2008-2009 Season Recap.

The 2007-2008 Season Recap.

Not a good season at all.  The expectations were over the roof for this team and they didn't even come close to living up to them.  Some of the expectations may have been a little unfair, but still, the Irish underperformed to the utmost.  A team that starts its season in the AP and ESPN Top 10 polls and then goes on to not even make the NIT is more than just a little bit disappointing.  

The season started on a promising note.  With victories over two cup cakes we went to Maui and took down a rebuilding Indiana team and won in a thriller against top 10 Texas.  The Irish then went on to play UNC and we put a decent fight. This was the high point of the season and after this things only got worse.  The team then went on to lose to Ohio State, the only other competitive team in the non-conference schedule.  The Irish entered Big East Play with only two loses.

The Big East did start off well despite a second game loss to the awful St. John's squad.  (this game really hurt in the long run.)   But wins against Seton Hall, DePaul and at the time a top 5 Georgetown team the season was still looking promising.  Georgetown collapsed right around the same time we did and also ended up in the NIT.  Then came "the stretch."  This stretch included 7 games.  6 ranked opponents and only 2 home games.  Clearly this was made for TV purposes as the Irish were one of the most nationally televised teams of the year.  The Irish dropped all 7 of them.  We went from a projected 3 seed in the tournament to almost off the NCAA bubble.  We went an entire month without winning.

However, the team showed strength when Louisville came back into town.  The Irish facing their 7 ranked opponent in 8 games and with their confidence at a low somehow managed to not only beat the future Big East champions and #1 overall seed, but destroy them.  The Irish won 90-57 and life was back.  The Irish then beat South Florida but then lost two must win games against West Virginia and Villanova.

No miracle run happened in the BET so the Irish were sent to the NIT.  We performed good and won some quality games, but fell short against Penn State in the semi-finals.  

The attitude of the team needs to change in order to get better.