Tag: Pittsburgh

How Notre Dame still can earn a top-four seed in NCAA Tournament

It’s doable.

Notre Dame is running out of chances to strengthen its NCAA Tournament resume. Every bracketology currently has the Irish as a No. 5 or No. 6 seed, which is bad if they want to host the first two rounds. Recent losses to Louisville and NC State haven’t helped, and their most recent wins have done little more than keep their needle where it is.

The Irish currently have an NET Ranking of 10th and a NET SOS of 25th. Their next two opponents are lowly ones in Clemson and Boston College, so while it’s important that they win those games, they won’t help their resume. All eyes will be on their last two regular-season games against ACC-leading Virginia Tech and Louisville, which have respective NET Rankings of 14th and 23rd.

So what does this mean for the Irish’s ever-decreasing chances to gain a No. 4 seed or better for March Madness? As I have a couple of times already, here’s what my friend Lucas Mitzel had to say while also giving out some additional NET Rankings:

Notre Dame is No. 5 seed in every latest Bracketology projection

The Irish have some work to do if they want to be an NCAA Tournament host.

Nobody knows just how dominant Notre Dame would be if it was fully healthy. All we can judge the Irish on is how good they currently are. And in the eyes of various college hoops experts, they’re not good enough to host the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

In the latest Bracketology updates for ESPN, CBS Sports, College Sports Madness and Her Hoop Stats, the Irish are in a fifth seed for each and every one. Only the top four seeds in each quadrant are selected as first- and second-round hosts. So in this particular case, the Irish currently are on the outside looking in.

Don’t despair yet though. ESPN chooses to highlight the Irish in its latest update as a team that can move up the seedings. As it currently stands, they don’t have a lot of big wins on their resume except for UConn. Whether that resume can improve depends on how the Irish fare against the ACC gauntlet over the next two weeks, beginning Thursday at Louisville.

[autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] admitted after the Irish’s win over Pittsburgh that February is going to be a tough month for her team, and she wasn’t lying. While the Irish are a lock for the tournament barring a complete collapse over the next month, they’ll need to dig even deeper if they want March Madness to come to South Bend. We soon will find out if them doing so leads to optimal results.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Niele Ivey, Maddy Westbeld speak after Notre Dame beats Pittsburgh

There was more than basketball to talk about during this game.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame’s 78-53 win over Pittsburgh took on a slightly different tone than usual. While there was the usual happiness over beating an ACC opponent handily, that wasn’t the only thing the Irish were celebrating. This game was the annual Think Pink Game that pays tribute to cancer survivors, and many of them were on hand.

Keeping with the spirit of the day, Niele Ivey and Maddy Westbeld talked about the subject that the game was played in awareness of in addition to answering the usual questions about the game and the team. In fact, some of the questions also were about cancer affecting their personal lives and the community in general. It was the least they could do for a game like this.

Also keeping in the spirit of the dominant win, Ivey and Westbeld were very relaxed and joking during their postgame news conference. Here’s some of what they had to say:

Notre Dame pulls away from Pittsburgh

The Irish celebrate winning by winning.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame’s first home game since beating UConn was a celebratory one. Not only did the Irish celebrate their biggest win of the season, but it was a day to honor cancer survivors during their annual Think Pink Game. The only way to make it better was with a another win, and they got it to the tune of 78-53 over Pittsburgh.

Even though the Irish are the better team, the Panthers hung around for much of the first half. In the final few minutes before halftime, the Irish extended a two-point lead to 14.

The Panthers countered by cutting that lead to nine going into the locker room, but they shot only 2 of 18 from the field in the third quarter. The Irish took full advantage of that with their lead only growing from there.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] was held to only a single free throw first quarter but bounced back to score 22 points while also contributing five assists and three steals. Before Hidalgo got cooking in the second quarter and beyond, [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] picked up the slack, scoring nine of her 15 points in the first quarter. She completed the double-double with 14 rebounds.

[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] also scored 15 points and got three of her own steals. [autotag]Anna DeWolfe[/autotag] added 10 points.

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Notre Dame’s struggles continue in loss to Pittsburgh

Another road defeat for the young Irish.

Notre Dame has had great recent success against Pittsburgh, winning eight of the previous nine meetings entering Saturday. For much of the first half in the Steel City, it looks like that success would continue. But the Irish were reminded that this is a rebuilding season, and the Panthers recognized that early enough to come away with a 70-60 victory.

