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Stadium:
Joyce Center
No college basketball arena in the nation has had a glossier list of upset victories more distinctly stamped onto its wooden floorboards than Notre Dame's Edmund P. Joyce Center. The University's Board of Trustees voted in May of 1987 to re-name the athletic arena named originally as the Athletic and Convocation Center after Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., who retired that month as the University's executive vice president and chairman of the faculty board on athletics. The upset tradition began in 1971 when an Austin Carr-led Irish squad pinned the only defeat of the season on one of John Wooden's powerhouse NCAA champion UCLA teams. It continued three years later when Notre Dame concocted a miracle rally to pull the curtain on the Bruins' all-time record 88-game victory streak. It climaxed, perhaps, in unprecedented fashion, when NBC Sports awarded its MVP nod to the Notre Dame student body for its role in the Fighting Irish upset over top-ranked and unbeaten San Francisco in 1977.

Team History:
Notre Dame has success in other sports also. The men's basketball team has made 28 NCAA Tournament appearances and made it to the Final Four in 1978. They are also known for ending UCLA's 88-game winning streak in 1974, a streak which had begun after Notre Dame had previously ended UCLA's 45-game winning streak in 1971. Notre Dame's women's basketball team, coached by Muffet McGraw, also has made numerous tournament appearances, and won the National Championship in 2001 by beating Purdue 68-66.

Season Preview:
Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis possesses a healthy ego, but even he knows his limitations. Weis, who won three Super Bowl rings as the New England Patriots' offensive coordinator, knows that although he can impart his encyclopedic knowledge of offensive football to freshman quarterback Jimmy Clausen, the man who didn't play college football himself can't make Clausen understand the pressures of playing for the Fighting Irish, especially when you're the No. 1 recruit in the country. New quarterbacks coach Ron Powlus, however, can. Powlus, who was promoted to quarterbacks coach after Peter Vaas was fired, was Clausen 13 years ago. The Berwick, Pa. native had such a prolific high school career that he had Notre Dame fans talking about not one but multiple Heisman trophies before he stepped foot on campus. Although Powlus started four years and broke 20 school records, he never quite lived up to those expectations, never winning a Heisman or a national championship. But he lived through the experience, which makes him a valuable asset.

Official Site:
und.cstv.com