At Louisville’s Freedom Hall in late February, a fan positioned himself behind the basket at which Notre Dame conducted warm-ups. In as direct an eye line as possible, he held up a sign on red poster board that tweaked Luke Harangody, the Irish superstar with a SuperCut.
The sign read: “Bad Hair-On-‘Gody.”
Harangody, Notre Dame’s thoroughly unassuming anchor, took notice. He left the warm-up lines. He grabbed a pen and, stunning the heckler speechless, Harangody autographed the sign. Then, blithely as he left, he returned to the court.
That’s Luke Harangody, Big East player of the year. And that honor is news to him.
“Not to be on any of the preseason [player] rankings and being in this room tonight, it’s extremely humbling,” said Harangody, who officially received the award here Tuesday night. “I never, ever would have thought this would happen.”
The 6-foot-8-inch sophomore led the Big East in scoring at 23.3 points per game and rebounding at 11.3 during league play. He’s the first player to accomplish that since former Irish forward Troy Murphy in 1999-2000.
It doesn’t sufficiently measure the grade of his climb, though. Harangody went from a doughy, 20-minutes-per-game freshman to what Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez called “the most unstoppable college player I’ve ever coached against.”
He went from hoping to contribute to a player who collected double-doubles like a sponge collects water, with 17 in total. He went from anonymous to foes to infamous in a blink.
“From where he started to this point is really impressive,” said Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who saw Harangody post 40 points and 12 rebounds that February evening. “He’s now one of the best players in the country, and that’s a quantum leap from where he came from.”
Given his makeup, Harangody might merit extra credit for negotiating the landslide of attention. He betrays no sense of entitlement and cares little about the spotlight.
Put another way: On Tuesday, Harangody wore a pinstriped Jones New York suit to the awards news conference and banquet. It’s the one suit he owns. He bought it last summer. And his mom picked it out.
“He has handled all of this very maturely,” Irish coach Mike Brey said. “It has come so fast for him. The kid continues to deliver and doesn’t let it distract him from the task at hand. He’s used it to work harder.”
Said Harangody: “Like I told someone who asked me if I was going to change my game, I’m going to stick to the same thing. There’s still a lot I can do to improve my game. It’s going to be another hard off-season.”
Indeed, the learning curve has not flattened yet. Against Louisville, Harangody drained the first three three-pointers of his career, indicating his range continues to expand.
He clearly can improve defensively, and he likely can bolster his conditioning and strength, even after overhauling his diet and regimen last off-season.
“He’s really a unique entity in our league and in college basketball,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “Do you call him a center? A power forward? A big wing? He does everything. The key to great players is they kind of define their own position.”
The last time Harangody wore a suit, he recalled, he was a high school senior at a dance.
When he was named the Big East’s best player not quite two years later, the requisite shirt and tie combo had one entirely appropriate feature: a blue collar.
“He just plays so hard,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “Unless you’re sitting down the sideline from him, it’s fun to watch.”
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bchamilton@tribune.com
