Monday DBR: Taking the Fight to the Irish

Good morning everyone and welcome to another week in Baylor sports. Today, we will be focusing on the Elite Eight match-up between the Baylor Lady Bears and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. This week is also the final week of spring practice for the Big 12 Champions (I will never tire of saying that), which will culminate in the Spring Game this Saturday. I haven't heard anything on the time for that yet, but I would assume late morning/early afternoon. Finally, we've got several other sports that were in action and I know y'all want to hear how they did. Lass uns gehen!

Notre Dame Cometh

So, uh, there's no BaylorBears.com preview for this game. Interesting. Just kidding, here it is. There is a "Get To Know Your Bears" video up though, so go check that out. Here's an AP preview to tide you over.

There's no two ways about this one; the Baylor Lady Bears are the underdog going into tonight. Notre Dame have had a perfect season up until this point with their closest victory coming at Virginia, 79-72. These girls can score too. A quick glance at their schedule reveals only one game in which they scored less than 70 points; they scored 69. It also would seem that their margin of victory is well over 10 points, even if the patsy games at the beginning of the year are excluded. Their best wins are three against Duke and one at Tennessee. The average margin of victory for those four games is about 16 points. These gals haven't been in a close game all year.

Baylor, on the other hand, has had its share of loses this year, although they all came against quality teams (except Kansas; that loss is still baffling). Unlike Notre Dame, Baylor has been in close games this season and that experience might prove crucial if the game goes down to the wire.

Watch out for senior guard Kayla McBride and sophomore guard Jewell Loyd. A finalist for the Wooden Award and the Wade Trophy will have an impact on the court, much less two of them on the same team. Baylor does have its own finalist to match in Odyssey Sims.

This game will either be thrilling or painful. Unfortunately, I highly doubt that Baylor will be blowing out Notre Dame on their own floor, which means a win for the Lady Bears will come by a slim margin. The Irish clearly have a record of rolling over opponents this year, although I don't think that will happen tonight. It'll be a hard-fought game regardless of the outcome. Just remember this: the last team to beat Notre Dame on their home court was, you guessed it, the Baylor Lady Bears (5. Dec. 2012). Additionally, Baylor has never lost (4-0) to the Irish. Let's keep it that way tonight, Lady Bears!

The game starts at 6:30 on ESPN.

Other Baylor News

No. 12 SB Caps Sweep with 2-0 Win over Texas Tech - BaylorBears.com

Whitney Canion pitched another shutout and Clare Hosack hit another home run as the Lady Bears swept Texas Tech on a windy Lubbock day. Baylor now have 35 home runs in 33 games. These ladies can hit!

No. 29 Baseball Falls to West Virginia, 4-1 - BaylorBears.com

Unfortunately, the Bears continue to struggle on the road. The game was tied, 1-1, going into the sixth inning. However, two home runs from the Mountaineers spelled doom for the Bears. Normally reliable, Austin Stone just happened to have a bad day, as he gave up fours runs - just the third time in seven starts that he has given up multiple runs.

Men's Tennis Sweeps Abilene Christian, 7-0 - BaylorBears.com

Men's Tennis destroyed Abilene Christian to record their tenth shutout of the season. Baylor was also scheduled to play Prairie View A&M yesterday, but that game was canceled.

Opening Day

America's Pastime returns today. Baseball fans everywhere rejoice! I think it is safe to assume that most everyone on this blog has a leaning towards either the Rangers or the Astros. Rivalries make for good discussion, as long as we can all agree that the Yankees suck.

SB Nation has a massive preview up. They've got the Rangers winning the AL West and the Astros, well...

The Rangers host the Phillies at The Ballpark In Arlington Globe Life Park in Arlington at 1:05 on FSSW. The Astros host the Yankees at Minute Maid Park at 6:10 on YES and Comcast SportsNet Houston.