UConn vs. Notre Dame

2/28/09

Only two teams this season, both in the Big East mind you, have been able to get the best of the UConn Huskies. The first loss was somewhat of a fluke at the hands of the horrible Georgetown Hoyas earlier in the year, but the loss to the Pittsburgh Panthers was legit as they were to convincingly beat arguably the best team in the country and shutdown the Huskies Hasheem Thabeet in the paint.

As the college basketball season comes to a close there isn’t really a solid number team in the country with multiple teams taking over the top spot on a seemingly weekly basis. The ACC conference had its shot at the top spot with Wake Forest, Duke and North Carolina all having their shot at retaining the number spot and lost it after disappointing upsets. Big East heavyweights Pittsburgh and UConn just recently shook up the Top 25 by switching places, but after Providence took down the Panthers the Huskies might reclaim the number one team in the country status yet again.

There are just so many good teams in college basketball this season, especially in the ACC and Big East conferences. One team that came on strong to start the season and fell flat on their face at the midway point is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The Irish have one weapon that no other team possesses in high scoring big man Luke Harangody. The guy has just been an absolute monster this season and a match up nightmare for any team Notre Dame has faced this season. By averaging 24 points and 12 rebounds a game Harangody has earned unguardable status which not many players in college basketball have.

Although Harangody has just been as good as they come in college basketball this season, it hasn’t really resulted in a successful season for the Fighting Irish. The season was looking very promising for the Irish until they faced conference opponent Louisville on January 12th. It was a close game that did go into overtime, but Rick Pitino’s Cardinals got the best of Harangody and company which ultimately resulted in the Irish losing their edge and falling into a slump which pretty much has cost them their season.

After losing seven straight games to some of the country’s top teams like UConn, Pittsburgh, Marquette and UCLA the hope for successful season for Notre Dame ended as quickly as it came.

Notre Dame has played well as of late by winning four of their last five games, but they will face perhaps their toughest challenge of the season going up against two of the best teams in the Big East in two straight games. The Irish will first go up against arguably the best team in the country in the UConn Huskies and then face number 12th ranked Villanova a couple of days later.

The Irish could give the Wildcats a run for their money on the second of March, but they will really struggle against a motivated Huskies team on Saturday.

There is almost always a slight chance for an upset in Big East match ups like this, but I really don’t see the Irish taking down Jim Calhoun’s Huskies this time around.

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