It might not have featured Christopher Walken or Steve Buscemi, but Notre Dame's win over George Mason got them into the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003.  Other than Will Thomas - who was as good, if not better than advertised - the Patriot offense was simply off the entire night.  I'm not sure what the reasoning was (sometimes you just have a bad game), but Notre Dame can thank the Basketball Gods for their opponents going 3 for 17 from behind the arc.  Granted, the Irish defense wasn't bad, but there were a lot of missed shots that weren't even close.

With a name and hair like that, Jordan Carter missed his calling of being in a late 90's boy band.

Star of the game has to be Ryan Ayers/Zach Hillesland slot, which combined to go 8 for 14 for  18 points, 12 boards, 6 assists and 4 steals.  Luke Harangody certainly didn't disappoint in his return to the Big Dance, rocking a very solid 18 points and 14 boards, and I think the team got the best combined play out of Kyle McAlarney and Tory Jackson in a very long time.  Luke Zeller and Jonathan Peoples gave solid minutes in the first half, although I'm unsure why Brey went away from them in the second half, as he's done a lot the last few games.  I think really just a solid effort by everybody on both ends, although those offensive dead spots will make for a quick loss against the Cougars unless they also lack the ability to strike the broadside of a barn.  

I thought the offense actually had a direction to it tonight, even if that just involved swinging it from side to side and looking for Harangody.  I think Brey will need to institute something a little fancier against the Washington State pressure, but for as bally-hooed as their defense is, are you telling me it's that much better than what you would see in Big East play?  I've got the entire Washington State/Winthrop game Tivoed, so I'll get to that either tonight or tomorrow morning before the second set of first round games start.  

One quibble would be the terrible success rate of plays coming out of timeout.  I'm not sure if Brey was actually drawing something up, but those weren't exactly super effective against a Patriot defense that was yielding from time to time.  

Still, you survive, you advance and you try to make adjustments for the next opponent.