Ready to Root for Notre Dame?

[WashDCWarrior]

Man that sounds weird, but I want Notre Dame to knock off UConn tomorrow. I want a chance at breaking their home court winning streak. Also I really can't imagine them loosing back to back home games.

For someone with time on their hands...
Were we the last team to win @ ND?
Was ND the team that broke MU's home win streak in the 70's (something like 80 games)?

[CTWarrior]

I'll be rooting for ND, too, though I generally root for UConn when it doesn't hurt Marquette, but for a little different reason.  I think teams are tougher coming off of losses than wins.

[wheresthecake?]

I hope ND wins too.  Not only would it give us a chance at their streak, it is also probably in MU's best interest that Uconn pick up their 2nd loss.  Alas, I think ND's home winning streak will be no more by Monday, but hopefully we will be able to extend their home LOSING streak.

[tower912]

I want ND to win in triple OT, becoming completely gassed.   We beat DePaul by 25,  the big 4 only play 25-30 minutes, we go in and finish off the domers.    Boooyah.

[Skatastrophy]

The only way I could root for ND is if they were playing Indiana.  I hope Thabeet destroys Harangody.

[MR.HAYWARD]

uuuhhhhhhhhh....no!


Why in the hell would I want ND to win!!!???

I would like them to get crushed and demoralized to the point that they contemplate suicide.  Home court streak??!!  why in the heck would I want them to continue to win at home??  I want them to be destroyed and then lose again to MU to put them at 3-5 in the BE and the closer to an NIT bid.  I could care less if we beat them to end the streak or not.  ND is on the edge of their season falling apart, let's hope UConn knocks them off balance and we can finished the push on Monday!!

[RawdogDX]

just looking at the standings should make you want to cheer for ND.  I would rather have Uconn at 6 and 2 than 7 and 1 with us at 6 and 0.  We are trying to win a conference title here.

[RawdogDX]

And yes we were the last team to beat ND at home in 07.

[MR.HAYWARD]

i hear you ...but ia m still rooting against them, not that who i root for will have any matter.  I think ND losing at home goes all the farther to eliminating them fro all contention whatsoever...ie one less horse in the race and better demoralizes them for Monday, that magic is broken "we can lose at home"  
also, we take care of Uconn at home and we are fine.

[Warrior4Ever]

As much as I dislike Notre Lame, UConn is closer to us in the standings. HaranGoofy is a whinner at every whistle, which makes me want them to get crushed. MU was the last team to beat the Lame at home, so it would be cool if we were the next to beat them there. Bottom line, as long as we keep winning, who cares what the others do!

[Ready2Fly]

There are two ways to look at it.  If UConn plays well enough to get the Big East a 1 seed, that's good for MU.  If UConn, Pitt, et. al get cannibalized against the lesser teams like ND, then everyone's seeding gets messed up.

However, it's too early to think about that kind of thing, and MU is in the driver's seat for the Big East crown and possible #1 or 2 seed.  Do I think it will happen?  No, no I don't.  But as long as it's a possibility I'm rooting for every possible scenario to help us get there.  

So, as I suppress the vomit, GO ND.

[Badgerhater920]

Also, there's a decent chance ND slips out of the rankings if it loses. Wouldn't mind it being ranked when we go into the Joyce

...but lets take care of dePaul first.

[ErickJD08]

I want ND to win in triple OT, becoming completely gassed.   We beat DePaul by 25,  the big 4 only play 25-30 minutes, we go in and finish off the domers.    Boooyah.

lol

I know its gay to say "lol" but I did lol.

[muwarrior87]

I want ND to win in triple OT, becoming completely gassed.   We beat DePaul by 25,  the big 4 only play 25-30 minutes, we go in and finish off the domers.    Boooyah.

+1. Only change is make that a 30 point victory for us. Anything less is as good as a loss if South Florida can put that kind of whoopin' on them, we can as well.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

In the same topic from today's New Haven Register.

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2009/01/23/sports/23_ucm_story.txt
_______________________________________________

Tough talk from the Fighting Irish

Friday, January 23, 2009 5:43 AM EST
By David Borges, Register Staff

Luke Harangody isn't taking too seriously the "dis" he got from Hasheem Thabeet on the front cover of ESPN The Magazine a couple of months ago. But the burly, 6-foot-8, 255-pound Notre Dame junior center certainly hasn't forgotten it, either.

"It's going to motivate me a little more, I can say that," Harangody said in a phone interview earlier this week.

Thabeet graced the cover of the magazine's Nov. 17 college basketball preview edition. Accompanying his photo was the following quote, attributed to Thabeet: "I played Luke Harangody and he was not tough. Tyler Hansbrough? I don't see nothing."

