The last time Marquette and Notre Dame played a few weeks ago, the home team from Milwaukee beat the crap out of the visiting Irish, winning 92-66.  Notre Dame was within eight at the half, but it never felt that way, with the Irish turning it over 24 times while Marquette knocked down 12 of their 24 attempts from behind the arc.  Since that meeting on Wild Card weekend, Marquette's been blasted by Louisville (twice) and Connecticut, with Lazar Hayward - who led them with 17 points and 11 boards in round one - being their go-to guy.  

The Irish are going for their 34th straight at home.  The game's on ESPN and tips off at noon.  I'll be there, so expect your commentary later rather than sooner.

Georgetown at Louisville, 9 pm- Your College Gamenight feature, and for good reason.  Georgetown has been extremely lucky to run up their gaudy conference record, needing Roy Hibbert threes and near-goaltending calls to survive against UConn, Syracuse and WVU, but this might be their toughest test of them all.

Georgia Tech at Connecticut, 4 pm- After taking out Indiana a couple weeks ago, UConn continues their hunt for non-conference scalps.  The Yellow Jackets are a measly 4-4 in a rather uninspiring ACC, but already took out the Irish this season thanks to a go-ahead three pointer with two seconds left.  A Huskies win here helps the Big East as a whole.  Tune in to gawk at the awkward dominance of Mt. Thabeet and scout for the Brey/Calhoun rematch taking place on Wednesday night.

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Also, the Big East standings are so packed, that even though the Irish are alone in second right now, back-to-back losses to Marquette and UConn would plummet them to somewhere around seventh.  However, if the team just keeps winning, a NCAA berth (Lunardi has us as a six seed currently), a Big East tournament bye and Luke Harangody's Player of the Year trophy should be well on their way.