Mar 16, 2007, 16:15 GMT
Spokane, WA - In search of their first-ever win in the NCAA Tournament, the Winthrop Eagles take another shot at it this afternoon as they hit the floor at Spokane Memorial Arena against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Playing in the Midwest Region, Winthrop is no longer one of those little-known programs from the Big South Conference, because with a 28-4 record the squad is actually ranked 22nd in the nation coming into this week. The Eagles, who are making their seventh trip to the tourney, are riding an incredible 18-game win streak, second longest in the nation behind only Memphis (22), and have not lost in two and a half months, back when the squad bowed to nationally-ranked Texas A&M (71-51) in College Station on January 2. More recently the team ran the table in league play and won the Big South Conference Tournament title with an 84-81 victory against VMI, the top-scoring program in Division I.
The Fighting Irish moved up three spots to 17th in the national polls this week, as they defeated Syracuse at Madison Square Garden during the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament last week, 89-83, but then fell to Georgetown the following day by a mere two points (84-82), snapping the team's six-game win streak and leaving it with a record of 24-7. A win in this game would give the Irish 25 victories on the season, the most for a Mike Brey-led squad at Notre Dame and the most for the school since the 1973-74 unit went 26-3.
The Eagles are making their seventh trip to the tournament, after having their best opportunity to advance to the second round a year ago before losing to Tennessee by a basket with two seconds to play, 63-61. As for the Irish, the postseason is nothing new for the squad, but the program has not been in this tournament since 2002-03 when it defeated UW-Milwaukee and Illinois in the first two rounds, before bowing to second-ranked Arizona by 17 points in the round of 16. As a result, Notre Dame has a record of 29-31 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, this is the first-ever meeting, although Winthrop has had some recent success against other members of the Big East, defeating both Providence and Marquette in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Coming into the 2006-07 campaign the Irish had played just two games against current members of the Big South Conference, beating both VMI (1999) and Charleston Southern (2004) previously.
The winner of this matchup will play again on Sunday versus the winner of the Miami- Ohio/Oregon meeting in the second round.
The Eagles had a series of firsts this season for both the school and the Big South as they broke the record for most wins in a season for both the university and the league and also became the first team ever to make it into the national rankings. A lot of that has to do with the direction of head coach Gregg Marshall who won Big South Coach of the Year honors for the fourth time and is now just three wins shy from tying the school record for victories in a career (193). Making it easy on the coach were Michael Jenkins and Craig Bradshaw, two players who were selected for the All-Big South First Team. Jenkins leads the team in scoring with his 15.3 ppg, shooting 42.6 percent from three-point range, and was also second on the unit with his 97 assists. Bradshaw actually finished third on the unit in scoring with his 13.3 ppg, but was first with 6.3 rpg and 35 blocked shots. Although he shot just 48 percent from the field and 31.6 percent beyond the arc overall in 2006-07, against league foes those percentages rose to .566 and .419, respectively. Torrell Martin, who missed half of the unit's conference battles, was back for the tourney championship and dropped a team-high 17 points versus the Keydets, which is just a small piece of what Martin (14.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg) can accomplish.
At first glance, the starting lineup for the Fighting Irish doesn't exactly contain a bunch of household names, but as far as the Big East is concerned the talent is certainly there. Colin Falls and Russell Carter were both named to the All-Big East First Team, with Carter making the Big East All-Tournament Team as well, even though the squad failed to make it to the title game. Carter, who needs just 29 points to become the 47th player in school history to reach 1,000 for his career, posted 24 and 21 points in the league tournament against the Orange and Hoyas, respectively, but even though he is averaging 17.2 ppg this season, he is no stranger to having subpar efforts, such as the three-point game he had versus Cincinnati. Falls, who owns the school record for three-point baskets (329) and is also first in league history with 189 triples over his four years with the squad, shot 40.4 percent out on the perimeter this season overall, leading to his 15.4 ppg. Rob Kurz, who leads the team with eight double-doubles, averaged 12.6 ppg and a team-best 7.9 rpg to give the Irish some strength inside. Luke Harangody (11.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg) and Tory Jackson (7.7 ppg, team-high 136 assists) made their way onto the All Big East Freshman Team with their efforts as well.
© 2007 The Sports Network
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