ND beats Northwestern 3-2 to reach .500 (23-23)

I don't think it will go well this weekend but what the heck

let's see if we are who we think we are. There is some talent on our roster but the coaching...oh the coaching.

BTW - I watched the game yesterday and while it is great to see a win, we struggled to finish NW off. When we were a force our mid-week games were a great opportunity to pad stats and get some of the non-starters reps. It takes everything we have to get thru most mid-week games now.

ND would have to go 10-1 or so, just to have a chance....

....at an at large bid to the NCAA tournament. That would put them at 33-24 for the season, and 15-15 in the ACC. I still doubt that would get them in given the schedule they've played.

And, let's be honest....the chances of them going 10-1 and taking 2 of 3 from Louisville are pretty thin.

But, I'm sure the Savvy one will be satisfied with the success of the season. Same coaching staff next year.

ND's RPI is 90-no way they get in w/out winning ACC tourney

Just heard Pat Casey OSU coach (currently ranked #1) on Sirius XM complain how last year when OSU had an RPI of 46 they didn't make it despite being tied 3rd in the PAC12 to Arizona, who got to the NCAA championship finals. They probably were punished because Utah with an RPI 90 got the automatic qualifier for ending up 1st in the PAC12 despite being only 26-29 overall.

That's what ND has to do and it would probably mean a higher RPI ACC team (probably NC State RPI 45) would get screwed, like OSU last year. From the ACC North Carolina, Clemson, Louisville, Wake Forest & Virginia-all top 10 RPI-are locks. FSU at 27 has work to do. Georgia Tech at 64 and Miami at 68 have RPIs 20 points better than ND and they probably won't make it unless they win the ACC tourney.

Wait---so losing 10-2 to a 7-43 team has consequences?

Who knew?

(That 7-43 team is mighty Lafayette, and they were actually 4-43 until a recent 3-game winning streak. Lafayette has given up 10+ runs in 18 games, and 24+ runs in 3 games. Aside from their 8-run win over ND, Lafayette hasn't beaten anybody by more than 4 runs.)

I was thinking more about at least making some noise in

ACC tournament. I don't see anything on our resume getting us an at large bid to NCAA. #NDadmindoesn'tcareaboutit'soncecompetitivebaseballprogram.

I have zero hope of doing anything in the ACC

The pitching just isn't there---nor the hitting given the pitching.

I think the ONLY (and very minor) hope is to finish .500 in the ACC and about 8-10 games over .500 overall, and hope the order is high enough in the ACC to win favor with the committee. Crazy, I know.

Saddest part is that this kind of finish will be lauded by the administration. He only needs to clean up on these MAC level teams to finish above .500 to keep his job. I'm convinced of it.

.500 > .333, and that coach wasn't fired *

As of today, ND would be the 9th seed out of 12

That would put us in "Pool D" against the 4th and 5th seeds, which as of now would be Wake Forest and Virginia. I would not like our chances in that pool.

Current seeds and pool assignments:

POOL A:
1. Louisville
8. NC State
12. Va. Tech

POOL B:
2. UNC
7. FSU
11. Duke

POOL C:
3. Clemson
6. Miami
10. Pitt

POOL D:
4. Wake
5. UVa
9. ND

NON-QUALIFIERS:
13. BC
14. Ga. Tech

Ha. Is there a pool where ND would thrive?

The best possible hope would be the Louisville/NC State pool. The only one I can see where ND might be the 2nd best team, but that's just death by Cardinal.

We've been thriving in the wading pool lately

This weekend we try again in the deep end, against the birds with teeth.

Maybe we'd have a punchers chance in the non-qualifier

pool.