Muffet's Gang Going Back to the ELITE EIGHT!

For those of you counting -- it's FIVE STRAIGHT TRIPS to the ELITE EIGHT for the FIGHTING IRISH!

Notre Dame beat Stanford (the only team to beat UCONN) 81 - 60 in Oklahoma City! 

Notre Dame pulled away midway through the second half with what I'm going to start calling a "SHAKE DOWN THE THUNDER RUN" -- for both of our basketball programs.

Now the Irish play Baylor Sunday night at 8:30 PM ET on ESPN for a trip to the FINAL FOUR!

LINK:  LINDSAY ALLEN -- THREE POINT RUN

 

Notre Dame's Elite Eight Press Conference

The Fighting Irish met the media today in Cleveland -- as they await tomorrow's match-up with the 37 - 0 Kentucky Wildcats.

BELIEVE.

LINK:  COACH BREY

LINK:  STARTING FIVE

Full Game Replay: Notre Dame / Wichita State

If you can't get enough of last night's 81 - 70 SWEET SIXTEEN WIN for the Fighting Irish over Wichita State -- you can watch it again -- any time you want!

Here's the link to the CBS' full-game replay:

LINK:  NOTRE DAME 81 - WICHITA STATE 70

Kentucky's Calipari Talks About Notre Dame

John Calipari sat down for a quick interview this afternoon with Kentucky's web team to talk about tomorrow night's match-up with our Fighting Irish.  Here's what he had to say:

LINK:  CALIPARI ON NOTRE DAME

Great Game Tonight on ESPN: ND vs Stanford

You better get ready for a LATE GAME tonight!  The #1 seeded Fighting Irish play an opponent they haven't seen in 23 years -- #4 seed Stanford -- in a game that is scheduled to tip-off at 10 PM ET on ESPN.  That is not a typo!

The Irish are in Oklahoma City -- playing what I believe to be the toughest opponent of any of the #1 seeds in the country in their SWEET SIXTEEN game.  Stanford handed UCONN their only loss of the season in November...

Notre Dame has never beaten Stanford in women's basketball -- that needs to change tonight!  Here's some of the media coverage coming out of Oklahoma City:

LINK:  COACH MCGRAW PRESSER

LINK:  JEWELL LOYD & LINDSAY ALLEN PRESSER

LINK:  ESPN PREVIEW

"Sneak Preview" of Mike Brey's Pre-Game Talk

At approximately 8:35 PM ET Saturday night in a locker room deep in the bowels of the "Q" in Cleveland -- Notre Dame head basketball coach Mike Brey will be talking to his team for the last time prior to taking the floor for their ELITE EIGHT game against #1 Kentucky.

The ND GO IRISH BLOG was lucky enough to secure a sneak preview of what Coach Brey intends to say to his team at that moment -- see link below:

"Tonight, we are the best college basketball team in the world..."


LINK:  SNEAK PREVIEW

Notre Dame Player Interviews After Elite Eight!

Here's what I could find around the web from the local media outlets and their interviews of the Fighting Irish after their Elite Eight win over Wichita State:

LINK:  STEVE VASTURIA

LINK:  ZACH AUGUSTE

LINK:  DEMETRIUS JACKSON

LINK:  WSBT-TV

LINK:  WNDU-TV

The Mornin' After Notre Dame's Elite Eight Win!

Well, the media is singing the praises of the Fighting Irish this morning -- just be ready for the "NO CHANCE WITH KENTUCKY" stories we'll hear over the next 36 hours....

Here's what they're saying:

LINK:  SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

LINK:  INDY STAR

LINK:  ESPN BLOG

LINK:  CBS

LINK:  ESPN

LINK:  CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER

LINK:  CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

LINK:  CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Notre Dame's Post Game Press Conference

Coach Brey, Jerian Grant, Pat Connaughton and Demetrius Jackson spoke with the media after last night's ELITE EIGHT WIN over Wichita State!

LINK:  POST GAME PRESSER

Wichita State's Coach Talks Loss to Notre Dame

Wichita State head coach met with the media after their 81 - 70 loss to Notre Dame in an Elite Eight game in Cleveland last night...

LINK:  WICHITA STATE COACH

Inside Notre Dame's Blitz of Wichita State!

You're going to want to watch this edition of IRISH CONNECTION -- as it takes a look inside Notre Dame's decisive run in the 2nd half to put the game away against Wichita State.

As the coach at Wichita State said in his post game press conference; "I've never seen a one point lead get out of hand so quickly..."

LINK:  IRISH CONNECTION