While I have long felt that the greatness of the old Negro League players was vastly underappreciated, I am not a fan of including Negro League statics in MLB stats. I just don't know how MLB is going to verify the accuracy of the old Negro League box scores. So many of the stats quoted about old Negro League players were based on apocryphal stories or urban legend tales. Many of the games were games against town teams and factory teams.

I just don't know how MLB is going to separate the fact from fiction.

Really, really crucial to avoid an 0-2 hole in league play tonight after losing at home Sunday to Georgia Tech, 82-67.

Virginia Tech won at ND last year, 68-62, when Dara Mabrey was playing for the Hokies (she scored 11 points in that victory). This time the junior is suiting up for the Irish, who are led by freshman Maddy Westbeld's 18.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, with Anaya Peoples next at 12.6 and 5.8.

Once again, ND will be facing an excellent post player in 6-5 sophomore Elizabeth Kitley, the ACC Freshman Of The Year last year who has led Tech to a 6-0 mark this season while averaging 18.2 points (64.5 percent shooting from the field) and 12.7 rebounds per game. The problem is Tech, despite the loss of Mabrey, also is second in the nation in three-pointers made per game with 11.7 — and at an impressive 42.4 percent clip (13th nationally).

Defense was a major issue for the Irish in the loss to Georgia Tech on Sunday, and unless there is significant improvement in that area, 0-2 in the league is quite possible.

Virginia Tech opened ACC play with an 88-71 win over Pitt. The Irish are 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the ACC

Any news if coach Kelly is looking outside the team for the new leader on defense? Or staying in house? With recruiting just about finished I would see no rush.

Through the Clemson and postseason football games? Or, is he completely off to Vanderbilt now?

TIA!

He'll join Ian Book, Liam Eichenberg, Daelin Hayes and Ade Ogundeji in Mobile. He was previously going to play in the Shrine Game.
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How many transfers during the off-season? Is Kia still going on a mission? Could be real thin there next season

You may have seen the post from @Josh Helmholdt in the signing day thread here

This is the video from the camp back in May of 2019

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Do not want back but I thought it was interesting. His career has taken a nose dive after leaving ND. His scheme and philosophy is not at all like our current one. Only capacity I could see him coming back is in an analyst role.

This honors a Division I football player who has demonstrated a record of leadership by exhibiting exceptional courage, integrity and sportsmanship both on and off the field.

Hayes, a team captain and recently named the winner of the Freddie Solomon Community Spirit Award, has taken a leading role in the program in speaking out on racial injustice and inequality. He serves as part of the program's unity council, which has undertaken initiatives like registering the entire team to vote in November. He has also served as a voice for those efforts and a commitment to health and safety, joining programs like NBC's The Today Show to speak on behalf of the team.

Prior to his recent work, Hayes has been actively involved in the Robinson Community Learning Center in South Bend, teaching a twice-weekly class last fall at the Center, working with 4th & 5th graders on how to resolve conflicts in a healthy manner. He also served as a leader at team community service events, including Shop With A Player (team members take children from local schools and the Pokagon Band shopping for Christmas presents), Football & The Force (charity softball game between Notre Dame football and local law enforcement officers), Saint Mary's College Dance Marathon to benefit Riley Hospital for Children and Roof Sit to prevent child abuse in St. Joseph County.

Other volunteer efforts include: Food Bank of Northern Indiana (weekly in 2018), South Bend Center for the Homeless (weekly 2018-19), Boys & Girls Club of St. Joseph County (weekly in 2018), Facilitator at Notre Dame Summer Bridge Program (2019) helping new freshman student-athletes begin at college, Kindness to Prevent Blindness helping underprivileged youth get eye exams and glasses, Ambassador for Irish Strong mental health initiative for student-athletes, a representative for Fighting Irish Fight for Life program which sees teams adopt children fighting a rare disease, volunteer to read weekly at Studebaker Elementary School (first graders) and mentor at the South Bend Juvenile Detention Center.

Through the 2020 football season, Hayes and the Irish have completed a perfect 10-0 regular season, sealing a berth in the ACC Championship game for the first time in Notre Dame’s one-year history of joining a conference.

The Notre Dame defense ranks in the top 15 in the FBS in third down defense (3), rushing defense (8), total defense (14) and scoring defense (12). The second-ranked Irish top the ACC in third down defense and scoring defense, ranking second in rushing defense. Notre Dame has held its opponents to less than 100 yards rushing in all but three games in 2020. Of the Top 10 rushers in the ACC, the Irish have faced six--limiting those five running backs to an average of 52.8 yards (317 yards total on 84 carries).

Hayes himself has totaled 6.0 TFL on the season (including 3.0 sacks), 17 tackles, his first-career interception, three quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup.

He was named ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week for his performance at Georgia Tech, in which he totaled 2.0 sacks and two forced fumbles, both career-high single-game marks for the graduate student. Both forced fumbles came on the sacks. Only one FBS player has had more forced fumbles in a single game this season than Hayes’ two.

In the win over then-No. 1 Clemson, Hayes showed up big. On Clemson’s final possession of double overtime, Notre Dame’s defense sacked the quarterback on back-to-back plays, as Ade Ogundeji and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah combined for the first sack, and Hayes produced the second sack immediately following. It set Clemson up for third-and-24, and they were unable to convert.

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As the Irish prepare for the ACC Championship meeting versus Clemson this Saturday, 191 tests of players through Sunday produced only one positive test, and nobody is in quarantine.

I believe this has been bantered about a bit,"the what if Clemson beats ND?" scenarion. Would the Committee schedule them to play for a third time? Travis over at Outkick feels they would move ND to 4 and OSU to 3 for a ND-Alabama and OSU -Clemson semi final. Just one mans opinion.

