Jan. 10, 2003

By Steve Richardson

Coach Mike Brey knows the games have to be won on the floor. So he probably could care less Notre Dame's men's basketball team received about as much respect as the school's football team before this season.

But Brey's 2002-03 Notre Dame team caught everybody's attention by the time December was over. The current Fighting Irish would do something no other Notre Dame men's basketball team has done.

The unranked Fighting Irish beat three ranked teams in a week -- Marquette, Maryland and Texas -- and landed in the 10th spot of the Associated Press Top 25 Poll that week. That jump in the rankings -- the third largest in poll's history -- doesn't appear to be a fluke, either. Only an early-season 80-75 loss to Creighton blemishes Notre Dame's record before a Dec. 30 game against Vanderbilt.

"Right now, it is a good time to walk into a gym with ND on your shirt," said Notre Dame's third-year coach Mike Brey. "The last two weeks have helped us (recruiting). There is no program with more buzz around it right now." Expect Notre Dame to stick around in the Top 10 national rankings under Brey, the former Duke assistant under Mike Krzyzewski. Could this be the start of "Duke Midwest"?

There are some striking similarities between the programs: strong man-to-man half-court defense, excellent assist-turnover ratio, great three-point shooting and defined roles. Duke and Notre Dame also are both private schools with an emphasis on high school recruiting.

Brey was at Coach K's side when the Blue Devils won NCAA titles in 1991 and 1992. And Brey was on the Duke bench for most of those Final Four runs from 1986-94. He learned from the master. Brey then shuttled off to Delaware for an intermediate five-year stop as head coach before arriving at Notre Dame two years ago.

At Notre Dame, he's already made his mark. He's the only coach to take the Fighting Irish to two 20-victory seasons and NCAA Tournament berths in his first two seasons at the school. Last March, Brey nearly coached Notre Dame past Duke in the NCAA second round before losing, 84-77.

The major difference between Duke and Notre Dame is obvious. Duke chooses its recruits. Brey must scramble to get some of his. Duke is a basketball school its football team can be proud of during some pretty dreary autumn Saturdays in The Triangle.

Notre Dame, historically, is a great football school whose basketball program is not necessarily on the radar screen of all Top 100 recruits nationally each year.

"We're not going to get five McDonald's All-Americas," Brey said. " I don't think that would be best for us, either."

Brey is a smart coach, however. And he's going to get enough good players to win championships. Besides knowing his Xs and Os, he knows how to recruit and manage his roster. His current team is the perfect example.

When forward Danny Miller got fed up with lack of playing time at Maryland after the 2000-01 season and wanted to transfer, Brey could see he needed another experienced scorer this season with the graduation of post-man Ryan Humphrey and two other senior starters.

Brey only will have Miller, who he calls a "Jeff Lamp" play-alike for just this one season, "but his age and experience will help in the locker room." Brey also built this team by having the current freshmen come in early in the new NCAA academic summer program. As a result, 6-10 power forward Torin Francis, the only freshman starter, has matured off and on the court and is double figures in scoring and rebounding waiting to happen every game.

Those parts fit with a solid backcourt. Senior shooting guard Matt Carroll (career-high 33 points against DePaul) sets the tone on the floor and locker room with his even-keel attitude. And flashy sophomore point guard Chris Thomas is learning to play under control.

"The first thing, Chris is stronger than last year," Brey said. "His arms aren't popping out of his jersey, although Chris may stand in front of mirror and think they are. But he is 10 pounds heavier. That was needed. And he has done a good job in the games at crunch time. He has a feeling this is where this program belongs."

Coles Joins Elite Club
Miami University coach Charlie Coles reached the 200-win plateau Nov. 27 in the RedHawks' 65-39 win over Ohio Dominican. Coles joins just four other coaches in Mid-American Conference history to reach 200 victories at schools in the league. Bob Nichols (375, Toledo, 1966-87); James Snyder (355, Ohio, 1949-74); Darrell Hedric (216, Miami, 1971-84) and Larry Hunter (204, Ohio, 1990-).

Coles is the only coach among major Division I schools who teaches a course in basketball theory. His course is called Basketball Theory (PHS 331), which teaches the fundamentals of coaching basketball as part of Miami's coaching minor. He personally teaches the two-hour class each Tuesday and Thursday at 8 a.m. during the fall semester.

Duke-Michigan Ending?
Don't expect the Michigan-Duke series to continue. Coach Mike Krzyzewski indicated as much after the Blue Devils blew out the Wolverines, 81-59, on Dec. 7 in Durham. The reason? He doesn't want to play his former player and assistant coach Tommy Amaker, who is the coach of the Wolverines. The contract has concluded. Amaker didn't seem too excited, either, about playing his old boss. "This was a very difficult team and place to play," Amaker said. "I am as qualified as anyone to make that assessment."

Short Shots
Purdue Coach Gene Keady coached in his 700th career game at the school recently, a 78-61 victory over Belmont. The only person to coach more men's basketball games at a school in the Big Ten was Bob Knight at Indiana (901 games),...Louisville coach Rick Pitino staged the Billy Minardi Classic at Freedom Hall in December to honor his brother-in-law who was killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. As long as he can, Pitino wants to invite teams coached by former players, assistants and friends ...Prior to Colorado State's Mountain West Conference basketball opener against New Mexico on Jan. 13, the athletic department will host a reception to honor and recognize former coach Boyd Grant, who will be in town for the game and be honored by former players and colleagues during a half-time ceremony...Auburn coach Cliff Ellis won the San Juan Shootout for the third time in December. He also won the tournament in 1995 and 1999. And when he was coach at Clemson in 1989, his Tigers finished second. So Ellis has an 11-1 record in games in Puerto Rico.