Notre Dame Winter Sports Schedule

Are you like me? Now that you're no longer on campus, you have trouble following Notre Dame basketball and hockey? It's not like football, playing every Saturday. That's why I compiled this combined schedule for Notre Dame hockey, men's basketball, and women's basketball. As you can see, the #1 hockey team won't be on national TV during the regular season (at least according to ESPN.com), but they are often on South Bend's regional Comcast Sports, and those games are often syndicated to Sports Time Ohio in the Cleveland area. So, as they say, check your local listings.

All times are Eastern. Once I figure out how to format the times properly, I'll do so.


Direct Link to Google Spreadsheet

Bubble Watch

Bubble Watch should be renamed "Seed Watch" this year, as the men and the women aren't worrying about whether they'll make the Big Dance, but instead how high they'll be placed. Let's see what the experts are saying.

ND Men's Basketball: The men have held steady at #21, according to CollegeRPI.com. CollegeRPI also has the men as a #4 seed, playing out West (Denver, CO) versus Ohio State. ESPN's Bracketology also has the men as a #4 seed, playing against Virginia Commonwealth in the East (Washington, DC).

ND Women's Basketball: CollegeRPI has the women at #12 in the RPI, and a #3 seed in the Oklahoma City Regional. They'd start by playing Quinnipiac on Purdue's campus, which is a great advantage for them. ESPN also has the women starting in East Lafayette, but as a #4 seed against Gonzaga in the Spokane Regional.

Notre Dame Basketball Bubble Watch

Editor's Note: No Sports Minute this week, apparently. Good thing I already had this one up my sleeve.

It's that time again already. Fortunately, both teams are in great shape right now.

For those of you unfamiliar with my Bubble Watch formula, here's a synopsis. There are so many at large teams taken for each tournament - 34 in the men's tourney, and 33 in the women's. In theory, the selection committee will take the teams with the 34 or 33 highest RPI rankings that aren't also conference champions (and therefore automatic bids). So, a team should be in if
(Team's RPI) - (Number of automatic bids with higher RPI) > (Number of at large bids).


You wouldn't like him when he's angry.

ND Men's Basketball: As mentioned above, the "magic number" for the men is 34. The 21-5 men's team currently has an RPI of 21. There are no doubt a few conference leaders ahead of them too. If needed in the next few weeks, I'll break down the exact number of conference leaders ahead of them to get a better estimate.



ND Women's Basketball: The Notre Dame women look to be a lock already. The women are #14 in both polls, but thanks to the sixth hardest schedule in the country, they're at #10 in the RPI.

Notre Dame Basketball... Where Amazing Happens

From the man who brought you Tom Timmermans' 1000 Nicknames....

Notre Dame Winter Sports Schedule

If you're like me, you've had a difficult time following Notre Dame's winter sports after graduating. Football is easy - you just turn on the TV every Saturday, and there they are. But the basketball and hockey teams play at irregular times during the week, and they're not always on TV. That's why I came up with this consolidated schedule, complete with TV listings. In the words of a certain SDH card swiper, "Enjoy."



Click here to see the entire schedule in a new window.

