Big Monday recap: Notre Dame at Louisville

It was the start of Big Monday, with the Improv Trio (Raftery, Bilas, McDonut), and the Reece-Digger duo in the studio. The big guns at ESPN, sans the divas, Vitale and of course Bob Knight.

It was an exciting up and down game, just like college basketball should be played. Notre Dame showed how they can beat any team and lose to any team. Certainly with a 7-player rotation, overtime games put them at a disadvantage.

Louisville fans may be pointing out that they actually won the game at the end of regulation, but they probably liked the end-result better, with a solid performance in overtime against the tired Domers.

Louisville is loaded with talent, they have three game-changing players, but Earl Clark needs to improve a lot on decision making and shot-selection, and Samardo Samuels needs to watch A LOT of Elton Brand video before even thinking of leaving college before 2012.

Talent is not enough however, and Pitino needs to continue blending and mending them as a team.

Notre Dame on the other hand has the winning formula - they can beat teams by scoring fewer field goals because they are raining three. So that can keep them in many games they shouldn't be in. But the 7-man rotation may be a limiting factor for a March run, and the Fighting Seven may get worn out before the Big East conference season is over.

The way things are, it may be harder to win the Big East than win the National Championship!

Family Feud: Notre Dame vs North Carolina

It's not often that two competing teams have two different sets of brothers, split between rosters. You couldn't even write a movie about this. Yet it happened, but then again, neither one of the pairs squared off on the court, because the younger Zeller is likely out for the season, why the younger Hansbro is sitting out a transfer. So there was no Zeller vs Zeller or Hansbrough vs Hansbrough.

The game was delightful! This is how college basketball should be. Run up and down and have fun and shoot and shoot and shoot. This college basketball, not nuclear science.

The omen is there, the last time the TarHeels won the Maui invitational they won the National Championship. They looked very solid at Maui, considering they were without their best defender (Ginyard) and three of their big men were not available (Zeller, Copeland, and of course Stepheson who transfered). It's good to be North Carolina, you lose three big men, and you still have three top-tier big men on your roster.

Notre Dame looks like it is going to have a very interesting and dramatic season and Kyle McAlarney shooting skill will definitely make for some dramatic game endings. He made 10 three-points after all in this game!

Notre Dame at Louisville

Flashes of Pitino magic ten years after his back to back NCAA Finals? The Pitino RedBirds scored 32 points in the first nine minutes of the game! That's more than NBA teams score in a 48-minute game! But of course that didn't last for the rest of the game. But barring any injuries, this Louisville team looks like a Final Four candidate. They have a little bit of everything, a point-center in David Padgett, a space-eater in Caracter, an athletic forward in Earl Clark, a do-it-all T-Will, and such. Guards and free throws are their achilles heel, but with T-Will and Padgett able to organize the team on offense, it's not as big of a deal.

Meanwhile the Domers fell behind but were able to make a comeback towards the end of the game and gave the home team a headache! Meanwhile "Gody" is getting bigger and bigger, this time he scored 40 points with his first three career three pointers! "Gody" is a star baby! With a capital A! It's unbelievable!

The good news for Notre Dame fans is that this time around they are going to the NCAA tourney, they don't have to worry about just being left out, or losing half a dozen games in the last possession. They are in! Digger will be singing in March! And given their make-up, they could make it to the Sweet 16, but of course they could also lose in the first round.

Not to be a Debbie Downer to fans out there, but half of the NCAA tourney teams lose in the first round :)

Kansas State vs Notre Dame

Michael Beasley had the prettiest and most athletic moves, Luke Harangody had the ugliest but most effective, the Dancing Bear led his team to victory!

A young coach with a blend of new and old players, along with possibly the #1 2008 NBA draft pick in their roster, Kansas State looks like a puzzle with a wide range of possibilities for the season. Let's not forget seasoned David Hoskins is out with an injury and his moving-target return date is January-ish at the moment. Also two more players will get eligible on December 15, one of which is a high-flying wing, Dominique Sutton, once upon a time an Arizona "commit". With him and Billy Walker in the line-up, the best offense may be the "bubble drill", but without covering up the basket (obviously).

All of the above (except of course for the injured and ineligible players) showed in the game as Michael Beasley had a solid first half, but was "lost" in the second half. Partial credit of course goes to the Mike Brey defense, but as Frank Martin pointed out some of his players were trigger-happy instead of playing through versatile super-frosh Michael Beasley.

It's really hard to figure out where Kansas State will be in February 2008! Whatever it is, the TV networks should make sure that they pick up any Kansas State games that are not currently available on national TV!

This is the first time I watched a full Notre Dame game this season and I was rather impressed. This team will fight for a Top 25 spot when I submit next week's Blog Poll Top 25 vote. They have the luxury of their back-up point guard being a starter, and a four-pack of forwards/big-men, along with a tall wing in Ayers. Peoples comes off the bench, and that's the one thing that is perhaps a red flag, they only have three "shorties" in their backcourt rotation. Harangody is becoming an Irish man's Tyler Hansbro, and Kyle "420" McAlarney is back. If you were looking for Colin Falls or Russell Carter, they have graduated after twelve great seasons at Notre Dame ;-)

And some towels for Billy Walker when he is on the ...go :)