With one shot, Gerry McNamara turned a contest of Big East West contenders into a blossoming rivalry.

Last year on Feb. 15, McNamara buried a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left, spurring the Carrier Dome crowd to its second court storming of the season and Syracuse to an 82-80 victory over Notre Dame. Less than a month later, Syracuse again fended off the Fighting Irish, knocking Notre Dame out of a first-place tie with a 92-88 win in South Bend, Ind.

‘We’ve definitely thought about the two losses,’ Notre Dame sophomore guard Chris Quinn said. ‘We still remember that shot. Those were two great games, but losing gives us a little extra motivation.’ Notre Dame will look to avenge both down-to-the-wire defeats on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Notre Dame at the Joyce Center. But the addition of five teams to the Big East – Marquette, DePaul, Cincinnati, South Florida and Louisville – beginning in the 2005 season could nip the SU-ND rivalry in its adolescence. Not that Notre Dame would miss it all that much.

With Marquette and DePaul, two regional and religious rivals – remember, Catholic schools enjoy beating Notre Dame more than any other opponent – scheduled to join the conference, the Irish should see more than enough emotion-filled feuds during Big East play. Although athletic directors from the newly constituted conference will not meet until May to discuss potential alignments, the most likely scenario pits Notre Dame in a newly reconstituted Western conference along with Louisville, Marquette, DePaul, Cincinnati, South Florida, Pittsburgh and West Virginia.

And while most of the traditional Big East athletic directors were forced to put on a happy face after the conference realignment, Notre Dame’s smile might have been the only sincere one. Notre Dame not only maintained its independence in football, but watched itself become a member of the country’s best basketball conference.

‘We’ve been in favor of (adding teams from the Midwest),’ Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White said. ‘I think it’s been received warmly here and it’s been received warmly throughout the upper Midwest.’

The new members should also help decrease Notre Dame’s travel costs. Both DePaul and Marquette are within a three-hour drive, allowing the Irish to make bus trips rather than continuously flying East.

And if the Fighting Irish can reach the arena by bus, its boosters won’t be far behind. Notre Dame, renowned for fan devotion in football, is beginning to develop the same reputation in basketball. Assistant coach Lewis Preston estimated that nearly half the crowd in attendance at an 82-69 win at DePaul on Dec. 14 was pro-Irish.

‘It was kind of like a home atmosphere,’ freshman guard Colin Falls said. ‘It was a little different coming out for warm-ups and getting cheered rather than getting booed.’

Marquette’s welcome wasn’t as warm. When Notre Dame took the court an hour before the game, Marquette’s fans showered them with a barrage of boos and insults.

One of the few potential pratfalls in Notre Dame’s newfound company could be its ability to recruit regionally. Six of Notre Dame’s 13 players are from the Midwest, including two starters and Falls, its top bench scorer. Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey is also concerned that the NCAA selection committee won’t accept eight or nine Big East schools if they’re deserving to make the tournament.

With its current television deal – highlighted by Big Monday on ESPN – the Big East currently offers more bright lights and big screens than Conference USA. But in two years, Marquette, Louisville and Cincinnati, all with basketball pedigrees rivaling Notre Dame’s, will boast the same opportunities. Notre Dame could see an increase in competition for prized local recruits as a result.

Still, the Irish insist any gain made by newcomers will also be mirrored at Notre Dame. Proud parents will be able to travel more easily to road games, attracting players who had previously joined the Big Ten and Conference USA.

Falls, a freshman from Park Ridge, Ill. – five minutes from DePaul’s campus – chose Notre Dame over Marquette, DePaul, Northwestern and Boston College. Quinn – who grew up in Dublin, Ohio, 10 minutes from Ohio State’s campus – nearly became a Buckeye before deciding Notre Dame was a better fit.

‘It was really important to me for my family to be able to see me play,’ Falls said. ‘That’s why I stayed in the Midwest. After that, it was just the feel of (Notre Dame). I think it’ll help us recruit in the Midwest, and it’ll also help a lot of teams back East recruit out here, because players will know they’ll be able to go home.’

Notre Dame also hopes to increase its national recruiting presence, offering the opportunity to play in the nation’s most competitive conference. Most members of the Atlantic Coast Conference – often said to be the top conference in the country – recruit well beyond regional boundaries.

‘The increased competition is an interesting point, but the impact is what you make of it,’ assistant coach Lewis Preston said. ‘I think it’s great for every team in our league. With the addition of those three or four really good teams, we’re going to be the best basketball conference in the country.’

In the 70s and 80s, the three regional rivals battled to be the best in an unofficial conference dubbed ‘The Great Independents.’ Along with Dayton, the three catholic schools played annually. The era also featured other successful Catholic schools. Marquette (1977), Georgetown (1984) and Villanova (1985) all won national titles.

But as conference play gained importance, Notre Dame’s basketball fortunes diminished and the non-conference schedule took on a preparatory role, the rivalry games vanished.

The Irish began bringing them back in 2001, meeting DePaul for the first time in eight years. They played Marquette last year for the first time in five years.

Boosters who had been clamoring for a renewal to the rivalries reminisced over the rivalry’s glory days, like in 1978, when Notre Dame head coach Digger Phelps hauled out a box of ungainly green socks, handing them out to players before the game and bringing the Irish an ugly upset win over then No. 1 Marquette. And the time in 1982, when DePaul beat Notre Dame on a half-court shot by Gary Garland.

‘Adding those teams will give us a great basketball league,’ Brey said. ‘Those are long-standing, natural rivalries. It gives us a chance to wake up the memories a little bit. It’s a natural rivalry between Catholic schools. Being in the same conference will add even more to it.’

Published on January 15, 2004 at 12:00 pm