With all this talk about the Southern Cal game and Weis, the basketball team got forgotten for a brief period of time.  Let's make up for that and review the last week of Irish hoops.

Last Wednesday. . .

On Thanksgiving Eve, playing their third game in as many nights, the Fighting Irish ran into the number one team in the country, the North Carolina Tar Heels.  The Heels, whose bench is deeper than anyone else in the country by a mile, had a clear advantage in the Maui format, and it showed when the second wave of high school All-Americans rolled off the bench just as Notre Dame's legs went dead.  Luke Harangody was playing under the weather, Tyler Hansbrough was rested and Ty Lawson made Tory Jackson - Tory! ­- look like he was standing in cement.  If another team approaches the sort of numbers the Heels' offense rained down on the Irish for forty minutes, I can guarantee you Notre Dame loses that game. 

To put it in perspective, Notre Dame's defensive efficiency against Texas was 108.4, with none of the other cupcakes cracking 100.  UNC?  140.5.  Notre Dame's best effort all season, even against the uber-weak competition, was 134.  Roy William's bunch are very, very good, but despite a large deficit and dead legs, Notre Dame showed some steely reserve, rallying against the Monstars.  If a McAlarney three hadn't been disallowed because of a Deon Thompson foul on Tory, the lead would have been only eight with four and a half to play.  Sadly, Tory missed the front end of a one-and-one (Everyone on the team not from Staten Island needs to spend a few extra hours at the practice charity stripe) and a couple of quick Carolina baskets later the game was put away.

 Although it ended up being a fifteen point loss the Irish only barely threatened in, both the team and fans can take a lot from this game.  Unless something goes drastically wrong, North Carolina will be the number one overall seed in the tournament, and the Irish were at least in spitting distance of them.  (They were, at the very least, a heckuva lot closer than Michigan State last night.)  Down an almost insurmountable amount, the team didn't give up and showed some heart after a tiring three days of hoops and hula.  At the very least, the Irish probably won't be matched up with the Tar Heels in the Big Dance until the Elite Eight or Final Four.  These are all very good things to take from a fifteen point loss, and that's without even mentioning McAlarney's absurd three point shooting show, a late night performance anyone who witnessed it won't soon forget.

Saturday. . .

Trickles out that Harangody had contracted pneumonia and would be out indefinitely.  ESPN instinctively praises Tyler Hansbrough for working so hard through the illness before being reminded it was Harangody that was actually sick.

Sunday afternoon. . .

The Irish return to South Bend with a slow start against the Furman Paladins.  You can't really blame the team, as they had just spent a week in Maui and were trying to readjust to life in the permafrost of northern Indiana, a sobering reality that directly contributed to the fact they only led 19-18 with 6:39 to go in the first half.  After that, the Irish worked out whatever kinks set in during the long flight and blitzed the visitors to end the first half, leading 37-22 at the break.  It wasn't close in the second half, as Ryan Ayers set a temporary career high with nineteen points on 8-for-13 shooting and McAlarney knocked down nine treys on his way to a second straight thirty-point outburst.  Zach Hillesland submitted a great glue guy line (eight points, twelve boards, five assists, one steal) and Tory continued his outstanding play, scoring seventeen points on 8-for-12 shooting and chipping in eight assists. 

Tuesday evening. . .

This is South Dakota's first season as a division one school, so they probably don't have any access to Notre Dame game film.  This would explain why they thought it might be a good idea to try zoning the Irish, and also give us a clue on how Notre Dame reached the twenty point mark before the under sixteen minute timeout.  The Irish absolutely rolled the hapless Coyotes - as they should have  - leading 60-30 at halftime.  They didn't close well, losing the second half 46-42, but I think we can forgive them for not maintaining a killer intensity with a constant twenty-five point working margin. 

via media.scout.com

Ayers' career high set two days prior was topped with a very attractive thirty-five point outburst, knocking down nine threes and twelve of his twenty shots.  McAlarney knocked down another seven from behind the arc, bringing his total for the previous three games to twenty six and putting all future opponents on notice that maybe zoning or doubling or doing anything that doesn't defend the perimeter at all times is a bad idea.  Hillesland was again productive in all facets of the game (six points, nine boards, four assists, five steals), Tory dished out ten assists on a night he didn't connect from the field and the Peoples-Scott-Nash bench combination filled up the box score.

