Feb. 19, 2008

By Brian Curtis

Senior Writer, CSTV.com

BRIAN CURTIS
Curtis is CSTV.com's Senior Writer and CSTV's football and basketball insider.
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        ---   Column Archive   --- M. BASKETBALL 4/11: Fits Like A Glove...Or Not 3/30: First Final Four Thoughts 3/28: The Other Four 3/20: Loser's Lament 3/17: RPI Becoming After Thought For Selection Committee 3/16: Quick Look Ahead 3/10: Mediocre Make-Or-Break 3/5: All Over The Map 2/26: Don't Count Out Kentucky Yet 2/19: Notre Dame Looking To Play In March Again 1/28: On The Rebound 1/20: Dropping Like Flies 7/26: Prosser Respected By All 6/29: Odds & Ends 6/1: Donovan - Good For Him 4/25: Wednesday Thoughts 4/13: Afflalo's Journey Continues 4/6: Gillispie Good Fit For Kentucky 4/4: Final Final Four Thoughts 3/24: Intermission: Act III 3/22: Smith's Move To Big Ten, Surprising 3/17: Intermission 3/10: T-Minus 36 Hours 2/24: Bigger Isn't Better 2/17: The Commonwealth 2/2: Howland Liking His Bruins 1/28: What I'm Thinking 7/07: The ABCs of ABCD: Day Two 7/07: The ABCs of ABCD: Day Two 7/06: The ABCs of ABCD: Day One 4/26: And the Seatch Continues... 4/5: And So the Season Is Done 3/28: What You Need to Know... 3/27: Enough About the Parity 3/26: One of the Shockers of My Lifetime 3/24: Atlanta: The Day After 3/20: Tuesday Morning QB (Point Guard) 3/16: Nine Thoughts From Day One 3/13: Selection Afterthoughts 3/09: Thursday Nine-Point Shot 3/08: Wednesday Three-Point Shot 3/04: What I Am Hearing 2/28: The Tuesday Eight 2/21: Trials and Tribulations 2/15: In The Nation's Capitol 2/08: Holy War: On the Wildcat Trail 1/20: Hoops Blitz: Rocky Top Rivalry 1/14: The Jury Is Still Out FOOTBALL 2/12: LSU To Promote Two Assts. To Def. Coordinator 1/20: The Three C's 1/14: Assistants In The Spotlight 1/9: Tomey On Hawai'i Wish List 1/8: LSU Impresses Like Never Before 1/3: Source: Caravantes Loses Ruling 1/3: The Right Man For The Job 12/29: The Coordinator Carousel 12/29: Bruins Get Much Needed Bravado 12/28: No Formal Interview For Locksley 12/26: Three Schools Still Searching 12/19: Football News & Notes 12/14: Updating The Carousel 12/8: Heisman Voters Got It Right 12/8: Michigan Coaching Search A Mess 12/4: Sizing Up The BCS 12/1: Summing Up The Searches 11/24: Black Saturday 11/19: Out With Carr, In With Miles? 11/18: Falling Down, Rising Up 11/11: When An Upset's Not An Upset 11/4: Where's The Outrage? 10/27: Coach Speak 10/21: What You're Not Hearing 10/14: Assume Nothing 10/7: Down On The Bayou 9/30: A Quick Read On Wild Week 5 9/23: The Heroes and Zeros of the Zeros 9/19: Crystal Ball Blitz 9/16: Sunday Morning Thoughts 9/9: Still No Answers 9/1: Some Things You Just Can't Explain 8/24: USC's Plethora of RBs Dwindling 8/14: Maryland, Illinois May Surprise Some 8/08: College Football News And Notes 7/30: Remembering Bill Walsh 07/15: Sooners, Carr and More 01/09: The Day After 01/03: Unbelievable 11/26: They Get It Right 11/3: An Unexpected Reaction 10/30: A Legacy Like No Other 9/30: Quick Replay 9/24: Will We Have Any Unbeatens? 9/10: The Rest of the Story 9/4: Lessons Learned From Week 1 8/28: The Insider 8/13: College Football Kicks Off 1/6: A Rose By Any Other Game 1/3: Home Game Feel For USC 1/3: Point/Counterpoint - Round 14 1/2: The Rose Bowl Blitz 1/1: The Making of Pete Carroll BASEBALL 6/4: Time's Ticking For Porcello KINGMAKERS 1/29: The West Virginia Saga 1/30: The Agents 1/30: The Donors

Notre Dame is a very quiet 19-5, en route to another NCAA Tournament berth.  But the schedule isn't easy in the next two weeks, with conference games against Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Louisville and DePaul. Whether or not you believe Notre Dame is deserving of its No. 21 ranking and a potential No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the tourney, it's hard to debate what has happened to Luke Harangody. The big fella may be playing better than anyone else in America. Last year, on a team dominated by shooting guards, the junior averaged 11 points and six rebounds. Now, averaging a double-double, Harangody is shooting 50 percent from the floor while getting to the line 155 times. 