Georgetown 84, Notre Dame Men's Basketball 82

In recent years, the Notre Dame-Georgetown rivalry has meant one, if not multiple, overtimes. Friday night was the exception, as the game ended in regulation.
Early on, it appeared that overtime wasn't even going to be a question, as Notre Dame stormed out to a 14 point lead. But the Hoyas slowly fought back, sparked by Patrick Ewing, Jr. off the bench. (An aside: Junior doesn't really resemble his father when you look at him straight on. But if you look at the younger Ewing from an angle - any angle - you see that their heads are the exact same shape. Craziness.) At the half, the Irish lead was cut to 2.
The game continued to go back and forth until about halfway through the second period, when Georgetown showed why it is the number nine team in the country. Using a smart and deliberate offense, and an athletic and even smarter defense, the Hoyas pulled out to 7 point lead. The Irish countered with poor shots and sloppy passing.
Then Tory Jackson showed up. Jackson tied the score by singlehandedly going on a 7-0 run. Following an offensive rebound (he had 7 total rebounds on the game), Jackson almost made it a 9-0 run. That shot was missed, but Rob Kurz was fouled on the putback and made both free throws to give the Irish another lead.
The game was back and forth again until Georgetown had a 3 point lead with a minute left. Luke Harangody was fouled and made the first of two free throws. He missed the second, but the Irish got the rebound, and guess who! Jackson struck again to tie the game with 40 seconds left. Those two gave him 20 on the game.
Following a timeout, Georgetown milked the clock until there were about 20 seconds left. With 13 ticks to go, leading scorer (30) Jeff Green made a shot from the elbow and was fouled by Luke Harangody. Green missed the free throw, and Russell Carter got the rebound. Carter handed off to Jackson, who dribbled up the court.
At this point, the Irish were down 2. Was another overtime classic in store? When Jackson got to the top of the key with about 5 seconds remaining, he handed the ball back to Russell Carter. Carter launched a three that was off, and Georgetown was able to tip the ball around until time expired.
In the end, I'm not sure how to end this writeup. Notre Dame did blow a 14 point lead, had some very sloppy stretches, and settled for a wild shot at the end of the game. But at the same time, they took a top 10 team to the wire, saw their freshman point guard emerge as a game changer on the national stage, and solidified their spot in the NCAA tournament. From here on in, though, moral victories won't cut it.

Bubble Watch

Notre Dame Men: The men have an RPI of 31, and 21 of the spots ahead of them are filled by at-larges. (That number changes to 22 if Butler loses tonight's Horizon League championship to Wright State, unless Butler would move below ND in the RPI as a result.) I'd say the men are safe.

Notre Dame Women: Like the men, the women are #31 in the RPI, but they have only 20 potential at-larges ahead of them. Although the women have one less at-large slot to vie for, I'd still say that they are safe as well.

Dave's Flight Watch

Three out of four sources from last week now have the men at a #6 seed in Lexington, meaning they would begin play on the 15th.

But just for fun, let's calculate the rough odds of Dave being in the air for both a first and second round game. Last week, I said that there was a 1/8 chance of the Irish being picked for a 7 PM game on March 16, when Dave is en route to Cleveland. For laziness' sake, let's say ND has a 50% chance of winning their first round game. There are two second round games at each site, and for the sake of argument let's say that one of those games will be played at 7, while Dave is flying home. That gives us a 1/8 * 1/2 * 1/2 = 1/32 chance that Dave will miss the entirety of both Notre Dame games.

(If anyone feels so inspired and has a calculator handy, here are some variables you can add for a more robust calculation: odds ND will be a 6 seed as predicted, odds that a 6/11 first round game will be played at 7 PM, odds that a #6 seed wins their first round game, odds a 3/6 second round game will be played at 7 PM, odds that Dave's flights will run on time.)

Bubble Watch

It's that time again already. Fortunately, it looks like both teams are in good shape right now.

For those of you unfamiliar with my Bubble Watch formula, here's a synopsis. There are so many at large teams taken for each tournament - 34 in the men's tourney, and 33 in the women's. In theory, the selection committee will take the teams with the 34 or 33 highest RPI rankings that aren't also conference champions (and therefore automatic bids). So, a team should be in if
(Team's RPI) - (Number of automatic bids with higher RPI) > (Number of at large bids).

ND Men's Basketball: As mentioned above, the "magic number" for the men is 34. Notre Dame currently has an RPI of 32 (despite a Strength of Schedule of 106), and there are no doubt several conference leaders/champions ahead of them, so they're safe this week. If needed in the next few weeks, I'll break down the exact number of conference leaders ahead of them to get a better estimate.

ND Women's Basketball: The Notre Dame women are in even better shape, sitting at 28 in the RPI with a SOS of 23. Not bad for a rebuilding year.

Dave's Flight Watch

As a special added feature to Bubble Watch this year, I'm introducting "Dave's Flight Watch." Dave is planning to fly into Cleveland on the night of March 16. His flight takes off at approximately 7 PM and lands at approximately 9 PM. Dave asked me to calculate the odds of being midair while the Irish play, since he always seems to have terrible luck like that.

First, the odds that he'll be midair when the women's team is playing: 0%. The women's tournament doesn't start until March 17.

Now, the odds that the men will play their first round game while Dave is sans-TV. I had a terrible time finding tipoff times for this year's tournament - or last year's tournament for that matter. So, for the sake of argument this week, I'm going to say that all sites have 1, 3, 7, and 9 PM Eastern tipoff times, and that there's no rhyme or reason for scheduling the times. (That is, the times and the seeds don't correspond.) As I gather more information, I'll refine things.

