SB Nation - Kyle McAlarney

Wednesday Workout: Terrence Williams and Some Longshots

Seth — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:49:05 -0000

Each of the workouts so far has included at least one or two players predicted to be reasonable selections at the Knicks' number 8 spot. Today's has a different feel. Terrence Williams of Louisville is the big name of the bunch, but he's generally projected in the mid- to late-first round. The rest of the list includes a few names you may recognize, but nobody expected to warrant a first-round pick next week. From Zag's Blog:

Nemanja Aleksandrov – Forward, 7-0, 220, Serbia & Montenegro

Brandon Costner – Forward, 6-9, 230, North Carolina State, junior

Daniel Hackett – Guard, 6-5, 215, Southern California, junior

Chartrael Hall – Guard, 6-2, Bellarmine University, senior

Kyle McAlarney – Guard, 6-0, 195, Notre Dame, senior

Hackett's a solid defender at the two-guard (and friend of Danilo Gallinari), but has a contract worked out with Bennetton Treviso, so he's not all that invested in the draft. McAlarny, according to Chris Alvino at TKB, is "a Staten Island kid who was the best high school player I have ever seen live". Costner's a Jersey kid who put up reasonably solid numbers at NC State, and who can forget Swing Vote? Mr. Hall's first name reminds me of these, so I like him right off the bat. Aleksandrov was once thought to be a lottery pick but is in the midst of recovering from ACL surgery. He's compared to Keith Van Horn. Intriguing.

At the very least, we should expect to see a few of these guys make it onto the Knicks' summer league squad. At the very most, this can be taken as a good sign that Donnie Walsh is working to acquire a later pick. This draft's wealth of guards extends deep into the second round, so grabbing a later selection could mean a free shot at more backcourt help. Or we could get Vyacheslav Kravtsov. There's a world of possibilities.

And Now, a Word from the Irish

T.H. — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:40:43 -0000

Notre Dame has the solitary honor of being beaten down by three Final Four teams this season. The worst was to UNC in the Maui Invitational, but they also dropped two games to Connecticut and one to Villanova. The New York Times thought it natural to turn to the Fighting Irish for some scouting reports, and here's what they had to say about UNC:

First, Mike Brey, former assistant at Duke and successor to Matt Doherty:

“Carolina to me, we played them in the finals in Maui, with the depth on the front line and how they can rotate with fresh big guys, that and with Lawson ramming it down your throat in transition, was different than anything we played against. And we played everybody. We played Connecticut twice, Louisville twice, Villanova. There was something about them.

Now I want to see Jay (Wright) and Villanove beat them. I’m a Big East fan right now, and they’ve got great karma and momentum. But there’s something, just seeing Carolina up close at Thanksgiving, the number of big bodies they they keep coming in and they’re fresh and skilled, and Lawson ramming it down your throat. I mean, (Notre Dame guard) Tory Jackson is not a slow guy, and we couldn’t slow Lawson down. So I’m very impressed with them."

Guard Kyle McAlarney prefer UConn, we think:

“We played Carolina early on in the year, and they were hitting on all cylinders that game. At that point I would’ve said that was the best team in the country. We played UConn twice, we had their number at their place, and that gives us a lot of confidence going into this thing (the

N.I.T.). But they’re obviously a very dangerous team. They’re so tough inside. It gives us confidence in this tournament to know that we played a couple of those teams very well.

Nobody has any love for Michigan State, the one team denied the opportunity to beat Notre Dame.

Kentucky 67, Notre Dame 77: Postmortem

Truzenzuzex — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:20:07 -0000

Well, it came sooner than we hoped, but it probably came when it should have. Notre Dame was simply the fresher and better-shooting team out there tonight, and the dismissed the Wildcats from post-season play by making the shot that has haunted Kentucky all year -- the long ball.

Congratulations to the Fighting Irish on an outstanding victory. They showed great determination and grit in the face of a serious UK charge at the end that just fell short. The Irish shot the ball lights-out from the perimeter, and managed to manufacture enough open looks from three to get Kentucky in a 17-point hole halfway through the second half. That was just more than UK was capable of coming back from. Good luck to Notre Dame for the rest of their NIT run, and kudos for a great game.

As for Kentucky, well, they played hard but they did not look like they were fully recovered from the last game. Sometimes, turn-arounds are tough, and this was one of those times. Billy Gillispie and his charges have almost always played hard this season, but too often, miscues have been the difference between success and failure. Today, it was players simply taking plays off on defense, and allowing the open Irish shooters way to many good, clean looks. When a team makes 12 threes on you, your ods of winning go way, way down.

