SAN DIEGO — The clock had barely ticked into St. Patrick’s Day when Paul Atkinson Jr. scored the game-winner on a putback layup with 1.4 seconds remaining in the second overtime to, crushingly, send Rutgers home.
It was the middle of the night in Dayton, Ohio, but Notre Dame was dancing, and Coach Mike Brey was smiling and hollering that there had better be Irish whiskey aboard the Fighting Irish’s flight to San Diego. The N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament had barely reached the starting blocks, with Notre Dame’s 89-87 win over Rutgers concluding the First Four games, but it had already hit an extreme emotional peak.