Here's my attempt to give Notre Dame fans some hope today as we await the 8:49 PM ET tip-off against #1 and undefeated Kentucky. No one is giving us a chance tonight...
NOT SO FAST MY FRIENDS!
Here's a look at how Notre Dame and Kentucky played in games this season vs. common opponents -- the only true measure we have to compare these two teams outside of nine (9) "Big Mac" All-Americans vs. one (1) "Big Mac" All-American...
Enjoy!
OPPONENT: NORTH CAROLINA
- Kentucky beat North Carolina 84 - 70 / @ home
- Notre Dame beat North Carolina 71 - 70 / @ NC
- Notre Dame beat North Carolina 90 - 82 / @ ACC (in North Carolina)
OPPONENT: LOUISVILLE
- Kentucky beat Louisville 58 - 50 / @ Louisville
- Notre Dame beat Louisville 71 - 59 / @ Louisville
FUZZY MATH ANALYSIS:
So, here's my "fuzzy math" look at the match-up between Notre Dame and Kentucky using data from the games played this season against common opponents.
It should be noted that it's generally regarded that a home court provides a team with a FOUR POINT (3.7 to be precise) advantage. So, if you take this "advantage" into consideration -- we've played these two teams quite evenly:
- Kentucky was 10 points better than North Carolina
- Notre Dame 8.5 points better than North Carolina (averaging the two games)
- Kentucky was 12 points better than Louisville
- Notre Dame was 16 points better than Louisville
- In totality -- Kentucky was 22 points better -- Notre Dame was 24.5 points better
Now, there might be a couple of you out there who might not agree with my hypothesis -- but, hey you should give me some credit for the creativity in this argument for giving us Notre Dame fans hope tonight...
So, here's the bottom line: Notre Dame should be a TWO AND A HALF POINT favorite over Kentucky!
FYI: Vegas has Kentucky an 11 point favorite -- I guess they don't use fuzzy math...
In the photo above -- that's Coach Brey telling Coach Calipari -- WE GOT YOU!
