Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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TRIPLE-THREAT SKILLS THICK SKIN, Irish point guard Eric Atkins is primed to shine point, and how there's so far to go. The Notre Dame junior point guard still feels the sharp el- bows and verbal barbs from former Fight- ing Irish floor general Ben Hansbrough, and he watches film of the team's second-round loss to Xavier in last year's NCAA Tourna- ment. Hansbrough, a senior E ric Atkins is sur- rounded by re- minders of how he got to this in 2009-10 when At- kins first came to South Bend, was particularly tough on the highly re- cruited freshman two years ago. Blowing a BY WES MORGAN 10-point lead against the Musketeers midway through the second half last March was even tougher. "The tournament exit think about that and al- ways think back to that game and I'll be up in a jiffy." It all started by get- has definitely kept me up at night," said At- kins (6-2, 182 pounds), who enters his junior campaign as one of the Big East Conference's most efficient and du- rable ball handlers. "Be- ing up by 10 points … I just watched the game the other night. It was my drive this summer. A couple plays stick out to me. I know I had a big turnover; I threw the ball away, then they scored after that to go up. Every time I think about not getting up and working out, I can ting knocked to the floor over and over two years ago, when Hansbrough mercilessly broke the Maryland native down before building him back up. Many times inside the Pit, Notre Dame's practice facility inside the Joyce Center, At- kins' frustration nearly boiled over into physi- cal altercations with the intense and short- tempered Hansbrough, who was named the Big East Player of the Year in 2010-11. Head coach Mike Brey is glad the heated competition be-