Neither team shot well at first, and the Irish (7-15, 2-9) took advantage of that by going up seven a couple of times in the opening half. But the Panthers (14-8, 5-6) overcame missing their first nine 3-point shots and found their stroke, which contributed to them going into halftime on a 16-3 run.

The Irish bounced back from a six-point deficit to tie it early in the second half. The Panthers responded to that by making three consecutive 3s, proving that their early struggles from that distance were ancient history.

The Irish kept the deficit from reaching double digits for a little bit longer, but the deficit did get to that point, there was no recovering. The saving grace is that once they got down 17, they outscored the Panthers, 16-6, over the final few minutes.

Blake Hinson led the Panthers with 17 points with all four of his field goals coming from 3. Carlton Carrington was just behind with three 3s as part of the 16 points he scored before fouling out. Ishmael Leggett scored 12 points off the bench, and Jaland Lowe added 11 points as well as a game-high five assists.

[autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] led the Irish with 17 points and three steals. [autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag] scored 16 on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. But the Irish couldn’t counter the Panthers’ 3-point attack as they shot 5 of 19 from that range.

[autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] picked up a technical foul late after coming onto the court to yell at the officials.

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Notre Dame vs. Pitt: What do the simulations say will happen Saturday?

Can Notre Dame get a much needed win on Saturday night?

It’s no secret that Notre Dame (7-14 overall, 2-8 in ACC) has struggled this season as it was something most expected coming in.  While starting to show growth in early January, the Irish have now lost five-straight games in a streak that is nearing a month.

Can Notre Dame get a much needed win on the road Saturday evening at Pittsburgh (14-8, 4-6)?

Plenty of computer models are out with projections for college basketball games this weekend.  What do they say about Notre Dame’s chances in the Steel City?

The NCAA Game Simulator gives an understandable edge to the Panthers in their 412 simulation model.  It has Pitt winning 289 of those (70.1%) and by routing the Irish by 20 or more in roughly 1/5 of those (20.1%).

Notre Dame and Pitt tip off Saturday night in Pittsburgh at 6 p.m. ET.

Former Vols’ analyst Jacob Bronowski joins Pittsburgh’s coaching staff

Former Vols’ analyst Jacob Bronowski joins Pittsburgh’s coaching staff.

Pittsburgh announced the hiring of Jacob Bronowski as tight ends coach and special teams coordinator.

He served as special teams coordinator at Miami University from 2022-23.

Bronowski was a special teams analyst at Tennessee in 2021 under head coach Josh Heupel. He came to Tennessee after serving as a special teams quality control assistant under Heupel in 2020 at UCF.

“Under Jacob’s direction, the special teams at Miami of Ohio were absolutely elite,” Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi said. “His units were extremely organized, executed at a high level and made a huge impact during their MAC championship season. Jacob is a really passionate coach and teacher. I know his impact will be immediate for us in a number of different areas.”

ACC women’s basketball leaders as of Jan. 14

One Notre Dame player continues to tear up the conference.

The college basketball regular season might be half over but not the ACC season. No, we’re still getting warmed up, and the conference action continues to heat up with each passing game. The next couple of months promise to live up to the conference’s billing as one of the best in the country. You won’t want to miss it.

Here are the players to watch as of this moment:

Hannah Hidalgo breaks Notre Dame conference rookie award record

She is just incredible.

For the seventh time this season, Notre Dame’s [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] has been named the ACC’s rookie of the week. This came after two solid games for her against Pittsburgh and North Carolina that the Irish split. She posted averages of 20.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.5 steals a game.

With this honor, Hidalgo now is the Irish’s all-time leader in conference rookie of the week honors. The previous record of six stretched back to the program’s Big East days and was shared by [autotag]Brianna Turner[/autotag], [autotag]Jacqueline Batteast[/autotag], [autotag]Alicia Ratay[/autotag] and current Hidalgo teammate [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag]. Hidalgo needs three more such honors to match the ACC record set by Florida State’s Ta’Niya Latson a season ago.

The Irish are not even halfway through their regular-season schedule, and one only can imagine what else Hidalgo will do as conference play continues. There are many more bars in front of her waiting to be cleared, and it would not be shocking if she cleared all of them or at least the ones that are attainable this season.

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ACC women’s basketball leaders as of Jan. 7

Guess who’s leading on Notre Dame’s behalf?

ACC play officially is in full swing. Now, we’ll really get to see what the teams are made of as they start to play each other. As that happens, we’ll get to see which players stand out the most. It might be too early to distinguish that right now, but we at least have an idea.

Here’s who continues to stand out in the conference at the moment: