2023-24 Notre Dame Women's Basketball

[laughingirish90]

i'll be shocked if we beat UNC sunday with half of our roster still out with injuries.

 

[BabyIrish]

If Westbeld can’t go on Sunday with the quick turnaround, then yeah I think we’re pretty toast. Watson offers you hardly anything on both ends of the court. I have no idea why she’s playing so poorly. KK is in a funk.
The announcers mentioned multiple times that Citron would be back soon. Maybe soon is Sunday.

 

[irishrb]

ND gutted out a win against Pitt. One of the worst officiated games I’ve ever seen. Refs couldn’t wait to call a foul on us. Marshall fouled out in the third quarter and Westbeld went out in the third with a concussion taking a shoulder to the face with of course a foul being called on her. Left us with basically 5 players. Watson and Becky O somehow managed to not foul out playing with 4 in the 4th. Lot could be said about the play of the team but this was just survive and advance.

Actually crazy how poorly that game was officiated. Those student athletes deserve better.

 

[ab2cmiller]

Not sure if all of the injuries that the WBB has experienced the past two years is typical or not. Just seems crazy how many injuries there's been.

 

[BabyIrish]

Not sure if all of the injuries that the WBB has experienced the past two years is typical or not. Just seems crazy how many injuries there's been.

Muffet had similar problems. The year we won in 18 we had a 6 player rotation with Turner out. It was pretty shocking we were able to pull it out. But yeah it’s been wild. Especially this year.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Well, any large number isn't by definition "typical" but the phenomenon of lots of FEMALE athletes tearing ACLs IS unfortunately "typical."
When I was helping out at Western Michigan with the women's team, we had an ACL expert/researcher/trainer come and show why girls get this more than boys (we have different "natural" imbalances in certain relevant muscle groups which need extra work to attempt to compensate), what the signs are that an athlete has more risk (in slow motion, many female athletes show inward kneejoint bend upon landing from even a relatively low height), and kinds of special core exercises needed to help with prevention. I have no idea whether top strength coaches insist on putting their female athletes on these specific exercises, but if I was a coach, I'd insist upon it.

 

[laughingirish90]

Not sure if all of the injuries that the WBB has experienced the past two years is typical or not. Just seems crazy how many injuries there's been.

UCONN has been having these same issues these past two or so years

 

[Irish#1]

Well, any large number isn't by definition "typical" but the phenomenon of lots of FEMALE athletes tearing ACLs IS unfortunately "typical."
When I was helping out at Western Michigan with the women's team, we had an ACL expert/researcher/trainer come and show why girls get this more than boys (we have different "natural" imbalances in certain relevant muscle groups which need extra work to attempt to compensate), what the signs are that an athlete has more risk (in slow motion, many female athletes show inward kneejoint bend upon landing from even a relatively low height), and kinds of special core exercises needed to help with prevention. I have no idea whether top strength coaches insist on putting their female athletes on these specific exercises, but if I was a coach, I'd insist upon it.

I had read something a while back that discussed women being more susceptible to ACL tears. Not really built to put the stress they exert on their legs.

 

[Old Man Mike]

I wouldn't like to leave this by simply saying that girls were not built properly for this. This is a more subtle issue than that. It has to do with how the female body tends "naturally" to recruit muscle support to the knee as it lands in any form of twisting motion. The female body tends to recruit quadriceps muscle support quickly in twisting crises, whereas males tend to recruit hamstring muscle support more rapidly in sudden need --- that's how I remember these studies. To adjust this problem, it is best to head it off so it happens less frequently if not at all. The best method is to develop core strength which helps the whole body to not get so out of positional control.

here are a couple of quotes from a big medical review:

 

[arrowryan]

Who is there S&C coach? They don’t get just bumps and bruises, they get injuries that keep them out for 10 years.

 

[arrowryan]

Back to back Ls against unranked opponents.

Does Muffet want to come back?

 

[SeekNDestroy]

I had read something a while back that discussed women being more susceptible to ACL tears. Not really built to put the stress they exert on their legs.

Females are naturally bow legged.

 

[BabyIrish]

Back to back Ls against unranked opponents.

Does Muffet want to come back?

They did win Thursday so not sure what you’re talking about. It’s not like Syracuse and UNC are bottom of the barrel teams. Both teams are top 8 teams in the league and can win night in and night out.

The team has a 6 person rotation with three of the starters out. It is what it is. Teams are wearing us out by having 9-10 person rotations.

I think Hannah is getting to the point where she’s hitting a wall. She’s definitely not playing with the energy she had in the first part of the season. Her technique is also sloppy. And that pretty much goes for the whole team. Hopefully Maddy is back Thursday and we can get a great rotation for both the guards and forwards and distribute the minutes better.

 

[Old Man Mike]

This last game is not worth lengthy dissecting. A few simple points:
a. Hannah had a real player in front of her defensively all night (name something like Donarski) --- very serious veteran on-the-job person. It was a lot harder for Hannah to just mess with UNCs heads. EVERYTHING got hard to do;
b. Sonia was still on one leg in her head the first half, and at times the whole game. I'm giving her a bit of a pass. She needed to get knocked around and finally did several times. But she did not throw herself in there; --- AND THESE WERE OUR TWO BEST PLAYERS in the game;
c. UNC was more athletic, more physical, more intensely all over the moment than we were almost everywhere and at all times. We actually looked generally clumsy and a step behind the plays. Running to get open when someone was pressed was outrageously slow; We were lucky that no one has introduced UNC to the concept of shooting free throws or the score wouldn't have been close;
d. Getting Sonia back was supposed to be an emotional boost. Having that brutally canceled by Maddy being out had to be a big psych downer. At least we looked like it was.

