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Alex Carson | Friday, March 17, 2017
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Take care of the ball against No. 4 seed West Virginia and, odds are, you’ve got a pretty good chance of winning. But up against Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins’ “Press Virginia,” that’s easier said than done. No team turns its opponents over more often than West Virginia (27-8, 12-6 Big 12),
Alex Carson | Thursday, March 16, 2017
BUFFALO, N.Y. — That certainly wasn’t pretty. But hey, it’s March. We’re all familiar with the “survive and advance” cliche and, in many cases, its use is a little annoying. With this Notre Dame squad, though, it’s probably pretty apt. Of course, any coach would’ve preferred a nice, comfortable 15-point win to the 60-58 one
Alex Carson | Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Let’s get something out of the way: Notre Dame probably deserved a No. 4 seed. A more important thought: The difference between a No. 4 and 5 seed is so negligible that it isn’t worth getting worked up about either way. Especially when the path presented to the Irish is as favorable as the one the
Alex Carson | Thursday, March 9, 2017
In many ways, I’m not all that much different as a 21-year-old than I was as a 13-year-old. Like I did then, I still obsessively follow sports, still enjoy a good math problem and will all too often draw stuff on graph paper in class, just as I did eight years ago. Hell, my friends and I
Alex Carson | Monday, March 6, 2017
With a loss to No. 21 Wichita State in the Missouri Valley championship game Sunday afternoon, Illinois State concludes its regular season with a 27-6 record. The Redbirds lost just once in conference play — at Wichita State — and, despite this, will be anxiously awaiting Selection Sunday, with their NCAA tournament fate up in the
Alex Carson | Saturday, March 4, 2017
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Irish head coach Mike Brey loves to talk about getting three stops in a row — he calls them “kills.” And with his No. 19 Notre Dame squad trailing No. 8 Louisville 64-58 with 1:58 to play, it looked as if the Irish would need one to keep their ACC regular season title aspirations alive.
Alex Carson | Friday, March 3, 2017
When Notre Dame lost at North Carolina on Feb. 5, it dropped its fourth consecutive game and completed a slide from 5-0 in the ACC to just 6-5. Now, as the No. 19 Irish head to No. 8 Louisville nearly a month later, they sit alone in second place in the conference, riding a six-game winning streak into
Alex Carson | Monday, February 27, 2017
With fewer than four minutes to play and the shot clock nearing zero Sunday night, Notre Dame had nothing going offensively. The Irish had been held to just 18 points in the second half, and if you weren’t junior forward Bonzie Colson, you were struggling from the field. Perhaps fittingly, then, it took a desperation heave to break
Alex Carson | Monday, February 27, 2017
Basketball was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts, by a man from Almonte, Ontario. That Canadian, who studied at McGill University in Montreal, would later go on to found the program at the University of Kansas, one of college basketball’s most storied and historic. Yet despite all of this, the sport didn’t grow fastest and strongest in Massachusetts,
Alex Carson | Friday, February 24, 2017
Last month, Notre Dame traveled to Atlanta and was stymied by Georgia Tech’s defensive sets, shooting just 40 percent from the field in a 62-60, buzzer-beater loss. At Purcell Pavilion this Saturday, the No. 21 Irish (21-7, 10-5 ACC) will have a chance to avenge a loss for the second time this year, hosting the Yellow Jackets