ACC men’s basketball leaders as of March 17

No Notre Dame players.

The NCAA Tournament officially is here with five ACC teams among those seeking a national championship. The ACC particularly drew attention from the rest of the country after No. 10 seed NC State won the conference tournament for the first time since 1987. Strangely, no one on the Wolfpack concluded the ACC season as a leader in any of the major statistical categories. Some are going to March Madness though, and here they are:

Can Rutgers football slow down Virginia Tech’s offensive momentum in 2024?

On September 21, Rutgers football will travel to Blacksburg, Virginia to slow down Virginia Tech’s creative and explosive offense.

For Rutgers football, their Week 3 match-up at Virginia Tech is likely to be a make-or-break game for their season. A win at the Hokies, much like this past year, and Rutgers has the chance to be bowl-eligible. But there is some hype around Virginia Tech’s football team heading into 2024 with the Hokies returning several key pieces on their offense from last season.

Virginia Tech’s quarterback Kyron Drones, running back Bhayshul Tuten, and wide receivers Ali Jennings, Da’Quan Felton, Stephen Gosnell, and Jaylin Lane will all return in 2024. This is quite an array of offensive talent.

Athlon Sports recently placed Virginia Tech as sixth in their ACC Power Rankings. They hyped up the offense in their latest power rankings update:

“Can the Hokies build off last season’s strong finish? This unit averaged 33.5 points a game in November – largely fueled by the emergence of quarterback Kyron Drones – and posted 41 in the bowl victory over Tulane.”

[lawrence-related id=36272]

The Scarlet Knights and the Hokies faced off last season with Rutgers defeating Virginia Tech 35-16. Rutgers’ 2023 victory was the first time since 1992 that the Scarlet Knights defeated the Hokies, breaking a 12-game skid in the series.

Drones recorded 84 yards on 22 attempts, averaging 3.4 yards per carry in his first collegiate start. The redshirt junior added 19 completions on 32 attempts for 190 yards with one touchdown and an interception in a losing effort.

The Scarlet Knights will try to make it consecutive winning seasons as they prepare to face a creative and explosive Virginia Tech offense. Rutgers finished the 2023 season as the No. 7 ranked defense within the Big Ten Conference and with many key pieces returning the Scarlet Knights’ defense will continue to stay strong in 2024.

[lawrence-related id=36329]

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

Notre Dame falls short in regular-season finale vs. Virginia Tech

The Irish made it interesting until the end.

After being crushed by North Carolina in its last game, Notre Dame hoped for a better showing at Virginia Tech to close the regular season. That was the case, and the possibility existed that the Irish might steal a second game from the Hokies this season. That wasn’t the case with the Irish losing, 82-76.

While the Irish (12-19, 7-13) never led in the second half, they kept the Hokies (18-13, 10-10) on their toes until the final minute, never trailing by more than seven after halftime. It wasn’t until a layup, steal and then another layup by Sean Padulla in the final minute to put the Hokies up six that this game essentially was decided.

Although [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] brought the Irish within three with a layup and free throw after that, little time remained, and the Hokies only had to make their free throws to with the Irish forced to foul, which they did.

A few things could have made this game turn out differently. The Hokies held a considerable 15-5 advantage in offensive rebounds and used that to outscore the Irish in second-chance opportunities, 17-8. They also blocked six shots while the Irish got only one of those from [autotag]Carey Booth[/autotag]. It was a hard lesson to be learned for sure.

Pedulla led all scorers with 28 points. MJ Collins had the best all-around game with 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. Off the bench, Tyler Nickel scored 15 points.

Burton scored 24 points, giving him 535 for the year and breaking [autotag]Troy Murphy[/autotag]’s Notre Dame freshman scoring record of 519. [autotag]Tae Davis[/autotag] scored 13 points, which included making all five of his free throws, and grabbed six rebounds. [autotag]Julian Roper II[/autotag] scored 11 off the bench, and [autotag]Braeden Shrewsberry[/autotag] added 10.

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

Photos of Notre Dame ACC Tournament semifinal win vs. Virginia Tech

See how this latest win went down.

Notre Dame will play in the ACC Tournament championship game for the seventh time after beating Virginia Tech, 82-53, in the semifinals. The last time the Irish got this opportunity was when they got it during their first six years in the conference, winning five times. But it hasn’t happened since 2019, so this next opportunity has been waiting for a while.

Unfortunately for the Irish, the title game and possibly the NCAA Tournament might come and go without [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag]. The starting forward injured her knee in the third quarter against the Hokies and went back to the locker room. When she came back, she was on crutches, and that’s not good for an Irish team that has been stretched thin by injuries all season. All anyone can do right now is hope for the best with her.

In the meantime, here are some images from the win over the Hokies:

Notre Dame beats Virginia Tech but loses Watson in ACC Tournament semi

This latest victory might have been costly.

Notre Dame faced the ACC Tournament’s top seed in Virginia Tech for its semifinal game. With the Hokies missing injured conference player of the year Elizabeth Kitley and the Irish having beaten them a week ago with her, everything trended in their direction. But the Irish suffered their own bad injury luck during their dominant 82-53 victory that put them in the tournament championship game.

The Irish (25-6) led almost the entire game, and any hope the Hokies (24-7) had were dashed when the Irish scored 20 unanswered points between the second and third quarters. However, the high the Irish were on was dampened when [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag] went down with a left knee injury and had to be helped back to the locker room. While she did put some weight on the knee and eventually returned to the Irish’s bench with crutches, both the team and fans undoubtedly will hold their collective breath as they await word on her condition.

