Luck of the Irish not because of luck

Luck of the Irish not because of luck

NEW YORK — Notre Dame coach Mike Brey was sitting around at a team dinner, talking to his assistant coaches about what coaches always talk about – basketball.

Anthony Solomon, who played on the Virginia team that nearly stunned Phi Slamma Jamma Houston in the Final Four, started talking about the Cavaliers famed run from lousy regular season to the brink of a national championship in 1984.

Brey, listening with half an ear, suddenly piped up.

“I said, ‘Anthony, what was the score of that game?’’ Brey said.

The answer — 49-47 — spurned a seismic shift in the Notre Dame basketball landscape that has taken the Irish from Big East afterthought to Big East beast.

ESPN.com
3/11/10