Sixteen of the 32 first round games will be played on March 16. Of those games, a fourth will be played at 7 PM. So, there's a 16/32 * 1/4 = 1/8 chance that Dave will miss the ND game in its entirety. In addition, Dave lands shortly after 9, and there's taxiing, baggage, and driving, meaning he would part of a 9 PM game. One out of 8 games will be played at 9 PM on March 16, so overall there's a 1/4 chance that Dave will miss at least some of the ND game. (Unless F-Bomb graciously DVR's it.)

Now, let's take a look at where some of the experts say that Notre Dame will play:

• CollegeRPI.com: #10 seed vs Texas at Winston-Salem. First round March 15.


• ESPN Bracketology: #6 seed vs Old Dominion at Columbus. First round March 16.


• Fox Sports: #11 vs UNLV at Lexington. First round March 15.


• Bracketography.com: #9 seed vs Michigan State at Sacramento. First round March 15.

Columbus is in the Eastern time zone, so they will have a 7 PM and 9 PM game.

Over the next few weeks, I will (or I may) refine my formula, and work out the odds that Dave will also be in the air back to New York during second round action on Sunday.

Notre Dame Men's Basketball 85, Marquette 73

Editor's Note: The women's basketball team also played on Saturday, and the game was aired locally on the Ohio News Network. Unfortunately, I didn't find that out until after the game was finished. The women fell to Big East rival Rutgers on senior day, 76-60. The women are now tied for fourth in the Big East, and play they final regular season game Monday night at DePaul. That game will be televised on CSTV at 8 PM eastern.

And a correction: For most of Wednesday, I had the score of the Tuesday night Notre Dame-DePaul game listed as 78-74. I have since corrected it to 78-54, and I regret the error.

On Senior Day, it was Notre Dame's freshman stars that shone the brightest. (See, sports journalism isn't that hard.) Marquette had no answer for Luke Harangody in the paint, and Harangody finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds - career highs in both categories. Tory Jackson's stock continues to rise, as in this game he had 21 points (a career high for him as well), 7 rebounds, and 7 assists.
Once again, the Irish started sluggishly. Marquette hustled circles around Notre Dame and quickly built a 13 point lead. But the Irish fought back, and led this game for the entire second half. Marquette threatened at the end, but clutch free throw shooting by Jackson sealed the deal. Jackson carried a 59% free throw record into this game, but made 8 of 11 in this contest, including 5 of 7 in the final 3 minutes. Aided by 8-of-9 made by Harangody and 7-of-8 from Russell Carter, Notre Dame made 27 of 35 free throw attempts overall.
Jackson's final two points, and the final two points of the game, actually came after one of his missed free throws. Jackson was fouled with 2.7 seconds left, and went to the line. With the game won, Notre Dame had all of its players back, leaving only Marquette players lined up with Jackson shooting. Jackson made the first, but missed the second. With the Golden Eagles simply standing there, Jackson tipped in his own miss off the glass as time expired. Unfortunately, ABC's cameras missed this final shot.
Carter had 13 points on the game, and Colin Falls added 14; each had 8 rebounds. With his father in the stands, Colin Falls passed Gerry McNamara's year-old record for career three pointers made in Big East play by hitting his 184th late in the second half. Senior walk-on Kieran Piller made an appearance at the end of the game as Carter and Falls both checked out to a rousing ovation during Jackson's final free throws.
This game also furthered the intensity of what is going to be a great Big East rivalry over the years to come. Early in the game, Russell Carter lost the ball out of bounds in front of the Marquette bench. A Marquette player (one currently in the game) got in Carter's ear to give him the business. Carter casually shoved him away. This took place right in front of Marquette coach Tom Crean, and Crean was incensed that nothing was called on Carter. Crean had to be restrained by his assistants while screaming at the refs. At one point, Crean also walked towards the Notre Dame bench to talk to Mike Brey. Brey remained calm, but it appeared that Crean was still yelling, so it was unclear what the conversation was about. (Hopefully it was simply Brey apologizing for Carter's act in order to soothe Crean.) A bench warning was given to Marquette, but the ABC announcers failed to note whether that warning was given because Crean walked over to talk to Brey (they met at the halfcourt line, so both were out of the coaching box), because Crean stepped onto the court to complain to the refs (it was a dead ball situation, and Crean was only a step onto the court, so I doubt that was the case), or because a Marquette assistant was standing close to the sideline and possible interfered with Carter's attempt to save the ball.
Three techicals were called late in the game, including one after Harangody's fifth foul. Harangody and Dan Fitzgerald were going after a loose ball in the corner, when Harangody used his arm in an attempt to create some separation from Fitzgerald. It wasn't anything malicious or flagrant, but it was a foul, and it was properly called. However, Fitzgerald took umbrage and retaliated by shoving Harangody out of bounds. The big freshman took a tumble, and Fitzgerald was given a technical. The Notre Dame-Marquette rivalry was intense before Marquette's jump to the Big East, but now it may take on the level of passion seen in the late 90s/early 00s between ND and West Virginia.
The men finish their regular season on Saturday, March 3, at Rutgers.