Today. . .

The Irish sit at 6-1, 7^th in the coaches poll, 14^th in Sagarin ratings and 28^th on KenPom, a date with the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes coming up Saturday afternoon at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.  After that intriguing match-up, it's back to cupcakes for the Irish until the Big East schedule kicks off on New Year's Eve, so it would be nice to pick up another solid non-conference win to go with the Texas scalp. 

Harangody missing games due to illness is unfortunate for the big guy, but I think it's great for the team overall, especially in these glorified scrimmages.  It would be fantastic to have him back to battle the Buckeyes, but should injury or foul trouble befall him later in the season, it's good for the Irish to know how to play without him.  The more reps that Nash and Scott get, the better, as it would be best if they were legitimate bench options once the rigors of Big East play start to take their toll.   Once Harangody gets nursed back to full health, maybe fake an injury for Tory or K-Mac for a game or two just so everyone is better prepared should they miss time later in the season.  Even if the Irish struggle, or God forbid, lose, someone will just mention to the selection committee in mid-March that "Oh, that was the one game McAlarney was in a full body cast and couldn't play" and it'll get immediately written off.    

Preview of the Buckeyes coming tomorrow.  They're young, but very capable, and the weird venue is going to make this a very intriguing game.

For the counterpoint, the case for firing Charlie Weis.

Although the messageboards will tell you that Notre Dame Stadium will be empty next year as fans revolt against a university trying to murder its football team, the majority of my friends are okay with this decision.  Sample size?  Relatively small, obviously, but this is an informed part of the Irish electorate and the general consensus is that while Weis might not be a great coach - probably won't be, even - this is the right decision to make.  A few completely unscientific polls - here, at The Observer, a few other places - had voters right around 50/50 on whether they wanted Weis to stay or not.  A lot of people were really oscillating on the issue, although it seems Swarbrick has made the decision relatively promptly (although Notre Dame failing to confirm it certainly makes things a little more interesting).

But isn't this embracing mediocrity?  Or worse, racist?  Not quite, and let's work through this one point at a time.

First, I don't think anyone was in love with Weis as a coach anymore, or would spend a great deal of time trying to defend him.  There were too many maddening decisions and too little progress from the beginning of this season to the end.  There is a laundry list of fireable offenses that anyone could point to and say "Yes, this is why we need to get rid of this guy."  The offensive line play, play-calling against Southern Cal, the misuse of timeouts, the decisions to go for field goals instead of first downs and vice-versa; none of these reflect particularly well on the head coach.  So why are we keeping him?

Maybe simply because nobody better was available.  I don't think many Irish fans would have stood behind Weis if Urban Meyer or Nick Saban were standing on the steps of the main building, bags in hand.  That vision, however, was not a particularly realistic fantasy at this juncture, even though Meyer continues to drop these tantalizing hints that get Irish fans all excited.  (He only steals our recruits because he secretly has a crush on us!  It's like elementary school, only instead of our crayons he's taking defensive linemen!)  Critics of the decision will say keeping Weis is an acceptance of mediocrity, but that implies firing him immediately wins us a national championship.  Who was Notre Dame going to bring into replace him?  Brian Kelly?  Kelly has a really nice track record at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan and Cincinnati, but if he is in love with the Notre Dame job, why not give him another year to audition with the Bearcats, keeping up on both his coaching and recruiting?  If Weis is horrible this coming year, then you axe him, bring in Kelly, and the only downside was that Notre Dame has another subpar season while making sure the guy they wanted was right for the job retaining an excellent class of recruits to help contribute to yet another rebuilding effort.

There are no excuses for Weis this time around, and if he's not in a BCS bowl and in the area of the top ten with the talent he brought on board, I don't think anyone will testify that his stay should be longer than five years.  But there is something to be said for continuity, and the potential that once the leaders on the team are also the elder statesmen on the team and everyone has been immersed in the system for a few years that things will just click. Do you remember how good this team looked in the second half against Purdue, or the first half against North Carolina?  This is still the same team, although it's also the same squad that was completely and totally owned by Boston College and who lost to Syracuse.  If Weis can channel the capable Irish team next year, he stays on, and this was a good decision.  If he doesn't, he's gone, and no one will aid him in anyway save for holding the door while he boxes up the office.

