Notre Dame vs North Carolina Game Tonight

[tneun89]

Irish open the season in Chapel Hill against #9 UNC at 6:00 p.m. CST on ACC Network tonight.

Tar Heels are favored by 11, but are replacing all five starters and a couple of key guys who came off the bench last year. Although, they are replacing those guys with a couple of 5-stars and other highly rated guys.

I think ND actually has a chance. UNC is a young team playing their first real game together. Not sure they'll pull of the win, but I like them to cover.

[irishrush]

Hope springs eternal for us each year!
I am looking forward to seeing much better basketball this year.
We've got some good pieces, just not enough I think.

[tneun89]

Originally Posted by irishrush

Hope springs eternal for us each year!
I am looking forward to seeing much better basketball this year.
We've got some good pieces, just not enough I think.

Agreed. They were so young last year, and the loss of Pflueger really hurt. I have never been a big fan, but he was a leader on the court early in the season and losing him really threw some of the freshman into the fire. I think ND is a tournament team this year. Mooney is a first-team ACC player. Durham should be improved this year and help down low. Hopefully Hubb takes the next step - I was impressed with him at the end of last season. Gibbs is the key for me. He really regressed from his sophomore year to his junior year. A large part of that was probably self-imposed, as he felt like he needed to be "the guy" after Farrell and Colson left. His shooting was ugly last year and he made a lot of bad decisions. If he can return to his sophomore form, I think ND can make the tournament.

[Domers23]

After watching the 2 exhibition games, I’m laying the 11 with UNC all day long. Lol. I hope I’m wrong, but I didn’t see much to warrant taking the points. ND will hang, if they move the ball well and hit open shots. If they don’t, it will be a long night.

[tneun89]

31-30 ND up at half.

They are shooting a lot of threes (half their FG attempts so far), and Gibbs and Hubb are both shooting it really well. Nobody else is standing out. The three sophomores - Laszewski, Carmody, and Goodwin - are 0-7 combined. Pflueger looks off, but that's to be expected in his first real game back. Durham in foul trouble early, but he looked improved when he was on the court. ND actually has some size with him and Mooney. Hopefully they can find a way to get Mooney more involved - don't know if they can win just jacking up threes.

[irishrush]

It felt like we were getting blown out. Had a nice run towards the end of the half.
The other guys seem like they are 0-20 from 3. They are getting good shots just clanging them.
Hopefully the rest of it comes together in the second half.

Shame, we were close with Anthony and the one transfer from W&M. Anthony probably was a pipe dream, but the transfer would have been nice.