Big East Honors Greet Irish in New York City

Upon arrival in New York City today in preparation for the Big East tournament the Irish Men's Basketball Team claimed three of the top four awards at the annual Big East Conference awards ceremony in Madison Square Garden.

Senior guard Ben Hansbrough (2010-2011) became the fourth Notre Dame player in program history to win the Big East Player of the Year award, joining the likes of Pat Garrity (1996-1997), Troy Murphy (1999-2000 and 2000-2001) and Luke Harangody (2007-2008). 

Joining Hansbrough with the hardware collection were head coach Mike Brey, who earned the Big East Coach of the Year award for the third time in his career, and graduate student Tim Abromaitis, who was named Big East Scholar Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive season.

Abromaitis has an opportunity to win an unprecedented third consecutive Big East Scholar Athlete of the Year award next season when he returns for another year of graduate level courses at Notre Dame.

In the meantime, the No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish have business to take care of in New York this week. Head coach Mike Brey encouraged his team all season long not to look in its rearview mirror but rather focus on chasing Pittsburgh. Barely unable to do so in the regular season, the Irish look to advance to and win the Big East Tournament Championship. Simply advancing to the title game would be a program first, but Brey has his troops set on higher sights.

Over Thanksgiving weekend Notre Dame won the 2010 Old Spice Classic in Orlando, FL while beating the likes of California, Georgia, and Wisconsin. 

After two wins last week against Villanova and at Connecticut to end their regular season, the Irish finished second overall in the conference behind Pittsburgh. With the strong showing over the last week by the Irish and poor showings by other top teams, Notre Dame vaulted to No. 4 in both polls - its highest ranking since 1980.

With a strong showing in the Big East Tournament the Irish could garner a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament. Doing so would be the first time since 1979, when the Irish reveled in the glory days legendary former head coach Digger Phelps. 

Double (bye) A Pleasure for Irish

AP Photo / Joe Raymond

Notre Dame clinched a coveted double-bye in the Big East tournament tonight after dominating a lost Villanova squad 93-72 in a game that was not even as close as the final score indicates.

On senior night it was Ben Hansbrough, who transferred to Notre Dame after two seasons at Mississippi State, who put an exclamation mark on his career in South Bend. He finished with 30 points, 10 assists, and five steals to add to his Big East Player of the Year hopes. He is just the fifth player in the past 15 seasons out of the major basketball conferences (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big XII, Pac-10, and SEC) to accomplish that feat in a single game. For good measure, he also tacked on two rebounds.

Brother Tyler Hansbrough, the former North Carolina Tar Heels All-American, National Player of the Year, and current Indiana Pacers player was in the stands alongside Ben's parents and other brother. 

Fellow Senior Tim Abromaitis also finished with 30 points. Abromaitis is technically a senior, though he earned an undergraduate degree in finance in three years, is finishing an MBA this year, and has one year of eligibility remaining in which more schooling will follow. 

Led by Abromaitis' career high nine threes, Notre Dame hit a single-game school record 20 3-pointers on 20 of 32 shooting from behind the arc. It was one behind Kyle McAlarney's school record 10 threes against Tyler Hansbrough's Tar Heels in 2008. The younger Ben Hansbrough chipped in with seven threes of his own tonight. 

Senior forward Tyrone Nash tied his career high rebounding total with 11 on the game to pace all players. 

Thanks in part to an overtime win by Louisville over Pittsburgh the Irish have are in contention to win the regular season Big East title. With an Irish win at Connecticut on Saturday and a Pittsburgh loss in either of its two remaining games (at South Florida and home against Villanova) the Irish will earn their first ever Big East regular season title.

Notre Dame (24-5, 13-4 Big East), would finish tied at 14-4 in conference under the scenario described above, but thanks to the Irish victory in Pittsburgh earlier this season the Irish would win the tie-breaker and, consequently, the title.

Head coach Mike Brey has instructed his squad the entire year to focus on chasing Pittsburgh, rather than divert attention to the rearview mirror. Currently, his Irish sit alone in second place in the Big East and at No. 7/8 (USA Today Coaches/AP) in the country.

Check in ESPN/ESPN2 on Saturday at 2pm EST to see if the Irish can hold up their end of the bargain at Connecticut. Shortly afterwards, Pittsburgh will take on Villanova at 4pm EST on CBS.

Notre Dame has lost seven straight on the road vs Connecticut but this has been a strange season in which the Irish have defied odds time and time again. Picked to finish no better than seventh in the league by the coaches before the start of the season, the Irish are on the brink of their best season in school history.

On January 4, the Irish beat the Huskies 73-70 in South Bend. See if they can double the fun this Saturday. 

Notre Dame Basketball: The Team Your Team Could Play Like

AP Photo/ John Raoux

Mike Brey and his squad are off to a strong start this year - one of the best in school history. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish Men's Basketball squad improved to 7-0 on the year over the Thanksgiving holiday by defeating Georgia, California and Wisconsin en route to winning the Old Spice Classic.

It wasn't always pretty, as the game against Cal set the NCAA record for lowest scoring (combined) half since the stat started being tracked in the '80s, but the Irish managed to grind out three wins to claim the tournament title.

One of the many joys of the tournament, aside from claiming the championship title of course, was the barrage of Old Spice commercials, like the 'Odor Blocker' one.

Last night the Irish struggled early against Lary Bird's alma mater, Indiana State, before finally pulling away from the Sycamores to notch win number 8 on the year.

At 8-0 the 2010-2011 Irish Men's Basketball team is off to the school's best start in 37 years.

No one saw this kind of a start coming with the losses of Luke Harangody and Tory Jackson to graduation. Jackson was one of the most prolific point guards in Irish history and Luke Harangody was easily the best Irish player since Troy Murphy, perhaps even Austin Carr.

Leadership has emerged from Ben Hansbrough (brother of former Tar Heel and current Indiana Pacers standout Tyler), Tim Abromaitis, and Ty Nash. Carleton Scott has also stepped up at times and Eric Atkins and Scott Martin are beginning to develop into solid contributing roles.

The series of wins propelled the Irish into the AP Top 25, at #25, and supply confidence going into next Wednesday's matchup at AP #10 ranked Kentucky in Freedom Hall.

Kentucky might not have much left in the tank for Wednesday's game as they travel to North Carolina to play the Tar Heels on Saturday, but make no mistake about it the Wildcats are a team worthy of their ranking.

Tune in to ESPN at 9:30p EST on Wednesday to catch the action, and hopefully more great Old Spice commercials like the one below.