In regards to the statement that Notre Dame is somehow racist for keeping Weis two years longer than Ty - a ridiculous accusation even Rob threw down last night - I can't do anything but shake my head and laugh.  Ty Willingham was an extraordinarily bad coach, as the poor people in Seattle found out over the last four years.  He was asleep at the wheel and had just brought in a truly awful recruiting class (Class of '08 pride!)  prior to his final season.  Keeping Ty on would have only deepened the hole that Weis, or his potential successor, was trying to dig the team out of.  Remember 2007?  Weis coached that team, but the struggle to fill the two-deep was in direct correlation to the improvement of Ty's short game (but my, you ought to see what he can do with a lob wedge).  What will another year of Weis do the program?  At worst, he could lose every game in 2009 and the cupboard would still be stocked, in a better place than when he left it.  Ty didn't even know where the cupboard was by the time he left.

So the Cliff Notes version of everything I said above: I don't know whether Charlie Weis will ever be a good football coach, but unless a sure-fire, top-notch target was going to replace him, I'll take another year of continuity in the program rather than rolling the dice on someone new.  One more less-than-stellar year and I will assist in delivering the pink slip to Weis.  If only for next season, better the devil you know than the devil you don't.

Per Mike Frank, WNDU and the ESPN Bottomline (the only sources that matter), athletic director and pirate captain Jack Swarbrick will be making an announcement in the next twenty-four hours or so.  No word on the rest of the staff, although I imagine there will be some casualties.

All your messageboards can start exploding......now.

I never thought there could be this much mystery behind where the Irish might be bowling, but I guess that's what happens when you go 6-6.  A not-so-brief rundown:

If Louisville manages to upset Rutgers on Thursday night, then there's an opportunity for the Irish to go to the Sun Bowl.  If not, Notre Dame can go any bowl that doesn''t have enough teams from a given conference to satisfy their tie-ins.  When you're skimming through these various links, asterisks usually denote a bowl missing a participant and in need of subbing someone in.

CBS Sports: Texas Bowl, versus Rice.

Scout: Texas Bowl, versus Rice

ESPN: Hawaii Bowl, versus Hawaii, and Poinsettia Bowl, versus BYU

MSNBC: Hawaii Bowl, versus Hawaii

SI: Texas Bowl, versus Rice

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While I'm fully in favor of Notre Dame athletics continuing to branch out in the Hawaiian islands, that spot will disappear if Arizona State can manage to knock off rival Arizona and earn their sixth win.  The Poinsettia Bowl appears to be in the process of trying to import Boise State into play TCU, which would be a fantastic way to kick off the postseason, but ultimately pretty disappointing for a Broncos squad that wants another crack at the big boys.

The other potential games Notre Dame could go to, as they're missing participants with one weekend of limited play to go, are the Motor City, Independence and Papajohns.com Bowls.  I have no idea who would get first pick between the Texas and Hawaii Bowls, but I would bet heavily on one of those two destinations for the Irish.  It's going to be a functional road game either way, with Jarrett Dillard and the Rice Owls in Houston or the Rainbow Warriors in Honolulu.

The Texas Bowl is December 30th (on NFL NETWORK!), the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve night.

The Quad , the New York Times college sports blog, usually has some really interesting content up, including bringing in current college athletes to describe their experiences (Jarrett Dillard, wide receiver on potential bowl opponent Rice, has been blogging the Owls' season all autumn).  Imagine my surprise today when my friend Mike directed me over there to see that Fighting Irish forward Zach Hillesland was beginning to chronicle Notre Dame's quest for the 2009 national championship.

