Good Morning V5ers! Quick preview for today's matinee against Notre Dame. We might have done this for all the blue haired ND fans who will be out and about after consuming the Early Bird Special at Perkins before trekking across the street to the Sun Dome. For those too hungover too far away to make it to the game, WFTS will have the game for you in Tampa, while SNY will take care of all the satellite people. For those driving around town, Jim Lighthall will doing the play by play on 620 WDAE.
Just a couple of talking points before the game:
- I would not be surprised if Coach Heath brings out the same starting lineup that he did against Marquette. For those who didn't see the trainwreck, Anthony Crater and Hugh Robertson manned the backcourt, while Toarlyn Fitzpatrick, Ron Anderson Jr., and Augustus Gilchrist started up front. Notre Dame is very long, starting 6'3 Ben Hansbrough and 6'8 Scott Martin as their two guards, and then 6'8 Tim Abromaitis, 6'8 Carleton Scott, and 6'8 Tyrone Nash in the backcourt.
- As good as their starting five is, Coach Brey doesn't go to his bench very often. 6'2 Freshman Eric Atkins will run the point and move Hansbrough to SG when Brey wants to go smaller, and Luke Harangody impersonator 6'9 Soph. Jack Cooley is the only post that Brey will go too off the bench.
- Notre Dame an excellent three point shooting team, and they shoot a ton of them. Everyone on the perimeter will have to stay on their man when the ball gets into the post. Hansbrough, Abromaitis, Scott, and Adkins all shoot over 35% from three. This normally spells doom for out team.
- Notre Dame always seems to have trouble at the Dome. They just came off a huge overtime win against Louisville, and have a tough game at West Virginia after this. This might be a letdown game for them, and somehow we always steal a game at the Dome that we have no chance of winning. Also, Notre Dame doesn't force many turnovers which is nice. If we pull this one off, I wouldn't be shocked.
Three predicitions for today's game:
- There will be blue and gold polos in the crowd today.
- Their collars WILL be popped.
- We will lose.
Let's hope I'm wrong.