Starting Five
1. Taking care of business (and workin’ overtime). No. 11 Louisville and No. 25 Notre Dame went into overtime for the sixth time in their last eight meetings. As you know, the Fighting Irish prevailed in the fifth OT, 104-101. Notes:
— It marked the second time this academic year that the ranked Irish beat a ranked Cardinal(s) in overtime on campus. See: Stanford, October 13.
— Notre Dame reserve big man Garrick Sherman (who bears an uncanny likeness to the subject of the mosaic on the side of the Hesburgh Library) played 21 minutes and scored 17 points, with all of the latter coming after regulation. Sherman had played a total of 18 minutes in the previous six games.
Sherman resurrected Notre Dame’s hopes in overtime.
— Louisville led by eight points with 47 seconds remaining. Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant then scored 12 points in the final 45 seconds: three threes plus an and-one layup. Until that final minute Grant had not scored a field goal.
–Former Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps, who led the Irish to an upset of No. 1 UCLA back in January of 1974 to end the all-time longest winning streak in major sports history (88 games), was at the Purcell Center for ESPN’s College GameDay. Earlier that day Casey Murdoch, a Notre Dame senior majoring in finance, had made a half-court shot (on his second attempt). Murdoch banked it in and will now bank $18K.
–Referee John Gaffney subbed in for another official who was stranded in Providence due to the storm. Gaffney worked the DePaul-Marquette game in Milwaukee that began at 3 p.m., then made the four-hour trek to South Bend (we’re hoping he stopped at the McDonald’s service island on I-94) for the 9 p.m. start. We are unable to report if Gaffney himself whistled any traveling violations, or if he was cited for any during his commute.
2. LeBron is a Hot Hot Heat (For you crossover NBA/Canadian Indie band fans)
In the past week LeBron James, who already was the best basketball player on the planet, has taken his game to historic levels. King James scored 32 points on 12 of 18 shooting in Miami’s 107-97 defeat of the Kobes yesterday afternoon. It was James’ fifth consecutive game of scoring at least 30 while shooting above 60%, a feat that only two other players (Moses Malone and Adrian Dantley) have ever accomplished. Late in the contest LeBron stole an entry pass into the lane and began dribbling upcourt. By the time he reached midcourt with a full head of steam it was already “Get Outta The Way!” time. Poor Steve Nash. Twice in the fourth quarter he was the lone Laker back to absorb one of James’ dunks.
These are the Heat’s best uniforms, by the way.
3. Australian musician Gotye wins “Record of the Year” at the Grammys for “Somebody I Used To Know“, a song that Rolling Stone’s editors, in their infinite wisdom, failed to include in their “50 Best Songs of 2012.” Our opinion? It definitely falls somewhere in between the two assessments, with its Grammy nod being closer to its true value (even if he may have stolen the signature riff and more from Tom Petty’s “A Woman in Love”). Gotye, with an assist from Kimbra, nailed his performance on Saturday Night Live last spring.
4. The Christopher Dorner manhunt in southern California. In the snowy haven of the San Bernadino mountains, less than a two-hour drive (if there’s no traffic, which means at 4 a.m.) east of Los Angeles, a former LAPD officer is hiding out. Or is he? Dorner, who has already killed three in his rampage to exact vengeance on those who he blames for ending his career, could be anywhere. He has both military and police training and is an expert in survival. Authorities are offering a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
Where will this end?
5. What is Pope Benedict XVI giving up for Lent? Apparently, his job. The last pope to resign, as opposed to dying on the job, was Gregory XII in the year 1415. As of this moment Jon Gruden is the favorite to succeed Benedict.
Reserves
Big Ten hoops: Three points and a cloud of Brust. Nearly as entertaining as Ben Brust’s 40-footer that sent the Michigan-Wisconsin game into overtime was the, ahem, badgering that Dan Dakich gave Bo Ryan about his failure to commit fouls-to-give in the play preceding that shot. Dakich ended his interrogation with a Champ Summers-like “I love you.”
Sunday morning SportsCenter. Bob Ley asks Screamin’ A. Smith, “Do the Knicks have enough to overtake the Heat?” Smith responds in his typical condescending tone, “That’s a simple answer: No.” Which would have been fine with Ley, except that Smith then proceeds to deliver a 90-second polemic on why the Knicks don’t have what it takes. When Screamin’ A finally pauses for air, Ley says with a smile on his face, “You said it was a simple answer, but thanks for the essay.”
Yesterday Michelle Beadle tweeted, “I love New York”, to which Doug Gottlieb replied, “I love lamp.” Brick Tamland and the rest of the Channel 4 Evening News salute you, Doug.