Notre Dame vs. Old Dominion, 11:25 a.m. CT on Thursday
A big finish led to a big bump in seeding for Notre Dame. But the road out of the Big Easy will be anything but.
The Irish's late-season six-game win streak and run to the Big East tournament semifinals earned them some points in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament selection committee, which placed Notre Dame as a No. 6 seed in the South region.
"I told our guys, they're really to be congratulated on earning a six," Irish coach Mike Brey said Sunday evening. "We thought it was a heck of a run we finished with -- it was probably even better than we thought, to earn a six seed. It says a lot about what this group did to put us in that position."
No. 11 seed Old Dominion will be the first-round opponent in New Orleans on Thursday -- but lurking in the second round is a matchup with No. 3-seed Baylor, a power squad out of the Big 12.
"It's huge for us," Irish guard Ben Hansbrough said. "At one point we were 6-8 (in the Big East) and now all of a sudden we ended up 10-8, we won two games in the Big East tournament and we feel like we can beat anybody in country. West Virginia almost got a one seed and were right there (in the league tournament semifinals).
"We went from not even in the tournament to being a sixth seed in what, three weeks? We really bounced back and got our confidence going."
As for the experienced, husky Old Dominion roster, the Irish are going to find the preparation very similar to that of the past three months.
"We're basically playing a Big East team, physically," Brey said.
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