Big East Tournament Preview: Notre Dame
Frank Vitovitch
Wednesday, March 8, 2000

New York, NY - With the regular season over, the Fighting Irish find themselves on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament.  They have quality wins over five top 25 ranked teams.  They played Maryland, Arizona, Indiana, and Syracuse tough.  They have the 33rd ranked scheduled in the country and play in a tough conference in the Big East.  What hurts the Irish however are losses like those to Miami of Ohio, Rutgers, Providence, and Pittsburgh.

In order for the Irish to get off the bubble and into the field of 64, they will have to have a strong showing in this week's Big East Tournament which starts today at 11 AM.  The Irish are seeded #7 and will play Rutgers in the opening round later tonight at 7:30, a game that will be televised on ESPN 2.

On January 18, the Irish fell to the Scarlet Knights 76-51 behind a hot shooting night from Rutgers.  They hit on 59% of their three pointers compared to Notre Dame's 22%.  The Knights were lead by freshman Todd Billet and his 31 points.  Mike Thompson was the only other Scarlet Knight to eclipse 10 points as he added 10 points of his own.  As has been the case most of the time this year, Troy Muprhy lead the way for the Irish with 18 points.

Rutgers was 15-14 overall this season but their only wins over quality opponents were Notre Dame and Villanova.  The Knigts are not very good, and the Irish should be able to handle them, but I thought that the last time they played.   Notre Dame will have to come out with some intensity and will have to hit their shots early in the game. 

Notre Dame has lived and died with the three pointer this year multiple times.  It brought them back against Syracuse and killed them against teams like Rutgers.  When the Irish on from outside, teams can't clog the lane for Murphy.  When the Irish don't his their outside shots, opposing defenses will doulbe down on Murphy and not allow him to have his way down low.

The first round game is the most important for the Irish.   If they lose to Rutgers in the first round, its NIT city for them this year.   If they beat Rutgers however, and advance to the next round and defeat a Miami team that beat them twice this year, their chances of making the tourney are greatly improved.   If Notre Dame makes it to the second round against Miami, I don't see them loosing for a 3rd time this season. 

Playing Rutgers will also be a scence for Troy Murphy who was under a lot of in state pressure to attend Rutgers.  Luckily for the Irish however, he came to Notre Dame and the rest has been history.  When the two teams played on January 18 in New Jersey, the opposing crowd was not too kind to their native son to say the least.

Can Doherty work some magic in Madison Square Garden? Yes!   The Irish can play with anyone in the Big East and they proved that this year with the way they handled UConn, St. John's, Syracuse, and Seton Hall.  Notre Dame and Villanova are two dark horses I see in the Tournament that can make some noise and go farther than expected. 

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