I will say that you do have to look at the overall grad rate for regular students. If a school has an overall grad rate of 60% let's say then expecting athletes to far exceed that might not be practical. But they should exceed it because most students who don't graduate either run out of money, or really don't have the resources to succeed, where as athletes don't have to worry about books, room and board and almost all schools have big academic support programs for the players..if they will use them. Another note, Kevin Stepherson has been in jail for the last month or so after his arrest in Ft.Wayne and was sentenced to 180 days for his Class B misdemeanor and according to what I have read will only have to serve a total of 90 days and be out in 47 days. He says he'll move back home and get help for his drug (marijuana) problem..why he needs that I'll never know because Weed advocates tell us it's harmless and even beneficial...addiction..pffft. Anyway he's got talent and if he can get his life sorted out, Lane Kiffin will probably take him and maybe he can still recover his career.
I watched most of the win vs Hampton last night for the Irish Men. It really wasn't a pretty game, but we were so much better than them we didn't really have to play all that well to win. Farrell was awful from 3 point land, and I don't think Rex Pflugger want's to shoot the ball. I hope he finds an offense over the summer we'll need him to be an actual option as a scorer next year. Djogo played a lot, he's fast, athletic but he misses dunks. He needs a lot of work on his game. Bonzie was Bonzie, and Gebben had a very good night. Too bad he's graduating, he didn't really contribute much as a freshman, could have probably been a good thing if he'd redshirted. But you really don't see that much in basketball. On the football front, I've been trying to get a handle on who we might be able to replace McNamara with at QB for the 2019 class. I've decided I hope its the kid Max Duggan from Council Bluffs Iowa. I like everything I read about him. The local Houston kid, Grant Gunnell, is higher rated but I just doubt he'd be happy coming here and having Phil Jurkovec ahead of him. When I first started following recruiting, the Irish used to always be in competition for the top players, the 5 star players. Not that we don't get them anymore, but it's more likely we'll maybe get one at the most and not every year. When I read the list of guys we offer it's a lot of 3 star players and some 4 star players. Going to be hard to ever get back to competing with the Alabama's of the world if you have a roster full of 3 star and 4 star players, when they have a roster full of 5 star players.
Well the Irish Men's season came to a crashing halt. They lost to Penn State in the 2nd round of the NIT. On to next year, this year is one of those what might have been, but wasn't. I feel bad for Bonzie Colson one of the best players we've had in a long time, he was a preseason candidate for Nat'l Player of the year, before he was injured he was having a Bonzie like season, so now it's on to the next phase of his life/basketball career. Good luck to him. This team never really jelled, partly of couse due to injuries and partly it was just the players. Matt Farrell was injured and he was very streaky, from unstoppable to couldn't throw it in the Ocean. Rex Pflugger was a terrific team mate, but he just wasn't a reliable scorer and I thought as a junior he would blossom. But it appeared to me he just was not comfortable shooting the ball, and always was looking to pass. DJ. Harvey showed a lot of promise but injury, we did get more out of Gebben than most people thought and T.J. Gibbs was improved and had some great games but he wasn't consistent. A lot of young guys coming in for the 2018-19 season, but they will be young. So might be another tough season. Irish Women had no prolbem with Cal State, but as thin as they are they can't afford any more injuries, Katherine Westbeld turned her ankle in the 1st half and didn't return, she's a critical player. Muffet said she'll be a game time decision for Villanova tomorrow. It would be nice if we could handle 'Nova without her and let her rest it till next weekend. No recruiting news, lots of talk but nobody has made the commitment.
Well the Irish are not only the Reg Season Big 10 Hockey league champs but with the overtime victory over Ohio State they are also the Big 10 Tournament Champions. Quite a season for the Irish on the ice!
Terry, I was able to watch the OT segment after our loss to Gonzaga. Quite a game. Congratulations to the Irish!
Thanks Don, I was hoping that after a let down at the end of the season the Irish would get some mojo back in the B1G tourney, and they did.
