Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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(61-55). To date, the Irish have even- tually come up short in each of them. IRISH PLAGUED BY INJURIES After the December dismissal of Jer- ian Grant and the transfer of sopho- more forward Cam Biedscheid (Mis- souri) the next week, Notre Dame found itself down to nine available scholarship players. Sophomore forward Eric Katenda has since recovered from a knee injury that kept him out of a good portion of fall practice and affected him into con- ference play. He has played a total of three minutes in two games in his first collegiate action. Among those in the nine-man play- ing rotation, the Irish also missed fifth- year senior forward Tom Knight and sophomore forward Austin Burgett during extended stretches of league play. Knight missed four games of ACC play in January after spraining his an- kle and, while out, coming down with the flu, which turned into pneumonia. Since returning, he has struggled to become a complementary frontcourt member to the solid play of Sherman. Upon his return to the starting lineup for the first time since Novem- ber, Burgett left the Jan. 21 game at Florida State early due to an irregular heartbeat, an issue he had not expe- rienced since his sophomore year of high school. Doctors diagnosed him with junctional tachycardia (irregular heartbeat) and, after a repeat episode later that week in practice, performed a procedure on Burgett to correct the issue. He returned to action against North Carolina Feb. 8. As for the other departure — this one due to an academic transgression rather than an injury — Grant has re- mained in contact with head coach Mike Brey and continues to express his desire to return next year. The two met at the team hotel when the Irish played at Maryland Jan. 15. In early February, Grant traveled to California to train with his uncle, former NBA forward Horace Grant. 2014-15 SCHEDULE BEGINS TO TAKE SHAPE It's around February each year that programs across the country begin to look ahead to next year's schedule and fill out the non-conference slate. Dur- ing fall camp, head coach Mike Brey expressed his desire to renew rivalries with former Big East foes, specifically Villanova, St. John's and Marquette. Because of the 2014-15 commitments to which Notre Dame has already agreed, that plan might not be carried out until the following season. Brey indicated that the Irish will host an ACC-Big Ten challenge game next December (the team played at Iowa this season) and participate in the Hall of Fame Holiday Classic which will conclude with matchups against Providence (a former Big East foe) and UMass in Springfield, Mass. "I don't know if we're going to get to [Big East teams] next year," Brey said. "The year after is when we're look- ing at a Villanova or a St. John's. Next year also there is a chance we could have [an early] league game here. … The rest we're still piecing together. … You could have two power games here before Christmas."