1977–78 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team

1977–78 NCAA Division I men's basketball independents standings
	Rankings from AP Poll

Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball
1977–78 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball
NCAA Tournament, Fourth Place
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 11
AP	No. 6
1977–78 record	23–8
Head coach	Digger Phelps;
Assistant coach	Danny Nee
Home arena	Joyce Center

The 1977–78 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1977–78 NCAA men's basketball season. The team was led by head coach Digger Phelps and played their home games at the Joyce Center.

Notre Dame entered the season with high expectations, as they opened with an AP preseason ranking of No. 4. Battle tested from a challenging schedule, the Irish earned a spot in the 1978 NCAA Tournament and played their way to the first Final Four appearance in school history.

Roster

1977–78 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
F/C	45	Dave Batton	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Sr	Springfield	Springfield, PA
G	12	Rich Branning	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	So	Marina	Huntington Beach, CA
G	10	Jeff Carpenter	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Sr	Fenwick	Oak Park, IL
G	24	Chris Fabian	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Jr	Haddonfield	Haddonfield, NJ
F/C	34	Bruce Flowers	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Berkley	Huntington Woods, MI
F	22	Randy Haefner	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Sr	McNicholas	Milford, OH
G/F	42	Bill Hanzlik	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	Beloit	Beloit, WI
G	11	Tim Healy	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	So	Cardinal Gibbons	Fort Lauderdale, FL
F	30	Tracy Jackson	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Fr	Paint Branch	Silver Spring, Maryland
C	52	Bill Laimbeer	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Jr	Palos Verdes Owens CC	Palos Verdes, CA
C	55	Gilbert Salinas	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Fr		San Antonio, Texas
F	44	Kelly Tripucka	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Fr	Bloomfield	Essex Fells, New Jersey
G	25	Don Williams	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Sr	Mackin	Washington, D.C.
C	32	Orlando Woolridge	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Fr	Mansfield	Mansfield, Louisiana

Head coach

Digger Phelps

Assistant coach(es)

Danny Nee

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Nov 26, 1977*	No. 4	Ole Miss	W 111–62	1–0	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Nov 30, 1977*	No. 3	Baylor	W 98–57	2–0	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Dec 3, 1977*	No. 3	Valparaiso	W 89–75	3–0	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Dec 5, 1977*	No. 3	Lafayette	W 76–42	4–0	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Dec 7, 1977*	No. 3	at Northwestern	W 88–48	5–0	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, Illinois
Dec 10, 1977*	No. 3	at No. 5 UCLA Rivalry	W 69–66	6–0	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, California
Dec 14, 1977*	No. 2	at Indiana	L 66–67	6–1	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
Dec 23, 1977*	No. 5	Saint Joseph's (IN)	W 108–72	7–1	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Dec 31, 1977*	No. 4	vs. No. 1 Kentucky	L 68–73[1]	7–2	Freedom Hall Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 10, 1978*	No. 5	at San Francisco	L 70–79	7–3	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena Oakland, California
Jan 14, 1978*	No. 5	at St. Bonaventure	W 79–78	8–3	Rochester Community War Memorial Rochester, New York
Jan 17, 1978*	No. 7	Manhattan	W 81–64	9–3	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Jan 19, 1978*	No. 7	Villanova	W 70–69	10–3	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Jan 22, 1978*	No. 7	No. 3 UCLA Rivalry	W 75–73	11–3	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Jan 23, 1978*	No. 7	Dartmouth	W 78–64	12–3	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Jan 25, 1978*	No. 5	West Virginia	W 103–82	13–3	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Jan 29, 1978*	No. 5	Maryland	W 69–54	14–3	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Feb 1, 1978*	No. 4	at La Salle	W 95–90	15–3	The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Feb 4, 1978*	No. 4	Davidson	W 100–76	16–3	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Feb 12, 1978*	No. 4	No. 11 DePaul	L 68–69 ^OT	16–4	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Feb 16, 1978*	No. 7	at Fordham	W 95–76	17–4	Madison Square Garden New York, New York
Feb 18, 1978*	No. 7	at South Carolina	L 60–65	17–5	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Feb 21, 1978*	No. 9	North Carolina State	W 70–59	18–5	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Feb 26, 1978*	No. 9	No. 1 Marquette	W 65–59[2]	19–5	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
Mar 4, 1978*	No. 7	at Dayton	L 59–66	19–6	University of Dayton Arena Dayton, Ohio
Mar 6, 1978*	No. 10	Loyola-Chicago	W 83–68	20–6	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
NCAA Tournament
Mar 12, 1978*	No. 6	vs. No. 14 Houston First Round	W 100–77	21–6	Mabee Center Tulsa, Oklahoma
Mar 17, 1978*	No. 6	vs. No. 14 Utah Midwest Regional Final – Sweet Sixteen	W 69–56	22–6	Allen Fieldhouse Lawrence, Kansas
Mar 19, 1978*	No. 6	vs. No. 3 DePaul Midwest Regional Final – Elite Eight	W 84–64[3][4]	23–6	Allen Fieldhouse Lawrence, Kansas
Mar 25, 1978*	No. 6	vs. No. 7 Duke National Semifinal – Final Four	L 86–90[5]	23–7	Checkerdome St. Louis, Missouri
Mar 27, 1978*	No. 6	vs. No. 5 Arkansas National Consolation – Third Place Game	L 69–71	23–8	Checkerdome St. Louis, Missouri
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest.

[6]

Rankings

References

"Kentucky Rally Tops Notre Dame, 73‐68". New York Times. January 1, 1978. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
"Irish Upset Marquette, 65‐59". New York Times. February 27, 1978. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
"Notre Dame, Duke Win Region Titles". Washington Post. March 20, 1978. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
"Finally in the Finals". Sports Illustrated. March 27, 1978. Retrieved November 15, 2020. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
"Duke Holds Off Irish". Washington Post. March 26, 1978. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
"2019-20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Notre Dame Athletics. p. 116. Retrieved November 15, 2020.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "Kentucky Rally Tops Notre Dame, 73‐68". New York Times. January 1, 1978. Retrieved November 15, 2020.

[2] "Irish Upset Marquette, 65‐59". New York Times. February 27, 1978. Retrieved November 15, 2020.

[3] "Notre Dame, Duke Win Region Titles". Washington Post. March 20, 1978. Retrieved November 15, 2020.

[4] "Finally in the Finals". Sports Illustrated. March 27, 1978. Retrieved November 15, 2020. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)

[5] "Duke Holds Off Irish". Washington Post. March 26, 1978. Retrieved November 15, 2020.

[6] "2019-20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Notre Dame Athletics. p. 116. Retrieved November 15, 2020.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball
Venues	Notre Dame Fieldhouse (1898–1968) Joyce Center (1968–present)
Rivalries	UCLA
Culture & lore	Notre Dame Leprechaun Crossroads Classic
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	1897–98 1898–99 1899–1907 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21
Helms national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearance in italics