ND fails to show up in the 1st half; Falls in the Big East again

Although the Irish will probably partake in the NIT in the upcoming weeks, Wednesday night's game against West Virginia essentially ended the season for the once-promising Notre Dame basketball team.  The Irish came out in their second straight game in two days bitterly cold and were down 36-18 at halftime.  We saw a rejuvenated Irish team in the second half, where they cut the lead at one point to 7, but it was too late of a comeback.  The Irish struggled on both offense and defense at times and were not able to put the two together at any point during the contest.  West Virginia star Alex Ruoff had 25 points for the Mountaineers, while Devin Ebanks snatched 18 rebounds.  The Moutaineers dominated on the boards, outrebounding the Irish 44-27 (with 15 offensive rebounds) in what has become too similar of a fashion for Irish fans.  For Notre Dame, Luke Harangody was on fire in the second half and finished the game with 27 points and 8 rebounds.  Kyle McAlarney had 17 points and Ryan Ayers had 11.  The Irish bench only contributed 1 point.

Another disappointing night for Zach Hillesland and the Irish

Not a lot of comments from me tonight about the actual game.  We knew it would be tough to come in and play night after night, but that is the position we put ourselves in.  We came out absolutely dreadful in the first half and we learned, once again, that you can't do that to yourselves and expect to win.  I was happy with the effort that the guys gave in the 2nd half, as it was refreshing to see them do something other than give up, but again, it was too late.  Harangody probably played flawlessly in the 2nd half, but his teammates made too many mistakes on offense and well, business as usual on defense and on the boards.

If you didn't catch the game, not only was it a matchup of the Mountaineers and the Irish, but also possibly a matchup of the two worst dressed coaches in the country.  Well done, Coach Brey and Coach Huggins.

What a disappointing season this has been.  I think we all realized that we weren't a Top 10 team, but at the very least, you expect a NCAA bid.  I think most fans of the program had reasonable expectations for the season and we knew that the Big East is a tough conference, but we looked flat-out bad at times this season.  I'm sure we'll get into it after the season, but I don't know where we can go from here.  Those of you who want Brey gone - I can see where you are coming from, but don't expect it to happen unless it is on his own terms.  That said, I could see (and hope) Brey giving his assistants a hard look in the offseason.  We need an older coach to come in and teach our team how to play some tough-nosed defense.  We can't outscore everyone all the time.  I'd also like to see someone come in as a top recruiter.  It would be nice if they had some connections to New York or Chicago.  I don't buy the admissions excuse; this program can attract top players.  No reasons it can't.

I know us Irish fans can be accused of wearing our rose-colored glasses a bit too often, but I will go out there and say that this team will be a better team next year, provided Luke Harangody returns.  Despite their limitations, McAlarney and Ayers will be missed.  They are two great outside shooters and were leaders on this team.  But let's face it, the other two seniors (Hillesland and Zeller) did not live up to expectations and were liabilities on both ends of the floor this year.  We know what we can get out of Harangody and Jackson and I am hoping that Peoples can add a little to the mix as well - at times he looked like a good bench player.  Nash improved so much this season and should move into the starting lineup next year.  The two transfers (Scott Martin and Ben Hansbrough) will add some instant offense and will have the opportunity to start.  I think the two redshirt sophomores in Tim Abromatis and Carleton Scott will surprise some people and hopefully one of the freshmen can add something as well.  Throw in those two new assistants that I spoke about above and this team can make the tournament in an (hopefully) easier conference next year.

No word yet on the upcoming NIT game.  I have no idea when it starts and really have no intention of spending time trying to find out.  Maybe next week...