ND aftermath

A few thoughts while driving down U.S. 31 on the way back from South Bend:
- There's no shame in losing at Notre Dame the way the Irish play at home, but when UC got up by eight points early in the second half it looked as if it might actually be on the way to ending that 30-game homecourt winning streak. But remember, no one has won there since the end of the 2005-06 season. What's important now is for the Bearcats to regroup for their next two road games vs. Pitt and UConn before heading back out on the road to Seton Hall and then the Huggins game at West Virginia.
- Still, Mick Cronin had the feeling, justified I think, that if UC had taken advantage of ND's offensive woes in the first half it would have been better positioned to withstand Harangody's onslaught in the second half.
"It was going to take a monumental effort for us to win here," Cronin said. "We were going to have to play a great game. I thought defensively in the first half we played a great game but we didn’t offensively. We should have been up 15 or 20 at half if we had shot the ball halfway decent. We’re shooting 2-footers in the paint and then we’re shooting wide open 3-point shots."
Adam H. continues to struggle to put the ball in the basket. He was 1-for-7 from the field and as Mick said, most, if not all, of those shots were within a few feet of the basket. He has to do better.
- Kenny Belton did a good job during his 13-minute stint. One of the interesting things about covering this team is watching the development of the freshmen, each of whom is progressing at his own pace. One day Alvin Mitchell seems to get it. The next day it's Kenny Belton or Anthony McClain. At some point, you have to think most of them will figure things out and become productive at the same time. That might not happen until next season, but when it does UC will be on its way.