Irish Cruise Past St. Johns in Senior's Last Home Game

I have to admit that I didn't watch the ND St. Johns game last night; ESPNU was carrying the Boston College game in my area, and my internet cable provider doesn't support ESPN 360. The gamecast I was using didn't help much either; I was able to get the score, but the live stats were a little off. How off? Let's just say that red shirt freshman Carlton Scott was credited with 3 points... O well, at least I had the nice alternative of watching fellow 330 citizen LeBron James drop 50 points in a win over the Knicks at the Garden. I could stare at the box score for awhile and try to write a post that made it seem like I saw the game, but for the sake of our loyal readers, I'll spare them my commentary and just link the ESPN and SBT game recaps.

I realize that a majority of the people who visit this site are not as avidly involved with ND Basketball as they are with our loyal sons on the football field, so in an effort to prepare everyone for the upcoming Big East tourney, I would like to point to a pleasantly funny Observer article by student writer Bob Kessler that sums up the team for those not as familiar with this year's bball squad.

February has been a great month for this university, and I'm not talking about the proliferation of waffle fries in the SDH.

It's pretty amazing looking back: two years ago (when we last lost at the JACC, to Marquette) nobody would have expected that we would witness our football team lose more games than our basketball team over the next two years.

On Harangody: Some tried to call him Bam-Bam last year; Digger calls him "Gody," but the fans in the JACC just prefer to call him "LUUUUUUUUUUKE."

On the team's trio of point guards: Tory Jackson gets rebounds like it's his job, K-Mac drains threes from ridiculous range, and Peoples has the biggest calves this side of Robert Hughes.

On Zeller, Ayers, and Hillesland: each of these guys has his own unique skill-set, but they all share the ability to throw down at any given moment in a game.

While the Legion is referred to as the 6th Man for the Irish, everybody knows the real 6th man is Janice McAlarney (J-Mac, mother of K-Mac).

On the Legion Shirt: Students sit behind the basket wearing black this year, a nice color choice, with designs that remind us of something out of Hello Kitty. Really, there couldn't possibly be a less intimidating font choice for the shirts this year. At least they aren't as bad as "The Shirt," which is made to fit Charlie Weis and Scott Malpass; even those ones that are sized small.

On Brey: His tieless wardrobe and trademark fist pumps keep the team excited and keep the fans on their feet.

Many thanks to Bob Kessler for the 5 minute guide to ND basketball, but there is one more basketball player to pay homage to. Senior forward Rob Kurz played his final game in the JACC last night, going for 15 points and 4 rebounds. Kurz has provided ND with great leadership and a more than capable skill set over the last two undefeated home seasons, and it was a pleasure to be able to watch him play. Kurz also supplies us with this week's quotes.

"It's been an unbelievable experience," the senior said. "You work your whole life to play college basketball and now its coming to an end."

But don't worry, Kurz knows that he still has work to do:

"You can't pat yourself on the back right now," Kurz said. "Until we win a couple games in the (NCAA) Tournament, I'm not going to feel like we've accomplished what we set out to do."
"The most important part of the season is right now."

Excellently put. Go Irish! Beat Bulls!