Luke Harangody hears it all the time.

"Everyone keeps telling me I look better," the Notre Dame senior big man said.

Harangody weighs 245 pounds, which is about the same as he took the court all of last season. His body fat is down from about 9.5 percent to 8.5 percent, but that's not all that substantial.

"I don't know what it is," he said. "But everyone is saying it."

Harangody's regimen hasn't changed all that much. It's exactly what you'd expect from the ultimate blue-collar college basketball player - getting in the gym as much as possible and hitting the weigh room.

Harangody could have left South Bend after last season. It was clearly a weak draft in terms of big men, and while he may not have been a lock first-rounder, the 6-foot-8 power forward would have been somewhere on an NBA roster this season.

"The main reason I came back was to go to the NCAA tournament," Harangody said.

"But it was a tough decision. Some days I said one thing, and then I'd think another. I'd go back and forth, but in the end, I felt I wanted to finish my career at Notre Dame the right way."

He has too much pride to go out after last season's midseason tailspin that sent the Irish from a legitimate top 25 club to a NIT team.

So, instead of heading off to go with one of those so-called workout gurus that have become the fad of late, Harangody spent most of the summer in South Bend.

The Irish lost Kyle McAlarney, Ryan Ayers and Luke Zeller from last year's team. The perimeter shooting will be difficult to replace, but Notre Dame should be much tougher this season.

Harangody and Tory Jackson give Mike Brey a couple guys who should be able to match toughness with just about anyone in the league, and the Irish added Tyler Hansbrough's younger brother, Ben, who sat out last season after transferring from Mississippi State.

"He's a winner and is going to add a lot of toughness," Harangody said of the junior guard. "He's a lot more talented than people think. He can handle the ball and also play off the ball. He gets to the rim and can also shoot the ball."

But the shooter that will help fill the void is another transfer, ex-Purdue forward Scott Martin.

Harangody isn't consumed by the past and specifically what went down the second half of last season when the Irish lost seven straight games.

But he also admits that does play the what-if game at times.

"I think about it a lot," Harangody said. "That game at Louisville. It was the first game of the losing streak, and we didn't even get a shot off at the end of the game. What would have happened if we got a shot off and had won that game?"

"But the most important thing isn't to dwell on last year," he added.

Harangody has a shot to become the school's all-time leading scorer this season and also has a chance to be the National Player of the Year if the Irish can get back to the Big Dance.

But that's not why he came back.

"I didn't want to go out like that," he said. "And I didn't want to have any regrets later on."

IDAHO'S VERLIN HAS VANDALS ROLLING

I'm not sure there's a better backcourt in the WAC than the duo of Mac Hopson and Steffan Johnson.

Hopson was a first-team all-league guy last season, and Johnson sat out a year ago after transferring in from Pacific, where he was favored to win the Player of the Year in the Big West.

"I think we'll have two point guards on the floor," Verlin said. "I'll allow them both to bring the ball up. We'll see how it works."

Hopson is a 6-foot-2, 185-pound power guard who bullies his way to the basket, while Johnson will try and go around defenders. The backup is Marcus Lawrence, who sat out last season after transferring from UNLV.

But the difference, Verlin, is banking on, will come in the paint.

A year ago, Idaho got crushed on the glass and finished dead last in the WAC in rebounding.

However, with the addition of 6-foot-8 Brazilian Luis Toledo and the improvement of 6-foot-9 starting big man Marvin Jefferson, the Vandals should be able to hold their own on the frontline.

The depth will also be completely different than it was a year ago when Verlin was forced to play primarily a seven-man rotation.

Case in point: Starting forward Kashif Watson, who was second on the team a year ago in scoring at 10.1 points per game, will have competition for the spot from athletic 6-foot-3 junior college transfer Shawn Henderson.

"We're bigger, stronger and faster," Verlin said of the new-look Vandals. "But the most important thing is we're deeper, and that'll allow us to play the way I want us to play – faster. I think you may see us score 10 or 12 more points a game this year. At least that's our goal."

RANDOM NOTES: Don't be shocked if Kyrie Irving makes a decision this weekend on his visit to Duke. ... UConn will host one of the top players in the senior class in Brandon Knight and also the top player in the Class of 2012, Andre Drummond, this weekend. ... Kentucky received a commitment from Jacksonville Andrew Jackson (Fla.) wing Stacey Poole (Scout.com, No. 58). Poole is a four-year kid who won't scare other elite recruits away. ... How about Harvard bringing in a pair of legitimate top 100 kids to campus this weekend in Dwight Powell and Rod Odom. Powell is considering Stanford and Georgia Tech, while Odom is looking at Arizona, Boston College, West Virginia and Vanderbilt. The Crimson will also host Austin Carroll, Ugo Ukam and Majok Majok. ... In addition to the five candidates we've already mentioned (Dedrique Taylor, Fred Quartlebaum, Eugene Burroughs, Walt Corbean and Kyle Smith), Army also interviewed David Caison of Tulsa and Cornell's Zac Spiker. ... Northwestern State's Dwayne Watkins, who was in a major car accident, was released from the hospital one week ago. ... Here's a great little-known note on Kent State coach Geno Ford: He ranks ahead of LeBron James on Ohio's all-time high school career scoring list (2,680 to 2,646). Ford, who played at Ohio University, is also 2-0 lifetime against Ray Allen, scoring 35 against the Celtics star in the 19-and-under AAU championships and also going for 25 as a freshman in a win against UConn out in Hawaii. "All that shows you is how it's possible to peak at 19 years old," Ford joked. ... Nice get for Tubby Smith with the commitment of Lionel Hollins' son, Austin, to Minnesota. ... Wisconsin received a pledge from combo guard Jordan Gasser.