It’s not a team that will make Irish fans sprint to the ticket window, but Notre Dame has no complaints about Oral Roberts, its first-round opponent in the National Invitation Tournament.
The Irish (14-13) will play the Golden Eagles (21-6) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Joyce Center in South Bend, Ind. The winner will play Alabama-Birmingham or Texas Christian.
Other local teams in the 32-team field are Bradley (16-12), which plays host to Drexel (22-8); Michigan (19-11), which hosts Miami (16-12), and Michigan State, which faces George Washington (16-13) in East Lansing.
“I was just thrilled to hear we’re in–and especially that we’re playing at home,” said Notre Dame forward Pat Garrity. “This is something new to me. I’m usually packing up my stuff this time of year.”
A first-round loss to Syracuse in the Big East tournament left the Irish packing their bags Wednesday. The 18-point defeat made skeptics question how Notre Dame had swept the conference awards for coach and player of the year.
“Our kids got no respect last year–absolutely none,” said coach John MacLeod. “We have a smart group, and they remember how they were treated. There are still some people who don’t respect us, so we have a lot to accomplish.”
Getting an NIT bid is one impressive accomplishment considering Notre Dame’s last postseason appearance was in 1992, when the Irish reached the NIT finals.
“We’re very happy about this,” MacLeod said. “We feel like we deserve it. We don’t feel like we backed into it because we’re Notre Dame. Now it’s up to us to show that we do belong in the NIT.”
Notre Dame is 12-3 at home this season, but Oral Roberts should present a challenge. The Golden Eagles have beaten Arkansas, Valparaiso and Oklahoma State. Their losses were to Villanova, Tulsa, Northern Iowa, Northeastern Illinois, LSU and Illinois-Chicago.
Oral Roberts shot just under 49 percent this season and held opponents to 64 points per game.
Aside from the numbers, Oral Roberts is an unknown commodity.
“It’s kind of refreshing to play a team we know nothing about,” Garrity said. “And, hopefully, they know nothing about us.”
They should know enough to use a zone to defend Garrity. That’s what Syracuse did to limit the Big East MVP to 10 points.
“That (loss) would have left us with a lot to think about over the summer,” Garrity said. “Now we have a chance to redeem ourselves.”
Said MacLeod: “It was an upsetting loss, but as I told the players, we can’t feel sorry for ourselves, because nobody else does.”
