Irish hoops pulled out two big wins over the last few days, holding on against Providence at home then taking care of business on the road against a terrible Cincinnati team.  They're at twenty wins, eight in the Big East, and if they hold serve in the rematch with DePaul tonight in South Bend then take care of Rutgers in Jersey, the ten wins in the Big East mark should get them in, even if they lose to a struggling Marquette team at home, a game I feel the Irish have a great chance of winning.

Here's what the top of the Big East standings look like as of right now:

Pittsburgh 11-2
Georgetown 10-2
Louisville 9-4
Marquette 9-5
Notre Dame 8-5
West Virginia 8-5
Syracuse 8-5
DePaul 7-6

If Notre Dame wins out, I don't think it's a stretch to say they assure themselves the ever crucial bye in the Big East tournament.  I'm not one hundred percent sure what the seeding rules are, but I assume head-to-head tiebreakers would come into play, meaning Notre Dame would have the advantage over Louisville, West Virginia, Syracuse and Marquette (again, we're assuming a sweep of the final three games, and yes, I know what assuming does).

Right now, Lunardi has us as a nine seed, with our computer numbers still absolutely abysmal.  We need the "Quality Win" over Marquette, and we also need to at least look respectable in Madison Square Garden, which means no losing to Rutgers in the opening round (I'm looking at you, Chris Thomas).  I'd like us to be able to move up into the seven or six range, if only because the athletes put on the court by Florida, UCLA and North Carolina would be like nothing we've faced all year, and I'd like to avoid that for as long as possible.  

My personal dream match-up in the first round should we not move any further would be an eight-nine game against Texas.  Not only would we get to talk trash with Pete and the folks over at BurntOrangeNation, but we'd get to see Kevin Durant working against the generally terrible Irish defense and the Irish offense teeing off against the just-as-bad Longhorn defense.  Your eight/nine games are supposed to be exciting, and Texas/Notre Dame would certainly qualify as such.

(However, when you look at this compilation of multiple seeding projections, the Irish have some work to do just to make it up to the eight/nine game. Our numbers are that bad.) ~

Despite the recent mini-streak of victories, I'm still angered about the DePaul game two Thursdays ago.  Everyone on the team was working their butt off for the first thirty minutes, as the bench was used and we got to see the joy that's Zach Hillesland, Luke Harangody and Rob Kurz attack the interior of a defense together with their great hands and even better passing.  Colin Falls, Tory Jackson and Russell Carter all handled a variety of offensive tasks well, knocking down perimeter shots and getting to the hole.  Ryan Ayers knocked down a few shots off the bench  The defense actually picked it up a notch, holding down the Blue Demons while the offense did its thing in catching up.

Enter Luke Zeller.  While the fact the player that entered was Zeller is important, its Brey's overall personnel decisions I must question.  We've seen Hillesland and Ayers both make big plays at the end of games, yet they don't see the floor for the second part of the second half.  Zeller is put out there for nearly a dozen minutes, way more than his usual stint on the floor, and I still don't know why.  

None of the young guys on this team know their role because Brey yanks them around so much.  It took him half a season to install his second best interior player, Luke Harangody, as the starter, and now that there's outside prowess (Ayers) and inside toughness (Hillesland) blossoming, Brey seems as how to manage it.  I'm personally a big fan of bringing Russell Carter off the bench, because no team we face - especially in the Big East - has anyone on their second unit nearly as talented as RC, and it also gives Ayers a chance to establish a rhythm early on, but Brey has to decide how he's handling this.  In Sunday's win, Carter started, but only played fifteen minutes; Ayers, off the bench, played thirty.  At this point in the season, Brey needs to have some sort of rotation down, especially if Carter's hip flexor is fine.

Tonight, at home, against a team we should have beaten a dozen days ago, is the chance to get another decent win and continue moving up the Big East standings.  This upward momentum would aid in finally locking up a NCAA bid, something we should have done a long time ago, especially if you consider that the DePaul game was one that got away and we lost to St. Johns and South Florida, terrible teams.  The Irish should be 11-2 in the Big East and playing for seeding, but now we're playing must-win games at the end of the season.  Again.

The ball is firmly in your court, Mike Brey.  You're two wins away from an undefeated home record for the season, but I've seen too many late February, early March collapses in the last couple of years to believe in anything before it happens.  Step one is the rematch with the Blue Demons tonight on ESPN2, and we'll be pulling for you.