zone defense

Notre Dame played way too much zone D tonight.  That allowed McNeal to light it up esp in the second half.  I thought at least putting a chaser on McNeal would have had to be better then their soft zone. 

The Irish looked out of sink most of the night.  Harangody was forcing when it wasn't there and seemed to pass when he should have made a move.  McAlarney was too little too late.  Hillesland had a great game of rebounding and picking up a few easy baskets. 

Another performance like this will result in another one and done in the big dance. 

too bad the tournament couldn't be played in south bend.

The simple fact is that Marquette is a terrible matchup for ND this year. Even the win in the South Bend, I thought the Irish played out of their minds and still only won by 3.

Finally, I think its a bit ridiculous to say that a game like last night will result in a one and done in the tourney. I actually thought ND played reasonably well last night and just got beat by a really good team that was having a really hot shooting night. In the first round, it is very doubtful they will see a team with the combo of athleticism and shooting that Marquette has.

We are too undersized at all positions to play much man D. Our deficiency shows up when we fail to extend on the wings to get in the face of the shooters camping out there. For us it is all about hustle and frustrating the other teams who probably have more athletic talent than we do but not as much heart. Marquette uses dribble drive as well as anyone this side of Memphis but not many teams we would face have a backcourt that quick to make it work. As much as I wanted to be rolling into the tourney by winning the Big East, we have proven to be a very resilient team right after a loss and I expect us to perform just like we have all season.

Go Irish