Notre Dame Men's Basketball 78, DePaul 54

A lazy sportswriter would begin this column with a "Fool me once..." joke.

Of course, a lazy sportswriter would also use one-sentence paragraphs for emphasis.

The Irish played with determination from the opening tip on this one. Colin Falls made a three-pointer 15 seconds into the first half, and also closed the first half with a three. He had 19, all in that opening stanza.
Led by Falls' 19, Notre Dame took a 40-22 lead into the locker room. Early in the second half, the Irish looked content to once again let their opponent back into the game. But then something sparked, and the Irish powered their way to a 25 point lead. A huge part of that spark was Tory Jackson, who finished with 13 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. The refs were letting the teams play a physical game, and Jackson delighted in it, driving the lane for layup after hard-fought layup.
Along with Falls and Jackson, the remaining three starters all scored at least 13 points. Luke Harangody and Russell Carter had 13, and Rob Kurz had 15. The bench only had 5 points - a three from Ryan Ayers and a two from Zach Hillesland. But this was a night when the starters, playing 148 of a possible 200 minutes, didn't need much help from the bench.
Still, it was the Notre Dame bench on the court. The decisive win allowed Luke Zeller, Jonathan Peeples, Kieran Piller, and Joe Harden to see playing time at the end of the game.

Up next, the Irish play host to a very tough Marquette team at 3:30 this Saturday, a game that will be televised on ABC.

Notre Dame Men's Basketball 81, Providence 78

It was a battle between the Big East's top scoring teams. In the end, both teams scored their season average - which is a good thing for #1 scoring Notre Dame.
At the start of the game, things didn't look good for the Irish. The Friars were simply running over, around, and through the home team, on offense and on defense. Colin Falls, going for the school record for made three pointers with his father in the stands, was tight. Rob Kurz learned (or maybe he didn't learn) several times that sometime's it's better to go up soft for a layup, rather than trying to dunk through two or three defenders' hands. Notre Dame was able to scrape back, but at the half still trailed by four.
Then they started attacking Providence's 2-3 zone. Luke Harangody positioned himself just outside of the key and behind the basket itself. It was a strategy that had worked well for other teams against Notre Dame's 2-3, and it worked well for Luke, too. Not only was Harangody able to find passers as the cut to the basket, but he was also able to muscle up a few shots as well. Zach Hillesland played the high post at the top of the key - a spot that Tom Timmermans mastered. But Hillesland has an extra dimension to his game that The Urban Tombrero didn't - an ability to cut to the basket and make plays off the dribble. Russell Carter completed the zone-busting trifecta by nailing several key three-pointers from the right wing.
The Irish looked to have a comfortable lead late in the game, but they still tried to lose it. On offense, the team gave the ball to Falls - their best free throw shooter - in the backcourt. However, they didn't have a plan for getting the ball up the court, and it almost cost them again. On defense, the team when foul-crazy, giving the Friars a chance to come back while the clock was stopped. And despite going to the line 29 times as a team, the Irish only made 19 of their own free throw attempts.
But in the end, Notre Dame improved to 16-0 at home. Unfortunately for the Irish, the RPI formula was changed recently to heavily favor road wins. ND has only 1 Big East away win this season, but they'll look to improve on that Sunday against a Cincinnati team that has only one Big East win overall this season.