nice post game article from cbs sports

[mivid12]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball...nage-to-survive

CHICAGO -- A No. 15 seed can beat a No. 2 seed. It won't happen every year or even every decade, but it can happen. It has happened. A No. 15 seed has beaten a No. 2 seed four times in the NCAA tournament.

Could have been five.

Could have been Friday when Akron played Notre Dame.

And I don't mean that in a cosmic sense -- that on any given day, any team can beat any other team. I'm not talking philosophical gobbledygook. I'm talking about Akron finding a way to squeeze off 17 more shots than Notre Dame on Friday, but missing most of them. I'm talking about Notre Dame's uncharacteristically sloppy ball-handling, which produced 14 turnovers. I'm talking about a rare mediocre game for Big East Player of the Year Ben Hansbrough.

I'm talking about second-seeded Notre Dame's 69-56 victory against No. 15 Akron. The Irish played poorly, frenetically. They were ripe for the upset but had the good fortune -- nothing more -- of running into an Akron team that picked the worst possible day to play its worst possible game.

"I don't know what to say about what just happened," Akron center Zeke Marshall said. "I don't have an explanation."

And even if he did, it wouldn't make sense. How do you make sense of Marshall, a 7-footer who shot 52.4 percent from the floor this season and was at least four inches taller than any Notre Dame player, missing 11 of his 13 shots? Almost all of them from point-blank range? Starting with a dunk on his first touch?

You can't explain it. You can't explain 6-6, 245-pound scoring machine Brett McKnight -- 10.3 ppg in just 18 minutes -- jumping over or bulling past Notre Dame defenders for 12 shots and missing nine of them. Or leading scorer Nikola Cvetinovic (11.9 ppg) shooting two air balls.

This was a missed opportunity for Akron, but it was a message for Notre Dame. And it was a message the Irish received.

"We're going to have to do a better job of playing our game," said Notre Dame forward Tyrone Nash. "At halftime Coach [Mike Brey] asked us what game we were playing, because it wasn't Notre Dame's game."

It certainly wasn't the kind of game that Notre Dame had been playing since mid-January, when the Irish won 12 of 13 in Big East play to rocket into contention for a No. 1 seed. The Irish are offensively efficient, defensively intense and tenacious on the backboards, but they were none of those through 30 minutes -- clinging to a 49-44 lead with less than 9½ minutes left because Akron just wasn't playing well enough to make them pay.

"I'm glad the halftime was 20 minutes, because we needed all of it just to kind of ratchet our blood pressure down a little bit," Brey said.

Said Hansbrough: "A lot of guys were excited to play in the NCAA tournament, and we lost our focus -- especially me. Every time I got the ball in the first half, I wanted to score. I did a better job running the team in the second half."

Marginally. Hansbrough tried nine shots in the first half (making four) -- but then tried just two in the second half, both by necessity at the end of the shot clock. Hansbrough finished with 15 points and six assists, but his game is somewhere between the extremes of each half, when he went from being the team's first scoring option to its last.

Tim Abromaitis and Eric Atkins provided the offensive efficiency the Irish needed to nullify Akron's enormous advantage in field-goal attempts (64 for Akron, 47 for Notre Dame). Going a combined 5 for 7 from 3-point range, Abromaitis and Atkins combined to score 22 points on just 10 shots from the floor. Carleton Scott provided the interior defense and rebounding, grabbing 14 rebounds -- all on the defensive end -- and adding three blocked shots and six steals. And Scott Martin scored seven points in seven minutes early in the second half, when Notre Dame was otherwise vulnerable.

"We were out of sync at times," Abromaitis said. "We have to clean it up a little bit, but it was good to get this game in. We were able to play through some issues, and now we're ready for whoever comes next."

Whoever it is, it won't be as undermanned as Akron. And maybe this should be said, too: Whoever it is probably won't get the same swallowed whistle that Akron got. The Zips went to the line a season-low six times, compared to 26 free throws for Notre Dame.

Friday was a day to survive, and Notre Dame did it. But there's nothing but big-boy basketball from here on out for the Irish. Play like they did Friday, and they can expect to get spanked.

