by Leprechaun Express & Steve Welsh
“This year of sweeping change for Notre Dame passed another mile marker Saturday with the Blue and Gold spring game.The 20,000 or so fans that took in the two-hour intra-squad scrimmage at Notre Dame Stadium on a bright day got a glimpse of a promising first-year starting quarterback and a taste of the schemes being implemented by new coordinators on both sides of the ball. …”
“Ian Book finished 17-for-22 for 277 yards and one touchdown and Daelin Hayes had seven tackles with three sacks to lead Gold to a 27-14 win over Blue in the annual Blue-Gold Game at Notre Dame Stadium (20,147). …”
“… Inconsistent decision-maker. Showed dreadful lapses in judgement that lead to interceptions. Too willing to make off-balanced heaves. Benched against Stanford. Had at least one interception in 15 of his 23 starts. …”
“Notre Dame (30-3) will open Friday against 16th-seeded Robert Morris in South Bend, Ind. The Irish enter on a 14-game winning streak that includes their fourth consecutive ACC tournament title, defeating Duke 84-61 in the championship game.
Junior forward Brianna Turner leads the Irish in scoring (15.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.2), while the backcourt tandem of Arike Ogunbowale and Marina Mabrey averages 15.1 and 14.2 points, respectively.
Robert Morris (22-10) beat Bryant 65-52 on Sunday to win the Northeast Conference tournament. Leading scorer Anna Niki Stamolamprou (16.5 ppg) scored 23 points in the victory.
Notre Dame would face No. 8 seed Green Bay or No. 9 Purdue in the second round Sunday in South Bend. The Irish could be in line to avenge last year’s loss to Stanford before the Final Four. The Cardinal are seeded second in the Lexington Region. …”
“… #NotreDame (4-8) … struggled to keep up with No. 12 USC (9-3), dropping its season finale, 45-27, on Saturday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Notre Dame held a 7-3 lead in the first quarter, but USC quickly regained a 10-7 lead and did not trail for the remaining three-plus quarters. The Irish were within 10 points in the third quarter, but Notre Dame’s two turnovers proved to be too much to overcome on the road against a top-15 opponent. …”