IRISH Sweep All Three Major Big East Honors!

The Notre Dame's women's basketball team swept the three major awards given out by the Big East Conference today:

• Player of the Year:  Skylar Diggins
• Freshman of the Year:  Jewell Loyd
• Coach of the Year:  Muffet McGraw

Congratulations!!!

LINK:  UND.COM VIDEO 

LINK:  PRESS CONFERENCE

LINK:  NOTRE DAME SWEEPS!

Notre Dame #1 College for Graduating Students

Money Magazine just released a ranking of all of the colleges and universities in America -- as to their proficiency in graduating its students in a four year period...

And, the #1 school in the country for graduating its students in four years is -- THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME!

Here's a ranking of the top ten schools:

1. UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
2. Georgetown University
3. University of Pennsylvania
4. Boston College
5. Harvard
6. Duke
7. Northwestern
8. Cornell
9. Washington University
10. Vanderbilt

LINK:  RANKINGS OF ALL SCHOOLS

Cardinal Dolan -- Commencement Speaker !!!

The New York media affectionately calls him the "Holy Bulldozer..."

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was announced today as the principal speaker and recipient of an honorary degree at the University of Notre Dame's 168th Commencement Ceremony. 

Here's the link to the official news release -- along with a second link to a CBS 60 Minutes interview of Cardinal Dolan:

LINK:  OFFICIAL RELEASE

LINK:  60 MINUTES INTERVIEW

84th Annual Blue Gold Game Tickets On Sale!

The Fighting Irish football team will take the field again on April 20, 2013 at Notre Dame Stadium in the 84th Annual Blue Gold Game.   And, tickets went on sale today.  Here's the link for more information:

LINK:  BLUE GOLD GAME TICKETS

Belichick Leads Impressive List to Speak at ND!

Looks like Coach Kelly's three days on the golf course in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am -- in a group with New England Patriot's head coach Bill Belichick -- has paid some dividends...

Notre Dame just announced that the Super Bowl Champion coach will headline a list of impressive coaches who will be presenters at the Notre Dame Football Coaches Clinic -- April 11- 13.  Here's the scheduled speakers beyond Coach Kelly and his staff:

• Bill Belichick -- New England Patriots head coach
• Marv Lewis -- Cincinnati Bengals head coach
• Marc Trestman -- Chicago Bears head coach
• Chris Ault -- former University of Nevada head coach
• Saw Wyche -- former Cincinnati Bengals head coach
• Andy Heck -- Kansas City Chiefs offensive line coach

If you're interested in attending the Notre Dame Football Coaches Clinic -- click on the link below!

LINK:  NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL COACHES CLINIC

The Mornin' After Notre Dame's 3 OT Win!

It's the best rivalry in women's college sports -- Notre Dame vs. UCONN...

And, last night's 3 OT game was just another in a long line of great games between these two powers.

Took a lap around the web this morning to see what the media had to say about the IRISH's big win last night to earn a second straight Big East Regular Season Championship -- just click on the links below:

LINK:  HARTFORD COURANT #1

LINK:  HARTFORD COURANT #2 
 
LINK:  ESPN'S GRAHAM HAYS 

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE

LINK:  THE DAY -- CONNECTICUT

LINK:  NEW HAMPSHIRE REGISTER

LINK:  BIG EAST WEBSITE

Happy 125th Birthday Coach Rockne!

125 years ago today -- a young man named Knute was born in Voss, Norway and a little school in the "middle of nowhere" can never thank him enough...

Happy Birthday Coach Rockne!

The IRISH Have Geno's Number -- 3 OT Win!

It was a classic.  Two of the top three teams in the country -- going 3 OT's before the IRISH pull away and win by a score of 96 - 87.

Notre Dame became the first team in two decades to beat UCONN six times in a seven game period.  IMPRESSIVE!

Skylar Diggins played every one of the 55 minutes in her last game in front of the hometown crowd -- a gutsy, gutsy performance!

Skylar and Kayla McBride each put up big numbers -- Diggins scored 29 and Kayla put in 26 before fouling out in the 2nd overtime.

Here's a video of Skylar talking to the crowd before leaving the Purcell Pavilion floor for the last time in a Notre Dame uniform.

LINK:  POST GAME PRESS CONFERENCE 

LINK:  GAME HIGHLIGHTS

LINK:  ESPN COVERAGE 

LINK:  PHOTO GALLERY

Unique Visitor Count Exceeds 600,000 !!!

At approximately 11:57 AM ET today, a Notre Dame fan from Hastings, Nebraska -- became unique visitor #600,000 at the ND GO IRISH BLOG!

Not bad for "one guy" on a MAC -- since its launch 1,133 days ago...

To put this in perspective -- if the ND GO IRISH BLOG were a city, a population of 600,000 would place it as the 28th largest city in AMERICA!  Here's a snapshot:

• #25:  Washington, D.C. -- 617,996
• #26:  Nashville, TN -- 609,644
• #27:  Louisville, KY -- 602,011
• #28:  ND GO IRISH BLOG -- 600,000
• #29:  Milwaukee, WI -- 597,867
• #30:  Portland, OR -- 593,820

Thanks for making the ND GO IRISH BLOG one of your daily sources for positive news about Notre Dame and its students, alumni, faculty, staff, parents and friends/fans !

Skylar's Last Stand @ Notre Dame -- Tonight!

Notre Dame All-American and "ALL EVERYTHING" Skylar Diggins -- will play in her last game in front of the home crowd and home town tonight.

And, she couldn't have a better opponent -- UCONN.

It's #2 vs. #3 -- on the last night of the BIG EAST season.  Plenty at stake including BIG EAST and NCAA Tournament seeding -- going to be quite an evening at Purcell Pavilion.  You can watch tonight's game on ESPN2 -- tip off slated for 7 PM ET.

Here's what the media has to say about Skylar and tonight's contest:

LINK:  NEW YORK TIMES

LINK:  ESPNW

LINK:  WNDU-TV

LINK:  CONNECTICUT POST 

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE

Samardzija Gets Opening Day Start for Cubs!

He sure made a good choice picking baseball...

Former Notre Dame All-American "wide receiver" Jeff Samardzija was just named the Opening Day starter for the Chicago Cubs.  Congratulations Jeff!

LINK:  SAMARDZIJA -- OPENING DAY!

LINK:  CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 

LINK:  VIDEO FROM INTERVIEW LAST WEEK

Irish Beat BG -- End Up Second in CCHA

Well, we needed the following to happen last night in college hockey to win the CCHA regular season title:

• Notre Dame beats Bowling Green -- CHECK!
• Michigan State beats Western Michigan -- CHECK!
• Ohio State beats Miami -- NOPE!

So, the IRISH end up in second place in the final CCHA regular season standing -- earning Notre Dame a first round bye in the CCHA tournament.  The Irish will host a second round game the weekend of March 15 - 17 against the second lowest seeded team to advance.

Here's a link to the final CCHA regular season standings -- along with game highlights:

LINK:  GAME HIGHLIGHTS

LINK:  CCHA STANDINGS

Will It Be the ACC, Big East or the Catholic 7?

The news broke this past week that seven Catholic school members of the Big East would break away as early as next season to start their own conference.  This move would more than likely be the end to the Big East -- or, will it?

Rumor has it that the "Catholic 7" already have a TV deal with Fox.

Over the past few days -- word started to leak out that the "Catholic 7" would take the Big East name with them -- and, start their new conference next season.  So, where does that leave Notre Dame with its timetable to move to the Atlantic Coast Conference?

