Basketball Wins 7th in a Row
Frank Vitovitch
January 13, 2000

South Bend, Ind - After falling to .500 after a 75-51 loss at the hands of Miami of Ohio, the Fighting Irish basketball team has ripped off seven straight wins.  Yes the first few wins came against the likes of Rider, Elon, St. Peter's and VMI, but the big win came last week when the Irish beat the then #2 UConn Huskies on their floor 75-70.  The Irish followed the big win up with a  86-77 point win at home over the Boston College Eagles.

Troy Murphy, who may just be the best Notre Dame basketball player of all time, lead the way with 27 points and 8 rebounds.  Murphy who has not scored below 17 points this season is leading the Big East in both rebounding and scoring.   If he ends the season that way, he will be the first person to do so.  As of now, scouts project Troy as the #8 overall pick in the draft if he were to leave early, but he has said repeatedly that he is going to college for four years.  That being said, don't be surprised of Troy is the #1 pick in the draft when he leaves.

Notre Dame lead Boston College for the entire game except for a small stretch in the second half, but had problems with the Eagles' full court pressure.  Boston College did a very good job preventing Notre Dame from getting too comfortable in their offense, but the Irish were too much for them.

Notre Dame used a sweet touch from behind the arch to help them in their seventh straight win.  The Irish were seven of eleven from three point range against the Eagles which included 2 three pointers each from David Graves, Matt Carroll, and Mike Monserez.  Carroll continued his strong play with 15 points and 4 rebounds.  Could the Irish have another Big East Rookie of the Year?

Notre Dame is now 2-0 in the Big East with another big time test coming up against the only remaining unbeaten team in Syracuse.  The Orangemen, lead by Jason Hart, are ranked seventh in the country and are currently 12-0 overall.   The Irish will travel to New York on January 16th for a showdown with the Orangemen.  Despite being undefeated, Syracuse only has 1 first place vote. 

A win here could be huge for Notre Dame since it would make them 12-5 with upcoming games against Rutgers and Pittsburgh, two games the Irish should easily win.  After Pittsburgh the Irish will host St. John's and Miami, two games Notre Dame will need to be on their game for.

The Irish are still very alive for a NCAA Tournement bid, but need to finish strong in order to go back to the Big Dance for the first time since Digger Phelps roamed the courtside for the Irish.  If Notre Dame can beat Syracuse on Sunday, there is no way that they will not be ranked when the new polls come out.   The Irish already have 2 wins over top 10 teams, and both were top 5 when they played.  The one thing hurting Notre Dame now is the losses to Miami of Ohio and Vandy.