Notre Dame Hockey Enjoys 18-Game Unbeaten Streak

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team is working on a 18-game unbeaten streak heading into their weekend matchup with the Lake Superior Lakers. The Irish have not lost on the road since their opening night loss to Denver. Things are looking good right now for Notre Dame, which last season went to the NCAA Frozen Four and Championship Hockey Game. However, danger lurks ahead when they start into the tough CCHA schedule. According to Matt Gamber’s Observer online article, Notre Dame hockey coach Jeff Jackson had this to say:

“We’ve played fairly consistently ever since the third week of the season. We’ve had different types of games - some more defensive-minded, like last week against Alaska, some with more goals being scored, like against Bowling Green. Our team’s adjusted pretty well and we’ve reached a certain level of consistency defensively and with our goaltending and special teams.”

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Permalink - Posted in General on January 16, 2009 - Post a comment

Breaking Down the Syracuse Basketball Team

The Notre Dame men’s basketball team is set to play Syracuse this weekend, so it seems fitting that we should take a look at the Orange and see where they have weakness. A good place to start, when you’re trying to get an idea about a team is kenpom.com, an excellent source for college basketball stats.

Syracuse Strengths:
  • Points in the paint – Syracuse has one of the nation’s best 2pt field goal percentages (57.1), ranked seventh in the nation in that category. They also have the seventh best effective field goal percent at 56.1.
  • Defending the perimeter – The Orange make sure their opponents can’t get a three point barrage going, having the nation’s ninth best three point field goal percentage on defense (28.1).
Syracuse Weaknesses:
  • Free throw shooting – If the Irish want to win, they might want to consider fouling the Orange big men late in the game, as the have a 63.4% free throw percentage as a team, ranking them 299th in that stat. Their guards are actually pretty good at shooting from the stripe, but everyone over 6-5 is suspect.
  • Steals – Syracuse gets a hand in shooters’ faces, but they don’t force turnovers very well, ranked 304 in opponent turnover percentage. Is it the fact that zone is practiced so much in college?

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Permalink - Posted in General on January 15, 2009 - Post a comment

Singing the Big East Blues

Notre Dame has it rough nowadays, having to play in the Big East and all. Currently there are eight Big East Conference teams in the AP Top 25 (although there were nine just a little while ago, a record for any conference, all-time), so there are very few games where the Irish can afford to take it easy. Even teams they should beat, like St. John’s, are proving to be much harder than anticipated. According to the South Bend Tribune, forward Luke Harangody had this to say after Notre Dame’s latest overtime loss to Louisville on the road:

“There’s no moral victories and this feels like a moral victory. Every game is going to be a dogfight like this. You just have to forget about it. You can’t dwell on anything.”

Right now there are still four teams in the Big East who are still unbeaten in their conference: Syracuse, Marquette, Pittsburgh and Louisville. UConn and Providence have only one loss in the conference. Notre Dame will play Syracuse at home this weekend in what promises to be yet another thrilling, epic Big East brawl.

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Permalink - Posted in General on January 14, 2009 - Post a comment

Notre Dame Falls to Louisville in OT on the Road

Notre Dame almost stole a road victory last nigt in Louisville, but the Cardinals were able to hold it together and fend off the Irish. Notre Dame lost to Louisville 87-73, as the Cardinals got hot and the Irish went cold in overtime. For Notre Dame, it was a missed opportunity to get a much needed road win in the conference. For Louisville, the win puts Rick Pitino’s team back in the mix, and probably back into the high teens in the next AP Poll.

So the Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball team is now 3-2 in conference and 12-4 overall. Being that Louisville was a ranked team and they were playing on the road, and it went into overtime, the Irish shouldn’t see much of a drop in the polls. There are a number of good things to take away from the game, despite the loss. With each barn-burner of a Big East game, the Irish get that much better at handling the matchups and pressure that will come in the NCAA Tournament.

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Permalink - Posted in General on January 13, 2009 - Post a comment

Notre Dame Beats Seton Hall, Plays Louisville Tonight

Some news from over the weekend: Notre Dame beat Seton Hall on Saturday 79-88 to earn a 3-1 conference record and improve to 12-3 overall. The Irish now have 20 straight home game wins over Big East teams, and 45 straight home game wins overall- both numbers are records. Seton Hall managed to keep Luke Harangody fairly quiet in the first half of the game, and for large stretches of the second half. His shooting performance was a nit off, but he still manages to score 30 points and grab 16 rebounds. According to the CBS report on the game, Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez said of Big Luke:

“We kept Harangody down about as best as we could, but he’s a remarkable player. He gets his hands on everything and I thought he was the difference in the second half. He gets 30 and 16 even when it seems like he’s not having a good game.”

Coming up for the Irish is a showdown with No. 23 Louisville. The Cardinals started out the season as the No. 3 team in the nation, but have shown some poor play, dropping almost out of the Top 25. However, they’re still a very dangerous team, and thus they should be a competitive opponent for Notre Dame, especially in Louisville. Make sure you get out to the game to cheer for the Irish!

