SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – Not much has gone right for Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament since being trounced by Arizona in a Sweet 16 game in 2003.
The Fighting Irish have won only two games in six tournament appearances since then. Five of those losses came when the Irish were the higher-seeded team, four were by double digits. Winthrop, Old Dominion and Xavier are among the teams that have ousted Notre Dame.
The Irish (29-5) don’t want to hear about any of that.
“We still want to rewrite history here at Notre Dame,” leading scorer Jerian Grant said. “I feel like we’ve done something so far, but just to be able to go to the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight, get a chance to play against Kentucky and do something special there would mean a lot.”
Notre Dame basketball doesn’t have a storied history like its football program. Its biggest claim to fame was ending UCLA’s 88-game winning streak in 1974 with a 71-70 upset. The next biggest accomplishment was the 1978 Final Four team with a roster that featured eight future NBA players, including Bill Laimbeer and Orlando Woolridge. The next biggest achievement might have been winning the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament this past Saturday.