And that's not what I noticed. That's what the Notre Dame coach noticed.

"I'm glad we won," Brey said. "We're in that mode of surviving and advancing. We'll watch some film of [our] forced offensive possessions, because if we have too many forced [possessions] on Sunday, we'll be done."

For more from Gregg Doyel, check him out on Twitter: @greggdoyelcbs

[UAZip0510]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball...nage-to-survive

CHICAGO -- A No. 15 seed can beat a No. 2 seed. It won't happen every year or even every decade, but it can happen. It has happened. A No. 15 seed has beaten a No. 2 seed four times in the NCAA tournament.

Could have been five.

Could have been Friday when Akron played Notre Dame.

And I don't mean that in a cosmic sense -- that on any given day, any team can beat any other team. I'm not talking philosophical gobbledygook. I'm talking about Akron finding a way to squeeze off 17 more shots than Notre Dame on Friday, but missing most of them. I'm talking about Notre Dame's uncharacteristically sloppy ball-handling, which produced 14 turnovers. I'm talking about a rare mediocre game for Big East Player of the Year Ben Hansbrough.

I'm talking about second-seeded Notre Dame's 69-56 victory against No. 15 Akron. The Irish played poorly, frenetically. They were ripe for the upset but had the good fortune -- nothing more -- of running into an Akron team that picked the worst possible day to play its worst possible game.

"I don't know what to say about what just happened," Akron center Zeke Marshall said. "I don't have an explanation."

And even if he did, it wouldn't make sense. How do you make sense of Marshall, a 7-footer who shot 52.4 percent from the floor this season and was at least four inches taller than any Notre Dame player, missing 11 of his 13 shots? Almost all of them from point-blank range? Starting with a dunk on his first touch?

You can't explain it. You can't explain 6-6, 245-pound scoring machine Brett McKnight -- 10.3 ppg in just 18 minutes -- jumping over or bulling past Notre Dame defenders for 12 shots and missing nine of them. Or leading scorer Nikola Cvetinovic (11.9 ppg) shooting two air balls.

This was a missed opportunity for Akron, but it was a message for Notre Dame. And it was a message the Irish received.

"We're going to have to do a better job of playing our game," said Notre Dame forward Tyrone Nash. "At halftime Coach [Mike Brey] asked us what game we were playing, because it wasn't Notre Dame's game."

It certainly wasn't the kind of game that Notre Dame had been playing since mid-January, when the Irish won 12 of 13 in Big East play to rocket into contention for a No. 1 seed. The Irish are offensively efficient, defensively intense and tenacious on the backboards, but they were none of those through 30 minutes -- clinging to a 49-44 lead with less than 9½ minutes left because Akron just wasn't playing well enough to make them pay.

"I'm glad the halftime was 20 minutes, because we needed all of it just to kind of ratchet our blood pressure down a little bit," Brey said.

Said Hansbrough: "A lot of guys were excited to play in the NCAA tournament, and we lost our focus -- especially me. Every time I got the ball in the first half, I wanted to score. I did a better job running the team in the second half."

Marginally. Hansbrough tried nine shots in the first half (making four) -- but then tried just two in the second half, both by necessity at the end of the shot clock. Hansbrough finished with 15 points and six assists, but his game is somewhere between the extremes of each half, when he went from being the team's first scoring option to its last.

Tim Abromaitis and Eric Atkins provided the offensive efficiency the Irish needed to nullify Akron's enormous advantage in field-goal attempts (64 for Akron, 47 for Notre Dame). Going a combined 5 for 7 from 3-point range, Abromaitis and Atkins combined to score 22 points on just 10 shots from the floor. Carleton Scott provided the interior defense and rebounding, grabbing 14 rebounds -- all on the defensive end -- and adding three blocked shots and six steals. And Scott Martin scored seven points in seven minutes early in the second half, when Notre Dame was otherwise vulnerable.

"We were out of sync at times," Abromaitis said. "We have to clean it up a little bit, but it was good to get this game in. We were able to play through some issues, and now we're ready for whoever comes next."