Once Sonia gets over her fear of re-injury, and Maddy gets back (that knock on the jaw didn't look like it could possibly end in concussion), we'll play better. Maddy's ability to score from her favorite areas of the floor would have amounted to probably 30 points that game --- it was that wide open and we couldn't exploit it. We need to hope that there are not many other Donarskis to make Hannah give the ball up without penetrating. We'll still win a lot of games, but our fundamental flaws are going to make it rough in the ACC --- a murderer's row league.

 

[stpeteirish]

This team is a "shell of itself" to use the cliche. Hopefully the foundation returns. Tough to beat anybody good when you only have 6 players and four of them cannot on a given night, do a damned thing. If you have depth you can simply rotate out the ineffective. We're a totaly different team with Westbeld and Prosper in the rotation.

Announcers kept saying we only had seven players available but there were eight dressed so either they weren't counting Cernugal (the walk on ) or Obinma was dressed but not available. Only six actually saw action.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

Hidalgo is exciting. So explosive to the basket. Westheld is money tonight From the floor. Would be a huge win on the road at Storrs if they can hold on.

EDIT: ND holds on to spank UCONN in Storrs. Gus Johnson on the mike keeps it lively regardless of the sport. Big win.

 

[BabyIrish]

Hidalgo is exciting. So explosive to the basket. Westheld is money tonight From the floor. Would be a huge win on the road at Storrs if they can hold on.

EDIT: ND holds on to spank UCONN in Storrs. Gus Johnson on the mike keeps it lively regardless of the sport. Big win.

Long way to go but she could be the best player to come through South Bend. Just incredible.

Can’t forget the unbelievable job Sonia did on defense to shut down Paige. Huge reason that UConn couldn’t get any rhythm and consistency on offense

 

[irishrb]

Hidalgo, Westbeld, and Citron were insane...That was a pretty intense game and I'm pretty sure all 3 of them played every second....Quite impressive!

 

[Irish#1]

Needed a big win like that.

 

[irishjim]

Hidalgo…wow! That might have been the most explosive women’s performance I’ve ever seen (don’t watch a lot). It’s sad Olivia Miles isn’t playing - I get opt out drama sense from her. Why didn’t Coach Ivey know she was done for the season yesterday and Gus Johnson broke the news?

 

[NDFAN2008]

Olivia Miles injury is weird it shouldn’t take this long to come back. Adding her to this team they could be a contender.

 

[stpeteirish]

Hidalgo…wow! That might have been the most explosive women’s performance I’ve ever seen (don’t watch a lot). It’s sad Olivia Miles isn’t playing - I get opt out drama sense from her. Why didn’t Coach Ivey know she was done for the season yesterday and Gus Johnson broke the news?

The whole Miles thing has been a mystery. The only thing I can think of is the Miles family has exercised their rights under HIPPA to forbid ND from disclosing her injury. But why?
No one knows where Miles will be next year. Conventual wisdom is she's saving her year of eligibility and will play for play for ND next year but she could play somewhere else or declare for the draft.
She hasn't checked out, she's at every game cheering on the team so that's encouraging.

 

[stpeteirish]

Olivia Miles injury is weird it shouldn’t take this long to come back. Adding her to this team they could be a contender.

She got hurt in Feb 2023 but didn't have surgery until April 2023 so 9-12 months for a torn ACL is pretty normal for a basketball player.
Why did she wait? Another mystery.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

The whole Miles thing has been a mystery. The only thing I can think of is the Miles family has exercised their rights under HIPPA to forbid ND from disclosing her injury. But why?
No one knows where Miles will be next year. Conventual wisdom is she's saving her year of eligibility and will play for play for ND next year but she could play somewhere else or declare for the draft.
She hasn't checked out, she's at every game cheering on the team so that's encouraging.

Does she have her ND degree yet?

 

[Ndaccountant]

Miles isn't eligible for draft until 2025. You have to be 22 years old in the calendar year in which the draft takes place. She was born in 2003. Recall she joined ND early, should have been her senior year.

 

[BabyIrish]

Yeah I’m really not sure why the Miles situation has been handled the way it has. A similar situation occurred with Brianna Turner, but it was announced she would red shirt the following year and it wasn’t a problem and there was no mystery (that was the year we ended up winning the championship). Not sure why Miles couldn’t have been handled in a similar fashion. The only reason I can think of is if she had an injury similar to Jaylon Smith that culminated in affecting her athletic performance down the road.

 

[irishrb]

Any news on Prosper? She would also add a lot to this team?

 

[Old Man Mike]

Notre Dame has a roster which stacks up well vs Connecticut in the following ways:
A. They can't just thug us. We're actually a bit more physical than they are.
B. We have a player who they can't limit very well (Hildalgo) so our offense seldom goes dry.
C. We have a hero-girl (Citron) who will if necessary sacrifice her own game to throttle a similarly sized superstar.
(Boeckers is REALLY outstanding, and Soni significantly limited her.)
D. We have a player who noone really matches up well with (Westbeld) who hurts opponents badly when she's awake on the floor.
E. We have two bench hustlers who give all they've got when called upon (Marshall & Bransford.)

... pretty nice effort girls. Standing applause.

 

[irishandy]

When this team feeds off of Hidalgo's energy like last night ND is tough to beat.

Westbeld added a nice game and stepped up, she hit some 3's.

ND plays small but compare Marshall to Watson and Marshall is better in the paint.

UConn brought in 2 of their championship teams and ND ruined it!

Nice & impressive win ladies!

 

[laughingirish90]

i'm happy as beating UCONN anytime home or road is huge but i've been following this rivalry since the beginning of the 2000's and i can tell you that this isn't a great UCONN but just good as they just don't have anybody close talent wise like some of the past husky teams had like Stewart, Dodson and Moore. the teams that had Stewart and Dodson that won four straight national titles would have crushed our irish last night.