We had another great show tonight. Sean Milligan joined the show, and we also introduced our latest hire, Sean Mele, to our audience. Some great stuff on tonight’s show.
To listen to the broadcast click the link below and then click on the latest Power Hour on our blog.
Louisville, KY — Skylar Diggins scored a game-high 21 points to lift No. 3 Notre Dame to a 68-52 win over 16th-ranked Louisville.
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(Note: This is the first in a series of fictional memos from Notre Dame’s No. 1 fan to key players for the 2012 Fighting Irish.) MEMO To: John Goodman From: Goldy Domer, #1 Irish Fan Subject: Your final year of eligibility John: Four years goes by quickly, doesn’t it? It seems like only yesterday we…
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Mik Aoki had a feeling his second edition of Notre Dame baseball would be able to hit much better than the first.
So far, he’s right?and then some.
Notre Dame (2-1) came out smoking this past weekend, rapping out double-digit hits in all three games while averaging nearly nine runs per game and hitting .379 as a team.
After defeating Illinois 13-12 on Friday and Iowa 5-2 on Saturday, the defense let Notre Dame down Sunday in a 15-8 setback at the hands of Purdue. But it was a satisfactory start to Aoki’s second season with the Irish.
“We did a good job of swinging the bats, especially when you consider how anemic we were last year,” said Aoki, whose team hit just .239 in 2011 en route to a 23-29-1 season.
Four players finished the first weekend of action in St. Petersburg and Clearwater, Fla., hitting above .400, including junior catcher Joe Hudson, who was 7-for-10 (.700) with two home runs, three doubles and seven RBI.
“Joe has a chance to be a really good offensive player if he keeps his approach at the plate,” said Aoki of Hudson, who hit just .239 with 14 RBI in 2011. “Last year, he got himself out as much as the pitchers did during the middle 35 games of the season.
“But he also carried us in winning two out of three games late in the season against Rutgers. He’s the best defensive catcher in the Big East, and I think he has a chance to have a real good year at the plate.”
Sophomore leftfielder Eric Jagielo hit .538 (7-for-13) with four RBI during the three-game Florida swing. Sophomore first baseman Trey Mancini (.462, 6-for-13, 1 HR, 6 RBI) and junior second baseman Frank Desico (.429, 6-for-14) also are off to sizzling starts.
“If Hudson and Jagielo hit the baseball to their level of ability, I think we’ll have as good of a 3-4-5 as anyone in the Big East,” said Aoki of the Jagielo-Mancini-Hudson triumvirate.
The Irish received a strong start on the mound from junior righthander Adam Norton (1-0, 2.00 ERA), who threw a complete-game seven-hitter against Iowa Saturday. Norton allowed just two earned runs with a walk and four strikeouts.
Sophomore righthander Sean Fitzgerald, however, had a rough start in the Friday opener against Illinois. He allowed five hits and six earned runs in just two innings pitched. But the Irish bats were hot, pounding out 17 hits, including Hudson’s solo home run in the top of the ninth – his second of the game – which made sophomore righthander/closer Dan Slania (1-0) a winner.
Senior righthander Will Hudgins allowed five hits and three earned runs in five innings against Purdue, decent numbers that would have been better had it not been for Notre Dame’s defensive miscues, several of which led to Purdue’s nine-run sixth inning.
“We got two really good starts out of Norton and Hudgins,” Aoki said. “Hudgins would have pitched much deeper into the game if we hadn’t been kicking the ball around. Purdue’s nine-run inning was as much of our own creation as theirs, although I don’t want to take anything away from Purdue. Fitzgerald’s outing was, I believe, an aberration, and Norton was really good.”
Senior shortstop Tommy Chase hit .308 (4-of-13) on the trip, including a pair of hits in the third game. But Chase was credited with four of Notre Dame’s nine errors Sunday. The Irish committed just one error in the first two games of the trip.
“If we go on the road next week and have the same defensive problems, then yeah, we’ll have to look at some alternatives,” Aoki said. “But Tommy fielded the ball cleanly the other two games, and he swung the bat pretty well. The kid has earned the benefit for the doubt.”
Aoki also was encouraged by the relief work of senior lefthander Steve Sabatino against Illinois. Sabatino, senior lefthander Joe Spano, and freshman righthanders Cristian Torres and Matt Ternowchek all pitched effectively.
But senior lefthander Ryan Richter and three righthanders – juniors Patrick Veerkamp and Breck Ashdown, and freshman Kyle Rubbinaccio – allowed a combined eight earned runs in 1 1/3 combined innings.
“Those guys have to show they’re capable of helping out of the pen,” Aoki said. “If not, I have a concern as to how we will navigate the sixth, seventh and eighth innings this year.”
Three freshmen combined for 38 at bats and a .236 batting average in their first appearances in the Irish lineup. Switch-hitting centerfielder Mac Hudgins (.286, 4-for-14, 3 RBI; younger brother of Will) and switch-hitting designated hitter Ryan Bull (.273, 3-for-11) put up better numbers than right-handed hitting third baseman Phil Mosey (.154, 2-for-13), although Aoki said Mosey swung the bat better as the weekend progressed.
Notre Dame takes on Hofstra this weekend in a three-game series at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Skylar Diggins scored 21 points and Kayla McBride scored 15 as No. 3 Notre Dame pulled away from No. 16 Louisville, 68-52, Monday afternoon in Big East Conference women’s basketball.
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We had another great show tonight. Sean Milligan joined the show, and we also introduced our latest hire, Sean Mele, to our audience. Some great stuff on tonight’s show.
