After Seton Hall gave up its thirty-fifth offensive rebound of the second half, I wish their athletic director had walked down onto the court and fired Bobby Gonzalez right then and there.  I have nothing personal against Bobby G - and very much enjoyed the Luis Flores Era at Manhattan - but how many Marquette possessions in a row involved multiple offensive rebounds followed by a foul?

So it is the Irish and the Golden Eagles, once more with feeling, after they split the season series with both winning on their home court.  The numbers can't possibly show how poorly Notre Dame played in the first game in Milwaukee, nor can they explain the late game collapse in South Bend.  Still, I think it's interesting to see what mattered and what did not matter in the first rematch.  The left column is the January 12th game Marquette dominated, the right column Notre Dame's February 9th victory.

I marked a few categories in green I think were obviously crucial to Irish success.  Neither containing Dominic James nor feeding Luke Harangody were particularly important in the turnaround, although Tory Jackson elevating his game helped.  Marquette can shoot 50 percent from three, get outrebounded and foul nearly twice as many times, but none of those statistics seem to matter as much as how the Irish bench plays or how well they take care of the ball.  

In the continuing trend of this season, I am not confident going into this game, but Seton Hall was right there until the end with Tom Crean's crew and surely - surely - the Irish will play better than the Pirates did.  Whether Marquette elevates their game after a late night in the Garden will be key.

As Rob said last night, "It's great to have a bye."  Now let's see if Mike Brey can turn that rest into some Big East tournament success and a solid seed in the NCAA's.