Tag: men’s basketball

USA TODAY’s Latest Bracketology Not Giving Up on Notre Dame Yet

One outlet that hasn’t given up on Notre Dame’s NCAA Tournament chances quite yet is the USA TODAY.

After the then No. 7 Duke Blue Devils dismantled Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon I think most Fighting Irish fans who hadn’t already, began coming to grips that this team is probably headed to the NIT.

Considering the injuries, departures and lack of a bench that’s not a terrible accomplishment.  Obviously the goals are stated higher than that but all things considered this has been an impressive team in terms of what they’ve accomplished despite often being over-matched in talent.

One outlet that hasn’t given up on Notre Dame’s NCAA Tournament chances quite yet is the USA TODAY.

The outlet released their latest “Bracketology” on Monday and Notre Dame isn’t even listed on “life support” for their chances yet.  They’re still listed in the category “Others considered for at-large bid”.

I’m a little surprised but there is still a lot ahead for Notre Dame.  Most importantly that begins in a couple of hours when a poor North Carolina teams comes to town in an absolute must-win for the Fighting Irish.

Following the Tar Heels tonight are dates with Miami, Boston College and Wake Forest which are all very winnable before a tough one on March 4 when Florida State visits South Bend.  The regular season concludes March 7 then as the Irish host Virginia Tech.

IF – and I can’t state that enough – IF — Notre Dame has a strong showing of at least 4-2 and more likely 5-1 in these next six, they’ll perhaps finish above .500 in conference play and approach the 20 win mark if not surpass it with an alright showing in the ACC Tournament.

This isn’t a team that’s by any means built to go on a deep tournament run and heck, it’s going to still take a lot of work to get there, but sign me up for even still being seen as having a chance at this point because I didn’t think there was a snowball’s chance in hell of that a few short weeks ago.

Now go beat Carolina.

ACC Fines Notre Dame, Reprimands Brey After Rant

Everyone knows the officials screwed up. Why can’t that part at least be admitted or acknowledged?

Good morning and happy Monday. If you missed it over the weekend Mike Brey was none too pleased over how Saturday night’s loss at Florida State was officiated.

The Fighting Irish lost a close one in Tallahassee and now the university has to pay for Brey’s outburst.

In a statement released by the Atlantic Coast Conference Monday morning the following has been handed down:

-The ACC issues a public reprimand of Brey for his comments because he violated the ACC sportsmanship policy.

-The league also handed Notre Dame a $20,000 fine for the violation.

-The ACC also considers this matter closed and will have no further comment.

Listen, Notre Dame got to the free throw line more than Florida State did Saturday. I don’t think any official went in with the idea of fixing things to make sure an upset was avoided.

The thing that bothers me the most isn’t as much an ACC problem as it is a sports problem. Officials clearly messed up like they do in any league or level of play and anyone with a functioning pair of eyes could see it. Yet when no comment is made about Brey in this instance having a point, it feels like complete propaganda.

You and I watch that showing by the officials and know it was awful. Joe in accounting who doesn’t watch basketball even knows the officials were brutal. So what then would the harm be in at least releasing something in that statement that read along the lines of “The ACC is reviewing the officials performance from Saturday’s game”?

Everyone knows the officials screwed up. Why can’t that part at least be admitted or acknowledged? I say that in regards to strictly officiating, not in Brey’s comments about the league having it out for Notre Dame.

I think I speak for most college basketball observers when I say that officiating in the game is awful. I don’t like to play the blame game but I do feel like just flipping on a random Big Ten game in the middle of the week will give multiple occurrences where you ask yourself “what the heck was that?” in regards to a call.

Why can’t that at least be acknowledged instead of sports organizations pushing their propaganda? Instead it comes off to me as treating viewers and fans as if they’re stupid.