His first post is all about nicknames on the team and is absolutely awesome.  Seriously, go read it now.  Luke Zeller's dunk against Marquette about which hundreds of words were written because it was so awesome and so totally out of nowhere?  Called "The Baptism."  The scary resemblance between Tory Jackson and Ja Rule?  Noted.  Multiple references to Omari Israel, who perhaps totaled more nicknames coined than points scored in his Notre Dame career?  Done.  Kudos to Mike Brey and the rest of the athletic department for letting Hillesland do this.

"Z" is now part of the East coast liberal media elite.

Notre Dame plays South Dakota tomorrow night before traveling to Indianapolis for a showdown with Ohio State Saturday afternoon.  "Dispatch From A Domer" will hopefully be running all season.

To preface this, I have no inclination either way whether Charlie Weis will be coach of the Irish next season.  In perhaps the most telling sign of how bad these last two seasons have been, I'm sort of numb to the whole decision, simply wanting it to be over with no matter what the result is.  I believe there are pretty solid arguments to be made in both directions, even after the pathetic offensive effort in the Coliseum and a six-win season that many thought would at least tick up to seven, if not eight or nine.

There's a sour taste in everyone's mouth after last night, but here are the abridged versions of both sides of the argument.

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The Case For Keeping Charlie: Weis is an alum who gets Notre Dame and who has become considerably less prickly (despite random Chicago Trib columns stating otherwise) after the humbling experience of 3-9, a tireless recruiter who is about to bring in another top five or ten class to South Bend, barring .500 record-induced defections.  This is his first head coaching job and it is clear there are plenty of things he needs to learn, as not all coaches "get it" right away, but he showed in 2005 and 2006 that he is far from a complete incompetent on the sidelines.  The team bottomed out from a talent standpoint in 2007 and is utilizing a lot of young, inexperienced players who are learning on the job, just like their head coach.  If given another season, a junior and senior-led class with a reserve of five star goodness behind them on the depth chart will click and begin to dominate like Irish fans hope they would.  If the Irish keep Weis on, he's going to bring in another solid group of recruits and return a talented team to a winnable schedule in 2009.  If there is not marked improvement next year, then Weis should either step down or be let go.

The Case For Firing Charlie: He's gone 9- 15 the last two seasons with questionable decisions along the way, including the retention of certain coaches and some quirky in-game strategy.  The team plays sans any sort of fire or passion most of the time, and while halfway through 2008 it looked like a step in the right direction, Saturday's season finale blowout at Southern Cal looked more like the impotent offense of 2007 than the Brady Quinn-led juggernauts of 2005 and 2006.  From the start of the season, Jimmy Clausen has gotten worse, the offensive line is less capable and the play-calling has become more vanilla.  The team is without identity, and bringing in a new coach to mold and hone the troves of talent up and down the two-deep will result in championship contender over the next few years.  It doesn't matter if you recruit five-star players if they play like walk-ons, and therefore his value as a recruiter is negated unless the coaching improves.

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Those are the arguments in a nutshell, abbreviated for the sake of brevity and the fact every Irish fan has heard both sides over and over and over again.  Coming into the Southern Cal game, I was still strongly in support of Weis coming back, as were many of my friends.  Part of this was due to the natural urge to go against the wailing hordes on the messageboards, the other part because this is a young team with an inexperienced staff all trying to learn together under one of the brightest lights in sports.  But as I watched the game with family and friends, they would point out something from this Irish season - a loss, a decision, a specific play in the game - and I would have an excuse available for them immediately.  Part of the reason is because I've seen every play Notre Dame has ran this season (up until the last few minutes of the Southern Cal game) and therefore have a little more insight than they do, but on the other hand, these are people that watch a lot of football, Irish and otherwise year-in and year-out, looking at this team with fresh eyes.  At some point, shouldn't we just stop making excuses?

Last week I was reading a great post on FreeDarko about the evolution of the Knicks from competitive and fun to watch into full 2010 free agent pursuit mode.  In a basketball post, on a basketball blog, this random line was dropped:

It allows Mike D'Antoni to be completely free of accountability. Screw up this year, and it's , "What did you expect? We're rebuilding." That type of Charlie Weis good-ole-boy-ing will lead to nothing but complacency and lowered expectations.

