Hurricanes hand Irish 63-49 defeat u Irish cannot stay on top of game
Brian Kessler
Sports Editor
After last night's disappointing loss to Miami, Irish fans have to wonder which Notre Dame basketball team will take the floor each night.
The one that knocked off Ohio State and Connect-icut on the road or the one that got spanked by Rutgers and Syracuse? The team that shot the lights out against Pittsburgh or the team that wasn't able to execute at home against Miami.
"We have everything there. I just can't figure it out," point guard Jimmy Dillon said. "Matt [Carroll] and I were sitting in the locker room trying to figure out what more we can do to be ready for games. We're a young team and one day it is just going to click for us and we're going to put things together and we'll be the team to beat."
That day better come soon. With just 10 games remaining on the regular season schedule, the Irish need to make a move if they hope to earn a NCAA bid.
Saturday's game with St. John's could be the turning point of the season. A win over the Red Storm would get the Irish in the right frame of mind as the season winds down toward rematches against Syracuse, Connecticut and Miami.
But the Irish obviously didn't have that frame of mind last night, as two Irish players were benched for not being mentally prepared.
"Everyone has a scouting report and they're supposed to know the players or group of players they could possibly guard," head coach Matt Doherty said. "David [Graves] and Harold [Swanagan] weren't as prepared as I would have liked them. So I got on them and told them starting is a reward. After that I said this was behind us and I thought Jere and Ivan should start."
In addition to not being prepared, last night's 63-49 loss to the Hurricanes could be an indication that the Irish are going to have a difficult stretch ahead of them.
"During the key moments we tried to turn things around and hope momentum would swing our way," Dillon said. "It's tough. It's the Big East and it's hard for us, but were going to strike back and learn from it and get ready to play Saturday.
"Our defensive effort wasn't bad," Dillon continued. "We just couldn't put the ball in the basket. That was the bottom line."
According to Doherty, the loss had nothing to do with a lack of effort.
"I think at Rutgers they took the fight out of us. Tonight I think our kids competed," Doherty said. "We didn't execute our plays as well as we should have, but that's something we'll work on."
It has been Notre Dame's "play hard" attitude that has bred confidence and made this season a successful one. On the down side, it has also been a source of encouragement for opposing teams.
"I think our players' effort tonight was a result of the respect our players have for the Notre Dame basketball program," Miami head coach Leonard Hamilton said. "The coach has done a tremendous job with that team. They play within themselves. They have one of the top four or five players in the country. They are a tremendous shooting team and our youngsters went in to the game with a clear understanding that if we were not on our defensive game tonight we could very well have our hat handed to us."
Nevertheless, Doherty was apologetic about his team's performance.
"I want to apologize to the fans and the students. I appreciate them being there. That means a lot to me and the guys. We want nothing more than to give them reason to get them really excited and we didn't do that. It's not that we didn't try. I promise you that."
And the Irish will be sure to give it the good ol' college try when nationally ranked St. John's storms into town.
"I think we really have to watch the film and study it and see what we can do in the framework of our personality and what we have," Doherty said. "I'm not going to scrap our offense or what we've been doing because it's been successful here and it's been successful at Kansas. We just have to make sure we execute it."
Dillon, however, still remains confident and knows the Irish will be ready to play Saturday. The only question for him is whether St. John's will be ready for Notre Dame.
"I've been here four years now and I was talking to people before the game and they're asking, `Are you going to be ready for these guys,'" Dillon said. "I don't look at it like that anymore. Those teams should be ready for us."
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, January 26, 2000
