MBB: ESPN’s Lunardi Predicts Notre Dame as 12 Seed in NCAA Tournament

As the 2016-2017 season kicks off, Notre Dame looks to create the same success they’ve had in the past. Unfortunately, not everyone believes in the Irish.

ESPN college basketball analyst, Joe Lunardi created his annual Preseason Bracketology, predicting the 2016-2017 NCAA Tournament field. As teams like Duke and North Carolina fill out the top spots in the bracket, one team seemed to slide much farther down than most expect them to. Lunardi has Notre Dame as the 12 seed in Midwest.

With back-to-back elite eight appearances in the last two seasons, Irish fans believe this team has the potential to go even further in 2017. Apparently, not everyone has as much faith in the Fighting Irish.

Not only does Lunardi have the Irish as a 12 seed, but he has them in a play-in game against SMU. Both Notre Dame and SMU may take offense from Lunardi’s prediction, as SMU finished 25th in the AP Polls at the end of last season, and Notre Dame finished 17th in the final rankings of the year.

In this preseason prediction, Notre Dame will face 5th seeded St. Mary’s. If they make it through the round of 62, they’ll play either fourth-seeded Purdue or 13th seeded UNC Wilmington.

MBB: 5 Things We Learned in Win Over Bryant

Lunardi has the Irish in one of the harder regions of the tournament. With Kansas as the one seed and Virginia as the two, Notre Dame would most likely have to play both to get to the Final Four. Third-seeded Wisconsin, sixth-seeded Creighton, eighth-seeded Florida, and ninth-seeded Butler also from the predicted Midwest region.

If this is the bracket Notre Dame ends up with come March, they could be in for a tough road to the Final Four. Even if teams like Florida or Butler fall into an eighth and ninth seed, they are always two of the hardest teams to play come March. Although it’s hard to say whether or not St. Mary’s will be a tough game, being a fifth seed needed to come from somewhere.

Within this Preseason Bracketology, Lunardi has Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, and Oregon headlining the one seeds. Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Villanova highlight the two seeds. Along with St. Mary’s offbeat seeding, Lunardi has Rhode Island as a six seed and Maryland falling into an eight seed.

Being one game into the season make it’s a little difficult to tell how well this prediction is doing. If the NCAA Tournament does shape up this way, the Irish will need to have a much stronger fight in order to reach the elite eight again.

Of course, they aren’t in search of an exit any earlier than a National Championship. If Lunardi is right, the Irish will be looking to become the highest seed ever to win a NCAA Tournament. But don’t expect Notre Dame to fall that far this season.