While the Hokies were able to cut the deficit to 15 after Watson went out, the Irish found yet another wind despite taking another hit to their depth. Before it was over, they went back up by as much as 32. The Hokies simply had no answers for the Irish no matter who was or wasn’t on the court.

[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] was the Irish’s best player on the afternoon by virtue of leading them with 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] scored 18 points and blocked three shots. [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] had 15 points and six assists, and [autotag]Anna DeWolfe[/autotag] got 12 of her 14 points on four 3-pointers.

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

Notre Dame projected as No. 4 seed or better in all bracketologies

The Irish might not be done playing at home yet this year.

In beating both Virginia Tech and Louisville last week, Notre Dame did what it needed to do to move up bracketologists’ projections. Every available bracketology now projects the Irish to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. ESPN, CBS Sports and Her Hoop Stats all have the Irish as a No. 4 seed in their latest updates. College Sports Madness projects them as a No. 3.

Connor Groel, the women’s bracketologist for CBS Sports, wrote the following about the Irish in his latest update:

“It’s been a terrific close to the season from Notre Dame, who now have a chance to perhaps even jump to a No. 3 seed, equaling last season’s result despite [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] having missed the entire year. [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] exceeded all expectations and was named both ACC Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year while [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] is playing some of her best basketball as of late.”

With the Irish one of the four ACC Tournament semifinalists, they have another chance to make their case. Hopefully, they won’t need to with the case possibly already having been made.

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

Virginia Tech coach Kenny Brooks talks Notre Dame ahead of rematch

See what the next opposing coach had to say about the Irish.

After Notre Dame defeated Louisville in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, Virginia Tech beat Miami, 55-47. That sets a semifinal rematch between the Irish and top-seeded Hokies after the teams met in South Bend only a week ago. The Irish won that game, so the Hokies will be out for revenge.

The big question surrounding the Hokies is the health of three-time ACC Player of the Year Elizabeth Kitley, who was injured in the Hokies’ regular-season finale at Virginia and didn’t play Friday. In fact, she won’t play at all in this tournament.

Hokies coach Kenny Brooks was asked about the upcoming rematch in his postgame news conference and said the following:

“Bruh, can I just enjoy this one for a second? Notre Dame is playing as well as anyone in the country right now. We experienced it last week, their physicality – they’re a little bit different than they were last year. They’re tenacious on the defensive end, obviously with the addition of (Hannah) Hidalgo.

They got off to a great start today. And bless his heart, I’m in my locker room, and I think we’re on like a three, four, five-second delay in watching the game and what happens, and Jeff Walz gets thrown out. He gets thrown out, and two seconds later, boom, my door flies open, and it’s Jeff Walz.

I did thank him for their comeback and making Notre Dame play harder down the stretch, to be able to do that.

They’re playing well. They’re playing extremely well. Hidalgo really makes them go. (Sonia) Citron – I’ve said it before – is one of my favorite players. She just doesn’t get rattled. (Maddy) Westbeld is playing really well right now. They don’t play a lot of people, but the people who play are playing well.

We know it’s going to be a tough task. We’ll get back, and we’ll figure some things out, and we’ll try to see what happens.”

This shows the Hokies won’t take the Irish lightly, so the Irish better be ready to play whether Kitley is available or not. Whatever the case though, it should be a good game.

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

Notre Dame moves up to No. 3, No. 4 seeds in updated bracketologies

Alexa, play the theme song to The Jeffersons.

It appears Notre Dame’s wins over Virginia Tech and Louisville are starting to pay off. In two updated bracketologies released Monday, the Irish moved up in their projected seeds to the point where they would host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament if they held true.

ESPN finally bumped the Irish up to a No. 4 seed. College Sports Madness, which already had the Irish as a No. 4, took it a step further and made the Irish a No. 3 seed. Her Hoops Stats and CBS Sports both last updated their bracketologies before the Irish’s last game against the Cardinals.

Splitting the games with the Hokies and Cardinals merely would have kept the Irish’s hopes at a top-four seed alive at best. Instead, they won both games and have become impossible to ignore. Plus, two of three ESPN analysts are picking the Irish to win the ACC Tournament, fueled in part perhaps by a combination of their strong regular-season finish and the suddenly questionable health of Hokies standout Elizabeth Kitley.

March is here, folks. Time for the madness to begin.

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

Both weekly ACC rookie honors go to Notre Dame guards

There are some special young players for the Irish.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] and [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag] both have turned heads for Notre Dame’s basketball teams this season. The ACC has honored them for that multiple times. Now, for the third time this season, both have been named ACC Rookie of the Week for their respective sports in the same week.

This is the fourth ACC Rookie of the Week honor for Burton, who averaged 26.0 points a game for the week to help beat Wake Forest and Clemson. Hidalgo has won it a conference-record 12 times now, and she also was named ACC Player of the Week after averaging 24.5 points a game in big wins over Virginia Tech and Louisville. She also has been named a finalist for the Nancy Lierberman Award, which is given to the country’s top point guard.

It’s been said before, but with Hidalgo and Burton, the future is looking bright for both Notre Dame basketball teams. We already are seeing it benefit the women, and hopefully, the men will follow suit before too long.

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