Source tells me that Audric will set down with those close to him today to discuss where things are headed. I still like Notre Dame in this recruitment, just a matter of when he signs.

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Just like in the first meeting, Notre Dame has the advantage overall along the lines, but Clemson's championship pedigree cannot be overlooked in this game, which is what makes the Tigers a 10.5-point favorite in the early part of the week.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/notre-dame-clemson-on-paper-4

Has any info come out that he didn’t have when he made the statement or that changes that expectation, ie Diggs announcement about February?

Does anyone remember when he committed to ND? He called Brian Kelly during his signing day press conference. That was awesome! I knew at that point JOK was gonna be a player. I’ve never seen a HC stop and walk out of a press conference like Kelly did to take a commitment. JOK was a huge get and not a lot of people saw it. I believe he was a 3* player and committed somewhere else too.

ND is committed to length as BK always says. 1/2 this new class is 6’-4” or taller and only 1 recruit below 6’. A quick look at the top 15 classes has ND with the tallest group overall. Also, from looking at highlights this class seems to have a bunch of dudes who have great speed and run effortlessly; even the OL.

Argument: If Notre Dame were to lose to Clemson on Saturday afternoon by say a Touchdown or less. How could the CFB Playoff Committee JUSTIFY moving Notre Dame down from # 2 to # 4 on Sunday, December 20th at Noon, when last night the CFB Playoff Committee moved the University of Florida down ONLY 1 spot by losing at Home to a 3 - 5 LSU Team that was playing with only 47 Scholarship Players?

So the big ten has maybe 3 games this week for their championship week? What a joke.

Good thing they waited till October 24th to play because they had terrible info


Also is it cancelled or canceled?

Story: https://notredame.rivals.com/news/i...ass-is-full-of-promising-three-star-prospects

You guys will enjoy this one. Tony Rice joined Lou and I to talk some Notre Dame football.

In my mind one of the worst efforts of the Brey era. An experienced and fairly talented Irish team got manhandled by a bunch of freshman. The defense was terrible throughout the game. Mike Brey's big man recruiting seems to have finally caught up with him. For the first time in memory, he does not have a post threat or a rebounder in the post and it's creating all kinds of problems for the rest of the offense. The Irish got dominated on the boards and in the paint. They were outrebounded 33 to 23. I don't know the paint points, but it was basically all Duke.

Dane Goodwin A+ How is Dane Goodwin not a captain on this team? Seems like the one player who always shows up over the last two years and tonight he had a career high 25 and kept the game somewhat close. He was better defensively tonight than he was at Kentucky.

Trey Wertz - B If there was a bright side to this game it's that a missing piece has been found. Wertz is not in the flow of the offense yet, but he seemed to penetrate at will against Duke, something no on else on the team can do. Will be surprised if he's not a starter or at least playing heavy minutes by years end.

Nate Laz C Laz has been shooting great from deep this year, but he's part of a soft under belly of the Irish defense that is getting exposed. He has no post game, is a weak interior defender, doesn't block shots, and is a below average rebounder for his size. But he's improved dramatically and his three shooting has been off the charts. His skill set would look great with John Mooney next to him right now. It doesn't work when he's alone of the court and it's even worse when he's next to Juwaan Durham. He needs a bully to play alongside, and the only bully on the team is a vertically challenged 6'8 freshman.

Nik Djogo - C - As usual he had no stat line, but he passed the ball well, didn't turn it over, and was better defensively than most of his teammates. He provides defensive length on a team that has very little. The interior players were so bad that at point Djogo played the five spot and did a better job than the other two.

Cormac Ryan D Ryan had a rough game today. Didn't hit his shots, and got lit up by a freshman guard. He continues to hustle and rebound well, but he hasn't found his groove yet. He's a really talented offensive player, but the offense is not in synch yet. Still feel he's going to have some really big offensive games before the year is over.

Prentiss Hubb D Brey seems to give Hubb a pass in almost every game, but he has not played well the last two games. He had one assist last game, and three tonight. He takes a lot of bad shots and eventually that catches up with you. I think he's going to end up a two guard before this season is over. He reminds me of Demetrius Jackson before Matt Farrell took over the point guard position. He had some terrible turnovers tonight and his defense was horrendous. He was a turnstile. I think he's miscast, and Brey has two other options at point guard now to change things up.

Juwaan Durham F It's hard to describe how bad he was tonight. He got 1 rebound. He could not score in the post which creates all kinds of pressure for ND's shooters. He also could not defend the post. When there is no post threat Brey's offense does not work well. There has to be a player there to keep the other team honest, and ND does not have that player right now. Durham's regression this season is hard to explain. He had 4 rebounds against MSU, 4 against Kentucky and 1 tonight. It's hard to only get that many rebounds at 7 feet tall.

ND has a post problem that's affecting their offensive rhythm, their defense and their rebounding. Trey Wertz is going to really help this team and I would not be surprised to see him at the point more often. Hubb as a shooting guard is appealing, as a point guard not so much. Offensively, this team has some real talent, but the lack of a post presence is a real problem. This was not a Duke team they should have lost to. I would not be surprised to see Matt Nova more next game. He's not going to score much, but he's not going to backed down in the post, or end up with 1 rebound in a game. There was a lack of effort tonight, and there is a lack of toughness on this team that starts with their Center. Brey's got his work cut out as this is a team that is playing below it's potential right now. They have had three consecutive really disappointing halves of basketball.

Some interesting data on the 24-man class (so far) signed on Wednesday that has 12 on offense, 11 on defense and one kicker.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/notre-dame-2021-recruiting-by-the-numbers

Notre Dame wants to play this game and sees plenty to gain for itself. No outside motivation needed.

Just announced on ESPN2.