Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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consistent through the first half of the season, to look in the mirror. A different player emerged from that intro- spection, one that pow- ered the Irish to nine consecutive victories, beginning with a stun- ning upset over then- No. 1 Syracuse (67-58) at Notre Dame's Purcell Pavilion Jan. 21. "Right before we went on that big run in the Big East, right before Syra- cuse, was probably the main time when I just thought I need to step up and that something needed to change," Cooley explained. "That's when the change happened for me, and that's when the change happened for the team. "I just realized I needed to do something because it wasn't work- ing the way it was go- ing." By the time the Irish were deep into February, Cooley had made the league's honor roll for a fifth time and helped boost the team to No. 20 in the Associated Press poll — its highest rank- ing in that poll all year — and a tie for second with Marquette in the conference standings af- Cooley averaged 12.5 points and 8.9 rebounds per game en route to ter being picked ninth in the Big East preseason coaches' poll. "I just became more vocal and put all cau- tion to the wind," said Cooley, who finished the year averaging 12.5 points and 8.9 rebounds per game en route to receiving the league's earning the Big East's Most Improved Player award last year. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND Most Improved Player award. "Whatever we were doing at the time, I needed to fix or some- one needed to fix, and I figured there's no one better than me to do it." Notre Dame's winning streak ended in a three- point loss to St. John's Feb. 25, a game where