Irish End Regular Season Comes to End Tonight
Frank Vitovitch
Saturday, March 4, 2000

Washington, DC - The roller coaster ride that was the 1999-2000 men's basketball season comes to a close today as the Irish will play in their final regular season game of the year.  The Irish will take on the Hoyas of Georgetown at 12 noon Saturday afternoon at the MCI Center.

The Irish come in on a three game loosing streak.  The streak started when the Friars of Providence beat the Irish by 10, 89-79 - a game Notre Dame should have and needed to win.  Next the Hurricanes completed a season sweep of Notre Dame with a three point win 55-52, a game Notre Dame could have and needed to win.   Then came Syracuse, who had a 16 point lead over the Irish, squeaked by with a two point win.  This was a game Notre Dame should have won had it not been for the moronic actions of one fan who threw a water bottle onto the after two previous warnings.

Before the loosing streak, the Irish posted back to back wins over ranked opponents in the form of UConn and Seton Hall.  The last three games have pushed the Irish to 16-13 after a 20 win season had looked hopeful.  As it is now, a trip to the NCAA Tournament is very questionable.  A fourth loss on Saturday pretty much assures an NIT bid for Notre Dame.

Georgetown has no shot at the Tournament, so they will be trying to play the role of spoiler.  At 15-12, their record may be similar to Notre Dame's, but the Hoyas have not been the quality of teams Notre Dame has.  So far the Irish have beaten UConn twice, Seton Hall, Ohio State, and St. John's - all ranked teams at the time of the game.  They also had #13 Syracuse on the ropes on Wednesday making the Irish an attractive team despite what may be only a 17 win season.

In Wednesday's loss to Syracuse, senior point guard Jimmy Dillon fouled out in his last home game of his career so look for him to play his heart out today.  Dillon, the subject of a UHND article on March 2, played a great season despite not being the most talent guy on the floor.  He have his heart and soul during every game and fully deserved the standing ovation he was given when he walked off the court.

The Irish will have to keep their heads in the game not look past the Hoyas or think back to the Syracuse game.  It is basically do or die for the team and they know.  A win keeps their hopes alive.  They would still need a strong showing in the Big East Tournament however, but the hope would still be alive.  A loss however pretty much kills any hope of making it to the Big Dance.

Jimmy Dillon is the only senior who really played a significant role, but you can probably count on seeing Skylard Owens and Todd Palmer see more action than usual since it will be their final regular season game.  No matter what the outcome of today's game, no one can say that the season wasn't exciting and no one can say there was this much interest in basketball at Notre Dame in a long time.