Media Reaction to Notre Dame's Chances...

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame begin their quest for a third straight trip to the Final Four via Iowa City, IA  "When" they make it -- they will probably be the only team not to play a game on their home court in the NCAA tournament.

Game I'm most concerned about -- the potential to have to play Iowa on their home court in a Second Round game -- the #2 team in the tournament did not deserve that...

It didn't take long for the media to weigh-in on what lies ahead for the IRISH:

LINK:  ESPN EXPERT PICKS

LINK:  GRAHAM HAYS

LINK:  MECHELLE VOEPEL

LINK:  CHARLIE CREME

LINK:  SPORTING NEWS

Coach Kelly Makes Visit to Breezy Point, NY

Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly made the trip to Breezy Point, Queens this past week to visit the ravages of Hurricane Sandy.  Coach Kelly and his Kelly Cares Foundation has pledged financial help to the Catholic Club -- a popular community center that was destroyed in the storm.

Nice story...

LINK:  COACH KELLY GIVING BACK...

Lady IRISH Off to Iowa City to Play UT Martin

The only #1 seed to have to go on the road to play ALL of their games to make it to New Orleans for the FINAL FOUR -- the Fightin' Irish of Notre Dame.

The other #1 seeds; Baylor, Stanford and UCONN will play their first two games at home...

The (31-1) IRISH will begin their NCAA Championship run in Iowa City, IA this Sunday at 5:05 PM ET against the #16 seed (19-14) University of Tennessee Martin.

GO IRISH!

LINK:  COACH MCGRAW

LINK:  PLAYER REACTION

LINK:  NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET

LINK:  UTM WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SITE

Taya Reimer -- McDonald's National POY Award!

She'll be wearing "blue and gold" next fall in Purcell Pavillion -- Taya Reimer was just named the National Player of the Year by McDonald's!  The 6'-3" forward will be joining the IRISH this next season -- along with three other top high school stars.

Congratulations Taya!

LINK:  REIMER NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR!

Can Anyone Beat Griner and the Baylor Bears?

That was the question poised to a few "experts" over at ESPN -- on the eve of the NCAA Selection Show -- that will air on their channels this evening at 7 PM ET.  Here's what they had to say:

LINK:  CAN ANYONE BEAT BAYLOR?