The Huskies don't play Hansbrough's North Carolina Tar Heels, at least in the regular season, but they've got two bouts with Harangody and the Fighting Irish, beginning on Saturday night at the Joyce Center in South Bend, Ind.

"When it came out, my initial reaction was to laugh at it," Harangody said. "But at the same time, it's on the cover of a national magazine, and it's saying I'm not tough. I heard he was joking around, this and that. I know Hasheem, I know he's a good guy, I'm not going to take it too seriously."

Still, the fact that Thabeet questioned Harangody's toughness irked the reigning Big East Player of the Year — and still does.

"Because he pretty much called me out for something other than basketball," Harangody said. "Because I think I'm the toughest player in the Big East."

Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said Harangody, who leads the conference in both scoring and rebounding again this season, is a "chip-on-the-shoulder, people-told-me-I-couldn't-but-I'll-show-'em-guy."

"That's why his motor is so good," Brey said. "If this happened as a freshman or sophomore, I would have been worried about it. Plus ... we've lost two in a row. That helps defuse it a little bit."

For his part, Thabeet knows to expect some hostile treatment from Saturday night's obligatory sellout crowd — a crowd that should be even more vocal with the Irish's chance for a 46th straight home victory, which would set a new Big East record.

"I'm going to have to take it," he shrugged. "I can't run away from it. He's a great player. It's part of the game that I have to go through, and I'm looking forward to the match-up."

Thabeet added that he didn't like the article at all. In fact, he sent a letter of apology to Brey shortly after it came out.

"It ended up making me look like I don't respect other players," he said. "I have a lot of respect for Coach Brey and his team. In the letter, I just told him the way they quoted it wasn't the way I meant. Maybe the dialect wasn't right. I respect him as a great player and I'm looking forward to a great match-up."

Brey said he sent Thabeet an e-mail response.

"I understand how guys can be led astray with questioning," Brey said. "I don't know if that's what he meant to say. He's kind of a playful kid. Luke is ready to compete, whether it's against Thabeet or Tim Andree in practice. I think it was probably something where he was led astray."

Harangody said he hasn't talked to Thabeet about the article yet.

"I'm sure I will on Saturday," he said.

David Borges can be reached at dborges@nhregister.com.

[akmarq]

I am begrudingly cheering for Notre Dame.  Nothing would be sweeter than gloating to all the fans in the Joyce center as I walk out of the arena in my Marquette colors after ending that win streak...

[Buzz Williams' Spillproof Chiclets Cup]

And yes we were the last team to beat ND at home in 07.

ND beat us in South Bend in 07. You are correct in that we are the last team to win at the Joyce Center, but that game was in 2006.

[ErickJD08]

i hear you ...but ia m still rooting against them, not that who i root for will have any matter.  I think ND losing at home goes all the farther to eliminating them fro all contention whatsoever...ie one less horse in the race and better demoralizes them for Monday, that magic is broken "we can lose at home"  
also, we take care of Uconn at home and we are fine.

I agree.  ND is stumbling and I don't want they to get an extra boost of confidence with a big home win vs. UConn.  I think ND is a solid team and they will get their wins.  I think Pitt, UConn, and UL will be 3 of the top four teams.  I think Georgetown, ND, Syracuse and MU are in the running for the fourth spot. 

[ErickJD08]

PLUS,
Notre Dame should not be ranked.  They lost to OSU and St Johns and three other good teams.  They only beat Texas.  I have thought about the argument that ND winning will help us because they will have a higher rank but I imagine ND will fall off the board with another loss whether it be with UConn, us, or Pitt or UCLA.  I can't imagine a 6 loss team in the top 25 this early.  SO basically, my thought is that ND will not be ranked by the end of the season so a loss to ND will look bad regardless of whether ND beats UConn. 

THE ONLY REASON I want ND to win is so a MU over ND win will make some people in our own base quit their whining about how we haven't beat anyone yet.

[TallTitan34]

Digger picked the Notre Dame student body as the game changer.

Bilas told him the Notre Dame student body can't stop UConn.

Bilas is a stud.

Digger also picked Notre Dame to win and carry it into Monday with Marquette.

[TallTitan34]

I do feel dirty cheering for Notre Dame.

[cheebs09]

Prior to the game I told myself I was cheering for ND but as the game has been going it is just habit to cheer against them.

Is it just me or is Harangody shooting many more fade aways and jumpers this year. If we can force him into those I really like our chances.

[mviale]

Harongody is a machine

[Badgerhater]

I have only watched snippets of ND this season.  They seem to be a soft basketball team.  They are a good team, but just don't seem to have the chip on their shoulder that makes good teams great.

[mviale]

Why are we scared of Uconn?

They are leaderless and look sloppy