Here's what the media is saying:

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE

LINK:  ESPN

LINK:  NEW YORK POST

LINK:  SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

LINK:  USA TODAY

Manti Te'o Honored Last Night in Atlantic City

Notre Dame All-American linebacker Manti Te'o was honored last night at the Maxwell Football Club dinner in Atlantic City.  Here's some of the media coverage:

LINK:  CHICAGO TRIBUNE

LINK:  DELAWARE DAILY TIMES

LINK:  WALL STREET JOURNAL

LINK:  NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

LINK:  YAHOO SPORTS

Notre Dame Hoops on ESPN Today at 2 PM ET

The #21 ranked Fightin' Irish of Notre Dame will be in downtown Milwaukee this afternoon to take on #22 ranked Marquette -- in a huge BIG EAST game for both teams.

When I think of ND vs. Marquette -- I think of Al McGuire and Digger Phelps...

Marquette has been 'unbeatable' at home -- winning 24 straight.

The game will be televised on ESPN -- with tip-off slated for 2 PM ET.

LINK:  GAME PREVIEW

A Story -- The Irish Bagpiper

ND GO IRISH BLOG regular -- and my cousin, Mike Doyle (Holland, MI) -- shared this story with me.  I liked it so much that I had to share it with all of you.

THE IRISH BAGPIPER

Stiofain Gael MacGeough popped in and shared a great story with us...

As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper’s cemetery in the back country. As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man, I didn’t stop for directions.

I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.

I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn’t know what else to do, so I started to play.

The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I’ve never played before for this homeless man.

And as I played ‘Amazing Grace,’ the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full.

As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, “I never seen nothin’ like that before and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”

Apparently, I’m still lost…

Got to Love These Gold Hockey Helmets!

This photo was taken by the University of Notre Dame's Matt Cashore from last night's hockey game against Bowling Green.  The Fightin' Irish are in third place -- with an outside chance to still finish first in the last season of CCHA hockey.

The regular season ends tonight -- to win the CCHA regular season title; ND needs to beat Bowling Green, Ohio State needs to beat Miami and Michigan State needs to beat Western Michigan University.  GO IRISH!

National Rankings for Notre Dame Teams !!!

I'm not sure if Notre Dame has ever kept track of things like this -- but, you have to ask -- has there ever been an academic year when more Irish teams have been ranked in the top-25 than this one?

15 of Notre Dame's 24 NCAA Division I athletic teams are ranked in the top-25 this academic year -- four others have been or will be (as you'll see below) -- incredible!

Look at this:

• Women's basketball:  #2 ranking in the country
• Men's Lacrosse:  #2 ranking in the country
• Women's Fencing:  #2 ranking in the country
• Men's Fencing:  #2 ranking in the country
• Football:  #4 ranking in the country
• Women's Lacrosse:  #7 ranking in the country
• Men's Soccer:  #8 ranking in the country
• Hockey:  #11 ranking in the country
• Women's Soccer:  #13 ranking in the country
• Women's Swimming & Diving:  #18 ranking in the country
• Women's Cross Country:  #18 ranking in the country
• Women's Tennis:  #18 ranking in the country
• Men's Basketball:  #21 ranking in the country
• Baseball:  #22 ranking in the country
• Women's Golf:  #25 ranking in the country

In addition:

• Notre Dame's women's rowing team is coming off a season where they were ranked #15 in the country -- the rankings for this season will be released soon
• Notre Dame's women's volleyball team was ranked, for a time, in the top-25 this academic year
• Notre Dame's men's tennis team has been ranked in the top-25 this academic year (season on-going)
• Notre Dame's men's swimming team has been ranked in the top-25 this academic year (season on-going)

Sports Illustrated's Latest NFL Mock Draft

SI's Don Banks released his latest look at the 2013 NFL Draft.  Unfortunately, there's only one Notre Dame player being drafted in the First Round of his mock draft.


LINK:  MOCK DRAFT

Will We Soon See Brady Quinn in Jets Uniform?

The talk the last 24 hours is free agent QB Brady Quinn -- could be heading to the New York Jets.  The Jets hired David Lee as their QB coach and he's apparently a big fan of Quinn.  If Brady were to join the Jets -- this would be his fourth NFL team in seven NFL seasons.

LINK:  CBS STORY

LINK:  ESPN STORY

LINK:  NEWSDAY STORY

LINK:  JETS 101

LINK:  USA TODAY