Lot of stuff going on... Sweet 16 for both Men and Womens Basketball Frozen Four for Men's Hockey.. next vs Michigan Lacrosse both men and women doing well Softball doing great Baseball struggling big time, thought this might be a turn the corner year. Football Recruiting for Feb 2017 class heating up. And of course Spring Football is going on right now. All eyes on the QB competition, Zaire in another battle to get to be the starter. Here's an interview he gave...he's not 100% but he's got a lot of faith in himself. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/notre-dames-zaire-frustrated-quarterback-competition-195632243--ncaaf.html
ND <t>Slightly off topic but anyone else paying attention to the new NFL rule banning all "cut blocks". Hopefully this rule makes it way quickly to NCAA football. Might just make the annual Navy games a little less lethal for our players lower extremities.</t>
Well...Irish to the Big 10... I didn't think I'd ever say that, and truthfully I didn't think the Big 10 would ever have ND as a partial member in any sport.
Although many on NDNation and Mgoblog would disagree, I think the move is a win-win for all involved. ND saves on travel costs and resumes old hockey rivalries with long time rivals. For the B10, the addition of ND in hockey significantly improves the quality of the conference. The unanswered question is that an 8th hockey team needs to be added. Univ of Nebraska at Omaha or, even better, North Dakota would be attractive options.
Maybe the CCHA never should have been blown up, if Big10 Hockey is going to start adding non-Big10 teams?
The bylaws of the B10 forced the creation of the B10 hockey conference once PSU went from club to varsity status. The result was horrible. Minnesota and Wisconsin fans would overwhelmingly prefer to be back in the old WCHA and most MSU and M fans prefer the old CCHA to the B10 hockey conference as it is presently constituted. But, the toothpaste can't be put back in the tube and the only viable course is to expand the B10 hockey conference to a viable and vibrant entity. Adding ND helps and if they could get another blue chip school like North Dakota, the B10 would be an excellent hockey conference. The conference allows affiliate members e.g. John Hopkins is a B10 member in lacrosse
Are there any indications that North Dakota would be interested in moving to the B10? Any interest in adding some of the old CCHA members?
In other news reports are that CJ Sanders suffered a hip injury that will require Surg. Should be back 100% for Aug.
Mykelti Williams, safety from Indy, will transfer and is no longer participating in Spring Drills. The practice reports haven't been glowing with him and maybe he didn't see a future at ND even though Safety is a thin position. Of course he could be just unhappy at ND in general, academics, social, etc.
Good article on the move to the B10 in Hockey from the Star Tribune. http://www.startribune.com/notre-dame-to-join-big-ten-in-hockey/373137251/ We will play in Hockey East next year though.
Chop blocking where one guy stands up the defensive guy and a 2nd guy cuts him low (below the knee) is illegal in the NCAA. If you just cut the defensive guy that's legal and the problem when facing a service academy team.
TOK, Only internet chatter re North Dakota. A BIG rep was quoted as stating that there is no active plan to add an 8th team but for scheduling and for a conference tournament, 8 is easier to do than 7. Most of the writers I have read believe additional teams will be added. Other names that have been thrown out are one of the Minnesota colleges, Miami of Ohio or Arizona State when they go to varsity status although I suspect traveling costs might make that questionable.
ND <r>Terry,<br/> <br/> You're right on the chop blocking. After I looked at it again I realized I was wrong on my assumption. Oh well, we're still stuck with navy injuring our players every year same as before. <E>:roll:</E></r>
ND baseball beat Va Tech today 16-4. Look at this line for Jake Shepski, switch-hitting sophomore IF/OF/P/DH.....3 HR, 3B, 2B, 9 RBI, 4 R, 17 total bases. He bats 6th in the lineup.
Don, I don't follow team stats. At least in this game, no one was better. Here are some interesting aspects of his performance. Note the 2 firsts in ND baseball history:
Irish have a game tonight with Oregon, first baseball game ever with the Ducks. I was wondering why Oregon would come all the way to South Bend for 1 game, but they have a 3 game series starting tomorrow with Mich State. So that makes a little more sense.
ND <t>looking at some of the practice video so far I don't feel we'll have much if any drop off on the receivers side. We have a great group coming back and I really like the look of the freshman Stepherson.</t>