Tag: Charlie Creme

Notre Dame women’s basketball drops to No. 3 seed in ESPN bracketology

The Irish’s perception continues to suffer.

The Notre Dame women’s basketball team lost both games it played in the Cayman Islands Classic to TCU and Utah. In doing so, it seriously hurt its perception among those who follow women’s basketball for a living.

Not only did the Irish drop seven spots in the latest AP Top 25 poll from third to 10th, further than any other team, but they fell in Charlie Creme’s latest bracketology for ESPN. After a road win over USC allowed them to ascend to a No. 1 seed, they have fallen to a No. 3 seed.

What’s more, the Irish are in the quadrant featuring UConn, the top overall seed in this bracketology. Meanwhile, the Horned Frogs have been bumped up to a No. 2 seed.

While the Irish remain highly ranked, this past week has led many to believe they aren’t as good as previously thought. The good news is it’s early in the season still, and there’s plenty of time to convince people to come back around on them. But it might become harder if they don’t beat at least one of Texas or the Huskies in two of their next three games.

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Notre Dame listed as No. 2 seed in first ESPN women’s bracketology

Hopefully, that can become a No. 1 seed.

Notre Dame got its season off to a proper start Monday with a blowout win over Mercyhurst. This occurred on the eve of ESPN women’s bracketologist Charlie Creme releasing his first bracketology of the season.

Given that the Irish are starting the season as the sixth-ranked team in the country, it should come as no surprise that they’re a No. 2 seed in this initial bracketology. While there surely are a few paths that could make them a No. 1 seed, one in particular would allow them to put their fate in their own hands.

In a separate story, Creme notes that the Irish play both USC and UConn this season. All three of them play each other this season, and one team going 2-0 against the other would lock in a No. 1 seed assuming there aren’t any losses to inferior opponents during the season. Creme also notes that the Irish must beat Texas to get that seed if they lose to both the Trojans and Huskies.

We have four months of this, people. Time to buckle up.

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ESPN’s Charlie Creme highlights Notre Dame in big early-season games

Be sure to watch these games.

Notre Dame is expected to do well this season. Its No. 6 ranking in the AP Top 25 Preseason Poll is evidence of that. Naturally, some of its early games will receive a lot of attention.

In light of the poll’s release, ESPN women’s basketball bracketologist Charlie Creme has published a story that answers the question of what the biggest early-season game is for each team ranked in that poll.

Creme has the Irish’s ACC/SEC Women’s Basketball Challenge matchup against Texas as the Irish’s biggest game and gives the following reason:

“Both the Irish and Longhorns saw freshmen become stars a season ago with their team leaders out with injury. Rori Harmon is back for Texas to team up with Madison Booker, and [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] can now pair [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] and [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag], returning from a knee injury. This is a dream backcourt matchup that could define which duo is meshing the best. This looks to be the best Irish team under Ivey. This game and one a week later against UConn, also in South Bend, should tell us just how good.”

The Irish also will face USC early in the season, and Creme has that game as the biggest for the Trojans, who rank third in the poll. Here’s the reason for that:

“A week before the two schools square off in football in Los Angeles, they do the same in basketball. Both the Trojans and the Irish should be in the mix for a No. 1 seed come March, and the winner of this game takes a massive advantage in that quest. One month before (JuJu) Watkins gets to go head-to-head with (Paige) Bueckers, she faces Hannah Hidalgo, the second-best freshman to Watkins a year ago.”

So yeah, there are a few game on the schedule you won’t want to miss. Simply put, don’t.

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Photos of Notre Dame’s ACC Tournament championship win vs. NC State

Relive a memorable day in program history.

Notre Dame will remember this one for a long time. Not everybody believed the Irish would be the last team standing at the end of the ACC Tournament, but it happened with a 55-51 victory over NC State. Both the Irish and Wolfpack played only six players, but the Irish only had seven available because of injuries. That’s what makes this accomplishment even more special.

Coupled with an eight-game winning streak, it’s impossible to think the Irish won’t host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament as a top-four seed now. ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme even said afterwards that they should be locked in as a No. 3 seed now. They’ve answered every challenge late in the season, and the selection committee has no reason not to consider them as a host.

