This will not be the same ND team that Pitt managed to defeat a few weeks ago. They will likely be without their top 3-point shooter, Chris Quinn. Quinn is doubtful for the game with a sprained ankle. Quinn torched Pitt for 25 points last time.

Expect ND to work harder to do more inside. They got absolutely nothing in the paint. Latimore and Francis will trying to get some more shots, and I expect Chris Thomas to be looking to go inside some more. And the odds Colin Falls shoots as poorly as he did last time is unlikely.

The Domers should also be as desperate as we felt Pitt was on Monday. ND is tied with Pitt in the BE standings, 9-6. The problem for ND is that their non-con was as weak Pitt’s, but they lost more games. So, despite ending up with the toughest schedule in the BE — because in addition to 2 games with Pitt, Syracuse and UConn, they ended up with 2 against G-town and ‘Nova — they are a bubble team. High on the bubble team, but a bubble team, nonetheless. ND would then need at least one win, maybe two in the Big East Tournament. I don’t care what their coach claims.

“I think it’s very clear,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said yesterday. “If you get to double-digit wins in our league, it’s great for your NCAA tournament resume if you look at the history.”
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“Overall, I think our resume is in better shape this year than last year,” Brey said.

“That’s why we’re not viewing this game as doe or die. I think us and Pitt have strong resumes. If you can earn a bye, it would help us in New York and also it would say a lot to the selection committee. We have a heck of an argument, but by no means are we satisfied.”

Of course, Coach Dixon tried to downplay the importance of the BC game beforehand in the press, and it seems more likely that Brey is just trying to take some of the extra pressure off of his players.

The BE Tournament, though is the more immediate concern for both teams. Who ever wins, finishes 5th in the standings and gets that all-important 1st round bye. And since Pitt still wants to win the BE Tournament, it matters.

The statistic has been bandied about many times over: No team in the history of the Big East Tournament has won the title without a first-round bye.
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“Everybody should want that bye, because it’s going to be hard to win four games and win the whole thing,” Pitt center Chris Taft said.

Pitt’s earned a bye the past three seasons and made it to the title game each time, winning it in 2003. The most recent time the Panthers failed to receive a bye was 2001, when they powered their way to the championship game before running out of gas and getting blown out by Boston College.

“That bye is real important,” junior point guard Carl Krauser said. “Nobody wants to play four nights in a row. Playing in the Big East, in the most physical conference in the country, and playing 40 minutes each night, it’s a battle. You’ve gotta be tough to do it. I love it, but at the same time, you gotta worry about your body because all those hits can take a toll on you.”

More importantly, playing four games in four days can wear a team down for the NCAA Tournament.

If Pitt loses, depending on what G-town and WVU do in their finales, Pitt could end up falling to the #8 seed in the BE Tournament thanks to head-to-head tie-breakers.

And for additional pressure on the Irish, it’s going to be Senior Day. Starters Chris Thomas and Dennis Latimore, along with Jordan Cornette and Greg Bosl will be honored.

The weekly Q&A with Ray Fittipaldo is up. Lots of grousing about Coach Dixon’s substitution patterns. Question about Kendall’s confidence, Chris Taft questions, and at the end a little note about where Ricardo Greer really is playing at the moment, as supplied by some guy living in Ohio.