The Basketball Blog - NIT Fever

Welcome back to the Basketball Blog! If you woke up with a case of the chills, a slight headache, or maybe a runny nose, fear not, you aren’t suffering from a spring cold. It could simply be you’ve caught the latest version of the super flu sweeping the nation….NIT FEVER!

 

The Irish, clad in their usual home whites on St. Patrick’s Day (Digger Phelps is not walking through that door), entertained the Blazers from Alabama-Birmingham in front of a sparse crowd, excuse me, gathering….actually, make that a smattering of spectators at the Joyce Center last night. 

 

The unofficial attendance breakdown is as follows:

 

Two cushioned sections (green seats) that were ¾ full of sufficiently lubed-up students on St. Patrick’s Day; similarly populated mid-court sections (yellow and blue seats for you Joyce Center regulars); a few social networks mixed into the cushioned corners; happy wanderers behind the other basket (purple seats), about six UAB fans; I’m sure 10-12 good-hearted folks that mistook this event for a Women’s First Round NCAA Tournament game, and thankfully, the ND band.

 

Anyone sitting in the bleachers after the game’s first 10 minutes was being ironical...

 

Which leads us to: 

 

The Top 10 Comments/Text Messages overheard/received at the Joyce Center Last Night:

 

10.) “They haven’t looked this good since Ireland…”

9.) “Hey Tim, I can’t find the game on TV, is the NIT on Lifetime or The History Channel?” – Text message from Atlanta

8.) (After a technical foul) “Someone should tell (UAB coach) Mike Davis to relax, it’s the NIT.” – Actually I said that but couldn’t figure out a way to work it into the Blog.

7.) “What do you think the usher to fan ratio is tonight?” (My wife and BGI’s Jason Meyers in a collaborative effort).

6.) “Friends and Family Night at the Joyce, eh?” – Text message, Rhode Island

5.) (In response to my mid-February guess that 6,000 would show up) “Sara says there are 6,000 if everyone is pregnant with twins” – Text message from Philadelphia

4.) “Tim, yell something, I bet I can hear you...” – Text message, Columbus, OH

3.) “You know, (opponent’s name withheld) has the facial appearance of a full-grown midget.” – Columbus, again

2.) After a Luke Zeller dunk in (relative) traffic – “Is that Tyler’s brother?” – UNC fan living in Atlanta…sarcasm is apparently alive and well in the South

 

And the No. 1 Comment/Text Message from the Joyce Center last night…

 

“Look around…this is what happens when your goal is a one-game winning streak.”

 

Survive and Advance

The Irish were interested if not intense, and prevailed 70-64 (click here for Todd Burlage’s game recap). Luke Harangody was a leg-weary warrior, again scratching out baskets when his team needed them most (including a key bucket out of a Brey-called time-out and set play to extend the Irish lead to seven with two minutes remaining). The Blazers apparently received the scouting report on K-Mac as he was forced to work through switching defenders for most of his 12 points. Both Ryan Ayers and Harangody hit the floor for late-game loose balls while Ayers added timely weak side defense and connected on 3-7 from beyond the arc.

 

And just to make sure you knew it was still 2009, the Irish gave up 14 layups (13 that mattered) and one vicious dunk. Robert Vaden, UAB’s veteran star – who I believe transferred from IU just after the Keith Smart era – lit up ND’s defense for 24 points including a 6-13 performance from long range. He could have doubled that total back in his youth…

 

Finally, Tory Jackson shook off an overall sloppy performance by drilling two key free throws with 57 seconds remaining (63-60 ND).

 

However, due to both unfortunate timing and a 2-12 record vs. NCAA Tournament participants, the Irish will entertain New Mexico (Steve Alford actually is walking through those doors!) tomorrow night for Round 2 in front of what I assume will be an even smaller collection of curious onlookers, as Thursday is the first day of the Real Tournament, which will inevitably preclude the majority of students, casual basketball fans, diehard basketball fans, diehard drinkers that pretend to like basketball for three weeks, and most non-family members from attending.

 

However, a win vs. the Lobos would put the Irish on the precipice of the Final Four (so to speak) with a likely matchup vs. Kentucky or Creighton early next week. Fan acknowledgement and attendance, wherever the game is played, would likely spike for either quarterfinal matchup. Unfortunately, so will the opponent’s level of play.

 

Until then, the Irish will toil in obscurity in their own barren gym. There’s no winning streak to protect; no eight-hour pregame show on campus, no rabid fan base to appease; and no students partying in their honor…just another team among many striving for mediocrity, and for one program, an upbeat end in The Garden to an otherwise forgettable season.

 

I believe Coach Brey and the seniors when they say that they want to hang the program’s first NIT banner in the rafters after the season. But what happens if you throw a banner-hanging ceremony and no one shows up?