"He's a throwback," says his coach, Mike Brey, "a guy unspoiled by the system." In the offseason, Harangody went from 15 to 8 percent body fat, shedding a few pounds along the way. His conditioning is better which allows him to average 30 minutes a game. The Irish have transitioned to an inside-out team, and are the most physical Notre Dame team under Brey, leading the Big East in rebounding margin. Ryan Ayers and Kyle McAlarney still can shoot the ball, and Tory Jackson is emerging, but the offense still goes down low first.

In addition to Harangody, another reason for the Notre Dame success might just be stability. Brey has started just six different players this season, using the same starting lineup the last seven games, going 6-1, after replacing Ayers with Zach Hillesland on Jan. 26 and never looking back. As a team, the Irish are outrebounding opponents by nine, getting to the free throw line 217 more times and hitting 10 percent more of their free throws. Amazingly, the statistics across the board are not much different from last year's Notre Dame team, which went 24-6 before losing to Winthrop in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  

Despite the 19 wins, the Top 25 RPI, the Big East Player of the Year candidate and an impressive home win streak, there are skeptics. But the Irish's five losses haven't been bad: Baylor and Georgia Tech back in November in the Paradise Jam, blowout losses to Marquette and Georgetown on the road, and last week's loss on the road at UConn. Critics point to a weak non-conference schedule but when combined with a tough Big East slate, the Irish SOS is a respectable 74. The best wins have come against UConn and Marquette at home, as well as a win over Kansas State. 

I think Brey's team has all the ingredients for a run in the NCAAs.  Maybe to the Sweet Sixteen--maybe further.  If Harangody is on the court, good things will happen.

Anyone who watched Indiana's dismantling of Michigan State on Saturday probably was thinking what I was thinking: What was Kelvin Sampson thinking? Here is a guy under investigation by the NCAA and his own university and who, by many accounts, could be out of a job in a matter of days. He walks onto the Assembly Hall court to silence with a few scattered cheers and boos, and leaves with some fans chanting his name. Winning does that. So what was he thinking at the end of the 80-61 win? "I tried hard to focus on my team and focus on my family." Yeah, but how did it feel to hear those cheers at the end of the game I asked him on Monday? He felt better for his wife, daughter and team, than for himself. Still, there are dark days ahead.  It appears that Indiana is not really using the seven days to investigate but rather to find the appropriate legal means to fire Sampson. If that happens, which I believe it will, look for Dan Dakich to take over for the rest of the season, which could be a Final Four season. As for a permanent replacement? It's safe to say that athletic director Rick Greenspan won't have the unilateral freedom to hire a coach, the power that he had two years ago in hiring Sampson.

What a great game on Saturday night between No. 1 Memphis and UAB. I mean, the Memphis comeback, the clutch free throw by Chris Douglas-Roberts and the postgame, well, incident. Conference USA is investigating just what happened after the game ended involving players, fans and security. Were UAB fans rushing the court not realizing that their team had actually lost? Did players from Memphis and UAB act appropriately when leaving the court? Was the security present enough? C-USA is in the process of gathering first-hand accounts from those at the game, as well as still pictures and video of the postgame incident. A final report could be issued as early as today, or this week. The conference, unlike the SEC, does not have a standard set of rules governing fan behavior, but that is an issue currently under consideration.

North Carolina is a good basketball team. Size, speed, depth, shooters, you name it. But clearly, big man Tyler Hansbrough is the star, leading the team in scoring in 20 of its 26 games. Coach Roy Williams tells me team after team tries to limit the big man but that Hansbrough, and all athletic big guys, "cause problems." As Williams points out, opponents have double and triple-teamed Hansbrough to try and contest more of his shots, but he still makes his way to the free throw line a lot: 269 times at 81 percent. The Tar Heel with the next most free throw attempts is Marcus Gaynard with 85. And when teams do throw extra men down low, Carolina has done a good job getting the ball to the open man. Like all Williams' teams, Carolina's defense has been the most impressive, holding opponents to under 42 percent from the floor and 33 percent from three-point land with a plus-57 turnover margin.

Coaching season is almost upon us and a few names likely to crop up for better or for worse: Randy Bennett, Randy Monroe, Leonard Hamilton, Paul Hewitt, Norm Roberts, Sean Miller, Tim Welsh, Sean Sutton, Bobby Braswell, Anthony Grant, Dave Dickerson, Mike Davis, Bob McKillop, Brad Stevens, Keno Davis, Ernie Kent, Mark Gottfried, Rodney Tention, Ron Everhart, Gib Arnold, Brett Gunning, Tony Jones, Mike Davis and Craig Robinson.