Morning Links: Pitt Falls To The Irish, Skins Meet With Locker

Notre Dame Knocks Off Pitt at Home: It is never easy to beat the Pitt Panthers, and at home it is next to impossible, but the Notre Dame Fighting Irish refused to get overwhelmed, and did just that. The Irish just out shot the Panthers, particularly from the 3-point line, where they went an impressive 9-18. The Panthers had a small lead at halftime, but couldn’t keep up in the 2nd half with Notre Dame’s shooting. Pitt’s star guard Ashton Gibbs had a cold night, going just 4-13 from the field, including 1-5 from 3-point land. Gibbs who is automatic from the charity stripe never made it to the line, which led to some poor free throw shooting for the Panthers. Outside of forward Gilbert Brown who was 6-6, the Panthers made a pitiful 3 of 10 from the rest of the team combined. The Irish were led by Ben Hansbrough, who had 19 points and 7 assists. Hansbrough was 1 for 6 from behind the 3-point line, but an incredible 7 of 8 inside the arch. Hansbrough and company were too much for the Panthers to handle, and should make a nice jump in the rankings next week.

Redskins Officials Meet With Some Interesting Names At The Senior Bowl: Now just to be clear the Redskins will end up meeting with just about every player this week, but it is still interested to see who they are meeting with and when. Jake Locker has long been rumored to have the team’s interest and it makes sense from a need perspective, but not in the top 10. Locker very well could be the best quarterback from this draft class 5 years from now, but I don’t think he is top 10 material. Especially on a team with multiple other needs. I’d love to see Locker groomed by the Skins, but as a 2nd round pick and after the Skins trade back for more picks. As for some of the other guys they were seen meeting with Schilling and Brewer are both offensive linemen and make perfect sense for the Skins. Jones and Matthews are inside linebackers, which should be a need with McIntosh likely moving on. The one real surprise would be Lance Kendricks, who is a mid-round, tight end prospect. While this could mean Fred Davis is on the trade block, Kendricks is likely to be well off the board by the time the Redskins pick in the 5th round (he is projected as a 3rd-4th round guy, which are two rounds where the Skins don’t have picks). Even if the Redskins acquire extra picks in the mid-rounds, tight end doesn’t rank high enough on the need list to use a pick on. Brewer and Matthews are two of my favorite players at the Senior Bowl this week and two guys who should be able to start right away for the Skins, if they have the draft picks to add them.