Irish Women on to the Sweet 16, game was tight in the 1st half then Kat Westbeld came off the bench and everything changed. They ran away with it in the 3rd quarter. So now it's Scott's Texas A&M women vs the Irish in Spokane. Oh yeah and Spring Football starts back up tomorrow. I've read some good reports on Wimbush and Book. I hope Wimbush can be that guy we need.
Nothing big coming out of Spring so far. Usual stuff about players being in great shape and all that. People keep asking Kelly if Tranquil will stay at Buck LB and Kelly keeps telling them he will. Asmir Bilal seems to have the edge at Rover but Kelly did say that it would be situational and that he would play the most when the offense has a TE, when they go 5 wide somebody else will play. Things I hope happen. 1. Wimbush finds his groove. 2. Dexter Williams learns how to or commits to picking up the Blitz so we can see him more on the field. 3. WR's develope, no matter how much Wimbush improves we need WR's that run good routes and don't drop balls. 4. Alize Mack decides he wants his production to match his physical talent and get back on track for a NFL career. 5. OL gets sorted out and we have another good OL. There is talent there for Jeff Quinn to work with, he just has to get the guys playing as a unit. 6. No injuries 7. Tony Jones Jr returns to the form he showed last spring and August before injuries derailed a lot of 2017 for him. 8. Defense to be as good or better than we hope.
Irish Basketball recruit Dane Goodwin of Upper Arlington Ohio was named Ohio Mr. Basketball and also recently Gatorade Player of the year for Ohio. Looking forward to getting him on campus for the 2018-2019 season. Saw that Alex Bars and Julian Love seem to be the candidates for that 4th captain that Kelly talked about when he announced the 3 Captains awhile ago. They were of course Tranquil, Mustipher and Newsome. I'd like to see Jerry Tillery become a Captain, not because he's more deserving but I'd see that as an indicator of a really big change in him to becoming a responsible leader of the team. We need him to be great in 2018 and be a leader.
Well it's official, Bonzie Colson broke his left foot again in the NIT loss to Penn State. Feel bad for Bonzie, he clearly wanted to get back on the court to finish the season for the Irish. Too bad it ended the way it did for him and the team. I hope he recovers and does well in the pre-draft workouts and camps and gets his shot at the NBA. I seriously doubt he will be an NBA player though, he has a lot of talent and heart but most people can't see a spot for him in the lineup of a typical NBA team. He can probably play overseas for 10 years and make a lot of money though. But you never know, maybe he will find that spot and prove everybody wrong. Good luck to him.
Terry, too bad about Colson, double injuries can be troublesome. Sometimes, things just do not materialize as planned.
Thanks Don, I can think of several players who had their careers shortened by chronic foot problems, Bill Walton and Yao Ming come immediately to mind. I'm sure that NBA teams will be even more wary of Bonzie now that he' s hurt the foot a 2nd time. I would like for him to have a fair chance to show what he can do and if he makes it great, but as I said before he's got one of those bodies that works fine in the college game but he's not fast enough or have the range to be a small forward and he's not big enough to be a Power Forward. He'd have to find a niche down the bench.
Irish Hockey faces off vs Michigan Tech tonight. Good luck to the guys, I'm hoping they can make the frozen four. Irish Womens Basketball of course plays Texas A&M tomorrow, key factor will be the health of Kat Westbeld's ankle. If she can go I like our chances if not it will be a tough game.
Great day for the Irish. Irish Women beat a tough Texas A&M squad to reach the elite 8 for the 7th time in the last 8 years. We are playing another very tough opponent in the Oregon Ducks on Monday, they have one of the best players in college basketball in Sabrina Ionescu who is a double double machine. Irish Men beat Providence today on a late goal (27 seconds left) to punch their ticket to St. Paul for the second straight Frozen Four. Baseball won the weekend series with Wake Forrest. W.Lacrosse upset Syracuse. Also there are apparently talks between Alabama and Notre Dame as well as Texas about a couple of home/home series. I hope they work out, I'd love to see the Tide in South Bend and Austin. https://www.tidesports.com/alabama-negotiating-future-football-series-with-notre-dame/
Also, the ND fencing team won its 10th NCAA championship. They were championship caliber when I was in school a hundred years ago.