I agree with you louky. I'm looking at Thursday's game as a probable loss for us - the good thing about it is that it's at L'Ville, so unless ND gets completely reamed, it won't be looked at as a bad loss. I think you definitely deserve at least a 3 if you win out, and if you hit the finals, you're definitely a 2. I'm not sure why the Cardinals are so underrated nationally (in particular, why ND is ranked ahead of them in the coaches' poll). On the flip side, if ND wins the game and then beats the crap teams (DePaul, St John's and USF) to finish the season, that'd be 25-5 (15-3) and would have to be at least a 3, meaning the committee would probably give ND a 5 and ship them to the West Coast to play against the best 4-seed. Either way, Thursday's game promises to be the best of the year in the Big East.