Monday Look Back: 'Old' Notre Dame is good, but how good?
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Notre Dame won here in Florida.
UNLV won out in California.
A lot of nice basketball was played in between.
The Monday Look Back is here to get you up to date.
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| Marcus Morris and Kansas played an enjoyable game Saturday. (AP) |
Worst game of the weekend: Notre Dame's 58-51 victory over Wisconsin in Sunday's title game of the Old Spice was fun to experience (more on this in the "Final thought" below), given how the Irish turned an 11-point deficit into a seven-point win, but it wasn't enough to make me forget about Friday's 57-44 win over California that featured a first-half score of 21-5. Seriously, it was 21-5 at the half, at which point nearly every NBA scout in the arena went to the media room to watch ... football. Auburn-Alabama was on upstairs. Everybody just huddled around the TV while Notre Dame and California missed shots on the court below. "I'm not going back down until Cal gets 10 points," said one scout. "You think they'll get 10?"
Win to brag about: I never understood why AP voters were ranking Purdue without Robbie Hummel in the top 10, but whatever. The Boilermakers are still good even without their star forward, and beating them 65-54 -- like Richmond beat them Saturday night -- is still impressive. So now the Spiders are 6-1 with a loss to Iona and a double-digit win over Purdue. I bet that's not how Richmond coach Chris Mooney expected this season to start.
Loss to hide from: While Richmond spent the weekend recording a huge win for the Atlantic 10, Dayton did the exact opposite. The Flyers -- a team that was undefeated and getting votes for the Top 25 -- shot 20 percent and lost at Cincinnati by 34 points Saturday. The final was 68-34 and it represented the program's worst loss since February 1995. To put this in perspective, consider that nobody has beaten Dayton like Cincinnati beat Dayton this weekend since Sheryl Crow won Best New Artist at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards. Jerry Garcia was still alive back then. Superman could still walk.
Player who deserves improper benefits: Connecticut's Kemba Walker is receiving a lot of attention as one of the country's elite guards, and for good reason. But don't forget about Jimmer Fredette. The BYU senior got 32 points and set up Noah Hartsock for the game-winning jumper as time expired Friday in BYU's 77-75 double-overtime victory over South Florida. Then on Saturday, Fredette buried a go-ahead 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining and finished with 24 points in BYU's 74-73 win over Saint Mary's. In other words, he's really, really good. And clutch.
Player who does not deserve improper benefits: UNLV's 71-59 win over Virginia Tech in Sunday's title game of the 76 Classic pushed the Rebels into the Top 25 (and one) and kept the Hokies out. And though it would be unfair to blame the loss on Dorenzo Hudson, it's fair to highlight his ineffectiveness in said loss. Hudson took seven shots, missed all seven and finished with zero points and five turnovers against UNLV. So the senior guard clearly wasn't at his best. Actually, he wasn't even at his mediocre, considering he entered averaging 13 points per game.
Why I'm smarter than you think: Remember when Tennessee lost to Indianapolis in the preseason? And how everybody freaked? And how I responded by explaining that the loss probably wouldn't mean a thing? Well, just trust me next time. That's what I hope Friday's 78-68 win over Villanova does, that it convinces you to never doubt me again. Or Bruce Pearl, for that matter. Say what you want about Pearl as a rule-follower, but I think we can all agree he's an incredible basketball coach. Go check his Wikipedia page and try to find the years when he has had bad teams. It almost never happens, and it doesn't look like it's going to happen this year, either.
Why I'm dumber than I think: I predicted this preseason that the Big East would have a "down" season. Since I mumbled those words, Pittsburgh has started 7-0 with wins over Texas and Maryland, Notre Dame has started 7-0 with wins over Georgia and Wisconsin, Georgetown has started 6-0 with wins over Old Dominion and N.C. State, Connecticut has started 5-0 with wins over Michigan State and Kentucky, and Syracuse (6-0), Cincinnati (5-0) and Louisville (4-0) are all undefeated, too. Villanova and West Virginia each have a loss, but neither has a bad loss. I have seven Big East schools in the latest Top 25 (and one), and if this is a "down" season then I would hate to see the league when it's running strong.
Three things you should know before you go
1. West Virginia's Truck Bryant did not play in Saturday's 82-66 win over VMI. Bob Huggins benched him for what was described as "disciplinary reasons."
2. Butler's Ronald Nored did not play in Saturday's 71-69 overtime loss to Evansville. He was held out for what was described as "concussion symptoms."
3. Georgia's Connor Nolte did play in Sunday's 61-58 win over Manhattan, but it's unclear if he'll be available for Friday's game against UAB. Nolte was scheduled to have surgery to repair a broken nose early Monday morning after returning to campus late Sunday night following a seventh-place finish in the Old Spice.
On tap: Virginia and Minnesota get the ACC-Big Ten Challenge under way Monday night. On Tuesday it's a rematch of the 2005 title game when North Carolina and Illinois meet at Assembly Hall. Preseason No.1 (Duke) and preseason No. 2 (Michigan State) battle at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday night. UCLA visits Kansas in a matchup of traditional powers on Thursday night.
Final thought: I'm not sure I saw a Final Four team (or even a league champion) here at the Old Spice, and the basketball was mostly subpar. But there were lots of nice stories that emerged from the three-round event, none nicer than Notre Dame.
"Does anybody know how to do this?" Mike Brey asked his players as they positioned a ladder under a goal late Sunday and prepared to cut nets to celebrate their tournament championship after the win over Wisconsin. "We've never done this before."
Who knows if they'll do it again?
The Big East -- as noted earlier -- is an impossible grind, and more talented teams than this Notre Dame squad have been buried by the league schedule. It's not difficult to go from 10th in the nation in December to 10th in the conference in March, which is why it's always wise to keep perspective. So I'll refrain from making grand predictions, but I can tell you this for sure: The Irish won't fold easily. I watched them fall behind by 12 to Georgia on Thursday and by 11 to Wisconsin on Sunday, and they rallied to win both times. Tim Abromaitis made big shots, Ben Hansbrough got big steals, Carleton Scott grabbed big rebounds and Notre Dame looked very much like a team with five tough and experienced starters.
"I think our experience really showed down here," Brey said. "We're old."
Ancient, actually, in college basketball years.
The Irish are a rarity in this era -- a power-conference school starting five seniors. Granted, that's not always a great sign because it suggests a team doesn't have anybody talented enough to leave early for the NBA, and how good can you really be without future NBA players? That's a question worth debating someday, but to focus on it now would be to miss the point. All that matters at this minute is that Notre Dame is 7-0 with wins over schools from the SEC, Pac-10 and Big Ten and that the Irish seem like a mature, composed and confident team set to enjoy a fun season.
"We're going to be together five months," Brey said. "I'm gonna love being with this group for five months."
