Which one moves on to next week?
I was at both. I don’t think I voted; I couldn’t choose. I think the 2013 Louisville game was the best ND sporting event I attended as a student, just barely edging 2012 Stanford football (HM to 2011 BC hockey). I think, while the Butler game was a really good game, too, it wasn’t on the level of the Louisville game. But the NDN tournament is “biggest win” so it was probably fair that Butler advanced over Louisville and prob will over USF; NCAA tournament wins generally are just bigger than regular season.
The lone exception, of course, is the game that’s gonna end up winning this NDN tournament, due to its sheer colossal magnitude.
you'll never quite understand it. The hour before that game was as loud as most actual games are now. The lead up was amazing - USC football game amazing. The team's performance was equal to the task. I realize this game is going down in this round but it was ND basketball magic at its finest.
I was but a young kid attending with my father, but I remember sitting in the seat next to my dad and having serious trouble hearing him speak. It was deafening to hear 29 and 1 over and over. It was one of those games that made me an ND basketball fan for life.
I'm not sure I've heard a crowd that loud at ND hoops game since the early 80s and don't think the current crowds (even at peak noise) come anywhere close.
Ending Marquette's 81 game home court streak
UCLA 88 game streak
USF 29-0. I still remember standing next to Cartwritght before the game and just looking uo at him like someone would stand next to the sears tower.
All the great wins from 84-88
First ACC win over Duke
Upset of #I NC a couple years later.
SS16 and Elite 8 in Cleveland with my oldest son who was 9 at the time.
opponents.
Marquette 1978
DePaul 1980
Kentucky 1980
Virginia 1981
North Carolina 1987
Syracuse 2012
1. It was in 2d round of NCAAs;
2. It was an integral part of 1 of the 2 greatest postseason runs (arguably the greatest) I've seen in 51 seasons of following program;
3. It was an integral part of program's visibly best season in 39 years;
4. It was an integral part of a season that showed those too young to remember 1974-81 what ND MBB once was;
5. See details below about what happened to '77 team in NCAAs.
All that being said, the 29 (clap, clap) and 1 win was a heady time for a frosh. Digger knew how to create the buildup for such occasions. He LIVED to come out and stoke up the crowd before those games. The upper arena student bleacher sections were packed to overflowing. IIRC, it was a close game for a half. Irish pulled away in 2d half and rolled to an 11 pt win.
A team that lost AD to the NBA, Laimbeer to grades, and Dice M (starting PG) to an early season foot injury beat MD there, UCLA there, IU, and USF en route to a 21-6/S 16 season. They would've made the E8 had Digger not tried to sit on a 14 pt 2d half lead far too early* v. the master of the delay offense**. Funny thing about that team is that fellow frosh R. Branning took over as starting PG after Martin's injury and had a quality season. B. Hanzlik was pretty much an afterthought as a frosh, yet he was the one who ended up having a NBA career. Toby Knight emerging from AD's giant shadow and averaging a double/double for the season should never be forgotten.
It was a hell of a coaching job by Digger through the first half of the season's last game.
*4 years later, Digger repeated the exact same behavior in the exact same round of the NCAA's and apparently expected a different result.
** Flowers fouling Phil Ford, a killer FT shooter, on the game's final possession didn't help, either.
My friend was probably six IPAs deep and feeling very loose. He saw Pat having a beer with his dad and introduced himself. Pat and Mr C were great- smiling and willing to talk. Then my friend recreated the block in the middle of this bar, and the two Connaughtons loved it. They got a good laugh from it.
In conclusion, Pat is the man and will always be one of the best and most likable Irish athletes of all time.