Louisville/Notre Dame Preview

After splitting last week's pair of games in New York, Louisville returns home to Freedom Hall this evening to face a Notre Dame team desperate for a win to revive their fading NCAA Tournament hopes.

Here are the major storylines:

--The playing status of All-American Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody is still up in the air. 

Harangody missed the Fighting Irish's loss to St. John's on Sunday because of a deep knee bruise. For his career, 'Gody is averaging over 28 ppg against the Cardinals, and 34 ppg inside Freedom Hall.

--For most of the season, the Fighting Irish have been one of the nation's best teams when it comes to taking care of the ball, but that hasn't been the case during their current two-game slide.

In last week's loss at Seton Hall, Notre Dame committed 14 turnovers. They turned it over 13 more times in the loss to St. John's. Those 27 combined turnovers are the most in a two-game conference stretch this season and the most overall since the Irish had 30 against Bucknell and Providence in late December. Still, heading into tonight Notre Dame ranks second in the Big East in assists (18.04) and first in assist/turnover ratio (1.73). Guards Ben Hansbrough and Tory Jackson rank first and third in the league and third and ninth, respectively, in the nation for assist-turnover ratio     

Notre Dame's ability to take care of the ball and find the open scorer on the break has made the Irish a tough matchup for the pressing Cardinals since Louisville made the jump to the Big East. If they can't find the remedy for the turnover troubles that have plagued them over the past two games, then it's unlikely they'll escape Freedom Hall with a much-needed victory. 

--Injured Louisville forward Reginald Delk will play this evening, but no word on whether or not he will return to the starting lineup. 

--Though Notre Dame has been known as a team who is great at home and not-so-great on the road for the past couple of seasons, the Irish have been tough inside Freedom Hall, taking Louisville to overtime in 2007 and 2009, and falling to the Cardinals by a score of 90-85 in 2008. 

--The job security of Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey has recently been called into question by Fighting Irish supporters. 

Brey fired back at his detractors on Tuesday. 

"I told someone the other day," Brey said during a conference call, "the decade before we got here, how many times was the fan base thinking about "bracketology" in mid-February? Once.

"Nine of 10 years, we've been in the mix playing for the right things. And I'm very happy about how we do business."

Brey has guided the Irish to five NCAA tournament berths and four NITs in his nine seasons. This year's team is a long shot to make the field of 65 after it fell to 17-9 and 6-7 in the Big East following losses to Seton Hall and St. John's.

Brey said his track record is solid, especially considering how his predecessors fared.

"Where were you? Where were you?" Brey asked about the program before he arrived.    

--Louisville is a 12-point favorite.

--Notre Dame is surrendering a whopping 77.3 ppg on the road. 

--With Pittsburgh and Georgetown looming next, expect to hear "must win" tossed around early and often tonight on ESPN in regards to Notre Dame's postseason hopes.