SB Nation User Blog: mhb

Notre Dame Down Early 0-2 To Bemidji State

mhb — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 23:57:10 -0000

Catch the game on ESPN Classic and cheer on your Irish skaters. We're gonna need it down 2-0 with 7 minutes left in the first. Two flukey goals, but two goals down nonetheless.

GO IRISH!

Rakes Of Mallow Bracket Challenge

mhb — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:43:09 -0000

We've set up a bracket challenge using ESPN.com. Come battle wits with the likes of CW, mhb, Rob, Josh R and Tom D or as they're referred to in the media: CW, mhb, Rob, Josh R and Tom D.

Here's the link: LINK!

UPDATE: 24 hours until the brackets lock. Get in for the Tourney Challenge.

So It Goes: Fightin' Irish Fall At Home To Villanova

mhb — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 03:36:47 -0000

Notre Dame Basketball will not make the NCAA Tournament.

In the words of the late Kurt Vonnegut: So it goes.

Tonight's 77-60 loss at home at the hands of Scottie Reynolds, Dante Cunningham and Shane Clark (Shane Clark?) drove the final nail into the coffin built with a seven-game losing streak and lined with losses to Ohio State and St. John's. Perhaps the saddest part of the defeat was how unsurprising it was.

Kurt knew.

The guard play was anemic: Jackson, Peoples and McAlarney went a combined 4-of-22 from the floor and 1-of-11 from three-point range with nine turnovers to eleven assists. Free throw shooting was a pathetic 10-of-20 (Someone get Ty Nash with a shooting coach five months ago). Harangody, Ayers and Nash did what they were supposed to do, but the rest, especially the last ten minutes of the second half, was a disaster.

The Irish made exactly zero field goals in a seven-minute stretch from approximately eleven to four minutes left in the game and, frankly, looked lost on offense. Yet, nothing looked out of the ordinary.

The sad truth of this season was that this Irish team was exactly what they were and, save the Louisville and Providence wins, nothing more. An undersized but spectacular force down low (Gody) surrounded by one great shooter (Kmac), one solid set shooter (Ayers), one increasingly erratic point guard (Tory) and one of four bit players (Zeller, Nash, Peoples and Hillesland) NONE of whom play defense, is not enough to get by with on the hardest schedules in the toughest conference.

For many Irish faithful who remember the 2005-2006 Season of Infinite Sorrow, this season, tonight's game, are all too familiar sights. Maybe it's the coach, maybe we over-achieved the last two season, maybe Rob Kurz is the greatest basketball player of all time and world's great mistake is not recognizing it - at the end of the day, and with one more home game left, there is nothing to say but, "So it goes."

David Bruton Runs Fast, Jumps High

mhb — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:24:37 -0000

At Tuesday's safety workouts at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis ("Hey, college stand-outs! Come to Indy in February!"), former Notre Dame star, young father and season-saving-fumble-against-San-Diego-State-even-though-the-ball-might-actually-have-already-crossed-the-line-and-or-the-runner's-knee-was-down creator David Bruton made some Draft noise for himself by turning in some great measurements.

Bruton was second among safeties in the 40 and first in the Vertical Jump, Broad Jump, 3-Cone Drill and 60 yard shuffle. NFL.com has a full list of top performers.

Weis said during the season the Combine would be a place where Bruton could show off his freakish athleticism, and the man did not disappoint. Draft buzz around Bruton was 5th or 6th round, but with a perfomance like this perhaps Bruton has improved his stock to 3rd or 4th round potential. Regardless, congratulations are in order to an outstanding representative of Notre Dame on and off the field.

Here are Bruton's numbers:

DRILL	MEASUREMENT	POS. RANKING (OVERALL)
40-Yard Dash	4.46 seconds	2nd (T 17th)
Vertical Jump	41.5 inches	1st (T 4th)
Broad Jump	11 feet, 0 inches	1st (3rd)
3-cone Drill	6.60 seconds	T 1st (T 2nd)
60-Yard Shuttle	10.96 seconds	1st (T 2nd)

The Jonathan Peoples Experience: Irish Top Friars On The Road, 103-84

mhb — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:05:21 -0000

Recap:

Coming off a crushing loss at West Virignia after leading for most of the first half, the Irish got off to a fast start again behind the hot hand of Kyle McAlarney and Ryan Ayers. The two combined to go 10 of 14 from beyond the arc and got the Irish out of the half with a 49-37 lead. Harangody had one point and two rebounds while Peoples had eight points and 6 assists before the break.

The Friars and the Irish traded blows to start the second with Ayers and K-Mac cooling off while Harangody picked up his fourth foul with almost ten minutes left in the game. He was replaced by Ty Nash who fouled out with with almost 8 minutes left. Providnce eventually got it to five points, but ND was able to pull away behind a resurgance from Ayers and continued strong play from Peoples. Zeller and Hillesland didn't kill us while Gody sat, and that's about as much as you want to ask from them.