I didn't expect UK to hold down Harangody, he is just too good a player and Patterson is too valuable to risk the number of fouls it would have taken to play him the way you have to to keep him under 20 points. What I did not expect was for both Ayers and McAlarney to have 14 aind 15 points respectively, and Meeks to have only three points to show for his efforts deep in the second half. Jodie eventually got it going, but it was just too little, too late.

Further observations:

Gillispie's demeanor as coach has markedly changed. He now pulls players aside and spends time with them when they mess up instead of just getting in that crouch and shouting a sarcastic comment at them. Interesting.
Perry Stevenson was once again back to hesitating. He has to stop that.
I thought Porter played pretty well, but he struggled fighting through screens and with Jackson's quickness.
I took Kevin Galloway's name in vain several times tonight. Sometimes, that kid is capable of the most boneheaded things.
Darius Miller is still a freshman. That showed up again tonight. One rebound in 21 minutes?
You look at Patterson's line and you see 18 points, but then you see seven rebounds. Against Notre Dame, one of the worst rebounding teams in the tournament. Kevin Galloway had as many rebounds as Patterson did.
Speaking of rebounds, want a stat that hurts? 37% OR's for Notre Dame, a team that averages 31%
AJ Stewart sure isn't shy about shooting the basketball.
Jodie Meeks went 12 minutes and 12 seconds between shots in the first half. What the hell?
Ball game boys and girls #1 -- Points off turnovers: Kentucky -- 2. Notre Dame -- 17
Ball game boys and girls #2 -- 2nd chance points: Kentucky -- 6. Notre Dame -- 13
Ball game boys and girls #3 -- Scorers in double digits: UK -- 2, ND -- 4.
Ramon Harris did not play much in this game. That really hurt us. Word is, he has a slight concussion, and it looked like it when I saw a shot of his eyes right after he sat on the bench. With Harris out there, I say Ayers never reaches double-digits, and Harris has been doing great things. He had two assists and 3 rebounds in only 10 minutes.

Well, the moment is finally here. Our long journey through the Seventh Circle of Hell that has been the second half of this basketball season is over, for at least a few hours. Depending on the outcome of the great "evaluation" meeting, we could spend another 4-6 weeks vacationing there, tearing each other to ribbons with recriminations and angry invective. After that, our prize will be to move out to the regular Hell that Notre Dame Football has been in for over a decade, and that Alabama football only recently left after ten long years. Something to look forward to, I guess.

I'm not totally sure, but I think the Devil knows we're here.

The NIT: Gameday Breakdown

Ken Howlett — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:30:19 -0000

Tonights 7:00 EST Kentucky versus Notre Dame (20-14, 8-11) quarterfinal NIT match-up revives a once intense rivalry dating back to 1929. UK and the Irish have battled on the hard-wood a total of 58 times, with the 'Cats prevailing in 41 of those contests. UK and Notre Dame last played in 2004, which culminated a 10 game UK winning streak in the series. Kentucky last lost to the Irish in March of 1990.

Interestingly enough, UK's fair coach Adolph Rupp lost seven in a row to Notre Dame (1936-'42), but he recovered to win nine in a row from 1951 to 1963.

This year, Notre Dame is led by All-America and former Big East Player of the Year, Luke Harangody, and All-Big East performer Kyle McAlarney. The terrific duo account for 38.4 of Notre Dames 76.2 points per game (50.4%), which makes them very similar to UK: Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson score 41.7 of UK's 74.3 points per game (56.1%). Notre Dame does boast two other players who score in double-figures, so they do have a bit more balance in the scoring column than Kentucky.

A trip to historic Madison Square Garden for the NIT Final Four is on the line tonight, so for a closer look at Mike Brey's Irish, read on:

Notre Dame Personnel

Luke Harangody: 6-8, 255 lb junior forward -- Harangody averages 23.3 points, 11.9 rebounds (3.6 off. rebounds), 2.0 assists, and 1.0 block per game. He shoots 46.3% from the field, 34.4% from the three-point line (11-32), and 77.4% from the free throw line.

Kyle McAlarney: 6-0, 195 lb senior guard -- He averages 15.1 points, 3.5 assists, and 2.6 rebounds per game. McAlarney is shooting 41.2% from the floor, 42.9% from beyond the arc (120-280), and 86.9% from the charity stripe.

Ryan Ayers: 6-7, 210 lb senior guard -- Ayers is averaging 11.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game. He makes 44.3% of his shots, 43.4% of his trey attempts (89-205), and 79.5% of his free throws.

Tory Jackson: 5-11, 193 lb junior guard -- Jackson is averaging 10.6 points, 4.9 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game. He shoots 41.4% from the field, 36.0% from the three-point line (27-75), and 64.7% from the free throw line.

