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Irish Remain In The Polls

Feb. 19, 2001

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Irish managed to hang in the polls after yesterday’s loss to Seton Hall.

“For us this certainly isn’t the end of the world,” Irish head coach Mike Brey said about the 74-64 loss.

Notre Dame learned exactly that this morning with the release of both college basketball polls.

The Irish slid from the No. 14 position in the Associated Press poll to the No. 18 spot. They are ranked just slightly behind Syracuse by 23 points.

In the ESPN/USA Today poll, Notre Dame actually moved up from 21st to 18th. The Irish are just five points behind the Wisconsin Badgers and the No. 17 ranking.

Notre Dame is scheduled to take on 10th-ranked Boston College on Wednesday. The game could be a decisive factor in terms of who walks away with the Big East regular season championship.

Boston College currently ranks first in the East Division while Notre Dame sits atop the West Division.

“Our challenge is to address Sunday’s problems in time to see if we can capture a win on Wednesday,” Brey said.

Boston College is perhaps the biggest surprise in college basketball currently. The Eagles are 19-3 with the only losses coming at the hands of Duke, UConn and St. John’s.

When crunching the numbers, it is hard not to notice that the Eagles are far from spectacular on the road. In fact, BC is 4-3 on the road.

“I love where we are,” Brey said. “We are still in great position.”

Brey is in fact referring to the chance his team has to winning a Big East regular season title. A win on Wednesday would take his team a step closer to that.

The key is for the Irish to put Sunday’s loss behind them because Wednesday’s game provides an even bigger challenge.