Monday, December 11, 2006

Irish Up to #21

Big news as Notre Dame begins the week ranked 21st in the AP poll. The coaches, none of whom apparently watched last Thursday's game, gave ND only one vote more than Maryland. The same Maryland the Irish beat 81-74. Yes, the same Maryland who lost to Boston College yesterday. Notre Dame only beat currently 9th ranked Alabama since that Terrapin win.

Whatever.

Anyways, congrats to the team for being firmly back in the national spotlight. On to more important business, like the Big East Bloggers' Poll!

1) Pittsburgh: 256 pts (16). Last week: 1.
2) Connecticut: 236 pts. Last week: 2.
3) Marquette: 203 pts. Last week: 3.
4) Notre Dame: 200 pts. Last week: 8.
5) Syracuse: 199 pts. Last week: 4.
6) Villanova: 163 pts. Last week: 5.
7) Georgetown: 160 pts. Last week: 6.
8) Louisville: 143 pts. Last week: 7.
9) West Virginia: 131 pts. Last week: 10.
10) Providence: 112 pts. Last week: 9.
11) Seton Hall: 90 pts. Last week: 14
12) DePaul: 78 pts. Last week: 11.
13) Cincinnati: 67 pts. Last week: 12.
14) St. John's: 64 pts. Last week: 13.
15) South Florida: 53 pts. Last week: 15.
16) Rutgers: 21 pts. Last week: 16.

ND hops four spots to fourth. What does that mean for the immediate future? The Irish play one game against the Big Three this year, Marquette at home. Things can't look any better right now.

Five days 'til Elon.

3 comments:

Gene said...

Looking at the rest of the schedule, I see a total of about 22 wins for the Irish ... assuming they win the rest of their non-conference slate and go a conservative 10-6 in conference.

Any predictions for final record and seeding in the tourney?

BlackandGreen said...

Good insight. If we count the final five December games as in the bag (knock on wood), that takes us to twelve before the Big East starts.

I would give the Irish nine wins as a bare minimum, but there is a good chance to get as many as 12. Right now I would agree with your prediction, good enough for a tie for fourth place and a possible first round bye.

I'll give a more in depth prediction when the Big East games roll around. Thanks for the input!

Gene said...

Pitt just got crushed by Wisconsin. That might mean that ND has a shot this year. Pitt is big, but it looks like their shooting is erratic.