MEN'S BASKETBALL: Hungry Mountaineers ready for Irish feast
By KERRY SMITH
Sports Writer
An 8-16 team with a lone conference win ordinarily would not scare the Irish.
But the West Virginia squad coming to the Joyce Center tonight is no ordinary struggling team.
The Mountain-eers are hungry. They blew a 15-point lead in a home loss to the Irish in January. They have no chance at post-season play.
Their head coach Gale Catlett just resigned in the midst of his worst season in 30 years.
And with just four games remaining in the regular season, they have nothing to lose.
And the Irish know it.
"West Virginia scares the hell out of me, that's for sure," Irish forward David Graves said, following a Sunday loss to Syracuse. "They're a scary team. The coach dismisses himself and you never know how the kids are going to respond."
Yet without knowing exactly how the team will react, Graves is in a good position to guess — playing under three coaches in four seasons, he's been there.
"I've been in that situation and when a coach is let go or retires, you feel like you failed him," Graves said Tuesday. "You feel like you're the player that goes out and performs and you didn't get the job done and he's the one who has to pay the consequences for it. I've been in those shoes before ... You just kind of pin your ears back and play."
That type of reaction from Mountaineer players could be all the more likely, as Catlett publicly attacked his players for their lack of pride after losing to Virginia Tech Feb. 13, the day before he resigned.
Now, with Catlett's nephew, assistant coach Drew Catlett, manning the bench, the Mountaineers find themselves in the role of spoiler.
"I think for them it's their Big East tournament," Irish head coach Mike Brey said. "They don't go to the Big East tournament, so to beat Notre Dame or Georgetown at home, that's their Big East tournament — to try to get one of those."
The Irish, who have stumbled in their last two outings, know how important it is to pick up wins in their final leg of the regular season — especially when their opposition has nothing to lose.
Because the Mountaineers threaten to come out and upset the Irish, Brey wants his team to step on the court with the same mental attitude.
"[The Mountaineers] are going to play very fearlessly with nothing to lose," Brey said. "I think for us, we still want to play fearlessly and go after them and attack. That's a tricky situation to be in."
Winning games is key for the Irish, who at 17-8 overall and 7-5 in the Big East conference, are contending for a high seed in the conference's West Division and a berth in the NCAA tournament.
No one knows that better than point guard Chris Thomas, who has struggled in the team's two consecutive losses.
"Our backs are against the wall and we just have to get it done," point guard Chris Thomas said.
The freshman shot 0-14 from the field in Notre Dame's three-point loss to Rutgers and 3-11 in another three-point loss to Syracuse Sunday. Typically a deadly 3-point weapon, Thomas went a combined 1-14 from behind the arc in both games.
But Brey is not overly worried about his starter.
"I haven't overanalyzed it with him. I think Chris is the kind of guy who can bounce back," he said. "He went through a little segment like that before. I have confidence he'll bounce back. I don't want him dwelling on his shot that much."
What Brey does want his team dwelling on is the keys to a victory against the Mountaineers.
Citing transition defense, rebounding and taking care of freshman guard Jonathan Hargett and senior forward Chris Moss, two of the team's most explosive offensive threats, Brey is focused on keeping his team's attention on the game at hand.
"We're in the stretch now, and every time we take the floor it will be important," Brey said. "West Virginia — their record isn't good but all I know is we were down 15 at the half. And so we have to be really ready to play."
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, February 20, 2002
