Time to shut the doors | by Pat

Unfortunately, it has come to this and The Fieldhouse is going to be shut down. Thank you for all of the emails, comments, and visits to the site, but I just haven't been able to give Notre Dame basketball the attention it deserves. To have the blog just sit here and not be updated gives the impression that ND hoops isn't worthy of constant coverage or fan interest and nothing can be further from the truth.

And while I'm upset that I don't have the time to keep this blog going, the fact that people have been annoyed at the lack of updates here lately makes me happy that fans are again interested in ND hoops and eager to learn more about the team. Honestly, this is a fantastic year to follow Mike Brey's crew. Nearly written off as a dead man walking in the off-season, Coach Brey is rightly in the running for Coach of the Year awards with the attitude and production transplant he has given this team. The older players, Falls, Carter, and Kurz, are chipping in in all of the right ways while the younger guys like Tory Jackson, Zach Hillesland, and Luke Harangody are adding energy, much needed defensive help, and maturity beyond their game experience. The whole team is playing solid defensive, the bench is much, much deeper, than in years past, and there is an undeniable passion in the players when they are on the court. This team is a joy to watch and I can't wait to follow them all the way into the NCAA Tournament this year.

Luckily for Irish fans, there are many places on the net to continue to still get a fix on Irish hoops. Obviously, the South Bend Tribune is a must read for coverage of the team. Colin Burns and Steve Wiltfong also do a great job covering Irish hoops on IrishEyes, which also features articles from Kevin O'Neill, who wrote for this blog last year.

Blog-wise, Notes from the Geetar is a great read on the current state of the program while both Rakes of Mallow and the newly formed Black and Green blogs have done a great job running down the day to day performance of the Fighting Irish basketball team. Definitely check out all three sites.

Message board wise, the best daily back and forth on Notre Dame basketball can be found, in my opinion, in The Pit on ndnation. It's a long running site with plenty of passionate fans ranging from those who cheered for ND before Digger stepped foot on campus to current students filling the Leprechaun Legion and rooting for Brey's bunch.

Again, I apologize for running such a crappy blog about a subject that deserves much better. In the future I will go back to sticking an occasional hoops post in over on BGS, but for now I think the best thing to do is to shut down the blog as opposed to leaving a rarely updated mess. Doing something half-assed is never the right solution.

Thanks again to everyone that stopped by. Keep up the interest in the program that is giving all indications now of being back on the right track and I'll see you on some of the previously linked blogs and message boards. Go Irish.