year, while nobody expects a NCAA bid this year hopefully we can get into the ACC upper half. Preseason we are #10 in the 18 team ACC. Last year at this time we lost to Citadel hopefully that won't happen. We go to Georgetown this Saturday, they are not expected to be a good team pre-season #9 out of 10 in the Big East. But it will still be a step up from the first 2 opponents and a road game. The real test will come Thanksgiving weekend in Las Vegas where we'll face Houston, Alabama and Rutgers...yikes.
Irish flipped a BC running back verbal, Nolan James, this weekend. He's not a 5 star or even a top 300 player. He's got talent according to the gurus, but he's barely inside the top 1000. So we shall see. James, the No. 985 player and No. 76 athlete in the 247Sports Composite rankings, has been an unstoppable force for DePaul Catholic (NJ) this fall alongside Notre Dame receiver commit Elijah Burress. In nine regular-season games this fall, James has carried 181 times for 1,419 yards and 14 touchdowns. He's added another 22 receptions for 265 yards and two more scores. Irish Illustrated, or at least the recruiting arm of our team, regards James as a four-star prospect.