irish returns to final four

A week ago, the Notre Dame men's fencing team won its eighth national championship.

This week, the Fighting Irish are looking to add another national title to their trophy case, this time in women's basketball.

Notre Dame is playing in its third Final Four and its first in 2001. The Irish are playing UConn in the national semifinals, the fourth time the two teams will square off this season.

Notre Dame is looking to win its second national championship. The Irish won it all in 2001 in St. Louis. That year, the school beat UConn in the national semifinals before beating Purdue in the title game.

If Notre Dame wins it again, it will become the third school (Stanford in 1992 and USC in 1984) to win a national championship at its home state. Notre Dame is just 147 miles from Indianapolis.

"We do get to get on a bus instead of a plane which is kind of nice but other than that we're going to be staying in a hotel in a different city," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw told the Notre Dame Observer on Thursday.

The Irish earned a trip to Indy by beating Tennessee in the Dayton Regional championship game on Monday, making them the 10th team to play in the Final Four at their home state. Baylor was the last team to accomplish that feat in 2010 in San Antonio.

Notre Dame is looking to become the first at-large team to win a national championship since Maryland in 2006.

But first, the Irish have to get past UConn, who beat Notre Dame three times this season.