Rockne's Roundtable

ND wins and I'm not feeling that positive going against Marquette - am I outside the norm ?? Cooley pretty much a no show and Atkins/Grant not impressive AND this is against Rutgers 15-16. Few TOs, good board play, a hot hand from Pat C and kudos to Knight BUT this car ain't hitting on ALL cylinders AND if ND doesn't kick it into gear like right NOW the next game isn't looking to promising. COME ON LADS - PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION!! GO IRISH!

Every game, it's pretty much the same thing -- one, maybe two guys have a really good night, while two others disappear. Last night, Connaughton and Knight came up big, and Cooley and Atkins provided little, offensively. Grant was MIA for thirty minutes, which is often the case, and the bench provided 10 points from a combined 37 minutes, which is merely okay. Defense was solid, but they gave up too many offensive rebounds in the second half. They had to shoot nearly 60% from beyond the arc to beat a .500 team. That's not going to happen every night. If they're going to win any more games, and that includes the first round of the Big Dance, they're going to need more consistency from more players. You need at least three of them to come up big, starting tonight.

Mike Brey:

"We expect to be here a while, no question."We love New York City. I'll take that over South Bend for a while, so we're going to stay."

Pat Connaughton:

"The chemistry on this team, everybody likes each other and picks each other up. That's helped me keep the confidence and keep shooting. That's something they've been on me to do."

I say ND beats Marquette tonight and plays in the semis a fourth straight year. Just a gut feeling that Brey has this team focused on this being their last chance to break the barrier and play at MSG on Saturday night for the title. He's talked about it for years.

I doubt Chris Otule goes 8-for-8 from the field again for Marquette as he did in the first meeting or the Golden Eagles hit the way they did from three-point range. Above all, I'm expecting a huge game from Jack Cooley, who is due. ND never led the previous game and trailed by as many as 16. That's not going to happen again.

Game result is a classic. Sparkling green ND defeats Marquette.

"I say ND beats Marquette tonight in the semis a fourth straight year." Written words from sweet Lou.

I just don't see why so many on the board are so negative about this team. Maybe it's because they don't look pretty and athletic out on the floor. I agree they were frustrating to watch at times but they are a pretty darn good basketball team. They're not a great team but they're gritty and tough . They don't give up easily. And yes for you Brey doubters your wrong he is a very good coach.

In the Big East regular season, for the most part, the team was struggling to beat the average-to-weak teams, and getting blown out by the good ones. They were not impressive in most of their wins, and certainly weren't in their losses. As for Brey, he is indeed a very good coach, but the doubts come in March, and history provides the reason for that. He will still have time to put those doubts to rest, and can start doing that, tonight. There are few better bench coaches in the game than Rick Pitino, particularly at tournament time. Brey can score a lot of points if he can orchestrate a win over the Cardinals. Of course, the shots have to fall, and he has very little control over that once they toss up the ball.