Two FOUR GUARD Teams to Meet in Sweet 16!

Notre Dame will be playing Wichita State Thursday night at 7:15 PM ET in Cleveland -- in a match-up of two teams who start "four guards and a forward."

Wichita State -- a #7 Seed -- rolled over #2 Kansas tonight -- wasn't even close in the second half.  

We've got our hands full!  Here's what we know about Wichita State:

STARTERS:

• Guard:  Tekele Cotton -- 6'-3" Senior /  9.6 pts / 4.1 rebounds
• Guard:  Evan Wessell -- 6'-4" Junior /  4.1 pts / 3.4 rebounds
• Guard:  Ron Baker -- 6'-3" Junior /  15 pts / 4.5 rebounds
• Guard:  Fred VanVleet -- 6'-0' Junior / 13.1 pts / 4.4 rebounds
• Forward:  Darius Carter -- 6'-7" Senior / 11.1 pts / 5.4 rebounds

BENCH:

•  Center:  Bush Wamukota -- 6'-11" Junior / 1.1 pts / 1.5 rebounds
•  Forward:  Rashard Kelly -- 6'-7" Freshman / 3.0 pts / 3.0 rebounds
•  Forward:  Zach Brown -- 6'-6" Freshman / 3.2 pts / 1.4 rebounds
•  Forward:  Shaquille Morris -- 6'-7" Freshman / 5.0 pts / 2.7 rebounds

LINK:  HIGHLIGHTS OF WIN OVER KANSAS

Full Game Replay: Notre Dame vs. Butler

If you didn't get enough of this game last night -- here's the full-game replay of Notre Dame's 67 - 64 OT win over the Butler Bulldogs:

LINK:  FULL GAME REPLAY

The Media the Mornin' After a "Sweet" Victory

The news of the passing of Betty Brey -- Coach Brey's 84 year-old Mom -- put a damper on any post game celebrating for the Fighting Irish.  Betty, a former world-record holder in the 100 Fly and 1956 US Olympian -- died of an apparent heart attack yesterday morning.

The OT victory over Butler was a HUGE win for Notre Dame as they get back to the SWEET SIXTEEN for the first time in 12 years -- here's the media's post game reports:

LINK:  INDY STAR

LINK:  CHICAGO TRIBUNE

LINK:  SPORTING NEWS

LINK:  ESPN

LINK:  SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Prayers for Coach Mike Brey's Family Tonight...

Mike Brey's Mom passed away Saturday morning at the age of 84 from a heart attack...

Now I understand the emotional hug Jack Swarbrick gave to Coach Brey at game's end.

Coach Brey will head to Orlando today to be with his Dad and siblings -- to mourn the loss of his Mom -- will be back at Notre Dame on Monday.

PRAYERS.

LINK:  COACH BREY TALKS ABOUT HIS MOM

LINK:  BETTY BREY

LINK:  FULL POST GAME PRESS CONFERENCE 

SWEET SIXTEEN BABY!!! HUGE OT WIN!!!

It wasn't easy -- but WOW!!!

Notre Dame beat Butler 67 - 64 in OT in a game that we will not soon forget!

Steve Vasturia was HUGE all game long -- Jerian Grant made a GREAT left handed layup late -- Pat Connaughton made a HUGE THREE -- Zach Auguste grabbed some HUGE rebounds and Demetrius Jackson -- led HIS team...

It's now on to Cleveland to play the winner of Kansas vs. Wichita State -- Thursday night. 

The ACC already has three teams of the eight teams in the SWEET SIXTEEN -- Notre Dame, North Carolina and North Carolina State.  Duke, Virginia and Louisville play tomorrow for three more spots.

The ACC is 9 - 0 in the NCAA Tournament.

LINK:  GRANT'S HUGE LATE GAME LAY-UP

LINK:  CONNAUGHTON'S HUGE OT THREE POINTER 

LINK:  VASTURIA'S HUGE THREE POINTER IN OT 

LINK:  CONNAUGHTON LAST SECOND BLOCK IN REGULATION

LINK:  NCAA GAME RECAP

New York Times: "It's All About ND's Shoes..."

The folks at Under Armour will love this New York Times story...

LINK:  ALL ABOUT THE SHOES

Montana's Mascot "Monte" Visits Notre Dame

If you were at last night's NCAA game between Notre Dame and Montana -- you would have been entertained by MONTE -- the Grizzlies' mascot...

Enjoy!

LINK:  MONTE

Notre Dame Lacrosse's Corrigan and Ossello

My brother Jay -- who lives in Denver -- sent me a text this morning that I needed to put this interview up on the ND GO IRISH BLOG...

GREAT SUGGESTION -- you must see this!

LINK:  CORRIGAN AND OSSELLO

On to Round Two of the NCAA Tournament!!!

Notre Dame beat Montana 77 - 43 last night in their opening game of the 2015 NCAA Championship.  A game where the Fighting Irish just "did their thing" -- nothing out of the ordinary.

Up next -- the DePaul Blue Demons -- a team that feels they should have beat Notre Dame earlier in the year as they lost to the IRISH by one point 94 - 93 IN OT in a game where DePaul was 12 for 29 from the foul line...

How do we get an opponent like this in the 2nd Round of the NCAA Tournament?

