Notre Dame makes statement with big win
Ibrahima Thomas #32 of the Cincinnati Bearcats handles the ball against Tim Abromaitis #21, Scott Martin #14 against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Ben Hansbrough #23 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the quarterfinals of the 2011 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament presented by American Eagle Outfitters at Madison Square Garden. (March 10, 2011) Credit: Getty Images
If the Big East quarterfinals were Cincinnati's audition for the NCAA Tournament, the Bearcats undoubtedly dropped a couple of bracket rungs despite their 25-8 record. Fourth-ranked Notre Dame, on the other hand, put itself in the conversation for a No. 1 seed with an 89-51 victory that was as dominating as the score sounds.
With No. 3 Pitt losing to Connecticut on Kemba Walker's buzzer-beater, the Irish (26-5), who meet the winner of the Louisville-Marquette quarterfinal matchup in Friday night's late semifinal, not only assumed the favorite's role in the Big East Tournament but positioned themselves for a great Selection Sunday if they keep it up.
Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said he told his team to focus on getting to Saturday night's final and avoid NCAA talk, but when asked if the Irish are No. 1-seed material, he embraced it. "Absolutely," Brey said. "We have a very strong resume for it."
Some double-bye teams worry about being ready to go, but that wasn't a problem for Notre Dame. Brey said he took the team to see the Broadway production of "Jersey Boys" because he wanted them to see how the best perform when they're in harmony. Certainly, the Irish hit all the right notes.
Cincinnati's only lead came at 1-0, but Scott Martin hit a three-pointer 1:01 into the game and the Irish were off to the races. They bombed away from outside, hitting 8 of 16 threes in the first half on their way to a 40-30 lead at the break.
In the second half, Big East player of the year Ben Hansbrough took over early, scoring nine of his 23 points in an 18-9 run that pushed Notre Dame's lead to 58-39. From there, it was a layup drill for the Irish as Mick Cronin's team offered no resistance at the rim.
Notre Dame also got 18 points from Carleton Scott, 17 from Tim Abromaitis and 11 from Martin. Dion Dixon topped the Bearcats with 15, but they shot 32.8 percent compared to Notre Dame's 56.1. The Irish finished with a 15-0 run for the whopping final margin of 38 points against a team whose eight losses all have come against ranked teams.
"It's good to play that well on that floor because we'd like to keep playing here," Brey said. "When you have a performance like that on this stage, that's something I'm really proud of."
Referring to the sites of the Big 12, ACC and Big Ten Tournaments, Brey added, "Everybody is watching our tournament. They're watching in Kansas City, they're watching in Greensboro, they're watching in Indy."
