Irish frustration leads to two-game losing streak
Andrew Soukup
Associate Sports Editor
Complacency has found its way into the Notre Dame locker room.
It has seeped onto the Joyce Center floor and infiltrated the bench. It has crept into players' and coaches' minds. It has transformed confidence into frustration and turned locks into bubbles.
A week ago, the Irish soared as high as they could soar after a quadruple-overtime win and all but demanded to be ranked in the Top 25. Now they're riding a two-game losing streak.
When David Graves' desperation 3-pointer at the end of the game sailed wide of the rim, reality caught up with the Irish.
Earth to Notre Dame: Welcome back.
"We were beaten before that," Mike Brey said. "We had that six, seven point lead and we couldn't make it nine."
Look at how the shoulders slumped in the second half when the Orangemen came down the court and cut the lead to five, then three, then one point. As the score got more and more closer, the Irish got more and more frustrated.
Finally, when Syracuse's Kueth Duany hit a free throw to tie the game, they looked like they knew the game was over.
Even though there were eight minutes left to play. And the score was tied.
"All of a sudden, we were down," Brey said. "That, psychologically, hurt us."
The team that Brey said was toast with plenty of time to go was the same team that battled through four overtimes for a win a week ago.
We weren't going to leave without a win, some players said as they walked out of the visiting locker room at the MCI Center last week. We can control our own destiny, others said.
Now, the only things the Irish can control are the clichés coming out of their mouths.
A week ago, this was a cocky, confident team a week ago that sounded like they wanted to play every Top 25 team just to prove they deserved to be ranked. And they acted like they would win every one of those games, too.
Apparently, the Irish forgot the one certain rule in Big East basketball play this year.
There are no certainties.
Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh twice. Pittsburgh beat Syracuse twice. Syracuse beat Notre Dame twice. Boston College plays poorly against every team but No. 10 Miami — the Eagles have beaten the Hurricanes twice.
And just when the Irish thought they were on the verge of pulling away from the chaos, complacency sucked them right back into the mix.
"It's just a frustrating situation," Graves said. "Now we're back down in the tier of our division."
It's fine to be higher than Nate Newton, like the Irish were last week. They deserved to be, too. Five straight wins in the Big East would make any team stand up and brag.
They just forgot how quickly things can change.
And when the shots don't fall, the ball hits the wrong part of the rim and the calls start to go the other way, the Irish should have been ready to adjust.
Too bad they weren't.
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 18, 2002
