Sept. 7, 2006
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Notre Dame, Ind. – An appearance in the National Invitation Tournament Season Tip-Off, non-conference matchups with Alabama and Maryland and nine national television appearances highlight the 2006-07 Notre Dame men’s basketball schedule.
Notre Dame will open up play at the 2006 NIT Season Tip-off against Butler on Nov. 13 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. The doubleheader format also will feature Lafayette and Indiana at the same site with the losers and winners of both games squaring off the following evening on Nov. 14.
The NIT Season Tip-Off moves to a doubleheader “common site” format following featuring four regional sites in — East (Charlotte, N.C.), South (Nashville, Tenn.), Midwest (Indianapolis, Ind.) and West (Spokane, Wash.). In addition to Notre Dame, Butler, Indiana and Lafayette, the 12 other participating schools include Baylor, Belmont, Colorado State, Fordham, Gonzaga, Iona, North Carolina, North Carolina-Wilmington, Rice, Sacred Heart, Tennessee and Winthrop.
The semifinals and consolation/championship contests will be played at Madison Square Garden Nov. 22 and 24. Notre Dame will be making its first appearance since 1999 in the preseason NIT event when it earned a berth in the semifinals.
The Irish slate features 10 non-conference home games that include a matchup with Alabama on ESPN on Thursday, December 7. The two schools met twice last season in Tuscaloosa with Notre Dame earning a 78-71 victory. Notre Dame will play Maryland in a single game of the BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 3. The Irish won the championship in 2002 when it was four-team format, defeating defending national champion Maryland and Texas that year en route to the tournament crown.
In addition to the game against Alabama, the Irish will play on ESPN in home games against Villanova (Jan. 27) and Providence (Feb. 15) and road games at DePaul (Feb. 8) and Rutgers (Mar. 3). Notre Dame will appear on ESPN2 in home games against West Virginia (Jan. 9) and DePaul (Feb. 20) and at Syracuse (Jan. 30). ABC will televise Notre Dame’s matchup against at the Joyce Center against Marquette on Feb. 23.
Coach Mike Brey’s squad opens up the ’06-’07 against IPFW on Nov. 10 which will mark the second time in three years that the Mastodons have made a visit to the Joyce Center and the third straight year that the two school have met. It will mark the first of our home games for the Irish during the month of November.
Former Irish captain Billy Taylor returns to his alma mater on Nov. 27 when he brings his Lehigh squad to the Joyce Center on Nov. 27. Notre Dame closes out the first month of the season with a Nov. 29 contest against Winston-Salem State.
After its contest against Maryland, the Irish will play six consecutive non-conference home games beginning with the matchup against Alabama. Following that contest, the Irish will play Elon (Dec. 16), Portland (Dec. 19), Army (Dec. 21), Rider (Dec. 28) and Stony Brook (Dec. 30).
Notre Dame opens up the BIG EAST portion of the campaign at home against Louisville on Jan. 3 that marks the first of home games during the month of January. The other four home games will be West Virginia (Jan. 9), Seton Hall (Jan. 14), South Florida (Jan. 21) and Villanova (Jan. 27). The Irish road games will be at Georgetown (Jan. 6), Villanova (Jan. 17), St. John’s (Jan. 23) and Syracuse (Jan. 30).
Notre Dame’s longest road stretch of the season (three games) continues in the month of February with road games at South Florida (Feb. 3) and DePaul (Feb. 8). The third road game of the month will be played at Cincinnati (Feb. 18). The first of the three home games in February will be against Providence (Feb. 15) with back-to-back contests against DePaul (Feb. 20) and Marquette (Feb. 24) rounding out the month.
The final regular season game will be played at Rutgers (Mar. 3) before the BIG EAST Championship, Mar. 7-10.
“As usual, our schedule is very challenging,” says Brey, who will begin his seventh year at Notre Dame. “The work to meet those challenges started last spring, ran at a high level through the summer, and is in high gear with our preseason program right now. This group is in a great frame of mind to attack the marathon this is a college basketball season.”