Carmel can't match Notre Dame
Maybe Carmel's strategy to turn around its boys basketball program should involve a wardrobe change.
For its opponents.
No more uniforms with the team name on the front. Simple pennies with no markings at all will do.
The idea is far-fetched, of course, but the Corsairs are willing to try anything.
They haven't had a winning season in 17 years. And second-year coach John Ryan is trying step-by-step to change that.
But old habits are tough to break, especially when they're of the mental variety.
For Carmel, part of believing in the possibility of success is believing that success is possible against anyone. Even the teams with the big, bad names across their chests.
In the East Suburban Catholic Conference, that would be the St. Joes and the St. Pats and the Notre Dames, teams that are historically good and that historically beat Carmel.
On Friday night in Mundelein, Carmel was trying to rewrite a bit of history. But visiting Notre Dame held firm and ran away with a 66-48 victory to keep pace in the race for the league title.
The Dons improve to 13-6 overall and 5-2 in the ESCC. Carmel, which has lost three of its last four games but is still determined to get double-digit wins in a season for the first time in years, drops to 8-11 overall and 2-4 in the league.
"When you come from a program that loses for so long, sometimes you get in a mindset that you're scared of the other team because historically Notre Dame has a better team than Carmel does," said Carmel senior forward Patrick Cox, who finished with a team-high 12 points. "There are other teams like that in the conference, like St. Joe's and St. Pat's and sometimes you get caught up with St. Joe's being St. Joe's instead of actually playing the man on the other side of the court.
"(Notre Dame) won (the conference title) as freshmen and sophomores. They've got a good group of seniors this year. They're always a tough, physical team. We just have to learn how to play hard back."
Carmel did so in spots, but only after digging itself a sizeable hole.
Notre Dame rushed out to a 16-6 lead by the end of the first quarter, let Carmel back into the game early in the second quarter but then pulled away again just before halftime.
The Dons took a 34-22 lead into the locker room, thanks in part to 16 first-half points by senior guard Shawn Wallace. He finished with a game-high 20 points, right about at his average.
The lead then ballooned to 23 points in the third quarter and Notre Dame was already starting to clear its bench.
"We played good defense in the first quarter and it kind of set the tone," said Notre Dame coach Tom Les, who also got 14 points out of Quinton Chievous. "I wasn't happy with our defense early in the second quarter because they were able to get back into the game, but we were eventually able to pull away because I think we may have worn them down. We put a lot of pressure on them."
The Corsairs had 12 turnovers in the first half alone.
Meanwhile, they weren't getting the easy baskets they're used to inside. Notre Dame held Carmel center Jonathan Huisel to just 1 first-half point (11 for the game), and backup post player Dan Feld was out with an injury.
"I thought we played really good defense," Wallace said. "We practiced hard this week, we fronted the post tonight and they weren't able to get anything easy."
Speaking of easy, Carmel's transformation will be anything but. The Corsairs aren't about to give up though, and can see that progress is being made each and every day.
"You win if you think you can win and that's part of the battle we're fighting," said Carmel coach John Ryan, who also got 10 points from Timothy Hendricks. "We have to get over that. We're playing well against the teams that we should beat and that's a step in the right direction. But we have to be able to compete against teams like this."