Zach Hillesland: 6-9, 228 lb senior forward -- He's averaging 4.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game. Hillesland makes 42.3% of his shots, and 55.8% of his free throws.

Luke Zeller: 6-11, 245 lb senior F/C -- Zeller is averaging 4.9 points, and 2.8 rebounds per game. He shoots 40.0% from the field, 34.3% from the three-point line (36-105), and 61.5% from the free throw line.

Notre Dame and Opponents Statistics (National Ranking in Parenthesis)

Notre Dame Opponents

Points Per Game -- 76.2 70.9

Field Goal% -- 43.5 42.7

Free Throw% -- 70.5 67.1

3-Point% -- 39.6 (14th) 33.5

Rebound Margin -- +1.1

Off. Reb. Per Game -- 12.3 12.0

Off. Rebound% -- 31.8 30.8

Def. Rebound% -- 69.2 68.2

Assists Per Game -- 16.9 (8th) 13.9

Steals Per Game -- 5.4 5.2

Turnovers Per Game -- 9.7 10.4

Blocks Per Game -- 2.6 4.1

Irish Items of Interest

Notre Dame takes an average of 22.1 threes per game (27th nationally) ... They make an average of 8.8 threes per game (11th) ... The Irish sport a 1.74 assist to turnover ratio (1st) ... They also grab 26.9 defensive rebounds per game (14th) ... Notre Dame averages 1.1 points per possession (28th) ... They have attempted 2,164 field goals (7th) ... They average 42.6 rebonds per game (22nd) ... They give up 41.5 rebounds per game (309) ... Notre Dame lost seven games in a row between Jan. 10 and Feb. 7 ... Key ND wins -- @Texas 81-80, Georgetown 73-67, U of L 90-57, UAB 70-64 (NIT), N. Mexico 70-68 (NIT) ... Key ND losses -- North Carolina 102-87, Ohio State 67-62, @ St. Johns 71-65, @ U of L 87-73, @ Syracuse 93-74, UConn 69-61, @ Pitt 93-80, @ Cincinnati 93-83, @ UCLA 89-63, @ West Virginia 79-68, @UConn 72-65, Villanova 77-60, West Virginia 74-62 (Big East Tournament) ... Notre Dame averages 77.6 points per game at home ... In their last eight games they are averaging only 66.5 points per game ... In their last eight games the are giving up 65.6 points per game (they're 5-3 in those games) ... UK is 5-13 in games played in South Bend ... Notre Dame is a 2.5 point favorite.

CliffsNotes Analysis

Patterson versus Harangody ... that's how some see this match-up. But, I believe that UK needs to be more concerned with Notre Dame's penchant for taking and making three-point shots. As was true against Creighton, UK must defend the perimeter with vigor, or risk a blowout loss.

Turnovers, which have been down for Kentucky over the last couple of games (12.3 per game, over the last four games), must remain a non-issue. The Irish take very good care of the ball, and sport the nations best A/TO ratio, 1.74 (16.9 assists pg to 9.7 turnovers). But, they do not force many turnovers (10.4 per game).

Perry Stevenson needs to continue his improved play. UK has utilized the high-low game quite effectively recently, which the 'Cats will need tonight, hopefully to get Harangody in foul trouble.

Jodie Meeks, who against Creighton used the dribble-drive to produce points, will find himself with a height and quickness advantage versus the Irish guards. A strong game from UK's leading scorer could be in the offing (no way ND's 6-7 guard, Ryan Ayers, can contain Meeks).

Kentucky's defense has been elevated over the last couple of games also, with Patterson and Stevenson controlling the paint ... that will need to continue. As will UK's recent rebounding surge ...

Although Notre Dame is not a great rebounding team, they are 14th in the nation in defensive rebounds per game with 26.9, which means UK must crash the offensive boards if they don't want to be limited to one-and-done possessions.

If UK's intensity and focus mirror Monday night's performance in Omaha, then the 'Cats will be in the game with a chance at victory.

Thanks for reading, and Go 'Cats, survive and advance.

