Tag: Big East

Notre Dame’s last game against Georgetown

Between 1996 and 2013, Notre Dame and Georgetown played each other at least once ever year as Big East rivals.

Between 1996 and 2013, Notre Dame and Georgetown played each other at least once ever year as Big East rivals. When the programs, who will play a home-and-home series the next two seasons, met Jan. 21, 2013 at Purcell Pavilion, the conference series was tied at 11. With the Irish about to move to the ACC, the game decided who had perpetual conference bragging rights. That turned out to be the Hoyas, who upset the No. 24 Irish, 63-47, en route to winning a share of the Big East title.

Future NBA journeyman Otto Porter Jr. led all scorers with 19 points and came within a rebound of a double-double. D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera scored 14 off the bench for the Hoyas. Moses Abraham, another Hoyas reserved, had 10 boards.

[autotag]Jerian Grant[/autotag] led the Irish with 13 points and had a game-high three steals. [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] scored 12, and [autotag]Jack Cooley[/autotag] achieved a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. However, the team shooting an overall 34.7% from the field proved too much to overcome. Not even Red Panda’s halftime performance could inspire the Irish enough.

As we prepare for the upcoming home-and-home, here are the images of this game Irish fans probably would rather forget:

Big Ten and Big East announced the schedule for 2023 Gavitt Games

The Big Ten Conference and the Big East announced their matchups for the 2023 Gavitt Games, starting in Nov. 13 and finishing in Nov. 17. 

The Big Ten Conference and the Big East Conference announced their matchups for the eighth Gavitt Tipoff Games. The eight-game contests will start on November 13 and finish on November 17.

The Gavitt Tipoff Games is an early-season eight-game contest played between the two conferences, named in honor of Hall of Famer Dave Gavitt, founder of the Big East Conference.

From 2015 to 2017, both conferences had a tied 4-4 record each year until 2018, when the Big Ten teams defeated the Big East teams in five of the eight games.

The Big Ten Conference had the advantage these past years, winning the last three out of four challenges. The Big Ten teams topped the Big East teams in 2018 (5-3), 2019 (5-2), and 2022 (6-2) (2020 got canceled due to COVID-19).

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The Big East teams captured six out of eight games in 2021 (6-2), with Michigan State and Indiana being the only Big Ten teams to win their matchups. The Big Ten bounced back in 2022, winning six of their eight matchups. St. John’s and DePaul are the only Big East teams to win their 2022 Gavitt Games.

2023 Gavitt Tipoff Games Schedule

Monday, November 13

  1. Xavier at Purdue
  2. Michigan at St. John’s (Played at Madison Square Garden)

Tuesday, November 14

  1. Wisconsin at Providence
  2. Marquette at Illinois
  3. Iowa at Creighton

Wednesday, November 15

  1. Georgetown at Rutgers

Friday, November 17

  1. Maryland at Villanova
  2. Butler at Michigan State

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Two-time Notre Dame opponent Carmelo Anthony retires from basketball

Farewell, Melo.

Carmelo Anthony is a lock for the Basketball Hall of Fame, and why wouldn’t he be? He was a 10-time NBA All-Star, made six All-NBA teams and won three Olympic gold medals. Plus, he was named to the league’s 75th anniversary team. Now, nearly 20 years after he was drafted, he has announced his retirement:

While leading Syracuse to the 2003 national championship in his lone season there, Anthony beat Notre Dame twice, and both Big East games were close. When the programs played at Syracuse, he scored 10 points during a 14-2 Orange run that tied the game in the second half, ultimately scoring 26 points. When they reunited in South Bend not long after, he scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half of a game in which he also grabbed 10 rebounds.

As nice as it would have been to see Anthony battle the Irish more, he clearly made the right choice to be one-and-done. Here’s to whatever comes next for him.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Top 10 Notre Dame women’s basketball players according to ChatGPT

Does the bot know women’s basketball?

I asked AI information bot ChatGPT to list what it believes are Notre Dame’s top 10 men’s basketball players. It only makes sense for me to give the women equal treatment. Plus the women have both a better recent past and future than the men. You know people want to know who’s made the program so special.

Please note that ChatGPT’s knowledge cuts off at September 2021, so you won’t find [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] on this list. Heck, she probably wouldn’t have made it anyway since she just completed her sophomore season. She still has a legacy to complete.

Here is ChatGPT’s disclaimer regarding the list:

“As a language model, I do not have personal opinions or beliefs, and my responses are generated based on data and information available to me. However, I can provide you with a list of some of the most notable Notre Dame women’s basketball players, based on their achievements, accolades, and impact on the program.”

It also says this:

“Please note that this list is not exhaustive and is subject to personal opinions and interpretations. There have been many talented and accomplished players in Notre Dame women’s basketball history, and different people may have different criteria for their top 10 selections.”

With that out of the way, let’s see who the information bot has deemed worthy of making this list and what it had to say about each player:

Top 10 Notre Dame men’s basketball players according to ChatGPT

Let’s see what AI knows about Irish men’s hoops.

For the past few months, I’ve heard quite a bit about the AI information bot known as ChatGPT. It was the subject of an episode during this past season of “South Park”. More importantly, I’ve heard how it’s such a game-changer that writing jobs are done for. We’ll see about that as I’m not too worried about it, but then again, I’m sure newspaper employees said the same thing about the internet in the mid-1990s.

When our editor Nick Shepkowski decided to ask ChatGPT what it thought Notre Dame’s 10 best football players were, I decided to follow suit and ask the same question but for the 10 best men’s basketball players instead. Keep in mind that even the bot knows this list is subjective:

“Please note that there are many other outstanding players who have played for Notre Dame and could also be included on this list.”

