Two Notre Dame students died over the weekend in “separate and unrelated incidents” — one of them at Dillon Hall, the other reportedly while “studying abroad in London.” (Hat tip: Sergio.)

I have no idea whether the latter student was in the NDLS London program, or some other London program. All additional information is being withheld for now, including the students’ names. Regardless, both deaths are obviously terrible tragedies, and my heart goes out to the families and friends of these students, whoever they may be.

UPDATE: The Observer reports:

One of the students, Connor McGrath, was a sophomore who moved to Siegfried Hall in January. He died Sunday morning or early afternoon, Siegfried rector Father John Conley told students gathered at the dorm’s Mass Sunday night. …

No name has been released in the second death, but a number of dorm rectors said the student was not an undergraduate.

The South Bend Tribune is quoting the St. Joseph County deputy coroner as saying that McGrath “may have had some health problems.” There’s no word at all on the what killed the London grad/law student.

If, as expected, the university releases more information later today, presumably it will be posted here.

UPDATE 2: The student who died in London has been identified as law student Timothy Aher. Details in a new post above.

NOTE: I’ve bumped this post’s timestamp back to 11:17 PM, the original time it was posted. I had bumped it up to the top of the homepage because it was clearly the “top story” overnight and into the morning, but now that the new post supercedes it, I’ve restored its original timestamp.

Mark Halperin has the rundown of this weekend’s primaries and caucuses. Today’s first results could come in shortly after 5:00 PM EST, from Kansas (GOP only) and Washington (both parties). Later, the mighty Virgin Islands (Dem only), Nebraska (Dem only) and Louisiana (both) will report in. And tomorrow, the Dems vote in Maine.

Predictions? I’m going to say, in an effort to stem the tide of my own irrational exuberance, that Hillary pulls a narrow upset in Washington (though I hope I’m wrong), Obama wins big elsewhere, and Huck takes Kansas but loses Louisiana by a hair and is blown out in Washington, notwithstanding my previous ruminations to the contrary. :)

On an unrelated note, it’s Notre Dame 63, Marquette 52 almost midway through the second half. The Irish look impressive.

UPDATE: Notre Dame wins, 86-83, surviving a late Marquette run thanks to clutch free-throw shooting. That’ll help them in March, if they keep it up.

UPDATE 2: Huckabee romps McCain in Kansas, 66% to 22% (with 11% for Ron Paul). Wow! (That’s with 76% of the precincts reporting.) Maybe I was too Huck-a-bearish in my predictions…

UPDATE, 8:26 PM: With 35 percent of the precincts reporting in Washington state, it’s 67% to 32% Obama. (Official results here.) Hooray for yet another faulty Brendan Loy prediction! :) Nothing yet on the GOP side.

So far, indications are good for Obama in Nebraska, too.

UPDATE, 8:32 PM: CNN is now projecting that Obama will win Nebraska. And it’s another huge win: 69% to 31% with 73 percent reporting.

In Louisiana, meanwhile, the Obama campaign is complaining of voter irregularities.

UPDATE, 9:25 PM: With 17% of the Washington GOP precincts reporting, it’s McCain 27%, Huckabee 26%, Paul 21%, Romney 17%, Uncommitted 9%. Did they miss the memo that Romney dropped out? And that Paul is nuts? ;)

Meanwhile, the Louisiana results are just beginning to trickle in. ABC News “does not have enough information to project the winner of the Louisiana Democratic primary, but Obama is leading New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, based on exit poll estimates. There is not enough information to project whether Arizona Sen. John McCain or former Gov. Mike Huckabee will win in Louisiana on the Republican side.”

P.S. Commenter “CD” gives a first-hand report on the Washington Democratic caucuses. She also reported on last night’s Obama rally.

I’ve been so focused on politics during my limited, non-baby-consumed free time over the last month that I haven’t been able to pay much attention to college basketball — and when I have, my attention has usually been focused on USC or Gonzaga. But Notre Dame has been doing really well, building a 7-2 Big East record, with two of those wins (along with both losses) on the road. The Irish are currently alone in second place in the conference standings, and ranked #21 or #22 in the country, depending on which poll you believe. Admire Mike Brey!

Anyway, tomorrow at noon in a nationally televised ESPN game, they’ll look to avenge one of their road losses — their worst loss of the season, in fact — against #16 Marquette. That’s always a fun game at the Joyce Center, with a boisterous visiting crowd. Hopefully the Leprechaun Legion will be up to the challenge. Go Irish, Beat Golden Eagles!

Also tomorrow: USC vs. Wazzu. The Trojans have improbably rallied from their 0-3 conference start to take sole possession of third place in the Pac-10 with a 6-4 record — and five of their remaining eight games are at home. Tomorrow is one of the three road games, against struggling Washington State (the Cougars have lost 4 of 5 after starting 16-1 overall and 4-1 in conference). Big-time game for ‘SC, though alas, the ABC telecast at 3:30 PM is regional; we get Texas-Iowa State instead. Harumph. Regardless: Fight on Trojans, Beat the Cougs!

Via e-mail, Derek points out that there’s a webcam showing the progress of construction on the new Notre Dame Law School building. Cool!

