Irish Get One Giant Step Closer with Win over Pirates
Ian Scott
February 21, 2000    

Troy Murphy's 35 point performance and David Graves' game-winning
put-back against #23 Seton Hall on Saturday night, got the Fighting Irish one
giant step closer to the NCAA tournament.  Notre Dame needed at least one
upset during their last five games and that is exactly what they got. 
Despite blowing their 11 point lead, the Irish stayed focused while
surrounded by a hostile crowd.  Graves put Notre Dame up by two with his
three pointer, and then of course won the game with his tip-in. 

    The Irish are now tied for 5th place in the Big East with UCONN, and seem
to almost be a shoe-in for at least a 6th place finish.  All they have to do
now is split their last four games.  The two wins should come against
Providence and Georgetown.  Both teams are not exactly having their best
year, especially Providence.  Not to put too fine of a point on it, but
Providence flat out stinks this year.  They are currently 2-10 in the
conference, and those wins were at home against Georgetown and of course the
surprising upset at Miami by two.  As long as Notre Dame does a decent job of
containing Erron Maxey and Karim Shabazz, and the Irish do not shoot 20% from
the floor, they should be fine.  On top of all that, the Providence game is
at Notre Dame.  Georgetown's fast paced game behind Ruben Boumtje Boumtje and
Kevin Braswell could pose a little more of a threat.  Yet Georgetown, now 4-7
in Big East play, has had problems with the weaker teams in the conference
just as Notre Dame has.  Again, Doherty's squad would have to go ice cold for
much of the game, but it happened at Pittsburgh.  This game, however, is  not
at home and the Irish have struggled badly on the road.    

    The other two games should be the biggest challenges.  Notre Dame was
blasted by both Syracuse and Miami earlier in the season.  Miami, regarded as
one of the nation's better teams on the road, came in and held Notre Dame to
a 49 point showing.  The Irish will have to shoot much better and not let a
Miami scoring-run get out of hand.  As far as Syracuse goes, who knows. 
Notre Dame lost by 23 to a bigger and faster Orangemen squad, but this time
its at Notre Dame.  What effect that will have remains to be seen.  One thing
is for certain though, we have come to expect the unexpected from the
Fighting Irish this year. 

    A good showing in the Big East tournament would be icing on the cake.  As
it is, Notre Dame would play Pittsburgh in the first round.  Of course things
will undergo a little bit of a shake up over the next two or three weeks. 
The point is that their first round game should be against a weaker team.