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Permalink - Posted in General on January 12, 2009 - Post a comment

Basketball Prospectus Scouting Report for Seton Hall

The Notre Dame basketball team is preparing to take on Seton Hall in a game this Saturday, so the players are getting prepped about their opponents, the matchups, the style of play Seton Hall likes to use. Even though the game is at home in the Joyce Center, where the Irish have won a national-best 44 straight home games, it’s still good to get some down and dirty stats prep. Here’s Ken Pomeroy’s scouting numbers for Seton Hall.

What can we tell here? Well, the Pirates do a couple of things pretty well- as evidenced by their high national ranking and green high lighted statistics. They can shoot free throws and grab a bunch of steals. They handle the ball well. They are a bit undersized, but their guards play well, so Tory and Kyle are going to have to step up their game tomorrow. While Seton Hall is good in the backcourt, Big Luke should go to town on them down low. They give up a surprising number of offensive rebounds, and they apparently can’t shoot threes as well as they should. Should be a great game for the Irish to build on their streak (knock on wood). Make sure you get some tickets.

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Permalink - Posted in General on January 9, 2009 - Post a comment

Notre Dame Needed Kick Start for Georgetown Win

Notre Dame’s basketball team is in the middle of a nice break, having beaten Georgetown on Monday, and going without competition until this Saturday, when they play the Seton Hall Pirates. News is coming out that the Coach Mike Brey really let the Notre Dame hoop team have it following their loss to DePaul over the weekend. Even though there was only one day to rest before the Georgetown game, Brey apparently worked the team hard in a grueling, intense and aggression-filled workout. According to the South Bend Tribune’s Tom Noie, Brey showed the team film clips of DePaul out-hustling the Irish to loose balls and rebounds before giving them their practice assignments.

Apparently the tough love worked, as the Irish came back from their loss to DePaul and beat Georgetown, a higher ranked team, to wind up 2-1 in the Big East. Will the lengthy break that the Irish have affect their ability to play this weekend? Perhaps Brey has another monster practice in store to shake the Irish awake?

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Permalink - Posted in General on January 8, 2009 - Post a comment

Notre Dame Basketball: Elite Offense. Defense?… Not So Much

Because we love Notre Dame basketball here at the Notre Dame Blog, we’re not going to sugar coat today’s entry. There is a problem with the Fighting Irish hoops team that needs to be addressed now in order to avoid more painful events in the future. I’m talking about defense.

As of yesterday, Notre Dame is ranked in the top 15 in the AP, but their defensive efficiency (the amount of points they give up per 100 opponent possessions) is not exactly consummate with their stature overall. According to Luke Winn’s article, Notre Dame is showing early warning signs of bad things to come in the tournament because they haven’t yet played defense on an elite level. They have a Defensive Efficiency score of 99.1, ranking them 146th overall. Why don’t they play defense as well as they should? There are many possible reasons. Perhaps they blew out too many opponents and didn’t focus on D in the first half of the season. The Irish are ranked No. 3 overall in offensive efficiency(119.7) after all.

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Permalink - Posted in General on January 7, 2009 - Post a comment

Notre Dame Beats Georgetown at Home

Luke Harangody took the Georgetown Hoyas to school yesterday evening, racking up 31 points and 11 rebounds despite being plagued by fouls for most of the game. Had John Thompson III’s team (ranked No. 9, just a few places above No. 13 Notre Dame), not gone after Big Luke in attempting to take him out of the game and out of the offense, he might have been even more effective. He was hands down the player of the game. Unfortunately, Zach Hillesland did not have a good game, scoring only two points on 1-2 shooting. There goes our Z-Hill theory.

In a related note, the Domers are still undefeated at home, this marking their 44th consecutive regular season home game victory. According to CBS Sportswire Reports, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said this about the home court advantage the Irish have:

“They really believe in this building. This has been a great advantage for us. It’s been therapy for us on the road. Come on home and get well.”

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Permalink - Posted in General on January 6, 2009 - Post a comment

Notre Dame Falls to St. John’s

Notre Dome lost their first Big East game the other night, dropping a 71-65 contest to St. John’s. It was their second conference game, putting the Notre Dame men’s basketball team at 1-1. Not the best start for the Irish, but Connecticut lost the other night, too. One thing is for sure- this conference, which now has a record NINE TEAMS in the AP Top 25 Poll (roughly 36% of the field), is going to be a gauntlet of competition, where nobody will escape unscathed.

The game was on the road in New York, so the Irish are sill golden at home. It seems that the Irish just had a dismal shooting night, converting on only four of their 17 three point attempts. Big Luke had a nice game stats-wise, scoring 29 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. However, Zach Hillesland disappeared, only scoring four points on 1-5 shooting, further strengthening the argument that, as goes Z-Hill, so goes the Irish.

Notre Dame plays Georgetown, tonight at home. Be there to see what should be one heck of a game.

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Permalink - Posted in General on January 5, 2009 - Post a comment


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