Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Brooklyn will tell us a lot about how ready the program is to transition into Big East Conference play. Big East (four): Georgetown (24-9), at Pittsburgh (22-17), Cincinnati (26-11) and at Marquette (27-8). Per usual, there will be a lot of con- gestion in the Big East when it comes to battling for the top four spots in the regular-season standings, slots that come with a double-bye in the league tournament in New York City. These four contests could go either way. style points when postseason portfo- lios are examined. The higher the seed, the better the chances are Notre Dame can get to its first Sweet 16 since 2003, and only second since 1988. Not to mention victories in this category will provide major confidence for a team trying to prove it belongs among the nation's elite. This is where the Irish can pick up STEALS Kentucky Nov. 29 is an opportunity to make a major statement. No team ranked that high has come to South Bend since No. 1 Syracuse fell to the Irish Jan. 21 last year. The timing of the Wildcats' visit means there's noth- ing to lose for Notre Dame, but there's certainly much to gain with the nation watching. Big East (four): At Cincinnati (26-11), (38-2). Notre Dame's game against No. 3 at Syracuse (34-3), Louisville (30-10) and at Louisville. To crack the top 10, Notre Dame has to at least split here and beat Kentucky. If the Irish want to win their first-ever Big East regular-season crown and first league tournament title under the bright lights at Madison Square Gar- den, these are the teams standing in their way. Louisville and Syracuse were picked to finish first and second, respectively, Notre Dame Grinds To Win In Opener Notre Dame to a season-opening 58-49 victory against Evansville Nov. 10. Sixth-year senior Scott Martin hauled in a career-high 17 rebounds, while junior guard Jerian Grant chipped in 11 points. Sophomore Pat Connaughton helped limit Evansville's Colt Ryan — 11th nationally in scoring last year (20.5 average) — to 15 points. The Fighting Irish jumped to a 14-4 lead, but had to grind out the victory while holding the Purple Aces to 31-percent field goal shooting (19 of 61). Cooley scored 15 of Notre Dame's first 30 points. The starting lineup from last season remained intact with juniors Eric Atkins (seven points, four assists Senior center Jack Cooley scored 19 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked six shots to lead No. 22 Nonconference (one): Kentucky and one turnover) and Grant in the backcourt, Martin (six points) and Connaughton (five points) along the wings, and Cooley in the post. The only two players to appear off the bench for Notre Dame were senior center Garrick Sherman (15 minutes) and freshman wing Cameron Biedscheid (16 minutes). Sher- man scored three points and grabbed three rebounds, but he also had four of Notre Dame's 13 turnovers. Biedscheid did not have any turnovers while scoring seven points, highlighted by his first career three- pointer with only one second left on the shot clock to give the Irish a 41-30 cushion. — Lou Somogyi