Whoever it is, it won't be as undermanned as Akron. And maybe this should be said, too: Whoever it is probably won't get the same swallowed whistle that Akron got. The Zips went to the line a season-low six times, compared to 26 free throws for Notre Dame.

Friday was a day to survive, and Notre Dame did it. But there's nothing but big-boy basketball from here on out for the Irish. Play like they did Friday, and they can expect to get spanked.

And that's not what I noticed. That's what the Notre Dame coach noticed.

"I'm glad we won," Brey said. "We're in that mode of surviving and advancing. We'll watch some film of [our] forced offensive possessions, because if we have too many forced [possessions] on Sunday, we'll be done."

For more from Gregg Doyel, check him out on Twitter: @greggdoyelcbs

- I think Notre Dame should be a bit lower of a seed and Akron a bit higher.

- It's incredible that Akron only shot 6 free throws in what was a very physical game.

- I can't help but think about how much of a missed opportunity this was. Akron has wide open and good looks all day, just couldn't convert on them.

[Quickzips]

Game was there for the taking. That is for sure. Simply can not miss that many big shots when a 2 seed is pretty much handing you an opportunity to pull off the upset. A lot to be excited about from this one though. Despite the fact that we are losing a lot of experience I think we have a TON of talent coming back. Zeke is right on the brink of taking that next big leap, Diggs has stepped up his game big time down the stretch, Abreu has shown a lot of talent for a true freshman. You still have a lot of young talent and some quality transfers on the bench that we haven't been able to hear from much all season. Like others have said, I think if Nik can somehow be swayed to stick around for his senior year, we should be able to do some serious damage next year. If not, we are still going to be a darn good team. The Zips are going to have a completely different look next year, and I for one am looking forward to it.

[ZippyforPresident]

Game was there for the taking. That is for sure. Simply can not miss that many big shots when a 2 seed is pretty much handing you an opportunity to pull off the upset. A lot to be excited about from this one though. Despite the fact that we are losing a lot of experience I think we have a TON of talent coming back. Zeke is right on the brink of taking that next big leap, Diggs has stepped up his game big time down the stretch, Abreu has shown a lot of talent for a true freshman. You still have a lot of young talent and some quality transfers on the bench that we haven't been able to hear from much all season. Like others have said, I think if Nik can somehow be swayed to stick around for his senior year, we should be able to do some serious damage next year. If not, we are still going to be a darn good team. The Zips are going to have a completely different look next year, and I for one am looking forward to it.

We had this one... And I agree with all that you've said QZ. I really believed we could have made a sweet sixteen run, because we are more athletic than Notre Dame U and we beat Florida State U in 08'. But I am very optimistic for October, we have a lot of good pieces in place. I really just want to say thanks to the team for fighting all year like they did. Hell, I remember praying we would beat Toledo after that dagger to EMU but we fought back and had a good shot at doing some major damage this season. We have a great program that this community needs to be proud of and that is something worth getting excited about. Keith Dambrot is a GREAT coach and as long as he's on our side we're going to have a program to be proud of. We played really good defense, just as a true Akron basketball team does but just went cold offensively. I think we beat ourselves, the effort was there, the defense was there, but we just couldn't get our WIDE open looks and bunnies to fall. We lost it for ourselves, Notre Dame didn't really have anything to do with beating us. Hell, we even shot 17 more shots than they did. This was truly a game we should have won.

And when an impartial reporter for CBS writes that the referees swallowed their whistles you know the house has the cards stacked against you. Notre Dame U was what we knew they were, a bunch of prissy little rich boys who whine a lot and get by on the name on the front of their jerseys. But let this be a wake up call. Akron basketball is coming back next year and they're coming back twice as determined and twice as strong. We're on the doorstep and on the verge of breaking it down for the nation to see. Today Akron soccer, tomorrow Akron basketball.

In the future, all of my extra money will be going to Akron basketball. We're gonna get this thing done.

[zippy5]

I'm honestly really excited for next year. Youtube Tom, don't let KD ever leave.

[Let'sGoZips94]

Next year is our year. Watch out.