Of Course CBS Ranks Notre Dame as Tournament’s Best #5 Seed
CBS ranked the best team and each seed for this year’s NCAA Tournament and surprise, surprise they have Notre Dame as the Tourney’s best #5 seed. They don’t specifically say it in their write up but of course they have them as the top 5 seed because Notre Dame should’ve been a #3 or or #4 seed but the committee had other ideas.
Here’s what CBS had to say about the Irish.
Terrific offensive club that almost won the ACC tournament title. I think Notre Dame outclasses every other 5 seed. The Fighting Irish have defeated Louisville, Northwestern, Florida State twice, Virginia, Miami and Virginia Tech. Bonzie Colson is the next coming (strictly at the college level) of Draymond Green. Steve Vasturia hits big shots. Matt Farrell hits big shots. V.J. Beachem is one of the most athletic players in the sport. No team turns it over less, and is better at the foul line, than Notre Dame. Those are facts.
Yeah, we all know this and it’s why most Notre Dame fans were upset when the brackets were announced and the Irish had a #5 next to their name. Their seeding could end up helping them in the long term, but that is if they are able to get past notoriously Tourney tough Princeton later today in the very first game of the tourney.
Princeton isn’t a particularly good defensive team and are in a lot of ways a Notre Dame lite but the 5/12 matchup is always terrifying when your at the 5 and inspiring when you are the 12.
We’ll know soon enough if the committee knew something that we didn’t and if their ranking was justified with tip-off just hours away for the Irish. If Notre Dame plays like they did against Virginia and Florida State, they shouldn’t have much of a problem with Princeton. If they shoot like they did against Duke when no one other than Bonzie Colson could buy a three pointer, well then things could get pretty interesting tomorrow afternoon. And people like myself could end up looking pretty foolish for making a stink about Notre Dame being seeded 5th.
In case you did not click through to the CBS article, you will be pleased to know that Princeton was not ranked as the best #12 seed so the Irish have that working in their favor.
Ok, now the bad news. The same article has West Virginia ranked as the best #4 seed and Gonzaga ranked as the best #1 seed. Both teams are in the same West bracket that Notre Dame will be have to navigate if they want to get back to the Elite 8 or beyond this year.
Notre Dame and Princeton tip off at 12:15 on Thursday afternoon on CBS.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
What a joke! This team was very lucky to survive this opening round. Looked like they were hungover fr early St. Patricks Day sessions! Bonzie held this mess together. The others better step up or its their act is over. Matty was a super choke from the field and the line. A bad pass, and a ball rolling off his leg. He did get his hand in the face of the desperate shot at end. I’m just HAPPY they are sill around. Stay off those bar stools! Go Irish!
West Virginia will be a tough draw, one of the reasons I’ll be rooting for Bucknell (plus they are a local team so it’d be interesting to see ND-Bucknell). I’m not so sure I agree with Xavier being the toughest one seed though. We’ll see if their prediction ends up being true, but I would think UNC would be tougher.
ND never gets any respect though in BB. There are some teams that can do no wrong and will always get the benefit of the doubt no matter their record, and there are others that are an afterthought. Is it an anti-Catholic bias, or is it just that ND is seen as a football school, despite the fact their BB has outperformed the FB team the last few years (I’m not suggesting football isn’t a priority, but it shouldn’t be used against the BB team when they do well).
Damian,
It isn’t an anti- Catholic bias. After todays almost loss, and watching this team, I’m surprised they got a #5 seed. They looked pathetic, lethargic. If they look like this vs. next up they’re done.