By Paul Gotham
Dissection of a victory
As the saying goes: “It’s better to be lucky than good.” Yeah, it doesn’t hurt when you are lucky and good at the same time.
That is the case with Mike Brey’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish and their recent victory over Marquette.
Solid rebounding, gamesmanship, and being in the right place at the right time proved the recipe to ND’s latest triumph.
I was not privvy to watching the entire game. I caught an ESPN “look in” at the end of regulation and overtime. ND’s buzzer beater to tie the game combined luck and savvy play. With a hand in his face, Tim Abromaitis chucked up an air ball only to have teammate Ben Hansbrough grab the rock. Down three, Hansbrough alertly pivoted and looked to get the ball back behind the arc (ND was down 3). Hansbrough took a quick dribble and then looked slightly startled to see Carleton Scott open from long range. Hansbrough, thinking on the fly and without a script, made the pass, and Scott hit the three ball.
When you think about everything that fell into place on that play, it is crazy. Marquette suffocated ND on the perimeter for the first part and got the missed shot, but Hansbrough slipped away from his man. Then, he had his wits about him and looked to bring the ball out. How many times have we seen a team need a three, miss it, a kid gets a rebound, and puts it back up only to still have a deficit?
But wait. There is more. The guy getting the rebound, Hansbrough, is second on the team in threes made (58). He passes to Scott who has hit a whopping 15 from long range prior to that shot. The 6’3″ guard passes it to 6’7″ forward who finishes.
It was a great heads up play by Hansbrough, but they were lucky Scott was actually out of position. The junior probably should have been under the boards.
Tory Jackson made a shrew play that might have saved the game in overtime. With ND clinging to a three-point lead inside 10 seconds remaining, Jackson fouled Marquette’s Darius Johnson-Odom BEFORE the Golden Eagle could tie the game. Johnson-Odom made both. ND in-bounded to Abromaitis with two ticks on the Timex. Out of timeouts, Marquette fouled, and there was not enough time for Marquette to recover. Game. Set. Match.
Marquette coach, Buzz Williams and Brey must have had similar game plans. Both teams entered play shooting better than 40 percent from behind the three-point arc (both in the nation’s top ten). Both teams shot less than 20 percent Saturday. Notre Dame went 3 of 21 (14.3%). Marquette hit 4 of 23 (17.4%).
For the fourth game in a row, the Irish have out-rebounded an opponent. The Irish won the battle of the boards 36-26. This has been a familiar theme to ND’s recent success. The Irish grabbed 10 more boards than Pitt, 11 more than Georgetown, and they had a three-rebound advantage on UConn. That’s a rebound margin over eight against some pretty good rebounding teams. Two weeks ago, ND’s rebounding margin for the year was a little more than one.
Have the Irish found their recipe? They still play a ball-control offense with an assist to turnover ratio of 1.64 :1 (3rd in the nation). ND hits 39 percent from long range (11 in the country). Now, the Irish are rebounding. That’s a good mix.
Bracketology anyone?
Click here for Rush The Court’s weekly brackets as posted by Zach Hayes. Hayes puts in his time with seeds and then makes his predictions.
Home court advantage in the balls?
Former ND hoopster Zach Hillesland is lending his insights to the New York Times. His recent piece provides an interesting look at one home-court advantage many of us might overlook.
Cheers to Tony Bennett
One thing you cannot call first-year Virginia coach, Tony Bennett, is scared. With his team mired in a slump and about to face Maryland, Bennett suspended his leading scorer.
Virginia announced late last week that Sylven Landesberg was suspended for “failing to meet his academic expectations.”
Reading between the lines, Landesberg was suspended for not meeting the team’s academic expectations as opposed to the school’s. I am not sure of Virginia’s academic calendar, but this suspension took place in March. Usually, academic suspensions occur at the end of semesters.
Maybe Virginia works on a quarter system, but judging by the wording (failing to meet his academic expectations), Landesberg’s suspension is the result of Bennett’s direct supervision of his player’s progress. It is refreshing to hear of a coach taking a stand like this.
Landesberg leads the Cavaliers with 17 points. Virginia has lost their last nine.
Long past due
During our recent trip to southern Ohio, the better half and I caught a pair of games and learned of a tradition. While at the St. Joe’s – Xavier game, we were “distracted” by the contnuous motion of the Hawks’ mascot. At first we (wife, daughter, and myself) thought the Hawk would flap “its” wings until St. Joe’s scored. The Hawks found the twine, and that bird kept flapping. Maybe, we thought, the mascot would continue until St. Joe’s got the lead. That never happened. And the mascot never stopped flapping its wings. In fact, through all the time-outs and even half time, the Hawk stayed in constant motion. It was not until later that we learned “the Hawk will never die!”
What a great commitment by the student mascot.
18 to get 16
A week from today we will know the brackets, and fans will make their predictions. Without knowing any match-ups, I’m thinking of the teams most likely to win two games and advance to the Sweet Sixteen. First weekend games could pose some of these teams against each other. With that in mind, here are 18 teams capable of winning two games in The Dance.
The obvious: Kansas, Syracuse, Kentucky (unless they play a Big Ten team on the first weekend), Ohio State, Duke
The arguable: Kansas State, Michigan State, Maryland, Wisconsin, Xavier, Temple, West Virginia, Villanova, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Pittsburgh, BYU, Notre Dame.
1st Team All Casey
PG Jon Scheyer – Duke
SG Jordan Crawford – Xavier
SF Evan Turner – Ohio State
PF Da’Sean Butler – West Virginia
C Greg Monroe – Georgetown
2nd Team All Casey
PG – Greivis Vasquez – Maryland
SG Andy Rautins – Syracuse
SF Wes Johnson – Syracuse
PF Damion James – Texas
C Cole Aldrich – Kansas
All-freshmen
John Wall – Kentucky
Xavier Henry – Kansas
DeMarcus Cousins – Kentucky
Dane Miller – Rutgers
Mason Plumlee – Duke
Got any college hoops splinters? Share them here.
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