Reconsidering importance of NIT, Doherty wants postseason title for the Irish
By BRIAN KESSLER
Assistant Sports Editor
NEW YORK
Following Notre Dame's victory over BYU last week, first-year head coach Matt Doherty hinted that he probably would have traded an NIT Championship for a first round loss in the NCAA Tournament.
Wednesday he changed his mind.
"After experiencing this tournament and the first-class manner in which it is run, I wouldn't," Doherty said at a press conference held at the Marriott Marquis in New York. "The exposure we've gotten on ESPN and the exposure our players have gotten in a tournament setting is invaluable for a young team."
That young Notre Dame team (22-14) will play for the NIT Championship tonight when they take on Wake Forest (21-14) at 7 p.m. at Madison Square Garden. Penn State and North Carolina State tip off in the consolation game at 4:45 p.m.
"It's kind of neat playing an ACC team [Wake Forest]," said Doherty who played in the ACC for North Carolina. "It brings back some memories, but our players aren't old enough to remember those days so I don't want to sound like the old coach living in the past. We want to create some new memories."
A victory over the Deamon Deacons in tonight's title game would be a nice memory for Doherty in his first year at the helm. The Irish were runner-ups in the NIT in 1973 and 1992, but have never won a postseason championship.
Notre Dame is coming off an impressive 73-52 victory over Penn State in the semifinals, however, and seems to understand what it takes to be a champion. That probably has a lot to do with their coach, who has an impressive postseason resume along with an NCAA Championship.
"As a coach you want your players to get better and your team to get better, but you also prepare for March," Doherty said. "That is something that has been instilled in me as a player at North Carolina and an assistant coach at Kansas. You hope you are peaking at the right time."
Notre Dame is definitely playing some of its best basketball of the season. The Irish have won six of their last seven games with five of those victories coming in postseason play. According to Doherty it all goes back to the last two games of the regular season.
"We played well against Syracuse and then at Georgetown we stressed the importance of being the aggressor from the start and that has really helped us," Doherty said. "Since that point we've played pretty good basketball and we hope we can come out and do the same [tonight]."
However if the Irish hope to bring a NIT championship banner back to the Joyce Center, they will have to knock off a talented Deacon squad. Wake Forest advanced to the title game with a 62-59 overtime victory against North Carolina State in the semifinals.
"What stands out about Wake Forest is their physical play in the post," Doherty said. "They are good at chesting up when you turn to shoot so you need to be strong and initiate the contact on offense or else you'll get banged off balance and won't make shots."
Wake Forest's physical play is reason for Doherty's concern about the officiating of tonight's championship game.
"It'll be interesting to see how the game is officiated," Doherty said. "If it's a very physical game and they [the refs] let it go, it will be to their liking and it'll be tough on Troy [Murphy] trying to score in the post. If it's called tighter we'll get to the foul line and that will open up the inside."
Murphy, however, won't be intimidated by Wake Forest's physical play. After all, he's seen it before.
"I don't think there is a more physical conference than the Big East," said Murphy who scored 18 points in Notre Dame's semifinal victory. "We'll be ready for it."
Doherty will also have his players ready to counter Wake Forest's aggressive man-to-man defense. He stressed the importance of scoring in transition, but he may have to do without his starting point guard. Senior Jimmy Dillon sprained his left ankle in the second half of Tuesday's game and may not be able to start. Doherty, however, is optimistic about junior Martin Ingelsby filling in at the point.
"We'll move on," Doherty said. "Martin started here for two years and I'm confident that the other guys will pick up the slack just like they did in the second half against Penn State."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, March 30, 2000