Whatever happens for the rest of the season, the Irish always will have this moment. Here are the images from an afternoon that will stick with them:

Notre Dame moves up to No. 3 seed in latest ESPN bracketology

You want want to start making plans to be at Purcell Pavilion in a couple of weeks.

Notre Dame has become impossible to ignore during its seven-game winning streak late in the season. Because of it, all signs point to the Irish hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament as a top-four seed. Now, simply getting to the ACC Tournament championship game appears to have helped them even more.

ESPN’s Charlie Creme updated his bracketology before the title game and bumped the Irish up to a No. 3 seed. The move was noticeable enough that Creme devoted his paragraph at the top of his bracket to them:

“Notre Dame looks like the best team in the ACC and has reached the championship game of the ACC tournament. With wins over Louisville and Virginia Tech in Greensboro, Notre Dame has jumped to a No. 3 seed. The Irish were just outside looking in during the NCAA tournament selection committee’s two reveals of the top 16 seeds. But now, they’ve won seven in a row since losing to NC State – their opponent in Sunday’s ACC tournament title game. Notre Dame was the biggest mover on a Saturday that saw most of the remaining favorites win and hold their spots.”

For what it’s worth, Her Hoop Stats projected the Irish as a fourth seed in the update it published before the Irish won their semifinal game. Regardless, it would be a shocker at this point if the Irish aren’t an NCAA Tournament host. In that case, there needs to be a serious overhaul of the selection process. Hopefully, that discussion won’t be necessary in a week’s time.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Oregon’s NCAA outlook after loss to Stanford in Pac-12 tournament

Things are looking good for the Oregon women’s basketball team where the NCAA tourney is concerned.

The biggest question on the minds of the Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team is whether they have done enough in order to get into the NCAA tournament.

With a NET ranking of 19, a 17-14 overall record, and wins in three of their last four, the Ducks are squarely on that proverbial bubble. The common thought was that if Oregon had a good showing in the Pac-12 tournament, the Ducks should be in.

The Ducks managed to defeat Washington 52-50 in the opening round and hung with Stanford before going down 76-65. At one point in the third quarter, Oregon was within six of the Cardinal.

Kelly Graves’ team also may need some help from around the country and for now, it seems like that help came in the form of North Carolina State. In the ACC tourney, the Wolfpack stomped Syracuse 83-58. According to ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme, that loss popped the Orange’s bubble and sent the Ducks in.

Being “the last team” in the tournament, Oregon would play in the First Four, which is held March 15-16. Unfortunately for the Ducks, all they can do is wait and see and hopefully things continue to fall their way. The brackets are announced Sunday, March 12 on ESPN.

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See who is battling USC women’s basketball for final NCAA Tournament spots in ESPN bracketology

Missouri, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Georgia, and Virginia are some of the other bubble teams near USC in the latest ESPN bracketology forecast by Charlie Creme.

The USC Trojans women’s basketball team is coming off a stunning win against No. 2 Stanford on Sunday.

Lindsay Gottlieb has turned things around for USC in just her second season as head coach, and suddenly USC is being discussed as an NCAA Tournament team.

After the win against Stanford, the Trojans were one of the last four byes in the latest bracketology by Charlie Creme of ESPN.

Stanford is still projected as a one-seed in the field.

As for USC, the Trojans are listed as an 11-seed and facing Baylor in the first round in the same region as Stanford.

Creme’s latest bracketology has a total of eight teams from the Pac-12: Stanford, USC, Colorado, Oregon, Washington State, UCLA, Arizona, and Utah.

USC has a 13-4 record and a 3-3 mark in the Pac-12, but being one of the last four byes means they are right on the fence of being in the field.

The Trojans face Washington State on Friday, followed by Washington. After that, they face No. 8 Utah on the road and No. 24 Colorado on the road, so they have a perfect opportunity to improve their resume and essentially lock themselves into the Big Dance.

Let’s see if they can keep winning games.

Check out which teams are battling USC for bubble position. You will want to root against those teams in the coming weeks.

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