Almost A Knight To Forget: Notre Dame Survives Mike Rosario, Rutgers 70-65

CW — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 02:16:01 -0000

It was very ugly, got very pretty, and then very interesting, but the Irish keep their tournament hopes alive by eking one out against a woeful Rutgers team that really came to play. More analysis coming tomorrow (hey, there's Idol, Lost, Real World and the Top Chef finale tonight), but a few key points:

Great adjustments in the second half for Luke Harangody. With Rutgers committing to playing behind him, Harangody realized he needed to be patient, taking his time to either deliver a nice post move or whip it to an open shooter. I didn't count up his second half rebounds, but I'm pretty sure he collected a double-double after the break. It was a nice warm-up for round four against Mount Thabeet, and another great effort from the reigning Big East Player of the Year.
Welcome back, Tory. If Tory is back to the level we know he can play and Jonathan Peoples continues a very nice stretch of play, there's some potential for an effective three guard line-up against smaller teams. Peoples banging around inside (five boards tonight) is a great complement to K-Mac's shooting. Not sure what buttons were pushed before the Providence game, but I like it.
Mike Brey must continue to get Ty Nash minutes. I know he may be tempted to fall back on his veterans, but he has to resist that urge.
Three big-time defensive plays by Ryan Ayers in that key stretch of the second half along with some good passing. It's good to see him contributing even if the threes aren't dropping.
This should go without saying, but Mike Rosario might have a future in this game.

Friah reads

Mike Rutherford — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:59:20 -0000

We'll start with the C-J where the mood is upbeat but the quoted are wary of a dangerous Providence squad coming to town.

"We're starting to play our best basketball now because of the Big East and the NCAA Tournament coming up," Knowles said. "We get more focused, and the practices start getting better."

It helps that senior forward Terrence Williams should be almost back to full strength for tonight's game, according to Pitino.

...

"They're very difficult to prepare for and very difficult to defend," said Pitino, adding that they present potential matchup problems like Notre Dame.

Providence, sixth in the Big East standings, starts four seniors and is the only team in NCAA Division I with five 1,000-point scorers. The Friars also average 79.2 points, tied for third in the league.

Knowles likened the Friars' shooting range to Notre Dame guard Kyle McAlarney, who leads the league in made three-pointers at 3.87 per game.

"Anytime you have a team like that, everybody is dangerous," Knowles said. "And we were watching film, and they shot from anywhere. It's like having four McAlarneys on the court because they'll pull at any time."

The AP goes hard on the Pitino stripping his team of their ordinary practice garb after the Notre Dame loss angle.

Coach Rick Pitino removed all practice shirts and shorts with the Louisville logo on them until the seventh-ranked Cardinals manage to win a game away from Freedom Hall.

"A generic shirt, that's what you've become," Pitino said he told his team. "You'll stay with those generic shirts until you win another road game."

A solid performance against surprising Providence (16-9, 8-5) on Wednesday won't get the Cardinals (19-5, 10-2 Big East) out of their ordinary gym clothes. Yet Pitino hopes his team starts at least looking like the one that seemed among the best in the country only three weeks ago.

Keno Davis' assistant coaches are finding that scouting in the Big East is just a tad different than scouting in the Missouri Valley.

“You don’t shake your head when Pitt does this or UConn does that or Notre Dame shoots the ball like it did against Louisville last week,” said Chris Davis, who is scouting Pittsburgh in advance of next Tuesday’s Pitt-PC game. “That’s the Big East.”

Davis has spent most of his coaching career at Kent State, Western Michigan and Drake. He came to Providence with head coach Keno Davis knowing the challenges that await, but walking into one of the most intense Big East races of all-time has been eye-opening.

“You see great teams every night,” said Davis, 47. “In other leagues, you might see teams that aren’t as talented as you. Here, it’s the best every night.”

The Providence Journal also has a nice little capsule for tonight's game which reveals, among other things, that the Friars are 0-4 all-time against Louisville at Freedom Hall, and haven't beaten the Cardinals since 1977.

For more tidbits, peep (I'm allowed to say it because I lip-synched "Jump" by Kris Kross at a talent show) the U of L game notes.

The Sports Network offers up a stat-heavy preview of the game.

The ProJo hoops blog serves up a number of quotes from Pitino, including this one.

"I will be frank. I have said it all season long. I just have not liked the way we have been practicing. They give good effort and they pay attention to detail, the things we want to get better at. You know on paper you are going to be pretty good, but I have not believed one day that we were a very good basketball team. I believed that we could do certain things and we play hard. (Saturday) was the first time all season I thought we could be a good basketball team. First time all year I thought we did things from an execution stand point that stuck out. I thought we did that because the team played mostly zone, but I thought we executed in practice; getting other people shots. A lot of people think it is our shooting but it is our passing. Guys are open and we are a second late. We are also forcing some things. We're going for the home run pass when we could (make) a simple bounce pass."

Can I still be Mike?

Notre Dame 90, Louisville 57

Mike Rutherford — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:22:08 -0000

Honestly, where do you start?

A part of me wants to lay into the team and advocate everyone panicking because of that type of effort this late in the season. Another part wants to write this off as a team in an offensive slump running into a team with its back to the wall playing in an arena that has historically been a tough place to win for visitors. And a third part wants to say that sometimes this sort of thing just happens. It's happened to Duke, it's happened to Clemson, it's happened to Wake Forest, it's (sort of) happened to Connecticut and it happened to the '05 Final Four team.

