Hope you all are excited for some bullet points, as stringing a coherent narration of the events that transpired last night is not going to happen just yet. . .

• Do you know why rankings don't matter in basketball? Because you can have a team in the Top 25 who was significantly lower in a variety of other metrics with a scarcity of quality wins. The whole "Notre Dame being ranked with a poor resume" situation will be corrected this evening when the new poll comes out, but seriously people, don't look at the rankings.

• There is no reason to double team Hasheem Thabeet in the post until he proves he has some sort of post game. Establish good position so he can't just turn around and drop it in, but do not double - or triple! - down on him, leaving Connecticut shooters open. If he manages to score a couple buckets in single coverage showing some new found versatility no one knew existed, then you adjust. You shouldn't sell out your perimeter defense just because he's tall.

• With the way the Irish are playing versus the numbers the Sooners are putting up, I don't see anyway Luke Harangody can pass Blake Griffin (or Steph Curry) in the national player of the year race, and that's truly a shame. (Although I don't mean to discredit Grififn, who is a freak of nature who will make some NBA team very, very happy come June. Or Steph Curry, who any team would love to have.) It was obviously a tough match-up for him last night, and while he didn't dominate like the game in Connecticut last year, he showed off a variety of moves in keeping this game close for his team. If you want to throw up all over yourself, check out the shooting percentage of the other Irish starters.

• I think the entire Ty Nash/Carleton Scott need to be playing more argument was settled last night, but it wasn't due to Nash's 4-for-4 performance against UConn's "Let's not foul here" matador defense. Instead, look at the numbers put up by the guys whose minutes they'd be taking.(2-for-15, four points). Ayers played well coming off the bench last season, providing instant offense against the opposition's second unit. Maybe that's the direction Brey needs to look tomorrow night against a very, very game Marquette team. In regards to Hillesland, he seemed to lack any faith in his offense last night, which probably happens when your best method of scoring is going to the rim, which happens to be guarded by three Monstars at all times. There are a lot of moving parts in that jumpshot, which is something Brey and Co. should have addressed.

• I have loved Jeff Adrien from the moment he found his way into the rotation of the 2006 UConn Dream Team that fell to George Mason in the Elite Eight. He was one of the few guys willing to do dirty work on that team, and even as he's found himself as the veteran on the squad, he's still deferring shots and hitting the boards (nineteen!). He's going to make a fantastic first big man off the bench for a pro team next year, directly in the mold of Chuck Hayes, Carl Landry, Craig Smith and Paul Millsap (before his explosion this season).

• I really think that if a few shots that usually go down for the Irish manage to, they win last night. The defense was good enough and Harangody was providing the interior presence, but so many shots flirted with dropping before rimming out, especially during the late stretch where UConn pulled away. Notre Dame could really have won the last three games, but that doesn't amount to a whole lot in the current situation.  Must start winning games and stop accruing quality losses.
  

• Brey tried to give the starting guards some rest by playing Jonathan Peoples in the latter stages of the first half, a plan that sort of worked (zero turnovers!) until Peoples repeatedly found the ball in his hands at the end of possessions at the end of the half. Maybe Brey needs to reach a little deeper down the bench in the backcourt as well (or onto the Bookstore Basketball court; Carl Anderson, where are you?!).

• Tory Jackson didn't have a great game, but his block and lay-up should be on every "Best of 2008-2009" highlight reel come March Madness time. He pressed a lot on offense in the first half, then sort of disappeared in the second.

• Every Irish fan who spoke ill of Rob Kurz during his career (Jake, I'm talking to you!), needs to write some sort of formal apology. Don't you think it would be nice to have a guy who could defend the opposition's best forward on defense, but then stretch the floor on offense, getting to the line and collecting double-digit boards while he was at it? Wouldn't that be nice? Yes, Kurz's hands sometime turned into suds-covered-stone around the rim, but he brought a lot to the table. Rob and I said he would be sorely missed this season, if not here, then to our friends who tire of our constant e-mails, but we were right.

• Going into this Stretch of Unrelenting Hell, I was perhaps most concerned about the Marquette game, which now has me laughing through tears when I think about it. It goes without saying that this is a huge game, especially with a trip to Pittsburgh on the horizon. It will be interesting to see how everyone responds to having the home win streak snapped, from Brey, to the players, to the Leprechaun Legion, who did a fantastic job bringing the noise all day Saturday. I would very much like not to fall to 3-5 in conference play and further away from a respectable seed/making the tournament, so let's Go Irish, Beat Golden Eagles/Warriors.