So keep that in mind as you go over the following list, which also includes ChatGPT’s description of each player:

Oklahoma to face Providence in 2023 Big East-Big 12 Battle

Oklahoma and Providence are locked in for a December 5th date to play in Norman as part of the fifth Big 12-Big East Battle.

While the Oklahoma Sooners grapple with how they’ll retool and replenish a now-depleted roster, we know one of their non-conference opponents for the 2023 season.

The Sooners are set to take on the Providence Friars on December 5 in the 2023 Big East-Big 12 Battle. This men’s basketball non-conference scheduling alliance is in its fifth year, with the games being played from November 30 to December 5.

Both conferences have grown in members since the conception of the idea, and with the Big 12 adding Houston, BYU, UCF, and Cincinnati, the format has changed this year with an increase from 10 to 11 matchups for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. In this upcoming 2023-2024 season, the Big 12 will host six games, while the Big East will host six the following season.

The two conferences jointly determine the matchups, with the home team choosing the venue of its game. ESPN and FOX Sports will also have a voice in how the broadcast arrangements play out, considering they are the overarching media entities for the Big 12 and Big East.

Providence will be under the guidance of Kim English, previously the head coach of the George Mason Patriots.

English is a former Big 12 basketball player who was a star at Missouri (before they departed for the SEC). He helped lead the Tigers to 107 wins and four NCAA tournament appearances. He was a two-time All-Big 12 selection at Missouri, averaging 11.1 points.

The Friars have made the NCAA Tournament in seven of the last twelve seasons.

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Source: Mike Brey to be hired as USF head coach

The former Irish coach appears to have new work lined up.

Mike Brey apparently didn’t have to wait long to pick up his next coaching gig. BullsInsider.com is reporting that the winningest coach in Notre Dame history is about to take the head coaching job at USF. No official announcement has been made, but all signs seem to be pointing in that direction.

This would be a perfect destination for Brey, who previously indicated that he would sell his home near South Bend and move to Florida once his final season with the Irish was over. As it turns out, he’ll be able to have his cake and eat it, too. He will try to revive a program that has had only one winning season in the past decade and no NCAA Tournament appearances since 2012.

This news would appear to indicate that any involvement Brey had with finding his successor in South Bend is over. Instead, his complete focus will be on a program that once was very familiar to him. The Irish went 10-1 against the Bulls from 2006 to 2013, when the programs were Big East rivals.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

The Rhode Island Scumbag’s guide to betting the 2023 Big East men’s basketball tournament

The Rhode Island Scumbag drops his picks for the local conference — including a live dog in St. John’s and one team to fade, fade, fade.

The Rhode Island Scumbag is our resident prognosticator who thoroughly cleaned up last year’s postseason basketball slate as a bettor. As such, he’s back to take us through both a select group of conference tournaments as well as the big dance itself. He chooses to remain anonymous (for now) for reasons unknown, though they may be related to the fact “Rhode Island Scumbag — 2021 to present” isn’t a particularly appealing resume item. All text below are his words.

Why am I choosing to break down a conference that absolutely took me to the cleaners this year? I guess because while I sweated out many losing tickets on Big East games, I did end up putting a lot of hours into watching Big East Basketball.

It was a very tough regular season to handicap if I’m being honest. Marquette won the regular season without much of a fight, but no team was really fully healthy for the full season and the standings didn’t fluctuate all that much. I do have some betting angles that I’ll break down here based on what I watched throughout the year.

Legendary coach Jim Boeheim done at Syracuse after 47 seasons

Another coaching legend is out the door.

Jim Boeheim, the second-winningest coach in Division I basketball history, has coached his last game for Syracuse. Only a few hours after the Orange were eliminated by Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament, the university announced that Boeheim’s 47th season at the helm was his final one. He will be succeeded by Orange assistant Adrian Autry, who played for Boeheim from 1990 to 1994.

Notre Dame’s first game against Boeheim’s Orange was a 65-62 loss Feb. 9, 1985 at Purcell Pavilion. Most recently, the Orange had a come-from-behind 78-73 victory Jan. 14 in Syracuse. Overall, the Irish went 16-31 in the rivalry during that time. The programs have battled every year as conference rivals since 1996 – first in the Big East with the Irish losing two of three meetings in that conference’s tournament, and then, in the ACC.

Fighting Irish Wire was lucky to be in South Bend for what turned out to be Boeheim’s final trip there. After his team’s 62-61 victory, we were able to sit in on his postgame news conference. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to snap a photo of the Hall of Famer, which is what you’re seeing at the top of this story.

Much like [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag], who coached his own final game for an ACC program he has become synonymous with less than 24 hours earlier, Boeheim will be missed, and we wish him well.

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Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Mike Brey, Cormac Ryan, Marcus Hammond speak after Notre Dame loss

Read some final words summing up the season and a whole era of Irish basketball.

Notre Dame’s 67-64 loss to Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament signaled the end of an era. Yes, it means [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag]’s days as Irish coach are over, but it also means the end for many players on the roster, especially rotational players. Two of them are [autotag]Marcus Hammond[/autotag] and [autotag]Cormac Ryan[/autotag], players who didn’t begin their collegiate careers with the Irish but were the most impactful in Brey’s final game for the program. That allowed them to come out with Brey for the season’s last postgame news conference.

Hammond and Ryan sat next to Brey as he, among other things, called out the officials for a late lengthy review that ultimately resulted in a dead-ball technical for [autotag]Matt Zona[/autotag] that might have affected the game’s outcome. This came as the Irish were about to shoot their own free throws in a close contest. Brey has called out ACC officials before, and he apparently decided to do it one more time on his way out.

Here is what the Irish trio said after the game: