There's a certain cachet about being named Player of the Year in a major conference. Last year's Big East Player of the Year, Jeff Green, led his team to the Final Four and was drafted fifth overall in the NBA. This year's potential POYs include a couple of amazing freshmen -- Kevin Love (Pac-10) and Michael Beasley (Big 12) -- two senior big men at two of the nation's most storied programs -- D.J. White (Big 10) and Tyler Hansbrough (ACC) -- and perhaps the best shooter in the country on a team looking for a repeat trip to the Sweet 16 -- Shan Foster (SEC). And then there's the likely Big East Player of the Year, Luke Harangody. To separate Harangody from Foster is a case of splitting hairs, but Harangody -- in body type, reputation and buzz -- is about as different from the other four as South Bend is from Los Angeles.
That's not to say that the stocky sophomore at Notre Dame came out of nowhere. Scout.com ranked Luke Harangody as the No. 71 prospect in the 2006 class (you may have heard of the top five in this group: Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, Brendan Wright, Spencer Hawes, Tywon Lawson). Within 10 spots of Harangody are guys you've heard of: Edgar Sosa, Russell Westbrook, Da'Sean Butler, Trevon Hughes, Taj Gibson, Will Walker. My point is that Harangody came to Notre Dame with the expectation that he would be a productive player, perhaps even eventually a star.
As a freshman, Harangody was productive when he could stay on the floor. Luke was often in foul trouble and perhaps had issues with conditioning, two factors that combined to keep the 6-foot-8 (listed) Harangody to just 20 minutes per game. Harangody averaged 11.2 points and 6.2 rebounds but shot just 45.9 percent from the field. He showed a nice touch from the foul line (81.6 percent) that indicated he was likely to increase his range during his time at Notre Dame.
I picked Harangody as a Second Team All-Big East selection in the fall with the expectation that increased minutes -- and fewer shots from a backcourt that lost Colin Falls and Russell Carter -- along with the normal trend of improvement for college sophomores would lead to a breakout season. I mentioned near the bottom of this post that Ken Pomeroy wrote that Harangody's sophomore season would likely be similar to LSU's Glen Davis'. Davis, that year, was an all-SEC player who helped lead the Tigers to the Final Four in 2006.
As it turns out, Harangody actually topped Davis, and by a healthy margin. Despite playing about seven fewer minutes per game, Harangody bested Davis in points per game (21.0 to 17.7) equaled him in rebounding (10.4 per game) and out shot Davis (51.2 field-goal percentage to 48.4). From his freshman to sophomore year, Harangody pulled off the rare trick of taking shots far more frequently and yet making a higher percentage at the same time. Harangody has scored in double figures in all but one game and has recorded 17 double-doubles in 29 games. He's also scored at least 20 points in 12 of the 17 Big East Conference games.
Beyond the pure numbers -- and we never want to get too far from those figures -- Harangody is Player of the Year because of the burden he has taken upon himself. When Falls and Carter left, the team that remained seemed to be incomplete. There weren't any terrific freshmen coming in, and there didn't seem to be enough talent to keep Notre Dame near the top of the conference. Falls and Carter were on the floor far more than any other player and they shared the burden of scoring. The only other player who showed any desire to shoot the ball was Harangody. Kyle McAlarney would be back, but it was up to Harangody to step in and take most of Carter's burden while McAlarney became a reasonable facsimile of Falls. As it turned out, as good as Carter was less season, Harangody has been far better this season.
Only one major conference player -- Beasley -- takes a higher percentage of his team's shots when on the floor than Harangody, and only Beasley and Stanford's Brook Lopez is involved in a higher percentage of his team's possessions. The case can be made -- and I would make it -- that Harangody is as important to the success of his team's offense and rebounding as any player in the nation. He's the one scoring 21 points per game. He's the one drawing double teams so guys like McAlarney and Ryan Ayers can make Notre Dame the third best 3-point shooting team in the nation. Luke Harangody is the one who makes sure that Notre Dame is one of the best rebounding teams in the Big East. And he makes this kind of impact despite playing fewer minutes than any other similar player in the country.
Even in close games, Harangody rarely plays more than 32 minutes. And yet, in those 32 minutes, Harangody makes more of an impact that any player in the conference. In 32 minutes against Louisville, Harangody scored 40 points on 16-of-28 shooting including the first three 3-pointers of his career. He also had 12 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. With McAlarney off his game, those numbers weren't enough for Notre Dame to win, but they were enough for Harangody to erase all doubt about the result of Player of the Year voting.
Beyond his modest prep rank and his astounding improvement from his first to his second year, the most unlikely part of Harangody's ascension to one of the nation's best post players is the way he looks. If you turn his body into that of, say, Craig Smith or Ryan Gomes, to whose Big East careers Harangody's has drawn comparisons, a lot of the astonishment goes away. With a more modern hair cut, muscles that appear more toned, and -- let's be honest -- a bit darker skin, Harangody would not have drawn so many questions or doubts or snickers or sideways glances.
Harangody doesn't pass the eye test until you see him on the floor -- moving without the ball, using remarkable touch around the rim, finding the open man out of the double team, even leading the occasional fast break. He also has shown a terrific learning curve. In his first two meetings with long centers Hasheem Thabeet and Roy Hibbert, Harangody shot 8-for-36 as the Notre Dame offense sputtered. The weakness in his game was revealed. At 6-8 ( some would say 6-6 would be a more accurate figure), he couldn't match up with bigger players -- his inside game was neutered. Not so fast. In the next meeting with Thabeet, Harangody scored 32 points (on 13-of-24 shooting) and grabbed 16 rebounds. Then he had the 40-point game against Louisville's imposing front line. I'm not sure how much more learning there is in Harangody's curve, but any more will land him on several All-American teams in the near future.
Beyond all of these other things, the real measure of a player's impact is in the win-loss record. Picked in the second division in the preseason, Notre Dame seemed hopeless to replace the production of Falls and Carter. We know now that Harangody has replaced that production. And he, along with a little help from his teammates, of course, has gotten Notre Dame right back where it was last season -- in the Big East's top four and in the 4-6 range in projected NCAA seeding. On Wednesday night, Harangody hit 9-of-12 shots in scoring 20 points as Notre Dame completed a second straight unblemished Big East season at the Joyce Center. The win made Notre Dame 13-4 in conference and put the Irish in third place in the Big East standings.
There have been a lot of contenders in this horse race. Roy Hibbert was the early favorite; Sam Young and Joe Alexander have made spirited runs; A.J. Price looked like he had passed Harangody for a time; Padgett has gone on a late kick to try to catch up with the front-running Hibbert. But from start to finish, beginning to end, game by game, no one has done more to help his team win in the Big East than Notre Dame's Luke Harangody.
Post on facebook
Fan Comments 
print
email