The truth is we won't know whether Thursday night was a sign of impending doom, an aberration or a complete fluke for another month or so.

Right now, it's simply embarrassing.

Let's start with the head.

Terrence Williams: if you want everything you say you do, you can't do that, my man. A hurt wrist isn't an excuse for playing devoid of any sense of energy or passion, it isn't an excuse for refusing to rebound and it isn't an excuse for leaving Ryan Ayers alone for uncontested three-pointers on a handful of key possessions.

Leaders don't take nights off, they don't let their energy level drop when things aren't going their way, and they don't let the teammates who look up to them get away with half-assing anything and everything for 40 minutes.

It's on you to get this fixed.

If anyone deserves to be spared from having their feet put to the flames, it's Samardo Samuels. Not only did the freshman come out looking to prove a point in the game's opening minutes, but he and Preston Knowles were the only guys on the floor competing when the game was out of reach in the second half.

It's a good sign for his progression, but not a real good sign for the team's.

Nobody thinks of Luke Harangody as a great shooter for his size, but if he had better form, wouldn't everybody? The shots look so ridiculous, but night after night he knocks them down with consistency, a fact that does make him a tremendous jump shooter for his size.

A shot that goes in by any other name is still worth two points.

I realize the game was, for all intents and purposes, over, but why Will Scott in that situation? Sure he can shoot, but against a team playing man, having Scott in makes the game 4-on-5 on both ends of the floor. Apparently Pitino was mad at Preston for something, but give me some Kuric or some Delk.

I was pissed at the end, but I still really, really wanted a Lee sighting.

I don't want to go through this without praising the Irish, because they played well and with heart, and they would have won even if Louisville hadn't spent 40 minutes thinking about Party of Five.

Pitino said earlier this week that the media needed to respect this team for what it is: an outstanding defensive squad that's going to have its struggles on the offensive end. That's fine, but teams fitting that description don't win national titles or make it to Final Fours. Teams like that do what last year's Washington State team did: look impressive in its opening weekend games in the NCAA Tournament and then get pounded when they run up against a team that can get it done on the offensive end against anybody.

Points off turnovers will work against a mid-major conference champion in the first round, but this team has to find a way to get points out of its offensive sets if it's serious about making a run to Detroit. The offense has to center around Williams, the one playmaker the team has who has proven himself capable of making the right decision (*cough* Earl *cough*) once he gets into the lane.

I suppose all we can do is hope something clicks in practice sometime very soon.

I love the way Terrence Jennings has been able to transform his game in such a short time, but somebody tell me why we were so adamant on feeding him in the post when we were down 18 early in the second half? What has he shown offensively to make the other four guys on the floor so confident that he was going to be able to score consistently on Harangody and Hillesland? That made no sense to me, but then again neither did the whole night.

Simply put, our points guards have to be better. They don't have to be Ty Lawson or Steph Curry, but they just can't be as bad as they've been for the last three games.

Why in the world did Mike Brey have Jackson, McAlarney and 'Gody in the game with his squad up 30 and less than three minutes to play? I don't think he was trying to run up the score or anything, I just think it's odd to put yourself in a position where if one of those three guys goes down you're going to be crucified by your fan base and the local media.

You really only go seven deep and those guys just had a hell of a night, let them chill for a little bit, Mike. The Big East is a rough league, I'm told.

Earl Clark seems to have adopted the pre-'08-'09 Terrence Williams mentality of making one bad outside shot justifies taking three more.

Go. To. The. Bucket. Earl.

Also, apparently it takes someone hitting him across the face with a bottle to draw a whistle. I'd be a lot more angry about it if he weren't putting up 0-fers from the charity stripe.

That's seven straight bad halves since these guys looked like national champions for 20 minutes in Morgantown. If there isn't marked improvement on Sunday against Depaul - a program whose thorough domination will be discussed tomorrow - you have my permission to loot each and every establishment on Frankfort Avenue.

Again, I apologize for not taking a firm stance one way or the other on what took place last night, the fact of the matter is I simply have no idea as far as what to make of what I witnessed. Yes, the Irish were playing for their NCAA Tournament lives, yes Louisville came into the game struggling offensively, yes the Joyce Center is a tough place to play, and yes the team was at a disadvantage not getting in until game day, but...90-57??? It's simply astounding.

Still, let's end with this: Louisville just tasted defeat on the road in the Big East for the first time all season, and still sits with a record of 9-2 and a real shot to capture the regular season crown in the toughest conference in America. The Cardinals' next seven Big East games will be nowhere near as difficult as their first seven, a stretch U of L made it through unscathed.

