What win over UConn did for the Notre Dame women’s basketball NCAA Tournament outlook
It was a good week for Notre Dame women’s basketball. It could have been a great one.
Even after beating then-No. 8 UConn at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn., the Fighting Irish did not move up a seed line in ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme’s latest NCAA Tournament field projections released Tuesday.
Notre Dame actually moved down a seed, from No. 5 to No. 6.
Losing to Syracuse by 14 points at home was not a good look for head coach Niele Ivey’s team. The Orange have a good team, but they followed up their win at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend with a 13-point home loss to Virginia Tech. The Hokies are also solid; they’re checking in as a No. 4 seed in Creme’s latest predictions. Syracuse is a No. 6.
The Hokies are where Notre Dame is trying to get. The top four seeds in each region host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament in their home gyms. Purcell Pavilion played host to tournament games last year when the Irish were a No. 3 seed. It might’ve been the difference for a depleted Irish roster in beating an upstart Mississippi State team — one that just beat reigning national champion LSU last night — to get to the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season.
It’s way too early to predict actual opponents for March Madness, but Creme does it anyway. He’s got Notre Dame traveling to Austin to play in a pod of four teams with the No. 3 seed Texas Longhorns, No. 14 seed Grand Canyon and the winner of a play-in game between No. 11 seeds Minnesota and Alabama.
Though Notre Dame went to Norman, Okla., as a No. 5 seed and knocked off the No. 4 seed Oklahoma Sooners two years ago, life at home for the first week of the tournament is so much easier than life on the road. The Irish have more than enough time to make up necessary ground to achieve the goal of staying put in South Bend to avoid going somewhere like the 40 Acres in Austin, Texas.
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This week does not afford the Irish résumé-boosting wins with games against Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh, a pair of teams not bound for the NCAA Tournament, but the schedule smacks ’em in the face in February with games against No. 16 Louisville, No. 5 North Carolina State and No. 17 Virginia Tech. There is another game against Louisville on March 3 for good measure.
Notre Dame proved it can hang with and even beat elite teams by knocking off UConn. But the Irish have also shown they’ll let good teams walk all over them in two losses to Syracuse and a home loss to North Carolina. Not to mention a 29-point drubbing against No. 1 South Carolina.
Which Irish team will show up for Ivey against the cream of the crop in the ACC down the stretch? That’ll determine where her team starts out come tournament time.
