The Road Less Successful

Despite not having a "quality" road win, Notre Dame made another first this season, cracking the ESPN Power 16 poll. The Irish are 16th in the poll which is a composite of all the ballots from a panel of ESPN.com experts. It does not reflect any one individual's picks. Below is this week’s poll.

ESPN Power 16:

1. North Carolina (26-2), 3 (RPI)
2. Memphis (27-1), 2 (RPI)
3. Tennessee (24-3), 1 (RPI)
4. UCLA (23-3), 9 (RPI)
5. Texas (23-4), 4 (RPI)
6. Kansas (24-3), 8 (RPI)
7. Duke (24-3), 5 (RPI)
8. Xavier (24-4), 6 (RPI)
9. Stanford (22-4), 20 (RPI)
10. Georgetown (23-4), 10 (RPI)
11. Louisville (22-6), 12 (RPI)
12. Wisconsin (23-4), 13 (RPI)
13. Indiana (24-4), 18 (RPI)
14. Connecticut (22-6), 11 (RPI)
15. Vanderbilt (24-4), 7 (RPI)
16. Notre Dame (21-5), 21 (RPI)

Here’s what ESPN’s Andy Glockner had to say about the Irish:

“Thursday's game at Louisville is a huge quality check on ND's ultimate upside. The Irish are just 5-5 away from the impenetrable Joyce Center and haven't beaten a surefire NCAA Tournament team away from home all season. Can the Irish and their "live 3 or die" philosophy get it done? It actually could be up to the D, which has been very porous lately.”

Andy, Andy, Andy, you sure kick below the belt don’t ya? Well I decided to look further into this issue and see what the other Power 16 has done on the road. After compiling all of this, I’m not too impressed. Here are the road wins for each of the Power 16 against the RPI’s Top 50.

Tennessee (Xavier, Memphis)
Memphis (none; The Tigers have 2 neutral site wins over Oklahoma and UConn in NYC)
UNC (Ohio State, Clemson, Miami)
Texas (UCLA, Oklahoma, Baylor, Kansas St.)
Duke (UNC)
Xavier (UMass, Dayton)
Vanderbilt (none; Vandy’s best win on the road is at Georgia [139 RPI])
Kansas (USC)
UCLA (Stanford, Washington St.)
Georgetown (West Virginia)
UConn (Indiana, Syracuse)
Louisville (UNLV, Marquette, Pitt)
Wisconsin (Texas, Indiana, Ohio State)
Indiana (Southern Illinois, Ohio State)
Stanford (Washington State, Arizona)
Notre Dame (none; The Irish beat Kansas State in NYC)

So before you spout off again Andy, you better check your facts! It will always come back and bite ya in the ass.

GO IRISH!