Despite Big Changes to Its Roster, Notre Dame Is Doing Perfectly Fine
By Josh Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 6, 2007; Page E08
Notre Dame Coach Tim Fudd had some reservations about how blending four international students -- three in their first year at the Middleburg school -- with two mid-November transfers would translate on the basketball court.
"But it's been easier than even we anticipated," the first-year coach said. "We haven't had any problems at all."
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Andrey Semenov, left, Dominique Ngniman and Jeremiah Bowman are three of the four players averaging double figures for 25-0 Notre Dame. The Dragons' roster includes players from Cameroon, France, Ireland and Russia. (By Joel Richardson -- The Washington Post)
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All it takes is one glance at the Dragons' 25-0 record to figure that out. Notre Dame is one of two undefeated boys' teams in the Washington area, joining No. 5 Largo.
Four players are averaging in double figures for Notre Dame: guard Jeremiah Bowman (15.9 points per game), forward Dominique Ngniman (14.1), forward Andrey Semenov (12.3) and forward Gary Artis (11.8). Ngniman, from Cameroon, is in his second year at Notre Dame. Semenov, a Russian, played at Montrose Christian last year. Bowman and Artis played at Southern Maryland Christian last year and began this year attending Progressive Christian before transferring to Notre Dame just before Thanksgiving.
Also, forward Ralph Temgoua is from France and forward Mark Greene is from Ireland. Fudd, who played at American University in the 1990s before playing professionally abroad, said his connections helped him land the foreign players.
While there is little questioning the Dragons' success this season, it has been achieved in relative obscurity.
Notre Dame competes in the Cavalier Athletic Conference, regularly traveling 1 1/2 hours or more to games. And The Post does not consider the Dragons for its rankings because their roster includes players who are not eligible to play at public schools because they are in their fifth season of high school competition. The Dragons are 2-0 against teams that have been ranked this season, including a 59-57 victory over No. 6 Herndon, their closest game this season.
Fudd would like to schedule more top local opponents, but conceded that it's difficult.
"We feel we can compete with anyone from the" Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, Fudd said. "We'd love to get more games with some of those guys, but it's tough to get them for whatever reason."
