True Gipper : University of Notre Dame Sports Blog : Conner & Eamon O'Keefe : True Gipper

   The Irish are on the bubble. I believe we need to win 6 out of the last 7 games with the only loss at #1 UCONN to have a decent shot at the tournament. That would mean big wins at west virginia and providence, also a huge win against #13 Villinova at home. Do I think it is possible? YES, for sure. We definitely have the talent level to beat anyone as we proved that by beating #7 Louisville by 33. If we were to win 6 out of last 7 our overall record would be 19-11 and a pretty decent conference record of 10-8. Notre Dame's RPI is not very high and our strength of schedule is not very high even though i believe it is a top five hardest schedule in the nation. I do not know how they do the strength of schedule because we have played 12 ranked teams after playing Louisville. The Irish have/going to have played many good teams that are not ranked like Cincinnati, West Virginia, Ohio State, Providence.

game to go:

South Florida 2/15 2:00 (all times ET)

@ West Virginia 2/18 7:00

@ Providence 2/21 12:00

Rutgers 2/25 7:00 (on ESPNU)

@ #1 Uconn 2/28 2:00 (CBS)

#13 Villinova 3/2 7:00 (ESPN)

St. Johns 3/6 7:00

The Key for the Irish to win these games: DEFENSE. Irish actually played defense against Louiville and look what happened, Irish won by 33.

The Key players' for the Irish to win these games: I was going to just say Kyle McAlarney because of outside shooting but then I had to include Ryan Ayers. When McAlarney and Ayers start shooting the ball well then that opens up so much for Luke Harangody. When they are shooting well it takes off the double teams off of Harangody. So then teams only can put one man on Harangody. Everyone knows "The Gody" can destroy anyone mano e mano.

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The Fighting Irish defeated the Georgetown Hoyas 73-67 to extend the Irish's home winning streak to 44 games. The Fighting Irish have defeated everybody to come into Joyce Center since they lost to Butler on  november 13, 2006. They have now beat every Big East team at home in this streak except the Rutgers, who the Irish will play February 25. The Irish also got to snap their 5 game skid vs. the Hoyas dating back to February 16, 2005 at home.

The key thing the Irish did to win this game was defense. They allowed only 67 points to a good Georgetown team that has Dajuan Summers and Greg Monroe. The Irish forced the Hoyas to shoot 41.7% from the field and 22.2% from behind the arc.

Harangody led the Irish and the game in points with a season high 31 points. Harangody was 11-19 from the field and 9-9 from the charity stripe. McAlarney (McAmazing) had 17 points and was 5-11 from three point land. Tory Jackson lead the Irish in assists with 7 and had 10 points.

The Irish showcased their potential to be a top 5 team in the nation if they play like that game after game. They will at least be at the top of the Big East all year long with Pitt and UCONN.  They just have to do what they do best and thats score, and then they just have to play some decent defense. Then the Irish can compete with any team in the nation.

The Fighting Irish will try to extend their home winning streak to 45 this saturday against the Seton Hall Pirates.

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Notre Dame going into Big East is not in the best shape but they are in good shape. Notre didn't play has good as they should've in non-conference but they got through it with only two losses to Ohio State and UNC. There are a few things Notre Dame has to do to be successful in the Big East.

- Establish another big man. Notre Dame bases its team around Luke Harangody and thats a good idea. Notre Dame just has to establish another big man in the paint to take the pressure and the double teams off Harangody. Last year ND had Rob Kurz to take some pressure off and more teams were unaware of THE GODY. There are a few people in mind that could take off pressure down low.

• Zach Hillesland the senior starter at power forward. He has not been very productive this year only averaging 6.3 points a game and 6.2 rebounds a game. But with his body size (6-9 and 233 pounds) and with his individual skills i think he can at least take off some pressure down.
• Luke Zeller former McDonalds high school  all-american (he is a bust). Zeller could take some pressure off with his height and ability to shoot the 3. But he is just not nearly physical enough to match up against the big east powers like Dajaun Blair (pitt), Jeff Adrian and Hasheem Thabeet (Uconn), Greg Monroe (Georgetown), and many more.

- More consistent shooting.The second game the Irish lost this year was against Ohio State, during that game the irish were 36% from the field and 38% from three. While McAlarney and Ayers were a combined 3-13 (23%) from 3 and them combined are 80-170 (47%) from three this year.

- DEFENSE clap clap DEFENSE. The Irish really need to pick up if they want to contend for a big east title. Early this year I am sure you remember the Hawaii Invitiational championship against UNC. Harangody couldn't stop Hansbrough to save his life and Tory Jackson couldnt' keep up and in front of Lawson. Their points against average isnt bad so far but that because they have only played two good teams texas got 80 points and UNC got 102.

Overall in the Big East i see the Irish finishing 3rd or 4th.

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