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

NCAA Tourney Run Begins at 12:15 PM on CBS

The Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Champions (has a nice ring to it -- doesn't it) -- begin their NCAA Tournament run today against Northeastern at 12:15 PM ET.

The game will be televised on CBS!

One of the assistant's on the Northeastern coaching staff is former Notre Dame student-athlete Chris Markwood.  Markwood played for Coach Brey for a couple of seasons before transferring to Maine to finish his college career.

Here's what you want to see -- to get you ready for today's game.  BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE NCAA FEATURE ON PAT CONNAUGHTON -- BOTTOM LINK!

LINK:  COACH BREY TALKS NORTHEASTERN

LINK:  PRACTICE UPDATE

LINK:  PAT CONNAUGHTON INTERVIEW -- NCAA

Coach Kelly Meets With Media After Practice #1

The Fighting Irish began Spring practice at 7:30 AM ET this morning -- inside -- the Loftus Sports Complex.  After practice -- Coach Kelly met with the media -- and the folks at Fighting Irish Digital Media produced their first report:

LINK:  COACH KELLY

LINK:  PRACTICE REPORT #1

NOTRE DAME DAY 2015 -- Bigger, Better, WOW!

The folks at Notre Dame will be broadcasting LIVE over the internet and local cable TV in the South Bend market -- for 29 straight hours -- from 6:42 PM ET on Sunday, April 26th to Midnight ET on Monday, April 27th.

NOTRE DAME DAY -- is a global celebration of all things Notre Dame.

Some of the scheduled guests;  Jon Bon Jovi, Dick Vitale, Tim Brown, Golden Tate, Manti Te'o, Nicholas Sparks, etc., -- a star studded affair -- along with great stories about students, faculty, staff and ALUMNI.

If you love Notre Dame -- you will love this event!

Here's a link to the COUNTDOWN CLOCK -- and Notre Dame Day info:

LINK:  NOTRE DAME DAY -- 2015

Brian Kelly Talks Start of 2015 Spring Practice

Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly -- wearing his green for St. Patrick's Day -- met with the media to talk about his football team and the start of Spring Practice.

Here's what he had to say:

LINK:  SPRING PRACTICE -- OPENING PRESSER

Notre Dame Women's Road to the Final Four!

Here's who will likely be standing in the way of the Fighting Irish's FIFTH STRAIGHT FINAL FOUR!

BUMP #1 IN THE ROAD:

• Montana (not ranked)

BUMP #2 IN THE ROAD:

• Minnesota (not ranked) or DePaul (AP rank #26)

BUMP #3 IN THE ROAD:

• Stanford (AP rank #14) or Oklahoma (not ranked)

BUMP #4 IN THE ROAD:

• Baylor (AP rank #5)  or Iowa (AP rank #18)

LINK:  NCAA BRACKET

Notre Dame #1 Seed in Oklahoma City Region

The road to a FIFTH STRAIGHT trip to the FINAL FOUR begins for Notre Dame this Friday night at Purcell Pavilion when the Fighting Irish take on Montana at 7:30 PM ET -- the game will be televised on ESPN2.

Here are the top 4 seeds in this region:

1. NOTRE DAME (31 - 2)
2. Baylor  (30 - 3)
3. Iowa  (24- 7)
4. Stanford (24 - 9)

This is the 20th consecutive season Notre Dame has earned a NCAA tournament bid

Here's what we know about Montana:

• 24 - 8 
• Won the Big Sky Conference Tournament
• Guard Kellie Rubel leads the team in scoring: 14 points per game

LINK:  SEASON STATS for MONTANA

Selection Monday Women's NCAA -- 7 PM ET

Notre Dame fans will want to tune-in to ESPN tonight beginning at 7 PM ET to see the road Muffet's Fighting Irish will have to travel to return to a FIFTH STRAIGHT FINAL FOUR.

We'll also want to learn if we're the "2nd" or "3rd" overall seed in the Tournament.

ESPNU -- will have a special on the Women's NCAA Championship beginning at 8 PM ET.

GO IRISH!

LINK:  LIVE COVERAGE

Muffet's THREE Incoming IRISH: State Champs

Winning breeds winning...

Muffet McGraw signed three McDonald's All-Americans to National Letters of Intent this past Fall; Arike Ogunbowale (#24 top photo) , Ali Patberg (on left, middle photo) and Marina Mabrey (#23, bottom photo) -- and they all led their teams to STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS this season!

How's that for a HAT TRICK!

LINK:  ARIKE'S STATE CHAMPIONSHIP -- 27 POINTS

LINK:  ALI'S STATE CHAMPIONSHIP -- 31 POINTS

LINK:  MARINA'S STATE CHAMPIONSHIP -- 28 POINTS