Is that why I'm so onboard with whatever decision Swarbrick makes and just wants it to be made?  Notre Dame will never reach the levels of the halcyon past like so many across the messageboards think it will, and I totally understand that, but Jesus, shouldn't we at least look like a real football team week-in and week-out?

As I worked my way through this post, it appears I've talked myself into letting Weis go, but in my heart of hearts, I really don't want to do that.  I want to see him succeed, and giving him another year to both learn and teach will only improve things.  Probably.  Or maybe all this team of highly talented players needs is a new voice to guide them to infinite glory.

I just want to get something up here to start the discussion.  I'm not sold either way and would love a clear-cut case to be made to me in one direction or the other, just so I can get off this extremely uncomfortable fence.  If you've got that ironclad plan for fixing the program, please put it out there for me.

We've been a little light (non-existent) on covering the Trojans this week.  There was the very entertaining Maui Invitational going on (Ty Lawson is sort of fast), Pirate Watch 2008 (these guys might not be hired for security again), the Thanksgiving hoilday and the fact that every time I research Rey Maualuga I get very jealous and very scared for the health of Notre Dame's offensive players.  Witness (but don't listen, the music is horrendous):

But this is rivalry week, and crazier things have happened.  There's a tasty selection of games - some with big-time BCS implications, others simply with bad blood - and I'll be watching from a partially Penn State house that will be pleading with the football gods to wreak havoc on the landscape.  I'll also tip my hat to that, if only due to the greatness of Loki and the fact Boise State probably deserves to go to a BCS bowl and I have no idea how they're going to get there unless everyone at the top starts accruing losses at an uncomfortable rate.

Oh, and drink every time you hear the term "style points."  It'll have you in the proper state of mind (unconscious), for the 8:00 Eastern kickoff.

Just pretend it ended after this.

Hooked 'Em: An absolutely fantastic game from Maui last night.  I can't speak highly enough of the McDonough-Bilas-Raftery team, as they all obviously know and love the game.  Do things get a little weird sometimes?  Of course, Raf is in there, but it's fantastic anyway.  Bonus points for Rick Barnes for using his halftime interview to insult Bilas' weight.  I've been sure since the TJ Ford teams that Barnes was some sort of evil gnome, but he's always a class act and his coming back to Jimmy Dyke's mic to say "There is no rebuttal" was the highlight of the night that didn't involve Luke Harangody knocking in a thirty-five foot three pointer.

The mood over at Burnt Ornage Nation is all "Notre Dame didn't win. We lost." (although to be fair, Pete's dealing with the possibility of his rival going to the Big XII Title game - and possibly the Mythical National Title game - after they beat them by ten on a neutral field, and he congratulated me last night, so we'll cut him some slack) and listing the things Texas could have done differently to come away with an easy win.  Mmm, let's explore this a bit, shall we?

This was mostly a half-court game and played at the tempo that Notre Dame preferred. I would have liked to see the Longhorns apply more full-court pressure, like they have in their previous three games, and try to disrupt the Irish offense.

Right, because a Mike Brey team would be upset to be put into a full court game.  The Irish were constantly pushing - not to the extent they were against Indiana, where everyone was doing their best Bill Walton impression on outlet passes - but they were never pressing, which is important.  Notre Dame being comfortable in the half-court is something new and exciting that has slowly developed as Luke Harangody emerged in the post, and now with Master of His Universe Tory Jackson controlling everything and Kyle McAlarney knocking down whatever the hell he wants to, you need a helluva defense to slow them down.  Ryan Ayers and Lucas Zellervich combined for nine points, with the bench kicking in Zellervich's three, and the Irish still beat a deeper top ten team on the second night of a back-to-back.

There's also the concept that AJ Abrams shot them out of the game, which he obviously did, taking 27 shots, 17 (?!) of them from behind the arc.  But most of those shots were contested, as the Irish guards stayed with him and Zach Hillesland continually switched out and hedged to take away an open look.  While the Longhorns were going inside early and having some success, Dexter Pittman picking up a bunch of fouls early in the second due to the Irish being more aggressive and the general success Hillesland and Ayers had defending Damion James and Gary Johnson lead me to believe that most of Texas' offensive woes was caused by a great effort from the Irish defense.  They also didn't have a bigger, slashing two-guard like Jerel McNeal or Derrick Low that the Irish always have difficulty matching up with.  There were some great match-ups for the Irish, and they took advantage of them enough for the win.

