Sept. 11, 2000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – First-year head coach Mike Brey and the 2000-01 Notre Dame men’s basketball team will embark on a 27-game schedule which includes eight NCAA tournament teams from last season. The Irish non-conference slate features matchups with Cincinnati at the Wooden Tradition at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., Indiana at the Joyce Center, and Kentucky at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.

The BIG EAST Conference will continue with a 16-game schedule during the regular-season, but the format for the postseason tournament will change to a 12-team field beginning this year. The league also will be split into two divisions (east and west) this season. Notre Dame’s will play in the West division which includes Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Syracuse and West Virginia. The teams from the other East division will be Boston College, Connecticut, Miami, Providence, St. John’s, Villanova and Virginia Tech.

During the regular season, the Irish will play each of their divisional opponents twice and then have four crossover games against St. John’s and Boston College at home and away contests versus Connecticut and Virginia. With the new scheduling format, Notre Dame will not play Miami, Providence and Villanova during the regular season.

The top six teams in each division will participate in the AT&T BIG EAST Championship at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y., March 7-10. The top two teams in each division will be awarded first-round byes. The first-round games will be cross-division matchups (the No. 3 seeds will play No. 6 seeds and the No.4 seeds will play the No. 5 seeds).

The Irish open up the campaign by playing eight of their first 10 games at home. The season opener is on Sat., Nov. 18 against Sacred Heart, followed by a matchup with Loyola of Chicago on Wed., Nov. 22.

Notre Dame plays back-to-back road games beginning with the inaugural Wooden Tradition against the Bearcats on Sat., Nov. 25. This will be the third meeting between the two teams with the Irish holding a 2-1 advantage in the series. The last time the two teams met was in the first round of the 1976 NCAA tournament with the Irish earning a 79-78 victory.

One week following that contest, Notre Dame travels to Nashville, Tenn., to play the Commodores of Vanderbilt. This will mark the third straight year the two schools have met. Vanderbilt has won three straight over the Irish, including last season’s 87-85 overtime decision at the Joyce Center.

The Irish then play six consecutive games at home to close out the month of December. Highlighting that six-game stretch is the Hoosiers’ return to the Joyce Center on Tue., Dec. 5, followed by a visit by Miami of Ohio on Sat., Dec. 9.

Notre Dame opens up the new year at Syracuse on Tue., Jan. 2 for the BIG EAST opener. That contest is followed by a home matchup against Rutgers on Sat., Jan. 6. Brey’s squad then meets Seton Hall on the road on Mon., Jan. 8.

The Irish take a break from conference play when they travel to Rupp Arena, in Lexington, Ky., to take on Kentucky. It will be Notre Dame’s first visit to Rupp Arena since the 1996-97 campaign as the Irish will look to end a six-game losing skid to the Wildcats.

The non-conference matchup at Kentucky is followed by three straight home games against BIG EAST foes Pittsburgh (Jan. 16), West Virginia (Jan. 21) and Syracuse (Jan. 23).

Notre Dame then plays four of its next six games on the road beginning with the West Virginia contests in Feb. 11, followed by a Feb. 14 visit to Rutgers. Home games against Seton Hall (Feb. 18) and Boston College (Feb. 21) follow before back-to-back road games against Virginia Tech (Feb. 24) and Connecticut (Feb. 24). The Irish close out the regular season at home against Georgetown on Sun., Mar. 4.

“I like the way our schedule has been put together,” Brey says. “Games with Cincinnati, Vanderbilt, Indiana and Kentucky are going to get us ready for the BIG EAST, and we’re going to use those contests to prepare for conference play. I like the fact that we shake up the BIG EAST with something outside the conference in January. Certainly going to Kentucky and playing at Rupp Arena is one of the ultimate stages for our players.”

Television coverage will be announced in the upcoming week.

2000-01 University of Notre Dame Men’s Basketball Schedule

HOME GAMES IN BOLD CAPS * – BIG EAST Conference game