Last night was indescribably brutal, but the opportunity to make it a distant memory come mid-March certainly exists. This can be fixed, and Thursday can be forgotten.

Dame reads

Mike Rutherford — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:05:28 -0000

Despite having two teeth knocked out and missing the second half of Sunday's win over St. John's, Samardo Samuels is good to go for tonight's game.

Samardo Samuels politely smiled today at a media conference revealing newly acquired braces courtesy of an inadvertent elbow to the mouth against St. John’s.

...

"I’ve been through way worse stuff than that in my lifetime," Samuels said. "I did individual (workouts) today and we were doing a little one-on-one and I wasn’t thinking about the teeth at all. So I’m feeling pretty good."

T-Will has a Q&A with the Sporting News in which he gives a pair of hilarious answers to questions concerning the superiority of the Big East to the ACC.

Q: Where do you stand on the debate about which conference--the Big East or ACC--is college basketball's best?

A: The Big East. I don't know how you could even ask that. That's easy. That's not even a question.

Q: Why is that?

A: Look how physical we are. The ACC, that's not physical. Our last-place team in the Big East could win in the ACC. We're the toughest conference.

The Chicago Tribune takes a look at the reasons for Notre Dame's current seven game slide.

•Rotation. Brey pushed off the what-do-you-regret question until March, but expanding the rotation earlier will be at the top of the list.

Tyrone Nash and Carleton Scott alone aren't the answer. But asking them to provide a spark midway through Big East play, when they combined for 222 minutes in the first 21 games, is a risky move that could have been mitigated earlier.

It also would have helped the legs of a team on which six players account for 87.1 percent of the minutes played.

Clearly, no one can discount how murderous the Big East is this season. Few teams would emerge unscathed after a stretch like Notre Dame's recent gauntlet featuring top-10-caliber teams.

But a thorough collapse? Unexpected, but not unexplained. And the inherent limitations of this team do not appear to have a quick remedy.

"There's always a chance," Nash said. "You never know. Especially with us."

The AP story focuses on the Irish taking an us against the world attitude into tonight.

"There really is nothing to lose. No one's going to pick us," guard Kyle McAlarney said. "So we really can go out there and let it all hang out and play with reckless abandon."

The Irish (12-10, 3-7 Big East), who lost a total of eight games in each of the past two seasons, are trying to avoid an eighth straight loss. The Irish haven't lost that many in a row since a 13-game skid during the 1965-66 season.

Luke Harangody, who was held to five points and one rebound against UCLA, promises Notre Dame will put in a better effort against the Cardinals (18-4, 9-1).

"It's going to be a fight and there's going to be punches thrown as we didn't do Saturday," Harangody said. "They threw the first punch and we just fell down."

And if you missed ericdedwar's "Harangody's diary of a trainwreck" from earlier this week, well, don't miss it this time.

"Just Like Football..."

Sean Keeley — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 19:11:03 -0000

That was the student section at the end of Syracuse's 93-74 win over Notre Dame. The post-Georgetown-loss hangover is officially over. The biggest crowd in the nation this year, topping 30K, was on hand and you couldn't miss them.

It was a patented balanced attack for the Orange. No one scored in the 20's but six players scored double-digits including AO (19), Jonny (17) and Devo (16). Paul Harris and Rick Jackson both grabbed ten rebounds and Flynn dished out ten assists.

For the Irish it was a two-man show. Luke Harangody scored 25 and Kyle McAlarney fought through the marshmellow haze to score 24 on 7-13 shooting from three.

If you took away AO, the Orange shot free throws fantastically , 11-13. Of course, when you factor in Arinze's 1-7 performance...not as much. The game was closer than the final score indicates although the Orange withstood several Notre Dame charges better than we've seen them do all season long.

Tons more to come on this one including Doug Marrone's halftime appearance, the many faces in the crowd and whatever the hell it was Scoop Jardine was wearing. As Doug F***ing Gottlieb said after the game, Syracuse has the look and feel of a team that could go to the Final Four, if only they'd get out of their own way sometimes... Coming from Doug, that's a compliment.

Louisville 87, Notre Dame 73

Mike Rutherford — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:00:18 -0000

It's been sort of fascinating to observe just how blissful Monday night's overtime victory has made everyone associated with the U of L basketball program. From Rick Pitino to the morbidly obese guy at the Dairy Mart by my house, there doesn't seem to be a member of the Cardinal contingency who can stop smiling.

But why?

On the surface, Louisville's twelfth win of the season wasn't overly impressive. It was a 14-point victory over an opponent which hadn't won in Freedom Hall in 50 years in a game the Cards were favored to win by five and-a-half points.

So again, why the fuss?

