Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/669106
UNDER THE DOME Butler when the game seemed lost. It also survived and advanced that year in the closing seconds of the first round against Northeastern with a 69‑65 win. • In this year 's first round, Notre Dame trailed Michigan at halftime 41‑29 — but rallied for a 70‑63 win, its largest comeback win ever in an NCAA Tour‑ nament game. In round two versus Stephen F. Aus‑ tin, Notre Dame trailed 75‑70 with less than two minutes left — but triumphed 76‑75 with a tip‑in basket by freshman Rex Pflueger with 1.5 seconds remain‑ ing. • A three‑point basket by Wisconsin with 26 seconds left in the Sweet 16 gave the Badgers a 56‑53 lead and appeared to be a dagger — but led by junior guard Demetrius Jackson, the Irish finished with an 8‑0 run in the final 19.5 seconds for a 61‑56 conquest. Fearlessness, poise, player develop‑ ment, resilience and top‑of‑the‑line of‑ fensive efficiency have been annual hall‑ marks of Brey's team, but often became overshadowed by postseason misery. What an amazing fine line it was again between celebration with the vic‑ tory over Stephen F. Austin, or how a missed tip‑in at the end would have led to more angst about postseason misfor‑ tune. The positive karma and the law of averages have been at their peak under Brey. ✦ Happy 90 th Birthday Dad! God, Family, Country, Notre Dame Born May 11th, 1926 Your steadfast devotion and loyalty to your faith, family, health, friends and Notre Dame are examples we all aspire to follow. You mean the world to us. We love you! Peg, Kevin, Tim, Greg and Terry SOPHOMORE SAFETY NO LONGER WITH NOTRE DAME During the second week of spring practice, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly revealed that sophomore safety Mykelti Williams, who red- shirted last season, is no longer part of the Notre Dame football team. Kelly said he could not provide specifics on the situation about the four-star recruit out of Warren Central High School in Indianapolis. Without Williams, Notre Dame's two-deep at safety this spring featured junior Drue Tranquill and sixth-year senior Avery Sebastian at strong safety, and then early entrant freshman Devin Studstill and senior Max Redfield, who has 23 career starts, at free safety. The loss of Williams brought down Notre Dame's scholarship total to 84 — including 18 freshmen scheduled to enroll this summer to join five early entrants. The 84 total is one below the NCAA maximum 85 allowed. So far this year the Irish have lost five players who were originally thought to be available in 2016. In addition to Williams, the other four were: senior guard Steve Elmer (early graduation), senior defensive end Doug Randolph (medical), junior tight end Tyler Luatua (transfer to BYU) and sophomore wideout Jalen Guyton (internal disciplinary matter). — Lou Somogyi