Notre Dame vs. Kentucky: Fuzzy Math Analysis

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!

Calipari and Players Talk Notre Dame Game

Here's a replay of Kentucky's time in front of the media yesterday afternoon in Cleveland.

Calipari talks about how they will prepare for Notre Dame -- and his "sales pitch" to his team and their families on playing time and the NBA...

LINK:  CALIPARI

LINK:  KENTUCKY PLAYERS

Gottlieb Talks Notre Dame On Dan Patrick Show

The one-time Notre Dame student-athlete -- now CBS Sports broadcaster -- had a candid conversation with Dan Patrick about his time in South Bend and other things...

LINK:  GOTTLIEB

Media Talks About Notre Dame vs. Kentucky

Here's what the media has to say about today's ELITE EIGHT game between Notre Dame and Kentucky.  What's the old adage -- "don't believe everything you read on the internet..."

Might be a good idea for us Notre Dame fans today!

DON'T FORGET:  "WHAT THOUGH THE ODDS BE GREAT OR SMALL..."

LINK:  COURIER-JOURNAL

LINK:  SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

LINK:  FOX SPORTS

LINK:  WASHINGTON POST

LINK:  CBS SPORTS

LINK:  SPORTING NEWS

"Head to Head" Wins Among Elite Eight Teams

The ELITE EIGHT is set for the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship -- and wouldn't you know it -- the FIGHTING IRISH of Notre Dame have the BEST RECORD in head to head battles amongst the remaining eight teams this season!

Another reason why we must BELIEVE!

HEAD TO HEAD RECORDS -- ELITE EIGHT TEAMS:

1. NOTRE DAME:  4 - 1
2. DUKE:  4 - 2
3. WISCONSIN: 2 - 1
4. KENTUCKY:  1 - 0
5. ARIZONA:  1 - 0
6. LOUISVILLE:  1 - 3
7. GONZAGA: 0 - 1
8. MICHIGAN STATE:  0 - 4

SHAKE DOWN THE FINAL FOUR -- WEEKEND!

There is only one college at this very moment who knows it has TWO TEAMS playing this weekend for trips to next weekend's FINAL FOUR(S) in Tampa and Indianapolis -- NOTRE DAME!

So, here's where you can watch the Fighting Irish on TV -- today and tomorrow!

• SATURDAY:  NOTRE DAME vs. KENTUCKY on TBS at 8:49 PM ET 
• SUNDAY:  NOTRE DAME vs. BAYLOR on ESPN at 8:30 PM ET

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

BELIEVE! We Are In the ELITE EIGHT -- BABY!

It's time we ALL start believing in NOTRE DAME BASKETBALL.  What an effort tonight as the Fighting Irish won a game -- most of the pundits said they had no business winning...

81 - 70 over Wichita State -- and it wasn't that close...

So, now we hope to play COLONEL SANDER'S TEAM.  Please give Notre Dame a shot at a 37 - 0 Kentucky team Saturday night...

Isn't this fun!

LINK:  GAME HIGHLIGHTS

Why Calipari and Company Won't Sleep Well!

The University of Notre Dame has ended MORE STREAKS than any other school in the history of American sport -- and beaten more #1 teams -- take a look:

The Fighting Irish has already beaten Kentucky twice when the Wildcats were ranked #1 -- why not three!


STREAKS NOTRE DAME HAS BROKEN:

• UCLA's 88 game winning streak
• Oklahoma's 47 game winning streak
• Miami's 36 game winning streak
• Texas 30 game winning streak
• Army's 25 game winning streak 

NOTRE DAME BEATING #1 in BASKETBALL

• Syracuse 2012
• North Carolina 1987
• Virginia 1981
• Kentucky 1980
• DePaul 1980
• Marquette 1978
• San Francisco 1977
• UCLA 1974
• UCLA 1971
• Indiana 1954
• Kentucky 1948
• NYU 1948

Wichita State's Greg Marshall Talks Notre Dame

The Shocker's head basketball coach Greg Marshall met with the media today in Cleveland to talk about tomorrow night's Sweet Sixteen game with our Fighting Irish -- and rumors he's headed elsewhere to coach next season...

Here's what he had to say:

LINK:  USA TODAY STORY

LINK:  KANSAS

LINK:  WICHITA EAGLE