Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MARCH 2017 19 UNDER THE DOME 90 Years Ago: March 5, 1927 Notre Dame concludes its basketball season un- der fourth-year head coach George Keogan with a 32-16 victory at Creighton, extending its winning streak to 12 for a final record of 19-1. With a 5-0 record against members of the Big Ten (not including 2-0 versus Michigan State, not a member at the time), quality victories versus Marquette, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Creighton, and avenging its sole defeat (Franklin), Notre Dame would be awarded the 1927 Helms Foundation national title nine years later. It was founded in 1936 by a panel of basketball experts to select national collegiate basketball champions from 1901-82. The NCAA Tournament didn't begin until 1939, but the Helms Athletic Foundation continued to select champs into the early 1980s anyway. Pacing the scoring for the 1927 national champs was senior All-American center John Nyikos, whose 8.6 points per game almost doubled sec- ond-leading scorer Louis Conroy's 4.4. In an era when a center jump followed each basket, it was Notre Dame's tenacious defense — it allowed 19.6 points per game while averaging 31.6 itself — that led the program's breakthrough and helped enshrine Keogan into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Keogan also would guide the Irish to the 1936 Helms Foundation national title, with both having individual banners in Notre Dame's Purcell Pavilion. 40 Years Ago: March 5, 1977 In an unprecedented move by NBC-TV or athletics in general, Notre Dame's student body is awarded "Game MVP" when head coach Digger Phelps' unranked and 19-6 Irish defeat 29-0 and No. 1 San Francisco, led by center Bill Cartwright, 93-82. A day earlier, Phelps implores his "sixth man" at a pep rally to be in the stands a half-hour before the game and begin a rhythmic chant pertaining to the Dons' record: "29 (clap, clap) and 1 (clap, clap)! 29 (clap, clap) — and 1 (clap, clap)!" Amidst a deafening atmosphere from the time the Fighting Irish enter the arena, Notre Dame takes the lead for good at 59-58. Junior guard Don "Duck" Williams scores 17 of his game-high 25 points in the final 11 minutes when Phelps calls for the "Four To Score" offense, a derivative of the Four Corners invented by North Carolina's Dean Smith. The tactic is not to stall, but to spread four players into corners, while Williams has room to drive to either score, get fouled or dish to an open man when defenders collapsed on him. The balanced attack includes 19 points and 14 rebounds from senior center Toby Knight in his final home game, while senior forward Bill Paterno adds 16. Freshman guard Rich Branning and junior for- ward Dave Batton chip in 14 and 13, respectively. The victory helps clinch Notre Dame an at-large berth in the then 32-team NCAA Tournament field. "What people talk so much about and see at Duke with the Cameron Crazies — that was us in the 1970s," Phelps said. 20 Years Ago: March 4-24, 1997 On March 4, the 14-12 Notre Dame's men's basketball team is honored in New York City when junior forward Pat Garrity is named Big East Player of the Year, while John MacLeod is awarded Big East Coach of the Year. Later from March 15-24, the Notre Dame women's team — despite fielding only seven healthy scholarship players and with only one NCAA Tournament victory ever in four appearances — advances to the Final Four as a No. 6 seed by defeating Memphis (93-62), stunning No. 3 seed Texas (86-83) in Austin on St. Patrick's Day, upsetting No. 2 seed Alabama (87-71) and finishing off George Washington (62-52) before losing to national champ Tennessee (80-66). The run is led by seniors Beth Morgan and Katryna Gaither, who complete their careers as the lone 2,000-point duo in career scoring from the same class in Division I history. — Lou Somogyi Anniversaries In Notre Dame Athletics History: March NOTRE DAME 2017 Football Calendars *Please add sales tax if shipping to: IN (7%), MI (6%), and NC (7.5%) 11x14 Wall Calendars Ship Within Cont. U.S. Only BLUE AND GOLD ILLUSTRATED PO BOX 2331 • DURHAM, NC 27702 800-421-7751 www.BlueGoldOnline.com ITEM #6451 Reg. $21.95 $ 14 95 FREE S&H Notre Dame Wallets BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED PO Box 2331 • Durham, NC 27702 1-800-421-7751 www.BlueGoldOnline.com Please add Sales Tax if you live in NC (7.5%), MI (6%), or IN (7%) Item #6563 Black or Brown Leather TriFold $19.95 FREE S&H (Reg. $24.95+S&H) Item #6565 Black or Tan Leather BiFold $24.95 FREE S&H (Reg. $29.95+S&H) SALE! Head coach George Keogan guided the Irish to a 19-1 record and the Helms Athletic Foundation national championship in 1927. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS