Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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return minutes after watching the Irish knock off top-ranked Syracuse Jan. 21 in front of an electric crowd at Purcell Pavilion. "Being on the sideline for that game Abromaitis expressed his desire to caused him to miss all of the 2009-10 campaign. "Sitting out that next year, that [his was awesome, but if I got another chance to be in a game like that would be unbelievable," Abromaitis said. "We'll see how it goes going forward." In order to receive a sixth year of eligibility, an athlete must miss the majority of two seasons due to injury. Neither Abromaitis nor Martin meets the criteria. Brey explained earlier this month that such decisions made by the NCAA are based more on the indi- vidual's history. "The NCAA has become more stu- hometown of Valparaiso, Ind.] was closer to here than West Lafayette, and that he was sitting out and not travel- ing with us, and his practice schedule was a little less strenuous, he was kind of the man of the house that year with his dad getting treatment in Chicago," Brey said. "He has a younger brother that I think needed some guidance. He has a mother that needed support. He took his dad in for a lot of those treat- ments. I said, 'Don't be at practice; just do what you've got to do.' "Under that circumstance, and then from Purdue following his freshman season. At the end of Martin's lone year with the Boilermakers, his fa- ther was diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer. Brey explained that Martin was allowed to focus on his family while he sat out the 2008-09 season. He later tore ligaments in his knee that required surgery, which dent-athlete friendly when looking at individual cases when they grant a sixth year," he said. "Both cases are dif- ferent; they'll be looked at separately from each other. The NCAA isn't going to say let them have only one. Each kid presents his case. We've been told Abro's is a steeper climb than Scott's, because Scott had some extenuating circumstances." Martin transferred to Notre Dame you get the [knee] injury, I think we have a really strong case to say, 'What's fair to this kid?' We're hoping that we would get a positive ruling. … I think we're going to know something before the season's over. " Martin has already filed paperwork with the NCAA, which has requested more information, Brey said. Abromai- tis is expected to begin the process by the middle of February. One or both returning next year would throw off the scholarship count. With three signees arriving next sea- son, the 2012 class is full. "Those things seem to work them- he's having a hard time doing it every day. That's a discussion I've had with him. Roster management will be inter- esting pending those sixth-year guys." (16-8, 6-5), one of two teams left on the schedule with a winning league record, Feb. 8. The teams will face off again in South Bend Feb. 22. Other than the Mountaineers, the road looks favorable leading up to the conference tournament, with a potential double- bye up for grabs for the top-four teams. The Irish face DePaul, Rutgers, Vil- lanova, St. John's and Providence — teams with a combined 15-40 Big East record through Feb. 6— with only Georgetown (18-4, 8-3) representing a significant hurdle. ✦ MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent Result/Time (ET)/TV Nov. 12 Mississippi Valley State W, 80-67 Nov. 14 Detroit^ 2011-12 NOTRE DAME Nov. 16 Sam Houston State^ W, 74-41 Nov. 18 Delaware State^ Nov. 21 vs. Missouri# Nov. 22 vs. Georgia# Nov. 27 Bryant W, 59-53 W, 93-69 selves out," Brey said. "Do we have to see if anybody can pay their way for a year? … What is Mike Broghammer's situation [after multiple knee surger- ies]? Is he going to go on a medical [redshirt]? Quite frankly, physically Three-Point Play over a defending national champion since the Irish topped Connecticut 78-74 Jan. 30, 2005, in South Bend. Notre Dame's only other win at the XL Center in Hartford was a 75-70 triumph over defending national champion Connecticut Jan. 5, 2000. Notre Dame is 4-2 against Connecticut when the Huskies are coming off a national title run. The Fighting Irish are 11-26 all time against defending national champions, including a 6-4 mark in the last 10 matchups. Connecticut's 48 points marked its fewest ever against the Irish. The previous low was 50 in a 58-50 1. Notre Dame's 50-48 victory over then-No. 24 UConn Jan. 29 in Hartford, Conn., was its first win Notre Dame victory March 3, 2010. It was also a season-low point total for the Huskies. 2. The Irish made 15 of 26 shots (57.7 percent) in the second half and shot 50.0 percent for the game against Marquette Feb. 4. LSU (53.5 percent) and Georgetown (62.8 percent) are the only other teams to shoot 50 percent or better versus the Golden Eagles. Notre Dame matched a season-high total with 11 made three-pointers. That marked the fourth time this season —and first in Big East play — that the Irish made 10 or more treys in a game. The Irish are 4-0 in those contests. Notre Dame has shot 50 percent or better in the second half six times this season. Head coach Mike Brey's squad made a season-best 72.0 percent (18 of 25) of its second-half field goal attempts against Pitt — by far its highest percentage in conference play. 3. Sophomore point guard Eric Atkins has played in 21 of 23 games this year, sitting twice with illness, and is averaging 37.4 minutes per game with eight regular-season contests remaining. Troy Murphy holds the record for most minutes played in a single season with 1,318 in 1999-2000 — a season that featured two Big East Tournament games and five NIT contests for 37 total games. If Atkins were to appear in as many games as Murphy, he would finish, based on his current average, with 1,383.8 total minutes. www.BLUEANDGOLD.com Nov. 30 at Gonzaga Dec. 4 vs. Maryland@ Dec. 8 Maine Dec. 10 Dartmouth Dec. 17 vs. Indiana% Dec. 19 Sacred Heart Dec. 27 Pittsburgh* Jan. 4 Jan. 7 Jan. 10 South Florida* Jan. 14 Connecticut* Jan. 16 at Rutgers* Jan. 21 Syracuse* at Cincinnati* at Louisville* Jan. 25 at Seton Hall* Jan. 29 at Connecticut* Feb. 4 Marquette* Feb. 8 at West Virginia* Feb. 11 DePaul* Feb. 15 Rutgers* Feb. 18 at Villanova* Feb. 22 West Virginia* Feb. 25 at St. John's*! Feb. 27 at Georgetown* March 2 Providence* March 6-10 Big East Tournament! 9 p.m./ESPNU 12 p.m./BEN 7 p.m./ESPNU 9 p.m./ESPNU 7 p.m./ESPN2 12 p.m./ESPN2 7 p.m./ESPN 7 p.m./BEN TBD W, 67-65 (2OT) W, 60-49 L, 67-53 L, 65-58 W, 67-58 W, 55-42 W, 50-48 W, 76-59 W, 106-65 W, 72-59 L, 71-55 L, 87-58 L, 61-57 W, 84-59 L, 73-53 L, 78-71 W, 87-78 W, 65-47 L, 69-58 — Wes Morgan ^ Progressive CBE Classic regional round; # Pro- gressive CBE Classic semifinals and final round at Kansas City, Mo.; @ BB&T Classic at Washington, D.C. (George Washington, Maryland, Notre Dame, VCU); % Close The Gap Crossroads Classic (Butler, Indiana, Notre Dame, Purdue); * Big East game; ! at Madison Square Garden in New York; MASN — Mid- Atlantic Sports Network, BEN — Big East Network MARCH 2012 71 The Irish traveled to West Virginia LOOKING AHEAD