Saturday, January 20, 2007

Games Shuffle ND's Way

This turned out to be a big day for ND opponents. 'Nova, Alabama, and Butler all pull out victories. Cincy beat West Virginia and Louisville took down DePaul. In other Big East news, UCONN fell to Indiana in a matchup of top unranked teams.

Starting first with the marquee Big East nonconference matchup. Villanova beat #23 Texas 76-69. Kevin Durant scored only 12 in 40 minutes. The Wildcats should be ranked for the game at the Joyce next Saturday. #9 Alabama pulled off a win in the closing seconds thanks to Ronald Steele's game winner (and travel to set it up). Butler had no trouble with A.J. Graves back in the starting lineup for the first time in three games. Graves had all four wisdom teeth removed last week.

Those three wins help Notre Dame's RPI standing, while Louisville and Cincinnati winning increases the parity in the Big East and should help the Irish down the road for a better BET seeding. Tomorrow should be a good showcase game for the Irish. Notre Dame takes on 10-9 South Florida with an opportunity to show the nation that Wednesday was not the norm for this team. Hoping for a double-digit win. Also on tap is #22 Maryland/#25 Virginia Tech, as the Terps try to get back to .500 in the ACC.

That's it for today. After the game tomorrow, enjoy some football. I'm picking the Colts and Saints to matchup in Miami.

No comments: