March 16--SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- After Notre Dame shocked Tobacco Road by winning the ACC tournament championship on Saturday night, the only question that remained was if the Irish had done enough in the eyes of the NCAA committee to move up from their projected No. 3 seed before the tournament started.
The answer Sunday was no, with the Irish earning a No. 3 seed in the Midwest region to face No. 14 seed Northeastern in Pittsburgh on Thursday.
The Irish also had another bit of misfortune in that the committe placed them in the same region as No. 1 overall seed Kentucky.
Notre Dame's record of 29-5 might merit top one or two seed consideration at first blush, but the Irish were likely docked for a nonconference schedule that rated among the weakest in the country. That wasn't a concern for coach Mike Brey before the season and the Irish's seed wasn't a concern after the Irish knocked off North Carolina on Saturday.
"I told our guys, don't worry about the seed," Brey said. "We'll go wherever they send us to play. ... Our non league schedule is a thing that people will be critical of. When you lose 17 games (last season), I didn't put a non league schedule together thinking, well, I want to get a 2 seed instead of a 3 seed.
"I'm hoping and praying and lighting candles at the Grotto to be an 11 seed in freaking Dayton, so I could care less. We needed to get confident, and we did get confident with it."
The Irish have not made the Sweet 16 since 2003 so just as important as the Irish's meeting with the Huskies is how Notre Dame matches up with its potential opponents in the Round of 32.
Joining the Irish in Pittsburgh will be No. 11 Texas and No. 6 Butler.
Texas made the tournament despite an 8-10 conference record, but according to kenpom.com, the Longhorns boast the fourth-best effective field-goal percentage, an advanced metric that weighs 3-pointers more than regular field-goal percentage.
Butler, meanwhile, was 22-10 in the Big East and owns the 10th most efficient defense in the country.
