Muffet McGraw may have borrowed a page from kill-em-with-praise old colleague Lou Holtz in casting her second-ranked Notre Dame women’s basketball team’s 72-56 win over Toledo as a harrowing escape.
“We were lucky that we came out with the win in the end,” the Irish coach declared.
But there was one thing she said that carried not a trace of hyperbole.
“What a phenomenal atmosphere,” McGraw said.
Yep.
What fun it was Saturday, a hoarse crowd of 6,059 at Savage Arena — the third-largest crowd in program history — watching the Rockets give the defending national champions everything they had, and more.
In the end, the game reminded of the classic old quote from late former Miami (Ohio) and Central Catholic coach Charlie Coles.
“You’re asking how it got away from me,” he told one dim reporter after his RedHawks lost at Kentucky in 2009. “Why don’t you ask John [Calipari] why it was so close? ... They started playing. They’re the Big Blue.”
Notre Dame — with that Irish luck reputedly on its side, along with five of the 30 players on the watch list for the Wooden national player of the year award — started playing.
Before that, the Rockets played hard and smart and together and measure for measure with the Irish, no doubt gaining a few fans along the way. When reserve center Tyra Carlsten-Handberg hit consecutive 3s to pull the Rockets within a point late in the first half, the old building — filled with the faithful but also the curious here for the novelty of a visit from the reigning champs — quaked with joy.
The scene reminded the biggest winner here was women’s basketball in Toledo.
When Notre Dame last visited in 2016, we wrote the game was a credit to McGraw and her willingness to put the interests of the sport ahead of her own.
That still holds true.
Other coaches at power programs would sooner schedule a double root canal than travel to a difficult mid-major venue, seeing the trip as a lose-lose proposition. (Beat the Rockets, and it’s expected. Lose at Toledo, and — heavens to Betsy! — you just lost to a MAC team.) The next time you see, say, Ohio State or Michigan, in Toledo is when I’m mistaken for a jockey.
So, again, big-time credit to McGraw, a legend truly comfortable in her skin.
But the game was also a credit to Toledo and the program Tricia Cullop and our hoops-mad community have built.
In McGraw’s desire to pull her powerhouse team out of its comfort zone, the 63-year-old Hall of Famer could play anywhere. She continues to choose Toledo.
That’s in part because of her respect for Cullop, a former Indiana prep star who was one of her first recruiting targets upon landing the Notre Dame job in 1987.
“I’m willing to do anything that she wants,” McGraw said, even if Cullop went to Purdue.
It’s also because she knows the setting that awaits.
Consider that Notre Dame will play two other nonconference road games this season, both at top 20 schools in power conferences. Well, the combined attendance from those contests — at DePaul and Marquette — won’t match the total in Toledo. Or approach the energy.
Two years ago, the Irish played at Savage on a Sunday, then at Michigan State on Tuesday. After they polished off the Spartans before a gathering of 7,924, I heard from McGraw’s husband, Matt.
“Nice crowd,” he said. “Not the same atmosphere as Toledo!”
Asked where that atmosphere ranks nationally, Muffet McGraw told me, “Oh, it's one of the top, for sure. There's only one or two places in the ACC that can compare. This is definitely one of the toughest places to play, especially with the band and the students right there.”
Imagine that.
Sometimes we take it for granted, but there really are few places where women’s college basketball matters more. The Rockets’ run to the WNIT title in 2011 nearly doubled their fan base and they continue to regularly rank among the top 25 in home attendance. (They averaged 3,744 fans per game last year, which was 27th.)
Beyond the wins and losses, building that connection between team and town is Cullop’s most important feat.
Where can it go from here? On days like Saturday, it is easy for the imagination to run wild.
What fun it was. Now, it’s on Toledo to keep ‘em all coming back.
“What games like this do are introduce fans to the game who don’t come every day,” Cullop said. “They come because it’s a big game, and you hope they get hooked, because they saw not only Notre Dame, which has a chance to win a national championship, but they saw a Toledo team that hopefully has a chance to win a MAC championship and get into the NCAA tournament and be special.
“We want to put a great product on the floor because we’re so blessed that this little corner of the state has amazing basketball fans, especially for women’s basketball.”
First Published December 9, 2018, 1:40 a.m.