It could be because this was the official "we are who we thought we were" moment for both the team and the fan base. After a December that made every U of L fan question whether or not this group which began the season ranked third in the country was even capable of making a run to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, the Cards have defeated an arch-rival who appears bound for the Big Dance, gone on the road and handled a team they were supposed to handle, gone on the road and knocked off a squad which could easily be headed back to the Sweet 16, and beaten a team which will likely be competing for one of the four Big East Tournament double byes come the first week of March. The last two weeks have made UNLV and Minnesota feel more and more like Dayton and Purdue.

Or it could be because the Cardinal defense was the key to a victory over one of the best offensive teams in the nation. If you can hold Notre Dame to one bucket over a ten and-a-half minute stretch, then you can hold anyone to one bucket over a ten and-a-half minute stretch. And if you can hold anyone to one bucket over a ten and-a-half minute stretch, then there isn't a team in college basketball that you can't beat. A squad loaded with streaky shooters will be able to win multiple games it probably shouldn't if it can defend like that (see: 3-for-25, Villanova).

It might be because defeat appeared so imminent. Down four, without the ball, running out of time and appearing to have no idea as far as how to go about putting the ball in the basket; this was a situation where 90% of teams in Division I fold up their tents and start promising themselves that they'll do better next time. When the Irish were preparing to take the last shot, I'd already accepted defeat. The best things in life are usually unexpected.

There's a possibility that it was because, with the exception of the first minute and-a-half of the second half, the team appeared to be playing as hard or harder than it had at any other point in the season. And this is coming just two days after a gritty victory 700 miles away.

Maybe it was because of the way the two seniors came up so big. Lack of leadership has been the main point of emphasis for U of L detractors since David Padgett walked off the Freedom Hall floor for the final time, but when their team needed them the most, there was Terrence Williams giving the best overall performance of his collegiate career and serving as the calming offensive presence that this group has so desperately needed, and there was Andre McGee spearheading a tremendous defensive effort and inspiring his tired teammates to suck it up and match his intensity.

Or perhaps it was the play of the oft-criticized young post players. Samardo Samuels looked like a man who has spent the past two months waiting for Big East play to start, going right at Luke Harangody from the game's first possession on, and playing with an intensity and confidence that appeared to have been stolen at some point during the Western Kentucky loss. And then there was Terrence Jennings, shutting down the potential national Player of the Year defensive trip after defensive trip down the stretch, and looking like a guy more than capable of significantly helping this program sooner rather than later.

Any of these alone paired with the obvious fact that Louisville defeated the No. 12 team in the country would have been proper justification for glee, but when you line them all up back-to-back it becomes pretty obvious why the good vibrations have extended beyond just one night.

Monday night's win was sort of like a Christmas stocking: a bunch of small, enjoyable gifts that are technically still just one present. Except instead of chocolate coins and scratch-offs, this stocking consisted of iPhones, cars with giant bows and the mute chick from Planet of the Apes.

More thoughts:

I've always said that T-Will's performance in the win at Pittsburgh his sophomore season was his best game as a Cardinal, but Monday night shattered that. Twenty-four points, 16 rebounds, eight assists. I have no doubt that he'll be criticized at length multiple times by fans over the course of the next ten weeks or so, but the kid simply makes this team go. It's not a debate, without Terrence Williams Louisville is 1-2 in the Big East right now.

It's time we all realize what a special player Andre McGee is. Here's a senior captain who has just officially had his starting spot taken by a junior who has had constant problems with attitude and effort, and one whom he has outplayed more times than not over the last season and-a-half, and yet he still comes off the bench and plays as hard as you'll ever see anyone play before ultimately shutting down one of the quickest guards in the country with the game on the line. How many kids in the country are mature enough to maintain that type of attitude?

McGee's on-ball defense was absolutely the spark that ignited the Cards in the last five minutes of regulation and for the duration of the overtime period. When his teammates saw the way he was harassing Tory Jackson, they had no choice but to forget about how tired they were and match the intensity of the smallest guy on the court.

A big, big time effort from the biggest team guy currently donning a Cardinal uniform.

U of L's lack of backcourt talent has been discussed at length for the past six months or so, but Monday night was a prime example of why it's better to have four above average guards than one or two tremendous guards and no one else. When they had the chance to put Louisville away in the game's final minutes, Jackson and Kyle McAlarney simply didn't have the legs to do it, and McGee and Preston Knowles took advantage accordingly.

Being able to replace the offense of Edgar Sosa and Jerry Smith with the defensive pressure of Knowles and McGee is a lethal advantage against teams that are forced to play guards for 35 plus minutes night in and night out. It's why no one should be surprised when they watch teams like Notre Dame come to Freedom Hall and hit 9 of their first 12 three-pointers before missing their last eight.