To listen to the broadcast click the link below and then click on the latest Power Hour on our blog.
When Notre Dame lost to Indiana in Indianapolis on Dec. 17 to fall to 7-5, and again after back-to-back losses to Connecticut and Rutgers to fall to 3-3 in the Big East in mid-January, the coaching staff and the players were at a crossroads.
The coaches could crack the whip mercilessly, or share in the responsibility and get back to work by teaching and trying to improve on a daily basis.
The players could write it off as a lost season, or realize their shortcomings, accept the instruction from the staff, and try to “win the next practice.”
Fourteen games into the Big East season, the Irish are now 19-8 overall, 11-3 in the Big East, and currently tied with Marquette for second in the conference. Coaches and players scaled the mountain by clearing their heads, getting back to work, and putting one foot in front of the other.
“We’ve always had really coachable guys here,” said Brey Monday morning, about 36 hours after the Irish overcame a 20-point first-half deficit to defeat Villanova in overtime, 74-70.
“The students that they were — they let us teach back in November and December when we weren’t very good — was really a key, and it started with guys that wanted to be good and leadership that helped keep selling the message, even when we were losing.
“That is the most gratifying thing, and I tell them that all the time. I’ve said many times to them that it’s an honor to be their coach. They wanted to get better, and through this stretch where we’ve won, they’ve stayed hungry and they’ve wanted more. That’s really mature, staying hungry and still chasing it.”
The Irish have now won eight in a row, but No. 8 was no easy task, particularly after falling behind 39-19 with less than two minutes remaining in the first half. Brey said in the preceding weeks that he was waiting for a chink in the emotional armor of the team to show, but it never did. Saturday night was a little different.
“It wasn’t one of overly emotional,” said Brey of his halftime speech when the Irish trailed by 16. “It was a little bit of confronting them on kind of looking around the first half. That was the first time I’ve seen us gliding a little bit since we got this thing started.
“Quite frankly, I expected it sooner. They reacted really well. By the end of (the Villanova game), I was talking about a methodical comeback (and) four-minute segments. It was the tone you were ready to talk about, it just really hadn’t presented itself until the first half the other night.”
The maturity of players such as point guard Eric Atkins and fifth-year senior Scott Martin has helped. So too has the competitiveness of Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton, and the wide-eyed innocence of stardom that has inspired Jack Cooley.
“Scott Martin is almost like an assistant coach at this point of his career,” Brey said. “Eric has a great feel for our system, and the guys he plays with. He’s really bright?
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“It’s a real innocent climb (by) this group because it’s so in with both feet. Obviously, a lot of them come back next year. What will it be like next year? That’s the interesting challenge of coaching.
“But this group has been so innocent. The only senior is Scott and he wants to come back. You have really good heads, no distractions?(They’ve) kept the frame of mind because through all this — people telling you that you’re good, you’re on a roll, people talking about you — human nature can say, ‘I need to do more of that for my game.’ That can creep in, and I’m the most paranoid guy about that being in this business for as long as I’ve been.
“So there are a lot of dynamics — especially as you keep winning — that are very interesting to me. This group has handled it?pure. I’ve been waiting for them to have a breakdown, and they haven’t, but again, I don’t trust anybody.”
Perhaps the greatest trust of all from Brey has been in himself. Now in his 12th year at Notre Dame and 17th overall as a head coach, Brey has never been one to admonish his players in front of a live audience. He plays the role of confidence-giver, which he’s expanded now that he’s firmly entrenched.
“I’m sure as a younger coach I was a little more excited and anxious,” Brey said. “But I think overall, my demeanor has been to be poised on the sideline, even though inside you may be doing back-flips. When the guys look over, they don’t see a maniac, they see a calming influence.”
Brey’s approach has empowered the players to take possession of their own team, which is why timeouts for the Irish are frequently a free-flowing exchange of ideas as opposed to a verbal beat-down or a one-sided conversation.
“Our huddles are group discussions many times,” Brey said. “You know that scene in the movie where the teacher says, ‘Talk amongst yourselves’? There is a little bit of that, and I really value their feedback. It gives me a little bit of a vibe listening sometimes to where we’re at, what we’re doing, and what they talk about on the court.
“I think it’s important for them to look over and see some poise and calm and control. You pick your spots when you show your energy. There’s no question that Eric Atkins is calm and poised, and Scott Martin’s poise has gotten contagious with some other guys on the team.”
Whether it’s a veteran team like the one he had last year with the strongest voice of all (Ben Hansbrough), or a young, innocent group like this year’s team, Brey clearly has found his voice, and he’ll stick with it as long as he’s in coaching.
“I’m going to be loose the rest of my career because I can be,” Brey laughed. “I’m being loose the rest of the way. If I can’t be loose here, I’ll go be loose somewhere else?
“I don’t know if I’d had more fun with a group, and that’s saying a lot after last year.”
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Kentucky and Syracuse remain atop the Associated Press’s men’s college basketball rankings Top 25 this week.
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Cypress Ranch High School head football coach Gene Johnson pretty straightforward when it comes to describing 2013 Houston running back Keith Ford.
“He’s a super kid and a super player,” Johnson said of 5-foot-11, 200-pound Ford, who runs a 4.4. “He’s big, strong, he runs fast, he catches the ball well and he makes people miss tackles.”
Johnson noticed Ford’s potential right away.
What Mike Brey had been waiting for arrived Saturday night. His Notre Dame team, in his words, “glided” through the first half at Villanova. It plummeted to a 20-point deficit. It looked like a club out of gas at the end of a seven-game win streak.
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