LINK:  JEWELL INTERVIEW AFTER GAME

LINK:  NCAA HIGHLIGHTS

Notre Dame in Pittsburgh: Practice & Press

Here's what the Fighting Irish did yesterday in Pittsburgh -- as they prepare to take on the Butler Bulldogs tonight at 9:40 PM ET on TBS!

LINK:  NOTRE DAME

LINK:  PRESS CONFERENCE

Butler Coach Talks Notre Dame NCAA Game

Butler's head coach Chris Holtmann met with the media yesterday to talk about tonight's match-up with the Fighting Irish -- click on the link below:
 
LINK:  BUTLER COACH

LINK:  NEWS STORY

LINK:  NCAA PREVIEW

LINK:  CAMPUS INSIDERS

NCAA TV TIMES: ND Men & Women

Fans of the Fighting Irish should have quite a weekend of TV -- as both the Men & Women should be on national television the next three days:

FRIDAY NIGHT:

• #1 Notre Dame vs. #16 Montana -- 7:30 PM ET on ESPN2

SATURDAY NIGHT:

• #3 Notre Dame vs. #6 Butler -- 9:40 PM ET on TBS

SUNDAY NIGHT:

• #1 Notre Dame vs. #9 DePaul -- 9:00 PM ET on ESPN

All Three of Muffet's Recruits "Gatorade POY"

Muffet's three incoming recruits; Ali Patberg, Arike Ogunbowale and Marina Mabrey -- all play the guard position and they've all swept the top awards available in women's high school basketball in the country and in their respective states:

• McDonald's All-Americans --- ALL THREE

• Gatorade Player of the Year for their state -- ALL THREE

• State Champion -- ALL THREE

• Miss Basketball  -- PATBERG & OGUNBOWALE (I don't think New Jersey has the award)

Arike Ogunbowale Named "Miss Basketball!"

The state of Wisconsin's "Miss Basketball" this season is none other than future Notre Dame student-athlete Arike Ogunbowale!

Arike -- who scored a state record 55 points in a semi-final game last week -- led her high school to the Wisconsin state championship!

Congrats Arike!

LINK:  MISS BASKETBALL

SEC "Considers" Notre Dame a "Power Five"

Well, isn't that nice of them...

LINK:  SEC ON PLAYING NOTRE DAME

Know Thy NCAA Opponent: Butler Bulldogs

Butler beat Texas today -- contributing to a very poor start for the Big 12 in the NCAA Tournament:

• #3 seed Iowa State -- loss
• #3 seed Baylor -- loss
• #11 seed Texas -- loss

Butler was led today by Kellen Dunham who scored 20 of the Bulldog's 56 in their 12 point NCAA Tournament win over the Longhorns.  Butler only played seven players today, two guards and five forwards -- holding Texas to their lowest point total of the season.  Here's the game detail:

• Guard:  Kellen Dunham, 6'-6" -- 20 points / 2 rebounds / 2 assists
• Guard:  Alex Barlow, 5'-11" -- 7 points / 8 rebounds / 1 assist
• Forward:  Roosevelt Jones, 6'-4" -- 6 points / 1 rebound / 4 assists
• Forward:  Kameron Woods, 6'-9" -- 9 points / 9 rebounds / 1 block
• Forward:  Andrew Chrabascz,  6'-7" -- 7 points / 5 rebounds / 3 assists

OFF THE BENCH:

• Forward:  Tyler Widemen, 6'-8" -- 0 points / 1 rebound / 1 steal
• Forward:  Kelan Martin, 6'-6" -- 7 points / 0 rebounds / 0 assists

Here are the surprising numbers from today's game:

• Texas shot 34% from the field -- Butler shot 33%
• Texas had 12 offensive rebounds -- Butler had 5 offensive rebounds
• Texas made 8 free throws (8 for 12) -- Butler made 20 free throws (20 for 28)
• Texas had 15 turnovers -- Butler had 5 turnovers
• Texas was called for 24 fouls -- Butler was called for 13 fouls                                         
•  LINK:  GAME HIGHLIGHTS  

Ali Patberg Named Indiana's "Miss Basketball"

The future Notre Dame student-athlete was named Indiana's "Miss Basketball' yesterday -- here's her interview:

LINK:  MISS BASKETBALL

Muffet's IRISH Talk NCAA Tournament Today

The Fighting Irish held their opening NCAA Tournament press conference today -- Muffet, Jewell and Lindsay -- answered the media's questions:

LINK:  PRESS CONFERENCE

NCAA Tournament Credo: "JUST WIN BABY!"

Rankings, style points, seedings, etc., -- they don't matter anymore.

It's all about WINNING -- ugly, barely -- they all count the same!!!

Notre Dame's 69 - 65 win today was a perfect NCAA Tournament win -- because every win is PERFECT.  Just ask fellow #3 seeds Iowa State and Baylor...

ON TO SATURDAY!

LINK:  HIGHLIGHTS 

LINK:  GAME RECAP

NCAA Bans "Hardship Transfer" Waivers...

Fighting Irish fans will remember former "five-star" commit Eddie Vanderdoes who signed a National Letter of Intent --- then a few weeks later decommits -- and signs a National Letter of Intent to UCLA -- "transferring" out of Notre Dame.

The NCAA ruled Vanderdoes eligible to play -- immediately -- at UCLA

With this new NCAA decree -- I don't believe this will happen anymore.

LINK:  NCAA RULE