Exhibit 586,789 of why Louisville basketball fans are awesome: the roar when Preston Knowles fought through three screens to deny Kyle McAlarney the ball in the middle of a possession. Most fan bases simply don't recognize or fully appreciate those types of things.

Lukewarm Edgar, the distant, at times hilarious at times unnecessarily vulgar cousin of Good Edgar and Bad Edgar decided to visit on Monday night. He made some solid plays with the ball and actually had more assists (four) than he had in any game since Austin Peay, but the outside shot wasn't there and he simply couldn't bring the type of effort defensively that we had to have to win this game.

I don't think you can call this a setback by any stretch of the imagination, it was simply McGee's game and not his. That's how this is going to work.

I realize the Irish were dead, but it's been a while since we've seen a Louisville team play as well for five minutes as the Cards did in overtime. It was fantastic. What else can you say?

How Luke Harangody is able to do what he does is still one of the more remarkable things in sports right now. I mean, here's a guy who looks, and shoots, like Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Along Came Polly, and not only is he well on his way to his second Big East Player of the Year award in as many seasons, but he has a legitimate case to be the Naismith Award recipient. The post moves, the kamikaze drives to the bucket and the open outside jumper are all one thing, but when he hits the fadeaway 16-footer with the arm of a 6-foot-9 guy in his face, all you can do is smile, shake your head and voice your amazement for the 16th time to the person sitting next to you.

Luke Harangody: I salute you...and then I draft you fourth at a YMCA pick-up game.

The way Samardo Samuels played against the Irish should have everyone excited about watching him for the next two months. This was the type of effort that has to make you believe he's going to be OK in the Big East.

He's still going to struggle around the rim and make us all scream, and he's still going to wrongly put the ball on the floor when he's double-teamed, but he showed Monday that he's going to be up to the task if teams with elite post players opt to let their big man play Samuels straight up with no help.

It'd be foolish for any of us to expect Samuels to get the better of Dejaun Blair - who just may be the best pure center in the country right now - on Saturday, but we now know that he's going to bring the intensity, and if nothing else that should make for some hellacious collisions in the paint.

It's getting to the point where, when he's in the game, I expect Terrence Jennings to block every shot taken inside of ten feet. The biggest enigma on this year's roster showed his most significant signs of life to date, coming up huge on the defensive end and on the glass in the game's waning minutes.

Jennings becoming a reliable contributor may be the most positive thing - aside from all the winning - to happen over the last two weeks. He has a defensive presence and a pair of freakishly long arms that Samuels simply can't match, and though he has a long way to go offensively, if he can simply avoid turning the ball over and finish when he gets easy opportunities around the bucket, then he'll become a huge boon for this team.

It looked to me like T-Will touched the ball before Harangody, but his dunk would have been about .8 seconds after the game was over if the clock hadn't stopped. Still, it was pretty cool.

Almost Dunking Marques Maybin is rapidly approaching hero status. The man is now a perfect 9-0, and the team has dropped the only two games he's missed since his debut in the round-robin tournament bearing his name.

I really want to give ADMM breaks here and there since there are bound to be losses on the horizon, but how can you not give the man the start every night until he tastes defeat for the first time?

However, IF the Cards do win out, I pledge to wear a No. 5 Louisville jersey, and only a No. 5 Louisville jersey, to the Derby this year.

You want that to happen.

Raftery, Bilas and McDonough should call every basketball game broadcast anywhere. Digger Phelps should not be allowed in the country.

The only disheartening thing about the last few minutes of regulation was that the players on the floor couldn't figure out what to do when Brey put Zach Hillesland on Samuels and moved four-foul 'Gody to Clark. Instead of letting Clark post Harangody up or clearing out to let him go off the dribble, Samuels - the player whom the ball had been intended to go to since it was assumed he would still be checked by Harangody - continued to clog up the lane and try to score against a taller player who had fouls to give.

We were out of timeouts at this point, so it was on the five players on the court to recognize the switch and adjust accordingly, and the fact that they didn't was sort of disappointing.

Keep shooting, Jerry. Seriously, you're a good shooter, we can all live you pulling the trigger a few more times every night.

Pitino and I took a swig out of a water bottle at precisely the same moment during the second half. It was pretty magical. I only wish that I could have hugged McGee and Jennings at precisely the same moment he did, too.

The undefeated No. 1 team in the country is coming into Freedom Hall Saturday night. Really, how awesome does it feel to say that? The atmosphere should be incredible, and a victory would cap off - or simply become the new high point - of a pretty remarkable stretch.

Get excited, people. Get real excited.

And one more time for the kids...