SOUTH BEND SHOWDOWN
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SOUTH BEND- If you watched College GameDay, you got an idea of what kind of reception UConn will receive tonite at the Joyce Athletic Center when they try to snap Notre Dame's 45 game home court winning streak. It was loud,raucous, their were signs that went the tired old laptop route and it was a small sample of what the Huskies face tonite.
But Hall of Famer Bob Knight had it right after laughable Digger Phelps mocked Hubert Davis pick of UConn by saying "The Notre Dame crowd isn't going to score a single point tonite". The General is absolutely right, no matter how nasty the crowd is(one former UConn assistant told me he thought the Notre Dame crowd featured the worst, most arrogant students in the Big East), it will come down to the players.
And Notre Dame has really, really good players, led of course by Luke Harangody, who is 5th in the nation in scoring and 2nd in rebounding. What many are forgetting is that last year in Game One against the Huskies, he shot 5-23.(and still got Big East player of the week, wow). In Game Two, he attacked Hasheem Thabeet and scored 32 (but the Huskies won). Kyle McAlarney is as good a 3 point shooter as there is in the country. But to me, the key guy is point guard Tory Jackson. He makes the offense go and if UConn keeps him in check, the Huskies have a chance.
The whole country will be watching Hasheem Thabeet. Whether he was joking to ESPN the Magazine or not, the comments are out there and tonite, the wrath of the student section will come down on Hash. When Wayne and I saw him in the elevator after breakfast, he was pretty quiet. I am sure he knows he must back up his words tonite. (and as i write this, on the Maryland-Duke game, they are showing Hash quotes about Harangody and Tyler Hansbrough, thank God, ESPN doesn't blow things out of proportion)
Channeling Courant food critic Mike Anthony, the broadcast team had some tasty ribs last night at J.Willys, a restaurant that was featured on the Fox show "Kitchen Nightmares". No nightmares last night, just tasty eating.
Don't forget, 6:30 for the pre game. The women are over on 96.5 TIC-FM. Enjoy!
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