ND Men's Basketball -- Day #1 in New York City

The Fightin' Irish are in the Big Apple this week to play in the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.  Notre Dame plays the winner of the Rutgers vs. DePaul game on Wednesday night at 9 PM ET. 

The team flew into NYC last night and today they made a visit to the 9/11 Memorial -- here's a couple of links to the Fighting Irish Digital Media's coverage on Day One:

LINK:  9/11 MEMORIAL

LINK:  TEAM WORKOUT

Muffet's #2 IRISH to Play #13 Louisville Tonight

The #2 ranked Notre Dame women's basketball team will be playing the #13 ranked Louisville Cardinals tonight in the Semi-finals of the Big East Tournament in Hartford, CT.  The game will be televised LIVE on ESPNU beginning at 6 PM ET.

GO IRISH!

LINK:  NOTRE DAME vs. LOUISVILLE PREVIEW

Ian Williams Signs Two Year Deal With 49ers

Irish fans will recall that former Notre Dame defensive tackle Ian Williams went un-drafted in the 2012 NFL Draft -- after being projected to go in the first four rounds or so... 

Ian went on to sign a Free Agent contract with the San Francisco 49ers and made their 53 man roster this past season.  Well, it was just reported that Williams just signed a two-year deal with San Francisco for $3.2 million including a $1 million signing bonus and another $1 million guaranteed.

Congratulations Ian!

LINK:  TWO YEAR DEAL

Notre Dame Adidas Tourney Gear In Bookstore

Took these photos last night -- at the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore at Eddy Street Commons -- of the "home" jersey the Irish men's team will wear during the Big East Tournament -- and the "away" shorts...

I will admit they look pretty good in person...

ND Freshman QB Training in Arizona This Week

Malik Zaire, one of the top HS QB's in the country, enrolled early this past January as a student-athlete at the University of Notre Dame.  This week he's in Arizona (SPRING BREAK) with Irish teammates; Louis Nix, Kendall Moore and Davonte Neal getting some training in for ND's upcoming Spring Football...

He caught up with a reporter from Rivals yesterday -- you'll be impressed...

LINK:  MALIK ZAIRE

Notre Dame Glee Club's Spring Tour This Week

If you live close to one of the communities listed below this week -- you will have the opportunity to see the Notre Dame Glee Club perform!

They are wonderful! 

The Glee Club is on the road performing in seven states during Notre Dame's Spring Break.  Friday night they performed in Chicago, Saturday in Madison, WI and here's where you can find them today and for the balance of the tour:

• TODAY -- Minneapolis, MN
• Monday -- Fargo, ND
• Tuesday -- Bismarck, ND
• Wednesday -- Great Falls, MT
• Thursday --  Billings, MT
• Friday --  Denver, CO
• Saturday -- Omaha, NE

LINK:  NOTRE DAME GLEE CLUB TOUR DATES

Regis Philbin '53 Has New Gig With Fox Sports

The man is amazing...

He's 81 years YOUNG and he's taking on a new broadcasting job.  Notre Dame alum Regis Philbin will be debuting a new sports talk show on Fox's new sports network called Fox Sports 1 -- August 19, 2013.  Fox Sports 1 will replace the Speed Channel on cable.

Here's a clip of Regis talking about his new gig:

LINK:  REGIS IS BACK!

Coach Kelly Talks With the South Bend Tribune

University of Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly sat down for an interview with South Bend Tribune beat writer Eric Hansen.  It was the first one-on-one interview Coach Kelly has given since the Alabama game...

LINK:  COACH KELLY TALKS

Notre Dame Student's Book For Sale at Amazon

Katie Mattie '14 -- a student at the University of Notre Dame -- can now add AUTHOR to her resume!  Her book "M.A.J.I.C. and the Oracle at Delphi" is available for sale on Amazon and the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore.


I first wrote about Katie on the ND GO IRISH BLOG back in July 2011 -- after learning about her valedictory speech at Ypsilanti High School -- click here for that story.

You'll love to learn about Katie's work ethic and determination -- over a five year period -- to get her first book published!  You'll see the story on her website linked below.

Katie -- I'm a huge fan! 

(The bottom photo is of Katie and her proud Mom Barb -- at a book signing for bookstores in her hometown)


LINK:  KATIE'S WEBSITE

LINK:  BUY KATIE'S BOOK

The #1 Sign Back Atop Notre Dame's Grace Hall

I was driving through campus Thursday night and I noticed the #1 sign was lit atop Grace Hall -- signifying that, once again, a Notre Dame team was ranked #1 in the nation...

The Women's Fencing team moved to #1 in the country with their win this past weekend at the Midwest Fencing Conference championships.  Congratulations!

LINK:  ND WINS CHAMPIONSHIP

LINK:  NATIONAL RANKINGS

Irish Play Louisville Today at 4 PM ET on CBS

Rumor has it that CBS has alerted their affiliates that their Saturday "prime time" programming could be in jeopardy...

The #24 ranked Fighting Irish travel to Louisville this afternoon to play the #8 ranked Cardinals in a game that just might extend beyond the normal 40 minutes for a college basketball game.

FIVE OF THE LAST SIX GAMES BETWEEN THESE TWO TEAMS HAVE GONE INTO OVERTIME.  You can't make that up!

Fortunately, the IRISH are 3 - 2 in those games, including the historic FIVE OT win last month.

Tip-off is scheduled for 4 PM ET and the game will be televised nationally by CBS.


LINK:  GAME PREVIEW

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE

LINK:  COURIER JOURNAL -- LOUISVILLE

Plenty of Speculation on ND's Next Move...

With the news this week that the Catholic 7 had reached agreement with the BIG EAST -- to take their ball elsewhere and the conference's name too...

The focus turned to how quickly would Notre Dame depart to the ACC.  Here's the latest media speculation:

LINK:  ESPN

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE

LINK:  NBC SPORTS

LINK:  THE SPORTING NEWS

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