Basketball

The Time Is Now

The date: October 26, 1973 The setting: Notre Dame’s pep rally the night before the USC football game The speaker: Irish co-captain Willie Townsend The backdrop: Undefeated Notre Dame had not beaten USC in its last six games, a 0-4-2 run punctuated by Anthony Davis’ six touchdown performance in the Los Angeles Coliseum in November…

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Relatively Speaking

Some of the discussion in the wake of Notre Dame’s first ACC title in men’s basketball has revolved around the position this win deserves in the history of the program. After all, ND fans can remember a lot of big moments — Dwight Clay’s shot from the corner, Orlando Woolridge taking down the Cavaliers, 29-clap-clap-and-one-clap-clap,…

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Turns Out Frank Was Right

OK, fessing up, I had this quotation wrong in the first version of the story. I’m not sure why I thought it was Terry Hanratty talking about Ara Parseghian, but I think my brain’s warranty ran out at 40. I’m sure Ara feels the same way, but I’ve corrected the citations. One of my earliest…

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Gaelic Storming

It’s almost impossible to take an intro-level college management course without encountering Bruce Tuckman’s research on team development. Dr. Tuckman studied how groups work together; and his 1965 theory of of team development is a cornerstone of leadership education to this day. Tuckman identified four stages of a team’s growth that (a) are absolutely true…

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This and That

I have a few things on my mind this week… Stipendous Penn State recently announced that it would be paying a $4,788 stipend to athletes in certain sports, a figure that ranks them atop the Big Ten. The amount reflects the university’s calculation of incidental expenses students pay when attending the school. Wisconsin ($4,265) and…

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