The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is officially under way as Notre Dame and Northeastern kick off the first game. Hope is high as all 68 teams enter with a clean slate ready to be the Cinderella underdog story. This game could certainly be a factor in that storyline as Notre Dame enters as a generous No. 3 seed while Northeastern if the No. 14 seed that no one is counting on to do much of anything.
Expectations are high for the Fighting Irish as they suffered a few ugly stumbles this season in the ACC. The team has not been in the tournament since 2009. Last year they had 17 losses in the season while not getting past the first round in their introduction to the ACC conference tournament. This year they hope to turn things around after getting 29 wins, the most since head coach Mike Brey was hired in 2000. The team made noise in this year's ACC tournament, winning the entire thing. It was a nice redemption story after last season, but can they capitalize off the momentum?
The Irish are expected to go deep into the tournament as a darkhorse for the Elite 8. However, Notre Dame cannot afford to read into expectations this year as they open against Northeastern who is fresh off a Colonial Athletic Association championship. Falling in the first round would ruin all of the success Notre Dame had this year in the ACC. They will be led by Jerian Grant who returned for his senior season to put up 16.8 points per game while Pat Connaughton had 12.8 points per game and a team-leading 7.8 rebounds.
Northeastern wants to be that Cinderella team that plays upset in the first round. The team is making their third appearance in the tournament as the No. 14 seed. They lost the previous two, but look to teams like Mercer and Harvard who have been in that position before and beaten the higher-ranked team in the first round. Northeastern would be the latest underdog story if they can pull it off. Notre Dame has been subjected to upsets in the past and could certainly fall once again.
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