Basketball News 3.4

Fifth Straight Win -- (CST)

The Clincher -- (NYT)

Rutgers equals five -- (SBT)

Basketball Diary 3.2.07

Preview Rutgers Game -- (C)

Focus on Rutgers -- (AP)

Irish close out season -- (UND)

Hoops News -- (IE)

I Heart New York

A Round of Applause...

Currently, the Irish Hoops team stands alone in fourth-place in the BIG EAST regular-season standings with a 10-5 conference mark. Riding a four-game win streak, the Irish are 22-6 overall and are ranked 22nd in the Associated Press and 17th in the ESPN/USA Today polls. The RPI number of 32 and a Pomeroy ranking of 14 gives the Irish a strong hold on a Six or Seven Seed in the Big Dance. A win or two, or possibly a conference championship win, and ND is dancing into a 3-4 seed.

With a win on Saturday, on the Road, against an overmatched Rutgers squad, the Irish will have a bye in the Big East Tourney next week. They will take on the winner of the 5-12 game in the second round. At this point, it looks like Syracuse. Coming of a 5 game winning streak and a huge win over Georgetown, the Orangemen are a team that scares a lot of teams. Don't forget the humiliation the Irish layed on them at home.

The Big East Tournament starts on March 8 at Madison Square Gardens. We all know the woes of the Irish on the road and The Gardens have not been kind to the Irish in the past and even as early as this season, St. Johns took ND down at MSG.

The Madness Starts Now!

The Big East Tournament is not until the 8th of March, but for all of us who can't get enough of the madness, it starts today. Let's get ready to Dribble.

From Sout Bend Tribune:

Big South

The final is Saturday (ESPN, 2 p.m. EST). The league will get at least one NCAA bid. Winthrop was unbeaten in league play and won the regular-season crown by three games. The Eagles will host every game they play, and a Winthrop loss would be the biggest in league-tourney play this season. Winthrop (25-4) has an outside shot at an at-large bid if it loses in the tourney final. The Eagles are going for their seventh title in nine seasons. PROJECTED WINNER: Winthrop.

Horizon

The final is March 6 (ESPN, 9 p.m.). The league will get at least one bid. Butler (26-5) and Wright State (21-9) tied for the regular-season crown, but Wright State is the No. 1 seed by virtue of sweeping No. 3 Loyola (Ill.). Regardless, both get byes into the semifinals. Wright State hosts the semifinals and also would host the final. Butler has a solid RPI (35th going into play Monday) and owns victories over, among others, Gonzaga, Indiana, Notre Dame and Tennessee. In other words, the Bulldogs -- who faded a bit down the stretch (3-3) -- look good for an at-large bid; they're the only league team with at-large hopes. Also keep an eye on Loyola (18-10), which has the league's best player (G Blake Schilb), split with Butler and won seven of its past eight. PROJECTED WINNER: Loyola (Ill.)

Hoop Dreams

NO NIT -- (SBT)

Keep Your Eye On the Bye -- (ND Womens Hoops)-- (SBT)

Rookie of the Week -- (BE.ORG)

Notre Dame, Six Seed -- (ESPN)

I wrote this on Feb. 8th and it looks like we may be sitting very nice come tourney time.Are We Dancing? -- (IU)

2.22.07

Seal the Deal -- (SBT)

NFL Combine -- (CSTV)

"We were pissed"

ND Hoops -- (Observer)

The Demons are coming. The Demons are Coming.

Notre Dame heads into final three regular-season games in four-way tie for fourth place in league standings.

UND Story

The win at Cincinnati was just that, A win. Tonight DePaul comes to the Joyce Center and the Irish will need to play much better to come away with a Victory. Cincinnati pressured the ball in the second half and the Irish had trouble getting the ball up the court. The Bearcats are only 8 sometimes 9 deep. This does not fare well for a team that wants to pressure the ball the entire game. They just ran out of steam. With Russell Carter still feeling the effects of his injury, I am sure that DePaul will come in and pressure Jackson from Start to finish. If ND does not handle the ball better, execute better in the first half and run the court with more authority, this may be an Irish loss at the Joyce Center.

This is a must win for the Irish before their contest with Marquette.

The Irish are sitting pretty good right now in the Big East and could end up with a first round bye at the Gardens. And MSG does not feel like South Bend to the Irish.

Add the troubles at Madison Square Gardens (Loss to St. Johns in Janurary) to the road Woes of the Irish (only two road wins), and you have a brew that is not very tasty. This is Go time and Brey and the boys need to come out swinging and keep a fast pace for the entire game.

Who Controls the Remote?

This has to be Dodds best article. Normally I turn red and need to throw something, but this time I actually agree with most of the article.

CBS

Are We Dancing?

Notre Dame Basketball has gotten off to a very good start this season. Outside the road woes, they are playing solid ball.

Currently the squad is at 18-5 with a game at DePaul tonight.

Looking at the possibilities for March Madness, you have to notice the need for wins in the B.E. Tourney.

Looking at the current RPI, you notice the Irish are in a fairly comfortable position in the mid to low 40's. If you want to get off the bubble, a 30 something RPI will be needed.

With a look at the schedule to finish the year, I can see a 5-1 finish with probable loss at home to Marquette. You can't expect to go undefeated at home. Can You?

If you look at the Pomeroy Ratings, they have ND winning out and finishing the year at 24-5. Either way, we should be sitting pretty with a 5-7 seed when tourney time comes. Finish strong in the B.E. Tournament, 1st or 2nd, and we may be Dancing the Jig to a 3, yes I said THREE seed.

I can see a Frozen Four and a Final Four, well, at least a Frozen Four.

New this A.M.

ND HOOPS-- (OBSERVER)

Irish Hockey Ranked No. 1 -- (UND)

Colin Falls Selected To BIG EAST -- (UND)

Super Irish-- (UND)

Listing the Commits-- (SI)

Reading Material

Jackson steals from Lou's bag of tricks--- (SBT)

Running of the Bulls-- (Chicago Sports)

News 02-01-2007

Suspension recalls past cases, raises questions-- (Observer)

Smith Switch-- (Blue Gray Sky)

One Page-- (Rock Report)

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions... -- (IE)

Bringin' Em In-- (Robot Charlie)

NOTRE DAME WINS ITS FIRST ROAD GAME AT SYRACUSE

MEN'S BASKETBALL ROUNDUP-- (Big East Site)

SCOUT.COM ARTICLE, ND hoops

Notre Shame

Halleluja!

Finally the ND basketball team won a road game. And what a game it was.

The irish played well in the first half and had some lapses in the second, but it was a very good game on the road. They got outrebounded on both ends, but with the improvement on the turnover front, they were able to hold on fairly easily.

BOX SCORE

Next up South Florida and DePaul. No problem....

Go Irish

Check out Irish Eyes Take on the game

ND hoops at the Cuse

No friendship for 40 minutes during Notre Dame game tonight

The Game is at the Carrier Dome for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff on Tuesday, Jan. 30. The game will be televised live on ESPNU.

I don't know if losing on the road is a Big East thing or a ND thing?

Home teams went 6-1 in BIG EAST men's basketball action on Jan. 27. Providence pulled out the only road win of the afternoon as it knocked off Connecticut, 84-72 at the Hartford Civic Center.

Can the ND Mens Basketball team win on the road? Of course they can, but will they?

The Irish start a 3 game stretch on the road. Tonight will be a tough game at Syracuse, where the Irish don't win very often. The next two are a bit easier, but they are still on the road. South Florida is on Saturday and DePaul will be on Feb. 8.

ND has lost 14 of 17 road games in the BIG-EAST. This is not the way a team gets things done. The Villanova game the other day was a great win, but the team turned the ball over too much and shooting was horrendous. If the Irish would like to stay in the game tonight, that cannot happen.

The Orange have a strong D and block shots well. ND will need to play better to stay alive in the Big-East.

The one thing the Irish have is they are holding opponents to a .415 shooting percentage.

The D will have to step up tonight in order to get off the schnide and win a game on the road.

Notre Dame Week in Review

BLUE AND GOLD

ND Hoops news on Sunday 01-28-07

ND HOOPS wins at home again.

Ugly game, sweet result for Irish

McAlarney will return after suspension

Notre Dame unbeatable at home

2006-07 Notre Dame men's basketball statistics

These stats do not include today's game versus Villanova. The boys did it again, they won at home. This was an important win, up until now, probably the most important of the season.

You see, the Mens basketball team has trouble on the road. And the next three games are, you guessed it, ON THE ROAD!

STATS

J 30 @ Syracuse

F 03 @ South Florida

F 08 @ DePaul