The return of Gody with around six left signaled the beginning of the end for Providence. A stead diet of him down low, combined with some rare transition baskets pushed the Irish lead to 16 with about 3:30 left. Many fouls and anti-defense later, the Irish emerge victorious, 103-84.

The Good:

Jonathon Peoples ended up with 14 and 9 on 5-of-8 shooting. He looked strong on the ball and extremely confident. This could be attributed to Providence's anemic defense, but I love this heading towards tourney time.
Ryan Ayers and Kyle McAlarney paced this team in the first half, but, as they've demonstrated this season, they can save us or kill us.

The Bad:

Tory Jackson was a ghost. 12 mintues, two points, two fouls. Maybe Brey sat him down to play the hot hand with Peoples, maybe he was sick, but he needs to wake up, especially for the game at UConn coming up.
Boxing out. A fundamental that again hurt the Irish. Too many times we miss the board and either give up points or commit a foul. Yes, the Irish out-rebounded the Friars 38-27, but still too many offensive boards given up.

... And The Irish:

Defense? No, thank you. If you can dribble, then you can blow by Ayers and Hillesland.
Harangody's numbers look okay (18 points, 8 boards), but he was AWOL in the first half and missed key minutes in the second with foul trouble. Still, he found his way back into the game and helped finish off the pesky Friars. He's had the team on his back all year, I suppose he can have a half game off.

Final Thoughts:

A Big East road win is a Big East road win so I don't think Mike Brey's gonna be complaining too much. This game could easily have gone the way of the St. John's and CIncy losses, so kudos to Ayers, K-Mac and Peoples for not letting that happen.

Could this be the start of something good with Peoples? Let's hope so not just for the rest of this season, but for the 2009-2010 Irish as well. Jackson, Peoples and Hansbrough could be a potent starting backcourt.

Rutgers at home on Wednesday. A month and a half ago I would've called this a "should-win," but they're all "must-wins" now.

Good win. Go Irish.

Au Revoir, (not so) Petit Prince: Notre Dame Fires Latina, Hires Verducci

mhb — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:11:50 -0000

In a move that surprised no one besides ESPN.com's Graham Harrell (who last week wrote that OL Coach Jappy Oliver was fired), Notre Dame fired/forced resignation from REAL OL coach John Latina. I wonder why...

It's not coming to me...

Nope, still drawing blanks...

Well, maybe I'll remember eventually. Anyway, the Irish moved on quickly with the addition of former Rams/Terrapins/Hawkeyes/Wildcats/Bengals/Cowboys/Bills/Browns assistant Frank Verducci. Mixed bag of reviews on this one, but general consensus is that he's a hard-worker, a strong recruiter and pushes his players hard in practice. He also stated that ND was the only college job for which he'd leave the NFL so take that for what it's worth.

I'm sure Rob will have a better analysis later. Unrelated note: The hockey team hasn't lost since October. Congrats to them.

As Cold As Ice in OT: Irish Fall to Louisville 87-73

mhb — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:12:25 -0000

Heart-breaking loss for the Irish tonight in Kentucky. Solid efforts by Harangody and K-Mac, rough nights for Tory and Zeller. Link here.

Difficult way to start the Month from Hell, but our lack of depth was really exposed tonight. Time to get Nash and maybe even Scott some minutes. Harangody can't play 45 minutes a night.

More big games to come and with recruiting season winding down it's an exciting time to follow the Irish.

Notre Dame Over Depaul: 1-0 Feels Pretty Good

mhb — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 03:04:14 -0000

Not an earth-shattering win, but any road win in the Big East is worth celebrating. 26 and 16 for Harangody, but with Tory and Kyle Mac going a combined 8 of 22 from the field Zach Hillesland stepped up with 17 points on 8 of 11 shooting and grabbed seven boards. Solid games from Ayers, Peoples and Zeller as well, but the team still can't defend, especially the middle of the zone.

Have fun tonight, Irish fans. If you drink, don't drive. If you drive, don't drink. If you do neither, I don't really care.

LUKE WANT BALL!

Separated At Birth?

mhb — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:27:49 -0000

You decide.

Rob Kurz FTW

mhb — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:17:23 -0000

...actually the Golden State Warriors lost.

BUT, it wasn't Rob Kurz's fault. Check the statline:

	Minutes	FG	3PT	FT	REB	AST	BLK	TO	STL	PF	Points
Rob Kurz	15	4-4	1-1	1-1	1	2	3	0	1	1	10

Way to go, sir. I hope Monta never comes back and Nellie never goes to AA.