Notre Dame's Harangody knocking down doubters, threes as senior

BY RICK BOZICH
Special to FOXSports.com

Add another face to the deep list of skeptics who questioned Luke Harangody’s ability to push his name into the same sentence with the other legitimate college basketball Player of the Year candidates.

A guy who thought an ambitious goal for Harangody would be cutting into some of Rob Kurz’s playing time, not cutting Austin Carr from the top spot as Notre Dame’s all-time leading scorer.

Ready to meet the guy who had his doubts?

Meet Luke Harangody.

"To be completely honest with you, I never saw myself as a guy who was going to achieve some of these things,” Harangody said. “I saw myself as a guy who was probably going to come off the bench and be a solid role player.

“A lot of people didn’t think I could make it at this level. I might have let myself believe that a little.”

That, of course, was 100 career starts ago. Before Harangody knifed and pounded and banked his way into a position where he can move from 14th place to 10th on the list of all-time scorers in Big East Conference games by getting his average – 25 – when Notre Dame visits Cincinnati Saturday.

Lawrence Moten of Syracuse, the career leader, as well Carr, Notre Dame’s all-time top scorer, are absolutely within sight of the guy who expected to use his dismissed 6-foot-8, 255-pound body to fill gaps in coach Mike Brey’s front court.

“I’m an East Coast guy, so I get it,” Brey said. “There a lot of people walking around in D.C. Pittsburgh, Philly and New York saying, ‘Wait a minute. You’re telling me this 6-7 guy from Schererville, Indiana is going to be the all-time leading scorer in the Big East?”

Exactly.

But isn’t it time to stop worrying about how high Harangody can’t jump or how quickly he isn’t going to go in the 2010 NBA Draft and start asking this:

Isn’t it unfair to disrespect Harangody again in the national Player of the Year conversation?

When he’s taken a Notre Dame team that lost its third-best player (forward Scott Martin) to a pre-season knee injury and led the Irish to 14 wins in 17 games, including victories at South Florida and against No. 8 West Virginia last week when Harangody rolled to 60 points and shot like Carr or Moten, making 6 of 8 three-point shots?

John Wall is flashier. Evan Turner is swifter. Wesley Johnson is a beast. But is Harangody being overlooked because he’s simply carrying on like the same unguardable force he’s been the last two seasons, averaging 24.9 points (a tenth of a point behind Aubrey Coleman of Houston) and 9.5 rebounds?

“It’s three things – one, he’s not the new face; two, his team has never made a long NCAA Tournament run and three, people question his chances in the NBA,” said Dan Dakich.

Dakich deserves a voice in this discussion because, like Harangody, he played at Andrean High School in Gary, Ind. Before he became a radio show host in Indianapolis as well as a Big Ten Network analyst, Dakich worked as an assistant at Indiana and head coach at Bowling Green.

For years, little Luke Harangody attended Dakich’s summer camp.

“Same thing as he’s doing now,” Dakich said. “He just played and dominated. When he was 8, he was banging with 10 year olds. When he was 10, he was banging with the 12s. When he was 15, he was knocking around 17 year olds. If you paid attention, you knew.”

Some – Brey, Matt Painter of Purdue and Dakich – paid attention. Harangody’s father, Dave, played tight end for Lee Corso at Indiana from 1977-80. Although Dakich was working at Bowling Green, he advised the IU coaching staff of Harangody’s Hoosier connections and suggested they recruit him.

Didn’t happen. “I was told they weren’t sure he had the post moves,” Dakich said.

Oops.

Brey said after Harangody had orally committed to Notre Dame in the fall of 2005, he and an assistant made their final home visit. Brey said he asked Dave Harangody what he and his wife, Peg, planned to do after they retired.

“'Might move to Bloomington,' he said. I kicked my assistant under the table and changed the subject,” Brey said.

Still, even after Harangody arrived in South Bend, Brey had to convince him he could do great things. As a freshman, Harangody essentially asked Brey not to start him because he didn’t want to risk upsetting upperclassmen and team chemistry. Brey went along – until the fourth game of Big East play.

“When I finally sent him down with the white shirts (first team) in practice, Colin Falls, one of my seniors, yelled, ‘It’s about freakin’ time, coach!” Brey said.

It was about time – Luke Harangody time. His scoring average has climbed every winter – from 10.2 to 20.4 to 23.3 to 24.9. He’s added a new element to his game every season – the up-and-under move, the step-back baseline jumper and – now – a three-point shot. Harangody has made as many threes this season (17 of 52) as he made his first three years.

“I know it sounds like a cliché, but this is my last time around and I’m just trying to soak everything in,” Harangody said. “There are days when I pinch myself and ask if this is really happening.”

It certainly is.

Read more from Rick Bozich on his blog for The Courier-Journal.