Homecourt Disadvantage

Notre Dame used to be a Final Four contender and was supposedly unbeatable at home. The Irish were in (almost -- look at No. 20) everybody's conversation of the top teams in the country. When they beat Texas, they were all the rage. Sure, they had a few bumps in the road, losing to then-No. 1 North Carolina and hot-starting Ohio State, but who doesn't when you play relatively tough nonconference schedule?

Then, conference play started.

Suddenly, Notre Dame, a team that was ranked as high as seventh in the nation, has fallen to 12-7 and 3-5 in the Big East. A four-game losing streak will do that to your team. The Irish had to run quite the gauntlet: five ranked teams in 19 days.

at Louisville: L, 87-73 in OT
at Syracuse: L, 93-74
Connecticut: L, 69-61
Marquette: L, 71-64
at Pitt: on Saturday

It's OK to lose to good teams. But Notre Dame really needed a win or two in this stretch. I've been saying for a while that the Irish have been overrated all year, but this is worse than I expected.

Last night, Marquette dutifully took apart Notre Dame's defense and hustled out a 71-64 win at the Joyce Center in South Bend. The Golden Eagles have the look of Villanova circa 2005-06, when the Wildcats ran with four guards for most of the game. Marquette go-to guys down the stretch were Maurice Acker, Dominic James, Jerel McNeal, Wesley Matthews and Lazar Hayward. That's 5-8, 5-10, 6-3, 6-5 and 6-6.

Not very big.

But, with McNeal leading the way, Marquette worked its way inside. There were a lot of tough, earn-that-wage baskets on putbacks or just strong moves to the basket. There was a lot of slashing. And what Marquette did best was slash and kick. Notre Dame's help defense would collapse around [insert ridiculously athletic Marquette guard here] and then that guard would toss it back out to a corner or wing, where another guard was open for a J.

It was simple, but effective.

On the other end, Notre Dame couldn't quite figure out a way to get its sharpshooter, Kyle McAlarney, the ball. James and others smothered McAlarney, who seemed frustrated that he couldn't get open. So, Notre Dame's offense turned stagnant, playing the "Get the Ball to Gody" strategy just a tad too much.

Don't get me wrong, Harangody was great. He had 29 points and 17 rebounds. But his team shot 36 percent. And when Notre Dame isn't shooting well, it's in deep, deep trouble.

Teams have clearly exposed that. And with Notre Dame's defensive efficiency nothing short of embarrassing, the Irish really don't have anywhere else to go. They have two options: Play better defense, or figure out how to get better offensive possessions. Whatever they pick, it has to be applied immediately, or we could be looking at the Big East's biggest victim of the season.

Elsewhere
-- BracketScience expert Pete Tiernan discovered that the Big Ten has the most successful NCAA Tournament coaches. Followed closely by Big East coaches:

The 11 coaches in the Big Ten have been the biggest overachievers of any set of Big Six conference coaches. Based on the seeding positions of their 62 tourney appearances, the Big Ten coaches should’ve won 83.3 games. They actually won 105 games, which works out to a hefty +.349 PASE—more than a third of a game per dance. Just as importantly, the Big Ten coaches have beaten seed expectations in 35 of their 62 tourney appearances, for a seed overachievement rate (SOAR) of 56.5 percent.

Compare the 11 Big Ten coaches to the 16 Big East coaches, the next best overperforming group. Their +.167 PASE constitutes about a sixth-of-a-game per tourney overachievement—nothing to sneeze at, but nowhere near the solid performance of the Big Ten. What’s more, Big East coaches have overachieved in only 43 of their 98 appearances, for a more unreliable SOAR of 43.9 percent. Granted, Big East coaches have reached the Final Four more than Big Ten coaches (12 to eight) and won more championships (four to two). But in terms of their ability to defy seed expectations, the Big Ten is solidly ahead of the Big East.

-- The worst string of six words in the history of mankind: Next, an hour of George Lopez!

-- Coming later today, my newest Top 10 Favorites. This time, it's awesome sitcoms.

Statement Game

Louisville just put it down on Notre Dame -- in overtime -- but still, the Cards blew out the Irish. This continues to prove my theory that Notre Dame won't be much of a winner on the road.

Going Gody

Luke Harangody had 31 points and 11 rebounds in Notre Dame's back-from-the-dead home win against Georgetown. Harangody put together a gutsy performance despite committing his fourth foul with 15 minutes or so left in the game.