Good note: Notre Dame had six turnovers in the entire game against a pressing, swarming, athletic defense.  Bad note: Seriously, hit your free throws.  Is it something in the Hawaiian air?  This has never been a problem before.  Stop it.  Please.  My mom even e-mailed me about it this morning (Direct quote: "ND needs some touch up work on their free throws - otherwise a pretty good game.").  I realize it's early and small sample sizes, but this is the third game in a row where too many points were left at the charity stripe.

Can't say enough how fantastic the Harangody-Jackson-McAlarney combination was, and it seems Tory has some official cheerleaders in the media to make sure his efforts don't go unnoticed this season.

Then there's the matter of tonight: 10:00 Eastern on ESPN, the Irish face the presumed national champion and number one team in the nation, the North Carolina Tar Heels.  The Heels stomped Oregon last night, playing fourteen four minutes or more.  I think the Irish starting five is more than capable of banging with the boys in baby blue, but once that third and fourth wave of Heels come running in the second half and the fact you're playing your third game in three days sets in?  We'll see.  No matter what happens tonight, this trip was a success, just because the Irish get to face off against what they need to become if they want to win a championship, while also beating Tom Crean (haha) and notching a quality win.

And oh by the way, the rest of the Big East: Syracuse defeated two ranked teams who happen to account for the last three national titles (Florida and Kansas), Connecticut waxed the floor with two more (Miami (FL) and Wisconsin) and Seton Hall knocked off Southern Cal, all in the last week or so.  I didn't even mention Pitt, Louisville, Marquette, West Virginia, Cincinnati or Georgetown.  If you get ten wins in league play, you might clinch the banner.

Dr. James Andrews Strikes Again: Brady Quinn will miss the remainder of the regular season after breaking his right index finger, which got worse after Sunday's game against the Texans.  Brady went 1-2 in his three starts this season, playing pretty well, but also essentially playing out the string on a disappointing Browns season.  Is Romeo Crennel a goner?  Phil Savage, too?  With all the NBA writers focusing solely on where LeBron is going to jet to in 2010 and Quinn missing the final four games of the season, it is not a happy time in the city of Cleveland.  If there is any silver lining to his injury, its that perhaps Fathead will temporarily drop the price of their Quinns so we can finally buy a dozen of them and finish wallpapering our apartment.

Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold and Undefeated on Alumni Field: A program we criminally haven't touched on at all this season, the Notre Dame women's soccer team is a sterling 24-0, a unanimous number one and sitting pretty in the elite eight after toughing out two 1-0 games in the rounds of 32 and 16.  (Your national player of the year, Kerri Hanks, banged in the winning Sweet Sixteen goal in overtime against Minnesota.)  The Irish's reward?  A date with the Florida State Seminoles, the team that unceremoniously knocked Notre Dame out of the College Cup Final Four last November.  While the Noles are surely looking to spring the upset again, the Irish will be looking to advance to their fourth final four in the last five years (the only year they didn't make it was in 2005, where they lost on the road to eventual national champion Portland in the Elite Eight). 

:The game is Friday at 7:00 at Alumni Field, and if last season's freezing Elite Eight win over Duke was any sort of indicator, bring your hand warmers and wear extra socks.

Hey, all that stuff. . . : ...and we didn't once bring up Charlie Weis!  See how easy that is, everyone else who writes about the Irish on the internet?  I wanted to address this entire snowball thing (which is so ridiculous it's probably not worth bringing up) and then look at the cases for and against firing Weis, but let's wait until after the regular season is over.  I don't say that implying Notre Dame is going to beat Southern Cal - they're not - but let's see how the team plays and while we're doing that, maybe everyone needs to chill out and look in the mirror.

That was more interesting than it needed to be at the end.  Tory, K-Mac and Harangody combined to play 116 of a possible 120 minutes, notching 64 points on 24-for-44 points.  They might not have any legs left against North Carolina tomorrow, but it was a hell of a win tonight.