Aug. 30, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 1999-2000 University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team will play a minimum of 12 games against teams that participated in the 1999 NCAA Championship, including two games against national champion Connecticut and one against Final Four participant Ohio State.

The 1999-2000 Irish schedule, which was released on Monday afternoon, also sees the Irish playing a minimum of four games against teams that played in the 1999 National Invitation Tournament.

Notre Dame, under the direction of first-year head coach Matt Doherty, will open the season in the 1999 Preseason NIT at 8:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Nov. 16, at Final Four participant Ohio State. That game will be televised nationally on ESPN2. Notre Dame’s advancement in the Preseason NIT will determine that exact number of games played against ’99 postseason teams.

The Preseason NIT continues with the second round on Thursday, Nov. 18, and the semifinals and finals held at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Tuesday and Thursday, Nov. 24 and 26.

Notre Dame will open its fifth season as a member of the BIG EAST Conference at 7:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Jan. 5, taking on defending national champion Connecticut in the Hartford Civic Center.

The 1999-2000 season marks a change in the BIG EAST scheduling format as teams play 16 conference games, instead of 18.

Notre Dame’s games against NCAA tournament teams are: at Ohio State (Nov. 16), at Indiana (Nov. 30), vs. Valparaiso (Dec. 8), at Miami (Ohio) (Dec. 11), two games against Connecticut (away on Jan. 5 and home on Feb. 12), two games against Syracuse (away on Jan. 16 and home on March 1), two games against Miami (Fla.) (home on Jan. 25 and away on Feb. 26), vs. St. John’s (Jan. 29) and at Villanova (Feb. 8).

Games against ’99 NIT teams are: at Rutgers (Jan. 18), at Seton Hall (Feb. 19), vs. Providence (Feb. 23) and at Georgetown (March 4).

Notre Dame will make at least four national television appearances with the Ohio State game on ESPN2 and ESPN games at Seton Hall (Feb. 19), at Miami (Fla.) (Feb. 26) and home against Syracuse (March 1).

The Irish will start the season with a pair of exhibition games with a contest against a foreign exhibition team at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 5, and a game against Marathon at 7:30 p.m. on Thurs., Nov. 11. Both those contests will be played on the Joyce Center on the Notre Dame campus.