Georgetown, which started off the Big East season in fashion, beating UConn on the road, is 1-2 to start the season. That's just how the Big East is going to go this year. The Hoyas started the season with games at UConn, home against Pitt and at Notre Dame. Big East coaches picked those three teams plus Louisville to challenge for a league title. Georgetown getting a win out of that stretch is actually a positive result, despite not winning at home.

Lots of other tidbits
-- I asked a lot of questions this weekend about an area called Western Sahara in Africa. It's a territory of Morocco's and it is giant. I always see it on a map and wonder about it. Today, I finally looked it up. Who knew it would have a city the size of Yonkers?

-- Bracketology is up and Pitt is the overall No. 1 seed. Enjoy it while it lasts, folks.

-- And while we're on the topic, people are pretty excited about Pitt being No. 1 in the nation.

-- Good work, Yale.

-- Just a quick thought for Pitt football fans: If you want to point the finger, point it at Matt Cavanaugh. Every year that Pitt struggles, it's his fault. Terrible play-calling and awful tutelage of his quarterbacks. Bill Stull stunk it up against Oregon State and Pitt didn't run the ball enough. Plus, Stull is not Michael Jordan: He can't shoot through a slump. If the dude can't complete a swing pass out of the backfield, why throw it 25 times? Why keep him in the game? By the way, that was the worst bowl game I've ever seen.

-- Interesting situation developing in Boston over BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski. Dude will be fired if he interviews with the Jets.

-- Oh, and by the way, the Big East has nine ranked teams. Nine.

Another Resume-Builder

Add Duke to the list of upsets. Michigan is certainly piling up some nice NCAA Tournament-caliber wins in the nonconference schedule. A win against Duke gives the Wolverines two (UCLA being the other).

Could Michigan challenge for third in the Big Ten? We'll see.

Elsewhere
-- God, of all the teams I wanted to see in the BCS title game, Florida is not even close to being one of them. The only good thing to ever come out of Florida is Erin Andrews.

-- Notre Dame lost to Ohio State. The Buckeyes are snatching up some nice wins early this year, too.

Why We Watch

We watch college hoops for a reason, and last night provided us with more than a few ...

No. 8 Notre Dame topped No. 7 Texas in a thriller, 81-80.

No. 17 Florida escaped with a win against Washington, 86-84.

And No. 22 Kansas lost to Syracuse, 89-81, in overtime.

Let's break these games down ...

-- Notre Dame cemented its status as a Final Four contender with a gritty, exciting win against Texas. The Longhorns didn't really lose much in terms of reputation or respect, just dropped the game.

-- Jon Brockman had a chance to tie the game for Washington in the waning moments, but his shot rimmed out off the glass. This would have been a huge win for Washington; instead, it's another disappointing loss. It's hard to come away with positives from KC after two really rough losses.

-- And the Syracuse-Kansas game was the game of the night. We had Sherron Collins and Jonny Flynn going toe to toe, runs catapulting one team into the lead before the other team roared back, and an extra five minutes to enjoy the competition. The CBE Classic turned out to be a pretty good tournament, and these guys have a lot to do with that.

Quote of the day: "I had a few too many Wheaties on it." -- Washington's Jon Brockman, after missing the would-be tying putback with less than five seconds to play in Washington's 86-84 loss to Florida.

Great game in KC

Regardless of who wins, Kansas and Syracuse are giving us a great late-night show after Texas and Notre Dame delivered on the promise of a marquee matchup.

Blockbuster Tuesday

No. 6 Texas and No. 8 Notre Dame meet tonight at 7 p.m. in the Maui Invitational. This game could turn into a track meet, given the athletic talent of Texas and Notre Dame's ability to fill it up in a hurry.

Still, the Longhorns' have a little bit more of a defensive bent than Notre Dame, and the Irish are one of the less physical teams in the Big East. It'll be fun seeing who adapts to the other more, but I think Texas might be the better team.

Best matchup: It has to be Tory Jackson vs. AJ Abrams. I've seen Jackson play a few times, and he is one of the fastest players I've ever watched in person (fastest being Darren Collison). Abrams is the most important player on Texas. Both are fast, but I give the slight edge to Abrams in terms of overall ability. In this game, this matchup might be the best indicator of who is winning.

Penn State at Penn ... just kidding.

A quietly good matchup in Dayton: Mercer at Dayton. Mercer surprised Alabama and Auburn and almost beat Georgia Tech (lost in OT), so expect the Bears to challenge a good Dayton team at UD Arena. This is the beginning of a really tough stretch for the Flyers, who host Mercer tonight, then play Auburn and No. 15 Marquette on Friday and Saturday, respectively, in the Chicago 'burbs. If Dayton is working on its Tournament resume, going at least 2-1 in this three-game period will help a lot. Undefeated will go a long way come March.

Florida-Washington in Maui. Florida needs to recover after its loss to Syracuse; Washington has less than 24 hours to change its ways. I like Florida, but this is secretly an important game for both teams.

UNC-Oregon. We know who will win this game, but if the Ducks can at least have a solid showing, it can only help, confidence-wise. Oregon has the talent, but does it have the guts?

Kansas-Syracuse for the CBE Classic title. Kansas is the favorite, but Syracuse looked good against Florida, not that that surprises anyone. But if the Orange can win again here, expect them in the Top 25 on Monday. And a win here will also quiet the always-rowdy critics in March, who always shellack Jim Boeheim for his scheduling.

Swallowed by the Beast

Jonny Flynn and the Syracuse Orange upset No. 17 Florida last night, 89-83. Wow. The second-best SEC team against the seventh-best Big East team. Keep watching Big East teams for more signs of dominance the rest of the year.

Or I could just give you some now ...

No. 2 UConn 76, No. 25 Wisconsin 57

No. 8 Notre Dame 88, Indiana 50

Oh, and Cincinnati and St. John's won, too, but those are just icing on the cake. Plus, who's really counting anyway?

Let's play good loss/bad loss
-- There is never really such a thing as a "good loss," but there are losses that, if close and against a good team, mean a little bit more than a bad loss to a bad team or a blowout loss to anybody. Yesterday provided a full plate of games to pick from:

Terrible loss: Jacksonville State 75, UMass 74. If UMass was hoping to surprise people in the A-10 and make a run as an at-large team, starting 1-3 and losing to Jacksonville State at home usually won't help.

Disappointing but not terrible loss: Syracuse 89, No. 17 Florida 83 (see above)

Tough home loss: UNLV 80, UTEP 67. UNLV is good, but UTEP had a chance to get a quality home win and build up its resume leading into C-USA play. If the Miners want to challenge Memphis for the conference title and stake a claim as a second or third bid out of the C-USA, a win in a game like this always helps.

Bad loss against a good team: Kansas 73, Washington 54. If Washington (or Worshington if your Bob Knight) wants to find its way out of basketball purgatory, it needs to come closer to good teams and win a few of them. More importantly, if Lorenzo Romar wants to keep his job after this season, the Huskies need to do better against quality teams. First step, don't shoot so many 3s if you aren't making them. Just a suggestion.

Awful loss: Yale 53, Oregon State 52. Craig Robinson is off to a very rough 0-3 start. Losing to Howard is tough. Losing to Yale is probably worse.

Embarrassing blowout: Oregon 82, Alabama 59. Not only is Alabama 1-2, with this blowout loss at home and a loss to Mercer ... at home ... but the Crimson Tide suddenly look like one of the worst teams in the SEC, which is terrible because some floated the idea of them being an at-large bid or a bubble team come March. At this point, they might still be a reach bubble team ... for the NIT.

Turkey and Hoops

The Maui Invitational tips off today in ... Maui. Here are the first-round matchups:

St. Joe's vs. No. 7 Texas
Indiana vs. No. 8 Notre Dame
Chaminade vs. No. 1 North Carolina
Oregon vs. Alabama

Here's how the bracket looks.

There's a good chance we'll see Notre Dame-Texas on Tuesday and North Carolina-Notre Dame/Texas on Wednesday. Those four hours of hoops will be enjoyable to say the least. It could determine how seriously we take Notre Dame and/or Texas early in the season.

Another big tourney tips off today, too
The CBE Classic in KC kicks back into action tonight with two semifinal matchups: No. 18 Florida-Syracuse and Washington-No. 24 Kansas. I don't think it's too crazy to say at least three of those teams are probably Tournament teams. The question is, like we asked above, how serious are thes guys?

Elsewhere
-- No. 2 UConn took care of business against No. 17 Miami, 76-63. I was right about Jack McClinton -- he had 27 points and five boards -- but the Huskies never trailed and led by as many as 15.

-- Little Rhody had another nice performance Sunday, topping VCU, a major CAA contender and probable bubble team, in the battle of the Rams.

-- Xavier beat No. 13 Memphis, 63-58. Xavier has wins against Missouri, Virginia Tech and Memphis now. Not a bad way to start building that resume.

-- Missouri beat No. 19 USC, 83-72. That's two tough losses for USC early in the season. Luckily for USC, it looks like the Trojans still might be at least the second or third best team in the Pac-10.

-- The Big East is good. Even its cellar-dwellers get results.