Irish Musings

Hoops: Alabama Game

December 8, 2006

Most Irish hoops fans were turned off by what they had perceived as a softer than Dairy Queen early season schedule and an early loss to a Butler team that at the time no one realized was becoming a fine if not great team. So, when the Irish upset #23 ranked Maryland few fans were even aware that the game was being played. After all, the Irish are no good, Brey is a bum, the last three seasons have been huge disappointments, the other Quinn is gone, there is no talent, Brey cannot recruit and so on and so on!

But last night against a very tough athletic Alabama team, the Fighting Irish really showed up big time. For some time now the Irish hoopsters have been a riddle wrapped in an enigma ensconced at the end of a cul-de-sac. But last night they played so surprisingly well, that one supposes that they must have been accompanied by ghosts named Dantley, Carr and Ellis.

After a brief flurry of early exchanges, Alabama took control of the boards and at one point had an 8 to 1 advantage banging away mercilessly against the slower, smaller, less athletic and weaker Irish. They took a commanding lead, but it was too early in the half and the momentum swung back to the Irish as Alabama kept doing too much of the same thing.

For most of the half, the Irish vacillated between a man to man or a switching man to man defense, but as the half drew to a close, the valiant Irish closed the gap and in an uncharacteristically brilliant move, Brey ordered his charges into a 1-3-1 trap zone for the last play before the buzzer. The Irish stole the ball and got the bucket running off the court with great energy and a tie on the scoreboard.

At this point this writer was afraid to become too excited and too happy, for we had all been so bitterly disappointed by all the last minute losses last year. Then as the second half opened, Alabama reasserted itself showing the same leaping ability, raw athletic talent and body strength that they had in the first part of the game. It looked like they might run away with the game. The Irish never lost their intensity, though and most importantly they played a nearly perfect floor game, not committing a turnover for 19.5 minutes. A sizable Alabama lead started to shrink once the Irish figured out that the visitors were going to try an easy high-low back door pass on nearly every play.

Colin Falls had accumulated four fouls from aggressive play heretofore not ever displayed by this three point wonder, and Brey re-inserted him into the lineup after what one must imagine were some brief instructions to play under the hoop and step in to take away the easy back door play which he deftly did, drawing the charge and turning the momentum back in favor of the Irish.

Then Russell “The Leaping Lizard” Carter shocked everyone with All-American play, stealing the ball driving the length of the court for a big dunk and then hitting more threes! McAlarney and Falls and Kurz played superbly, but Carter was the showpiece on this magnificent night. Can this be the same player who stumbled around accomplishing nothing in most of his short outings two years ago? The inconsistency that has been his trademark may yet return to plague him and the Irish this year, but on this night the curators in Springfield, Mass began to look for a place for him in the pantheon of all time greats. Yes, he was that great, for last night Russell Carter soared with the eagles, scoring 27 points, garnering 5 rebounds and three steals, all of which seemed to come at the most propitious moments of the game.

By the five minute mark, the Irish had built up a ten point lead and the impossible began to look like it might happen, but then……

At the five minute mark disaster nearly struck. The invaders mounted a furious attack as the Irish slowed down the tempo to work the clock, their string of errorless minutes came to a jolting end and they committed three of the most puerile turnovers imaginable. Alabama ran seven straight points to close within three with just a couple of minutes left on the clock and as they did all Irish fans watching must have said to themselves “Here we go again!” But the lapse of concentration was just that—an all too brief lapse of just 1:58 seconds that went for Alabama fans as the Irish mounted a furious run of 15 points while all Coach Gottfried and the Alabama players could do is look on in wonder as the Irish recaptured their up tempo game, ran the length of the court as though it were their own, forced turnovers and drove Alabama into a last minute helter skelter run that their coach will bemoan for the rest of his career.

Perhaps the most searing image of all from this run is the picture of 6’8” 270 pound man-child Luke Harangody, a raw freshman from the state of Indiana who has Hoosier bloodlines, steal the ball from gaping mouthed Alabama players, run the length of the court, go up for the basket at the key, fly toward the rim and sink, only to be fouled and then to make the foul shot for a key three point play. If you have not seen him, he looks like a white Adrian Dantley, when Dantley had all the baby fat on him as a freshman, but he is 30% larger than Dantley and looks like he should be playing for Charlie as well. He would be a great opposite to Sam Young next year and has more enthusiasm than the O-linemen displayed most of this year. Clearly, he has some rough edges and shows that, but he is an immovable object, a force to be reckoned with, a good shooter and boy does he have heart. Mike Brey got a good one in him!

Incidentally, Luke ran the court one other time in the game. Ask yourself when is the last time an Irish big man ran the court twice in a game and scored both times!!!!

The Irish locked it up in super convincing fashion with a final score of 99-85 against a team that had not given up more than 62 points to any of their previous opponents.

Something has changed Brey and the Irish. They played up tempo, they played with great enthusiasm, they played with ferocity most of the time—a ferocity they could teach the Defense on the football team, they maximized their skills, they played together and they played without mistakes for nearly half the game. It simply does not look like the Irish have looked, not since the one year seven years ago, when Doherty coached them. Can someone help me with an explanation? Has Mike Brey hired some new assistant coaches who have convinced him to change?

Is this an apparition that will go away or is there a new Mike Brey and a new atmosphere in the Joyce? It is too early to tell. Over the past six years the Irish have been inconsistent, both over the course of the season and within their games—more so than most teams. When coupled with a penchant for playing a prevent offense in the latter stages of the game instead of dancing with the girl they brought to the game, the net result has been heartache, disappointment and feelings of betrayal. It will be at least eight games into the Big East schedule before we know for sure what the nature of this strange phenomenon is, but at least there is hope now in Irish Nation for a new day!!

Either way, Irish fans who believe, who never give up and who were privileged to watch the game last night will never forget what their sore old eyes saw—a great game, great play by the Irish and an unforgettable win!

Now, a word to the football team: watch the tape of this game and GO IRISH!

Charlie

901-682-8569
www.ndirishmusings.com and www.rightbrainpeople.com