Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ion last May and announced he was passing on his final year of eligibility to roll the dice in the NBA Draft, it was the moment many Fighting Irish fans realized there was no sense in saving up money for NCAA Tourna- ment tickets. After losing Big East Conference W Player of the Year Ben Hansbrough and versatile forward Tyrone Nash from last year's 27-7 team that was 14-4 in the powerful Big East and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Scott's decision wiped out any realis- tic chance of dancing in 2011-12. Even with returning fifth-year se- niors Scott Martin and Tim Abromai- tis, the Irish seemed ticketed for the National Invitational Tournament. Losing Abromaitis to a season-end- ing knee injury in late November further revised the already modest expectations. After an 8-5 stretch in non-conference play, a 4-14 or 6-12 mark in Big East play appeared to be Notre Dame's fate. The only non-conference contests comparable to what the Irish will face in the Big East were against top-25 teams Missouri, Gonzaga and Indiana — and Notre Dame lost all three games by a combined 60 points. The Dec. 27 game against visit- ing Pitt, the league opener for both squads, was supposed to be an ex- ample of what was in store for the young Irish. Instead, Notre Dame stunned the No. 22-ranked Panthers with a 72-59 upset. The Irish played a nearly perfect second half, which included 72.0-per- cent shooting (18 of 25) from the field. Head coach Mike Brey said given where the team had been, it was one of his most fun nights and gratifying victories in his 12 seasons at Notre Dame … with the caveat that much work was still ahead. "God knows we needed something to build on," Brey said. "I would have loved to have been at 10 wins before we started league play. To be eight wins … that hill does not seem quite as steep getting this one against a very good [Pitt] team. "Our group really didn't have any bad losses. We lost badly, but we didn't have any bad losses. We didn't 44 FEBRUARY 2012 BY WES MORGAN hen former Notre Dame forward Carleton Scott stood outside the locker room at Purcell Pavil- Sophomore guard Alex Dragicevich scored a career-high 22 points to lead the Irish to a surprising 72-59 upset of Pittsburgh in their Big East opener Dec. 27. REVIVAL AND SURVIVAL Victory versus No. 22 Pitt is a crucial step to tough road have great wins. We got a great win tonight. "I wasn't sure I was going to see it that soon … I could tell before the game, we were a little older in the locker room before the game." DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE For junior big man Jack Cooley, who hauled in 14 rebounds and added eight points and two blocked shots against Pitt, the home victory versus the Panthers evoked fond memories. "Today is evidence of the big steps we've made the last couple of days in practice," Cooley said. "It's all coming together now, how we were playing out there in the second half reminded me … just scary similar to last year." Meanwhile, 6-8 sophomore swing- man Alex Dragicevich appears to be the next in a long ling of rangy, versa- tile sharpshooters with a high basket- ball IQ that have been the trademark of Brey's teams. "It was a collective effort," Dragicevich said of his 22-point break- out game versus Pitt. "We're all click- ing, everyone was on the same page. That cohesiveness is what we we've been waiting for this whole year." After experimenting with eight different starting lineups through the non-conference slate, the Irish seem to be on more stable ground entering league play. They will need BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND