Rockne's Roundtable

I really wish the stats were consistent for college basketball games. ESPN commentators say something different than the ESPN website, which is always different from the stats at UND.com. Oh well.

Hancock, who has been really quiet, knocks down a 3-pointer to give Louisville a 41-35 lead with 11:38 to play.

Irish have to do something about Louisville's penetration after this timeout or it's going to get out of hand. Cardinals up 45-37 with under 10 minutes to play.

These refs have no balls. How was that not an offensive foul on Siva?

Hancock 3-pointer in transition boosts Louisville to largest lead of the night, 55-44, with four minutes to go in the game.

What is the world record for turnovers, and how far is Grant away from it?

On that layup by Siva, what a great ole defense from Sherman. If they drive the lane with no impunity, they will keep doing it..... and score.

Grant will take his 28 footers.

But it was Sherman that backed off and opened up a path. If he had a red carpet, he would have put it down.

Well, they deserved to lose. They looked scared to take any mid range 2 shots, and were reckless trying to drive to the basket. Then they stopped playing defense and made incredibly bad passes. And for the life of me, our big men weren't even close to being in positions for rebounds, and if they were, they didn't even bother to jump for it. This game was sad and I hope they learn from it.

Too many TOs and ND didn't control the boards - meaning ND didn't get many second shots off. We all knew ND had to hit on ALL cylinders to have a chance to pull out a win tonight - it didn't happen. Louisville's full court pressure was coming no surprise ND just couldn't adjust to it. But they did play their hearts out - hope we can advance in the tourney - GO IRISH!

It's true, we get overly critical in the midst of a game with all its frustrations. Sometimes it's hard to accept the reality that there's probably always going to be a talent disparity between ND and some of the premier b-ball programs in the country. That being said, there is still room for improvement with this team. In prior years, including last year, I felt they really maxxed out their talent. I never got that feeling this year. Maybe they can still pull a surprise or two in the Big Dance.