Well, in football recruiting, anyway. Today was National Signing Day, and the Irish recruiting class is ranked #2 by both Rivals and Scout. USC is #10 and #13, respectively, their lowest rankings since 2002 (and behind UCLA, according to Scout… ugh!).

USC 95, Oregon 86 in overtime. Sweet! That’s a huge road win for ‘SC, which is now 4-3 in the Pac-10 after starting 0-3.

‘Twas a good day on the road for both the Irish and the Trojans.

Gonzaga and Memphis are underway, and so far, it’s not looking promising for the Bulldogs, as the fast-breaking Tigers have jumped out to an early 10-0 lead.

UPDATE: Well, that’s better. After trailing 25-13, the Zags have rallied to take a 32-30 lead! Two minutes left in the first half.

UPDATE 2: Aaaand the Zags lose all their momentum in the final minute, as Memphis goes up 35-32 on a thunderous dunk at the buzzer.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame leads #18 Villanova — on the road — 35-29 late in the first half.

UPDATE 3: Memphis wins, 81-73.

Notre Dame Law School Professor Jimmy Gurule has signed on as a member of Lawyers for Romney.

In other news, Dennis Kucinich has dropped out of the race. Also, recently-departed Duncan Hunter has endorsed Mike Huckabee, causing Michelle Malkin’s head to explode.

P.S. Another NDLS professor, Gerard Bradley, has endorsed McCain.

Notre Dame Law School has a new, completely revamped website. "It’s amazing," writes Derek, who tipped me off to the redesign. I haven’t had the chance yet to look around very much, but I thought I’d pass the news along.

Kyle McAlarney scored a career-high 32 points as Notre Dame beat UConn to improve to 2-0 in the Big East and 12-2 overall. Nice! (Hat tip: JohnMac.)

The news was not as good for USC, which fell to 0-2 in the Pac-10 and 9-5 overall (albeit against a much tougher non-conference schedule than the Irish) with a 52-46 loss to #24 Stanford. The Trojans were ranked #22 before their consecutive road losses to Cal and Stanford, but will undoubtedly fall out of the poll next week. It doesn’t get any easier for ‘SC in the loaded Pac-10, as they host #4 Washington State and a Washington team that almost beat Wazzu yesterday, then travel to Westwood for a showdown with Kevin Love and #5 UCLA.

Gonzaga, meanwhile, finished up its pre-WCC schedule with a 75-67 win in the Battle of the Bulldogs against Georgia.

Brady Quinn made his NFL debut today. (Hat tip: Scott F.)

Now Quinn’s Cleveland Browns, who beat the 49ers 20-7, are waiting and hoping the Colts beat the Titans, thus securing the Browns a playoff berth in place of Vince Young and LenDale White’s Titans.

Frank Eck, one of Notre Dame’s most generous benefactors and the man for whom the new law school building will be named, died yesterday at age 84. Here is Dean O’Hara’s statement on his passing.

I received a phone call this afternoon from a member of the Notre Dame Law School administration, in response to the e-mail that I sent to the deans about the construction situation discussed in Lisa’s post yesterday. The administrator with whom I spoke asked that I not reveal his or her identity (for reasons that I consider valid, and not damaging to the person’s credibility), but I can assure you that this person knows what he/she is talking about, and I have full confidence that he/she was being sincere and forthright during our conversation. Based on what we discussed, I now believe that the administration is being far more reasonable and accommodating than it first appeared to me.

(Continued after the jump. Don’t miss my abject admission of wrong-headedness at the end of the post!)

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…in women’s soccer, that is. On ESPN2 right now, Notre Dame is playing Florida State in the first semifinal — and with just over 22 minutes left in the second half, it’s tied 2-2.

Up next? USC vs. UCLA, in the second national semifinal. Alas, that game is on ESPNU, not ESPN2.

Go Irish! Go Trojans!

UPDATE: Seminoles win, 3-2. So there will be no USC-Notre Dame title game. :(

UPDATE 2: USC stuns top-ranked fUCLA!! Woohoo!!!

The win broke a nine-game USC losing streak against the Bruins. Nice timing, ladies!! It also ended UCLA’s overall 17-game winning streak, which dated back to mid-September.

So the tournament of surprises will end with a most unlikely pairing: the USC Trojans Women of Troy, ranked #9 in the final regular-season coaches poll, against the #14-ranked Florida State Seminoles in the national championship game, Sunday at 2:00 PM on ESPN2.

Fight on!! Stop the chop!!

Quick, everybody get out your race cards! Apparently the reason Nebraska hired LSU’s Bo Pelini instead of Buffalo’s Turner Gill is because Gill is black. Yup, there’s no other possible explanation. Cornhusker Nation is a bunch of dirty racists!! [rolls eyes]

Look, it sucks that there are only five black head coaches in Division I-A college football. (Based on percentage of the population, there should be 15.) But it truly boggles my mind that the race-obsessed media doesn’t grasp the degree to which they’re making the situation worse by focusing so heavily on race, to the exclusion of other relevant issues, whenever a black coach is hired, fired or considered for a coaching job.

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