Tag: Tim Abromaitis

Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament: ’14-15 Irish Oust ’09-10 Irish

The top four seeds have been waiting around for a bit to get going in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament.

The top four seeds have been waiting around for a bit to get going in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament. The time to do so finally has arrived. The top-seeded 2014-15 Irish got the quarterfinals going with a come-from-behind 92-83 victory over the eighth-seeded 2009-10 Irish.

The ’09-10 Irish were in front for most of the first half, doing so by as many as eight points with two minutes left before settling on a six-point halftime lead. Midway through the second half, they still led by five, but the ’14-15 Irish went on a 7-0 run to take a two-point lead. The teams battled closely for a little longer until the game was tied at 74 with five minutes to go. V.J. Beachem then scored nine unanswered points on back-to-back 3-pointers and a three-point play, and the ’09-10 Irish never got closer than four points after that.

Jerian Grant was efficient and unselfish in leading the ’14-15 Irish with 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and a perfect 3 for 3 from 3-point range, as well as a game-high seven assists. Pat Connaughton scored 17 points and had a game-high four blocks. Thanks to his late charge, Beachem ended with 12 points in nine minutes played. Zach Auguste scored 11 and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

The ’09-10 Irish played only seven players, and that almost was enough. Tim Abromaitis paced them with a game-high 26 points to go with seven rebounds. Tyrone Nash scored 19, and Ben Hansbrough added 11.

Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament: No. 2 Seed – 2010-11 Irish

One of the purposes of the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament is to give disappointing teams a shot at redemption.

One of the purposes of the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament is to give disappointing teams a shot at redemption. That’s not to say the 2010-11 Irish were a letdown given their 27-7 record. Still, you have to wonder what would have happened if a few things had gone differently.

The Irish took care of business early on with an Old Spice Classic championship and an 11-1 nonconference record, their only loss coming against a ranked Kentucky team. Then, after splitting their first six Big East games, they went 11-1 the rest of the regular season. One of those wins came on the road against Pittsburgh, then ranked second. Though the Panthers ultimately finished one game better than Notre Dame’s 14-4 conference record to win the Big East title, Mike Brey had impressed enough voters to be named national coach of the year.

Though the Irish, then ranked fourth, lost in overtime to Louisville in the Big East semifinals, their resume still netted them a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. Playing their first set of games in Chicago should have given them some of the best crowd support in the first weekend of the tournament, and that should have helped them advance past that, but it wasn’t to be. After taking down 15th-seeded Akron in their first game, the Irish were stunned in a 14-point loss to 10th-seeded Florida State. To be fair, that year’s Final Four had no team seeded higher than third, but that was of little consolation to the Irish, who were fifth in the final ranking.

Big East Player of the Year Ben Hasbrough paced the Irish with 18.4 points and 4.3 assists a game and shot a team-high 43.5 percent from 3-point range. Tim Abromaitis made third-team all-conference after averaging 15.4 points a game. Though he didn’t net any honors, Carleton Scott was well-rounded with an 11.2 scoring averaging and team highs in rebounding (7.4) and free-throw percentage (.889).

Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament: ’09-10 Irish Superior to ’11-12 Irish

It took until the second round of the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament, but we finally have a win for a higher seed.

It took until the second round of the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament, but we finally have a win for a higher seed. Boy, did the victors here come out with a vengeance for all the higher seeds that didn’t get out of the first round. In the only second-round matchup that was predetermined, the 2009-10 Irish led the 2011-12 Irish wire-to-wire en route to an 85-59 win.

The ’09-10 Irish jumped out to an eight-point lead just over four minutes into the game and continued to build from there. After the lead was pushed to 11 with less than six-and-a-half minutes in the first half, it never fell below double digits again. No points were scored in the game’s final minute-and-a-half, but at that point, it had been garbage time for a while.

Four ’09-10 Irish starters scored in double figures, but Luke Harangody came off the bench and led everybody with 18 points. Ben Hansbrough and Tim Abromaitis came together and scored 17 points apiece while also make seven of their team’s 12 3-pointers. Tory Jackson scored, and Tyrone Nash had 10 while coming within one rebound of a double-double.

Jerian Grant led the ’11-12 Irish with 16 points. Jack Cooley scored 13 and was two rebounds away from achieving a double-double.

Shooting percentage made the difference here as the ’09-10 Irish held a 48.3-36.4 advantage from the floor.

Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament: No. 8 Seed – 2009-10 Irish

We finally have our first team in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament which qualified for March Madness: the 2009-10 Irish.

It took long enough, but we finally have our first team in the Notre Dame 15 Years Tournament which qualified for March Madness: the 2009-10 Irish. Even though Notre Dame was upset by Old Dominion in the first round of the NCAA tournament, this still was a decent team that flew under the radar. That’s the best to describe a group that finished 23-12.

The ’09-10 Irish are the last to go undefeated at the Purcell Pavilion, which meant they took care of business when they absolutely should have. They never had a losing streak longer than three, and they were one of eight Big East teams to win at least 10 conference games. No, they weren’t able to take down the top dogs in the conference like Syracuse, West Virginia or Villanova, but they did what they needed to obtain an at-large NCAA bid, and making the Big East semifinals surely helped. This definitely was a comeback year for them after missing out on the Big Dance the year before.

Luke Harangody came close to averaging a double-double with 21.8 points and 9.1 rebounds a game. Tim Abromaitis obtained a 16.1 scoring average while shooting 42.9 percent from 3-point range, and Ben Hansbrough posted 12.0 points a game. He also averaged 4.4 assists, not far behind the 5.3 assists from Tory Jackson. With those two setting the pace, the Irish ranked sixth in the country in assists (585).