Musings on where Big Luke Would Go in the NBA Draft

Have you ever wondered where Big Luke would go in the NBA Draft? Big Luke Harangody will be among the short list of players in the early running for the National Player of the Year award next year, as Luke has decided to come back for at least one more year of basketball in South Bend. While we’re all excited that we’re going to have the Big East Player of the Year back for another season, we know that sooner or later he’s going to have to leave the nest to fly in the NBA. When he does, we’ll want him to get as high of a spot in the NBA draft as possible. But where do you think he will go?

If Luke stays in college ball all four years (which we hope he does) he’ll come out one of the most polished, NBA-ready big men, and thus his stock will rise. As he gets more accolades, has more of an opportunity to show his stuff on the national scene, his first NBA paycheck will skyrocket in value. What team wouldn’t want a player like Luke- one who is not afraid to do the rebounding, the put-backs, the interior defense, and the scoring, if asked? If Tyler Hansbrough declares for the draft this year, we’ll have to see where he goes, because he and Luke are somewhat similar players. Also, watch where Kevin Love goes. He might be a good indicator, as well.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 16, 2008 - Post a comment

Taking a First Look at Notre Dame Hoops for 2009

The Irish were one of the biggest surprises in the Big East, and perhaps one of the biggest surprises in all of college basketball last season. Well, we should say that they were surprises to everyone except themselves and their loyal fans, and the Notre Dame Blog. But still, they were off the radar for a lot of teams last year. As CBS Sports’ “Getting Inside” explains, in this upcoming season there will be no surprise.

Some early rankings systems (which are quite flawed because they don’t take into account a lot of new coaches, injuries, NBA draft entries, etc) have Notre Dame near the top ten in the country. Why? They will return four out of five of their starting players, including Big East Player of the Year Luke Harangody. They also carry a 37-game home winning streak into next year. They might have been eliminated from the Tourney too early this season, but there will be plenty of experience to fall back on in 2009.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 15, 2008 - Post a comment

Boston College Beats Notre Dame for Hockey National Championship

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, seeded No. 4 in the college hockey tournament, were able to get all the way tot the Frozen Four, and then land a spot in the National Title Game after they beat Michigan, the No. 1 seed, in overtime. It was a miraculous season for Notre Dame, but one that ended just short of the greatest prize in NCAA Hockey. Notre Dame fell to Boston College this past weekend by a score of 4-1, finishing the season as the national runner-up. You can check out this long article at ESPN, but it’s mostly about the Boston College Eagles.

The title game was not much fun for Notre Dame once the game started, but it had the potential to be one of the best games of the season for Notre Dame sports this year. Instead, we’ll have to give that honor to the Frozen Four game versus the Wolverines. That’s going slightly ahead of the Notre Dame-UCLA football game and the first round win in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Congratulations to all of the members of the men’s hockey team. This was a great season to watch all year long, and the tournament was one that fans will not soon forget. Hopefully you got some tickets to the Pepsi Center to see it all live. If not, there’s always next year. The Irish should return with a good team, one that might make it to the Frozen Four again in 2009.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 14, 2008 - Post a comment

Irish in Hockey National Title Game!!

Notre Dam beat the No. 1-ranked Michigan Wolverines in the Frozen Four of the NCAA Hockey Tournament to move on to the National Title Game. The Irish were able to outlast the Wolverines 5-4, in overtime. Notre Dame shot out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first period, but Michigan fought back twice, tying the game at 4 all before regulation ended. Then, in overtime, Irish freshman Calle Ridderwall (of Sweden) scored at the 5:44 mark to lift the Irish over the top for good.

Absolutely amazing! Notre Dame looks great, they are coming together at just the right time, and now they will face another one of their rivals, Boston College, in the National Title Game. What could be better? If you can get down to the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado by the time the game starts, get some Frozen Four tickets right now! This one should be a real dandy! Make sure to watch the game on ESPN (notice, not 2) and we’ll see you all back here on Monday!

To get Frozen Four tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 11, 2008 - Post a comment

Notre Dame in the Frozen Four Tonight!

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team is in the Frozen Four, basically the equivalent of the Final Four in college basketball. The Irish hockey team has been doing excellently in the NCAA Hockey Tournament, and now they are scheduled to play the Michigan Wolverines, just one game away from getting to the NCAA National Championship. Very exciting.

For Notre Dame fans the matchup could hardly be better- save for if USC had a hockey team. Michigan beat the Irish in football season, but this is hockey, and the Irish are having a great year- unlike the football team. In the first round the Irish beat New Hampshire 7-3, in the second they beat Michigan State 3-1 and now they’ll get a shot at another Big Ten school that beat them in football.

Make sure to get some Frozen Four tickets, as they will be going very quickly. The game is set for tonight in Denver at the Pepsi Center. You can also catch it on ESPN 2 if you are not making the trip to the game.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 10, 2008 - Post a comment

How do you spell Notre Dame? G-O-L-I-C

The Irish are racking up the Golics these days. Apparently another humongous Golic has decided to make the Notre Dame cafeteria his home for the next four years. Jake Golic, the younger brother of Mike Jr., has decided to play football for the Irish. Jake is the first oral commitment for Notre Dame from the class of 2009. Mike Golic, Jr. is now a player for the Irish from the class of 2008. Of course, you all know that Mike Golic, who made a great career as an NFL lineman and is currently a radio sports caster on the ESPN Radio show Mike and Mike, went to Notre Dame, don’t you?

The Buzz Meter at the Sports Illustrated Truth and Rumors page has this listed as fairly not hot, and we agree. We have no idea if this Jake Golic will have the same football prowess that his father had, but if athletics is a genetic thing, he can’t be too bad.

Is it unusual for a kid to attend the same school that his father did? Not at all. In fact, it’s called a legacy. For us here at the Notre Dame Blog, this is merely a nice little piece of trivia, not something to get all upset over. Just take a look at the comments below the article.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish football tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 9, 2008 - Post a comment

Truly, only “One” Shining Moment - Irish Underrepresented

We all watched the national championship game of the NCAA Tournament last night on CBS, right? Of course we did. Even thought the Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball teams were eliminated much too soon, you’ve gotta tune into some great sports when it’s on. So even though you can’t be too happy for Kansas (that should have been Notre Dame out there), you knew that you’d get at least a couple of nice clips of Notre Dame players in the greatest annual tradition in sports, Luthor Vandros’s “One Shining Moment” montage.

However, Irish fans were probably disappointed with the Notre Dame representation in the video. Within the first 15 seconds you can see the leprechaun mascot doing a back flip and pumping up the crowd (turn to the 0:15 mark in the YouTube video), but after that, you get nothing. You don’t; get to see Luke Harangody bodying up in the first round blowout. You don’t get to see the discouraged Irish bench in the closing seconds of their loss to Washington State. Nada. Just the leprechaun. And I thought CBS loved Notre Dame.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 8, 2008 - Post a comment

Who Should You Root for- Kansas or Memphis?

Even though you didn’t want to touch college basketball for a couple of months after the Irish were unceremoniously tossed form the NCAA basketball tournament (the men at the hands of Washington State, the women at the hands of Tennessee) you have to give the games tonight a look, if only so that you can call yourself a sports fan. The men’s national championship will pit the Memphis Tigers versus the Kansas Jayhawks. The Women’s National Championship will pit Tennessee versus Stanford.

As for the women’ game, you have to root for Tennessee, simply so that the Notre Dame team can say that they lost to the best. Plus, Stanford is more of an athletic rival to Notre Dame than Tennessee is, though it’s mostly a football rivalry.

The men’s game is a little harder to tell for whom you ought to root, as a Notre Dame basketball fan. If next year’s schedule were out it might be a little easier, as you should root for the team that the Irish will play next, so that they get a shot at the national champion. Notre Dame played neither Memphis nor Kansas this season.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 7, 2008 - Post a comment

Notre Dame Plays South Bend for Charity

In case you haven’t noticed it’s getting closer to summertime in South Bend, and that means that baseball will dominate the sports news coming from this corner of the Earth. Well, dominate perhaps not. But certainly we will try to get you all of the Notre Dame baseball news you need to get through the season successfully. The Irish will once again have a great team this year, and they hope to make it to the NCAA Baseball Championship playoffs after winning the Big East.

notre dame baseball

(photo by millsjpg)

While some of the action has been intense, a game this past week was a bit lighter hearted. The Notre Dame baseball team played the South Bend Silverhawks, a minor league team in the area. The game, dubbed “The Battle of the Bend,” was won by the Silverhawks 5-3, but all in attendance were delighted to see their favorite local baseball heroes out on the field. The best part? All of the proceeds from the game went to charity. The Irish will play Rutgers in a three game series starting tonight.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish football tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 4, 2008 - Post a comment

Big Luke Get Big Honor; Named Wooden All-American

Luke Harangody has been named to the John Wooden Award All-America Team. The humongous sophomore from Indiana joins some of the biggest names in the college basketball world. The other Wooden All-America Team members are Tyler Hansbrough (of North Carolina), Brandon Rush (Kansas), Kevin Love (UCLA), Chris Douglas-Roberts (Memphis), Derrick Rose (Memphis), D.J. Augustin (Texas), Michael Beasley (Kansas State), Stephen Curry (Davidson) and Chris Lofton (Tennessee).

This is clearly a top-notch crowd in which to be included. Love, Hansbrough, Curry, Beasley and Augustin were named as finalists for the Wooden Award, although it is being reported that Big Luke finished sixth in the voting. Unlike most of the other players in the list, Luke has a good chance of returning to play college basketball, thus making him one of the heavy favorites to win the whole thing next year.

Congratulations to Luke. He certainly had a fantastic season, although you have to wonder- if the Irish had made it to the Sweet Sixteen, or even the Elite Eight, would Harangody’s stock have risen? We might find out next year. Until then, make sure to stock up on Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball tickets.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 3, 2008 - Post a comment


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