Despite the heartbreaking 50-49 loss at Virginia Tuesday night that set Notre Dame back to 6-7 in ACC play, not everyone has the Fighting Irish’s NCAA Tournament chances being dead just yet.
The USA TODAY released their latest “bracketology” projection and no, Notre Dame is not in the dance yet again, but they’re still in the “being considered” category and not in the “on life support” category that the outlet sorts bubble teams by.
Duke, Florida State, Louisville and Virginia are the four ACC teams that are represented in this latest projection as making the dance.
It has been a year of close calls for Notre Dame as they’ve nearly gotten wins against three of those schools listed above but fell just short in each case. The Fighting Irish get their chance at Duke on Saturday night, where a win would mean a ton.
Seven conference games remain for Notre Dame before the ACC Tournament and Saturday’s against Duke is the final before the stretch run that will see only Florida State as a likely NCAA Tournament team.
As rough as it has been and as frustrating as things have sometimes gone, there’s still a chance this team ends up somehow dancing which would be quite the feather in Mike Brey’s cap.