Well recruiting is over, guys are starting to work out, Spring Drills are a ways away, the Blue/Gold game is April 16, Womens Nat'l Championship Soccer won't start up till August all though they play some "friendly's" during the spring. So here's a SI.com article on Irish Football being back, AGAIN! Irish are Back Again, Tim!!
ND <r>Terry,<br/> <QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> Good article.<br/> <br/> <br/> <br/> You don't know how hard I want to believe that but after so many disappointing years I'm in the "show me" mode now. They actually did start to show that they are on their way back at the end of the season and now with the recruiting class it's looking like things may finally be going NDs way. We'll see. I've been a fan way to long to stop hoping. <br/> <br/> Go Irish</r>
Irish are pretty much flying under the radar as much as any top 10 team can....heard Bob Knight on ESPN radio this morning very complimentary of what Coach Brey has got going on up in South Bend....Knight says that the Irish are capable of beating anybody in the country......TOK, how about a Texas/ND final? 8)
I like this team a lot, but really I don't think we are capable of making a Final Four run. We are an experienced team and in college regular season that is a big deal. But I don't think we have enough athletes to handle a team like Texas or Ohio State or Kansas. I think we are a solid top 25 team, maybe a little over rated in the top 10. We are not deep, play 5 guys and 2 guys off the bench most of the time and they frequently don't get a lot of minutes. I'll be pretty happy if we can make a Sweet 16 run, anything further than that will require some of that ole Luck o' the Irish. I think Coach Brey is well respected amongst other coaches and that is why Coach Knight is complimentary of him and the team. It wasn't that long ago that some felt he needed to move on that the program was stalled under his leadership.
I think that one reason Coach Knight likes Brey's team is that it shows great discipline on offense, which is one of Coach Knights's trademarks. Being the "eternal cautious optimist" I believe that if we can impose our offensive will on the better teams like we did with Pittsburgh and rebound aggressively at both ends of the court, we have as good a shot at the final four as anyone. However it still is early, and lots can happen between now and tournament time, good and bad. We have another tough "statement game" test at Louisville tonight.
No doubt there is always a cinderella run by somebody. We are just not deep and while it is interesting that ND has beaten both Pitt and UConn while Texas lost to both of them. I do believe that at this point in the season Texas has more talent, more depth, more speed, plays suffocating defense, rebounds well...etc Essentially Texas has come together as a team that has some outstanding freshmen, along with some vets and are playing much better now than when they played both those teams earlier. Long way to go, Irish will need to be injury free.
In the end we aren't strong enough inside. We live by the outside shot. At the end of games the legs are tired and the outside shots begin to get more difficult. We don't have the offensive rebounding or strength to get points in the paint to survive if our shooters are off. I'd like to get to the semis in the BE tourney and to the round of 16 in the Big Dance. We'll see.
I think gippper is right with regards to the Irish. BTW what does Brey's biggest fan, the Commish think?
I agree with Gip's analysis too. To win the close games against the best teams in the tournament, you have to be able to go inside and stay inside... :idea:
With due respect to Mike's analysis, I've watched several games this season, including tonight's OT win, and I've seen no evidence of either tired legs or weak rebounding. That analysis was true in past seasons, but this is a different team. They are well-conditioned and aggressive on the boards throughout the game. Tonight's performance in OT was a perfect example of conditioning, confidence and playing smart. That said, Terry's is right on when he says we need to be injury free if we are going to be able to advance in the BE tournament and the Big Dance. I heard a TV basketball commentator recently (can't remember who) say that once the tournament starts, most teams go with a 7-8 man rotation. If he is correct, that would even the playing field for the Irish. I share Gip's and Terry's optimism that we are potentially a sweet 16 team. I'm hopeful that we can go even farther.
There are not many teams that go deeper than 7-8 guys.....there may be a few, but I would be that it's the rare exception rather than the rule.....99% of our minutes come from 7 kids.
"I like their passing and defense a lot more than in the past, more cohesive. Need to hit the offensive glass more!"
Irish to play Temple. Jif will be proud we are stepping up the schedule!! :wink: ND/Temple Personally I'm not happy to see the Owls on the schedule. It's not that I think we have to play only "tough" teams, a good schedule should include tough teams, good teams and a few bad teams. I do wish we could turn our Sept schedule around as we play only tough teams in Sept while most of the top teams are playing mostly weak teams. If we were playing Temple in Sept I'd say great start the season with a few warmup games like everybody else, and then move on to harder competition. But more likely this will be a Nov game.
Good article on Irish Basketball in USA Today. Irish Basketball Big game this weekend for Irish Ladies, they play UConn at Storrs on Sat. Played them very tough at home lost by 3 points early Jan. Win there would be unexpected...but sweet!!
Irish lacross team got the new season off to a great start by spanking Duke in a rematch of last year's championship game. The 6th ranked Irish pulled away from the Blue Devils in the second half. Game was televised by ESPN. It was a nice break from watching crash after crash at Datona and Freddie crashing in LA. http://games.insidelacrosse.com/game/ingame/932/2011-02-20/notre-dame-fighting-irish--duke-blue-devils
I don't follow lacrosse but from what I read posted by those who do follow it, the lacrosse team should be very good again this year and have a chance to make a run deep into the NCAA tourney, possibly even contend for a Nat'l Title.
Sat turned out to be black Sat for the Irish BBall teams though..Men were beaten soundly by WVA with the operative word being "beat" I didn't see the game since it wasn't on in my area, got the Ga/Tenn game instead. But a lot of ND fans feel that the refs pretty much let WVA mug the Irish. The Ladies....well UConn is back on track. Geno is just a better coach than Muffet and he recruits better talent. We are a good team, just not in the same class with UConn...and I don't think many teams are right now. IMHO UConn will likely win the Nat'l Championship, again.
Terry I watched the WVa game. It was similar to the OSU-Wisc. game the week before. We were missing wide open 3s and WVa caught fire in the second half and shot the lights out. I thought that the refs were consistant and let a lot of contact go. Don't tell anyone I stuck up for the officials.