Doubling Down At Notre Dame
During the 1990s, the Notre Dame men's basketball program had three consecutive first-round selections at power forward — LaPhonso Ellis, Monty Williams and Pat Garrity — who in that decade combined for one NCAA Tournament appearance (first-round loss in 1990) among them.
Unless the current Fighting Irish team (2-5 in the ACC) puts together a powerful run in the remaining 13 regular season ACC games, and/or in the ACC Tournament, current senior power forward John Mooney might join that elite company with that dubious distinction.
He might not be a first-round selection like that trio, but his contributions during leaner times at the program have set him apart in the Notre Dame record books.
During Wednesday night’s 84-82 heartbreaking home loss to Syracuse, Mooney recorded a school-record 12th consecutive double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds — along with six assists (tied for the team lead) and zero turnovers.
The double-double stat didn’t appear to become official until the early 1960s, otherwise 1950s star Tom Hawkins might be in the mix as well.
Yet when one considers the luminary first-round, low-post figures in the program since then — Collis Jones, John Shumate, Adrian Dantley, Orlando Woolridge, Ken Barlow, Troy Murphy, Ryan Humphrey — in addition to the aforementioned trio from the 1990s and former All-American Luke Harangody (2006-10) holding the previous standard at 11, Mooney’s record is even more remarkable.
“Don’t get bored with it,” said 20th-year Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey. “A lot of people have taken it for granted outside our program. It really is an amazing run that he is on, and to physically be able to do that over and over again … just being able to get 15 rebounds.”
Those “people” include the John Wooden Award committee that recently did not include Mooney among its top 25 candidates for national player of the year honors. Brey contended that were Wooden still alive, he would have fired all the members for that omission.
Syracuse’s 44th-year head coach and Naismith Hall of Fame inductee Jim Boeheim seconded Brey, having already seen Mooney tally 28 points and 14 rebounds in Notre Dame’s one-point win at the Carrier Dome on Jan. 4.
“If John Mooney is not one of the top-25 players in the country, then I don’t know anything about college basketball — literally nothing,” said Boeheim after last night's game. “It’s absolutely a joke that he’s not one of the top 25.”
Mooney’s rebounding prowess in the ACC the past two years has put his name aside former Wake Forest All-American and 10-time All-NBA First Team selection Tim Duncan, and Mooney is the only player in Division I averaging 15-plus points and 13-plus rebounds per game this season.
“A lot of is a natural gift,” Brey said. “Great strength, great bounce and great second jump. Heck of a set of legs. In the dictionary if you look up ‘stud,’ his picture is there.
“This dude is a stud physically. He’s got three guys chasing him, pushing him every night — and then he wants to shoot and do extra stuff the next day. I finally have him understanding how to take a day off and rest. It took me two years: ‘You need rest!’ ”
Earlier in the week when Mooney commented that he doesn’t know what his streak of double-doubles amount is, it came across as genuine.
“I appreciate the facts … It’s cool,” he acknowledged. “I’m always going to put the team before me because if you look at some of the rebounds, especially when Juwan’s (Durham) contesting a shot and because of that it’s a miss, I’m right there.
“There’s a lot that goes into it. On the offensive end my teammates are putting me in the right spots. It’s easy when Prentiss (Hubb), T.J. (Gibbs) and Dane (Goodwin) are shooting the ball like that for me to work down low.
“It’s certainly cool when you see those stats, but at the same time I just want to win games and help my team out in as many ways as I can.”
The anguish especially showed in the final second in the loss to the Orange last night when Mooney became more animated than normal.
“That’s just me being emotional,” he said almost apologetically after the game. “We have to move on, just keep plugging.”
Like Duncan, who was known as “The Big Fundamental,” Mooney will not wow anyone with flash. He is a classic two-handed rebounder who has also developed an innate sense of putting himself in the best possible position for a carom, combined with an unrelenting work ethic.
“I just try to have the mentality that every shot is going to be a miss,” he said. “I’m not the most athletic guy in the world so I have to use my body, use positioning and boxing out to get the ball.
“If it’s old school, that’s great. I just want to do whatever I can to help my team win: get on the floor, get stops, rebound the ball, taking charges, all that kind of little stuff.”
As a freshman and sophomore, Mooney was the understudy to Bonzie Colson. Interestingly, Colson was the No. 145-ranked player by Rivals as a high school senior in 2014, while Mooney was No. 144 two years later.
Brey referred to Mooney as more of a raw athlete than a polished basketball player when he arrived. Today, he’s become a student of the game in addition to posting the second-most double-doubles in Division I this year.
“The thing that helped me out was being able to play behind Bonzie for two years, to see the way he worked and the way he went about his business on a day to day basis,” Mooney said.
“Every day working with (Humphrey) four years now, he knows the game, he’s played professionally and he knows the ins and outs. It’s just a confidence thing. As you get older and more experienced it goes up.”
As a freshman, Mooney was a bit player on a Notre Dame team that advanced to the ACC Championship game and second-round of the NCAA Tournament.
Such team achievements this year appear to be slipping away, but count on Mooney to continue to double-double down in his approach.
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