The Notre Dame men's basketball team kicked off their season with a 82-50 victory over Long Island last night in the Joyce Center, extending their home winning streak to twenty-ones games.  That number is somewhat misleading since most of those victories have come over teams the quality of Long Island, but hey, twenty-one straight wins is twenty-one straight wins.  

Senior Rob Kurz filled up the stat sheet as he tends to do, logging 19 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks and assists in 28 minutes of play.  Tory Jackson and Kyle McAlarney combined for fifteen assists and five turnovers while a slimmed down Luke Harangody notched fifteen points and six blocks with a reckless five turnovers.  Although the Irish dominated the paint, a cause for concern might be the dearth of shots from the charity stripe, as Notre Dame went 5-for-9.

I was just looking at Trevor Laws stat sheet ready to make a post when The Rock Report beat me to it, pointing out how freaking awesome Laws has been this season.  Laws, and to a slightly lesser extent, Pat Kuntz, have been a joy to watch this year on the line as they deal with five or six blockers at one time, knowing very well that once the running gets past them he's probably going to spring for another ten yards.  

I find it odd Laws is getting no recognition for his work, yet somehow Tom Zbikowski is a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe and a quarterfinalist for the Lott Award, some sort of impact thing that doesn't need to be an award.  If anyone wants to make the argument that somehow allowing sportswriters and coaches to pick who plays for a championship is still a defensible platform, I'm just going to show them game film from Zbikowski this season and then ask them to explain how he's one of the twelve best defensive backs in the country.  Maybe I'm not paying close enough attention, but I don't see an outpouring of love from Irish fans for Zibby to he honored for his great, inspired play this season.

The NCAA women's soccer brackets were announced last night, and while the Fighting Irish ladies get to play their first two games at home, they could be traveling to beautiful Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to take on the defending national champions in the Sweet Sixteen.  The Irish fell to the Tar Heels last year in the championship game then tied UNC 2-2 in an exhibition game at the start of the season.  The Irish will open the tournament with Loyola Chicago after having their twelve game win streak halted by West Virginia in a tie in the Big East Championship, which the Mountaineers won in a shootout (Only in hockey and soccer can you both tie and win a game at the same time).  Should the Irish manage to win their first three games, there's a chance they'll play Purdue, the two seed in their region, in the Elite Eight.  If you're in town for the Duke game this weekend, head out to Alumni Field on Friday night and support a team that's consistently great as opposed to continually heartbreaking and inconsistent.