MEN'S BASKETBALL: Second-place Irish in search of national respect
By ANDREW SOUKUP
Associate Sports Editor
After winning five consecutive Big East games, capped by a quadruple-overtime win Saturday against Georgetown, the Irish felt they finally deserved some respect.
Too bad national pollsters thought otherwise.
In the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll, Notre Dame received just seven points. They fared slightly better in the AP poll, picking up 87 points, still nearly 46 points behind No. 25 USC.
That, Notre Dame believes, just isn't right.
Just ask Chris Thomas, who was named Sports Illustrated's Player of the Week following his performances against Rutgers and Georgetown.
"The thing I'm just most upset about with all these accolades this week is that we only have seven votes in the ESPN poll," Thomas said. "That's the main thing here."
But while Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said the Irish should be ranked after last Saturday's win against Georgetown, he's not too worried about where the Irish end up in the polls. Respect, he said, will only be expected on one day.
"I only want it on March 10 on Selection Sunday," Brey said. "For our guys, maybe they'd like to see us in those polls and, hey, I would too, but I'm not losing any sleep over it."
Seeing teams with similar records ranked ahead of Notre Dame, however, has Irish players a little miffed.
"It's real frustrating for us," Thomas said. "We feel like we've done enough so far, even though we're not satisfied. We're far from being satisfied. But we're definitely up to receive more recognition than what we're getting."
Come tonight, Notre Dame's griping about the lack of national respect will be shoved aside, as the Irish look to beat Rutgers for the second time in eight days.
Thomas was instrumental in Notre Dame's 89-72 win against the Scarlet Knights last week. He scored 32 points and shot 7-for-9 from behind the 3-point line.
"The thing that's lost is that we put it on them pretty good eight days ago, and that's kind of been lost in mix of Saturday's game," Brey said. "And I think I'm going to have to remind our guys they'll really be after us [tonight] and they play very well at home."
Brey compares the Louis Brown Athletic Center, one of the toughest places to play in the Big East, to Indiana's Assembly Hall, where the Irish lost to the Hoosiers by a point.
Rutgers is nearly unstoppable at home. In 12 home games this season, they've won 11, including four out of five in Big East play.
"Rutgers, I think, is kind of shell shocked that we beat them," freshman forward Jordan Cornette said. "They're expecting to get the best of us at their place."
In order to contain the Scarlet Knights, the Irish will have to contain streaky guards Jerome Coleman and Ricky Shields, who scored 15 and 12 points, respectively, against the Irish earlier this season.
Rutgers can also throw the ball into Rashod Kent, who picked up 12 points and five rebounds in last week's meeting.
"Last time, we were able to do what we wanted on offense," Thomas said. "The hard thing was stopping them on defense. I think they're a great offensive team. They're one of the better ones we've played so far. For us to stop them we have to limit their offensive production."
Note:
Tonight's game begins at 9 p.m. and is nationally televised on ESPN.
The Irish have struggled in nationally televised games this season. Notre Dame has lost its last seven games it has played before a national audience — including three losses from the 2000-01 season. Ironically, Notre Dame won it's last national television game at Rutgers last season.
All Sports Stories for Thursday, February 14, 2002
