Providence on the Road this Wednesday

[Cosmiclove 0]

Scott looked like he'll be out for awhile which is going to hurt us down the stretch. Forget playing pussified offense and letting a three-win team get back in it, losing Carleton is going to mean another early exit in both tourneys which is only ganna add more fuel to the fire.

 

Someone will point out that we won and are ranked ninth place, but the rest of us see how easily we allow lesser teams back in it and see the relevance when it comes to playing in the tournament. Watch out, especially without CS. Might get bumpy... He's the lone athlete ND has.

 

Were there any updates on Scott after he got injured? What is your speculation based on?

[OklahomaIrish 0]

We don't know anything on Scott just yet, but if we lose him it will kill us. Brooks was crazy good at shooting, but we sure didn't help out on defense when he beat his man. We match up better with Seton Hall and Villanova. If Scott is out we are going to need Cooley to play and play well.

[FaithInIrish Forever 4,704]

They Made 8 from the line. ND made 21. Plus 13. We can thank free throw shooting and offensive aggression causing opponents to foul for this victory. I feel like mr. free throw stat nerd, but in close games that stat can really show who had the other team on their heels and dictated action offensively. ND must play better Defense though.

 

go irish

Edited February 24, 2011 by FaithInIrishForever

[Guest athlete37]

People need to stop complaining about a road win. Almost every other team in the conference has a loss to a team that won't make the tourney. ND isn't doing that, getting Wins on the ROAD are great in the Big East-- NO MATTER HOW YOU SPIN IT

[Donjuan 16]

People need to stop complaining about a road win. Almost every other team in the conference has a loss to a team that won't make the tourney. ND isn't doing that, getting Wins on the ROAD are great in the Big East-- NO MATTER HOW YOU SPIN IT

 

I think the spin is on your end. True, we won. Nobody here is complaining about the final outcome.

 

The complaints are stemming from everybody and their moms knowing the Friars have one guy who can win the game for the entire team, and yet Notre Dame not only gave up 52 points to him, but ushered him right to the rim unscathed and allowed him to shoot deep.

 

I know he hit some incredible well-defended shots, but he also walked down the court and pulled up from NBA range and drilled several jump shot three-pointers--from the top of the key, with no pick. Not to mention the dribble-drives where our defender would "force" him to put the ball on the floor, guiding him to the supposed teeth of our defense, and not one ND defender would leave their man for help defense and Brooks would be all alone hitting an around-the-world like short bank shot.

 

It almost seemed like Brey told the team that they'd be running if they left their man to help and allowed for an easy lay-up. Simply played like stone once Brooks drove by our over-pursuers. Now Brooks definitely played out of his mind and was in a hell of a zone, but ND's approach didn't seem to keep the damage to a minimum and almost cost them the game.

 

Then we could talk about not attacking the zone press. All of a sudden it's a close game. It wasn't all because of Brooks' unbelievable record-setting night. Playing to just get the ball over the midcourt stripe wasn't getting it done. The most vulnerable defense in basketball is after you break a press. We really could have taken advantage by attacking their press.

 

And giving up that nice lead was a little disheartening to say the least. And this bland offense that we ran once we built our lead actually helped them out more than it did us.

 

Nobody's upset that we won, except for little miss debby downer, but I think that specific (potentially game-changing) situations in this game are what some are questioning and how it nearly cost the Irish what was a good offensive all-around team effort...

[Donjuan 16]

Were there any updates on Scott after he got injured? What is your speculation based on?

 

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2011/02/notre-dames-scott-twists-ankle-in-providence-win.html

[jfschellcrna 11]

he'll be out saturday...............

[DREWGOOSE 1]

that sucks about scott, i am glad we are playing at home. we'll need any kind of help we can get.

[OklahomaIrish 0]

Providence is a good team at home. They were right there with Pitt, Louisville and Villanova. We seem to only focus on the negative. I can only think about how Hansbrough is so strong and brings that ball up so effectively and how Abro has an awesome stroke. For Pete's sake we are a top ten team and hopefully Pitt goes down tonight against West Virginia. Biggest question is will Scott play soon.

[Donjuan 16]

We're all entitled to our own opinions even if they're critical of our top-ten ranked Irish. Hell, you think we're the only fans questioning ND's defensive gameplan last night? Go check out what all the ND beat writers are Tweeting about, then get back to us.

 

Some people just don't want to hear what ND needs to improve on. They're happy with the one-and-outs come tourney time while some of us aspire for more. In the end, it'll be our defense that we'll need to depend on...

[OklahomaIrish 0]

I'm certainly not happy with a one and out during the tournament. I sure don't expect that this year. This team will be seeded much higher then any team I can remember. Our first two games will be easier then almost anybody we play in the Big East with the exception of Depaul and maybe South Florida. We have fought for and earned a high seed, but we must keep on fighting. Our defensive improvement was enormous early in the year. We need Scott to play good interior defense and I think he will be back very soon. If we take care of business Saturday we should be back to a #2 seed and hopefully we will be 100% against Villanova on Monday and get another quality win.

[jfschellcrna 11]

scott should be back in a week or so.................okie, brooks scored more points against ND than any other single player in ND history. actually, he broke the big east record!!!!!..........hot hand or not, it is unacceptable..................

[irishrb 0]

This is a good team. Anything less than a sweet 16 is totally unacceptable. I agree with Oklahoma that based on their seed, thier first 2 opponents in the tournament should be easier than any games they have played in the Big East. I didn't get to see the game last night but my boys and I were score watching and are just glad they won. I am surprised good old Brey didn't slow the pace down once they had that double digit lead and under the 8 minute mark. Either way, they are not deep and they definitely need Scott. They also need Scott and Nash to be more aggressive come tournament time.