Notre Dame Fighting Irish - NCAA Basketball Betting

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish lost 12 games by six points or less last season, and eight games by three points or less. The law of averages would seemingly dictate that such a trend would reverse itself over the course of the near future, and it did, somewhat, this season.

Notre Dame was going to have to put an end to that trend if it was going to break a three-season long streak of missing out on the NCAA tournament. This season, their seventh under head coach Mike Brey, the Irish got off to a very good start, embarking on an early 12-game winning streak. Then sophomore guard Kyle McAlarney, who was supposed to replace the graduated Chris Quinn at point guard, got kicked off the team for pot possession.

The timing was terrible, with the Big East season just getting underway. Highly regarded freshman Tory Jackson took over at the point for McAlarney, and as would be expected, struggled for a time especially with his shot. Jackson improved, and eventually posted a respectable assist-to-turnover ratio.

Senior guard Russell Carter, with a good outside shot and explosive quickness, emerged as the team's leading scorer. And fellow senior guard Colin Falls, who is still one of the very best shooters in the Big East, set a new school record for made three-pointers.

Rob Kurz, a 6-9 junior forward, leads the team in rebounding, and freshman forward Luke Harangody worked his way into the starting lineup and contributed nicely.

Last season, Notre Dame finished 15th out of 16 teams in the Big East in defense. This season, while the Irish can't be called a great defensive team, they're better. And their record shows it.

Also, it helps when the offense ranks in the Top 10 in Division 1 in scoring and in the Top 30 in 3-point and free-throw shooting. When Notre Dame is running and scoring 80 or more points, they're hard to beat, but when the game is slowed down, the Irish are in trouble.

It's that simple, and any NCAA tournament opponents will know this.

Russell Carter – Senior scorer can throw it in from almost anywhere.

Colin Falls – School's all-time leading 3-point maker.

Tory Jackson – A lot now falls on this freshman point guard's shoulders.

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