2024-2025 Notre Dame Women's Basketball

[irishandy]

Versus USC Ivey seemed to only use 6-7 girls in total, that's Mike Brey ball. I like that Koval is starting, but I'd like to see more her and King on the court at the same time for height. Citron seems to have a quiet year so far.

Not a loss I expected.

 

[irishrb]

Versus USC Ivey seemed to only use 6-7 girls in total, that's Mike Brey ball. I like that Koval is starting, but I'd like to see more her and King on the court at the same time for height. Citron seems to have a quiet year so far.

Not a loss I expected.

At this point, they just don't have anyone else to play...but yeah, she definitely seems to rely on her starters to play the majority of the time. As for Citron, she's just the most unselfish player I think I've ever seen. I do think they need to get her more involved with their offensive flow at times.

 

[Old Man Mike]

True on Soni. Unselfish to a fault. Plus, she's the type of offensive player that needs a screening game rather than a slashing game --- Ivey runs two things (really --- the rest is window-dressing to my eye) that are aimed directly at points: Clear and let Hannah go, and try to establish some post interactions. Neither of those is Soni, and without Westbeld as the danger in the high/low post, that part doesn't work too well. We live basically on speed --- transition and Hannah slashing. If Ivey had a better designed screening and perimeter passing (around the perimeter reversing the ball --- Miles and Hidalgo are great passers, but they tend to look for the climax pass) Soni would find herself in more scoring positions. ... as showed last season when the team had to depend more and more on her getting 20+ a game. You'd think that without Westbeld that would be happening more, but Hannah has been able to destroy opponents on her own, and we just run away from people. Well, to me, that's still not good coaching not to have a better cleverer half court system.

 

[BabyIrish]

Yeah my main concern is the offense. We don’t seem to have an identity. Missing Westbeld shows how key of a player she was on offense. Lots of action went through her. We look pretty lost on offense all things considered. It makes sense to try and use Hidalgo and Miles driving to the bucket but unfortunately the rest of the team seems lost on what to do when one of those two drive. Maybe because it’s new and they still need time to practice or gel? Not sure. But yeah the offense needs to be more systematic in my view.

 

[Old Man Mike]

I find that almost no team, even professionals, know what to do when a teammate drives hard to the basket. The instinct is to get out of the way and leave options for the attacker in case the opponent doubles up. What should be done is some natural rebounder lurk usually opposite side and crash right behind the shot. King can do this. We don't seem to have others with that instinct so you'll see four-back-arc'd and an empty middle a lot. If we miss then the opponent has an uncontested DRebound. Crashing CAN be coached however. Plenty of our people could do it.

(As an aside, one team which is just fine with paint-occupying driving is Denver. That's due to the oddity of Jokic being a "slow super-muscle" driver so you have plenty of time to figure out when to crash behind him. Paradoxically he occupies a lot of space JUST AROUND HIM but doesn't clog much of the entire area. We don't have a muscle driver or even a stop-and-fade-jumper player, so it happens very fast and you have to be coached to be the support rebounder. Just about everyone else, even in the pros, simply hopes their guy is so good that the ball's going in, or he's (theoretically) fouled.)

 

[BabyIrish]

That’s a fair observation but modern basketball offense is built around set reactions based on a variety of things. You can react to defensive movements, you can react to ball movement, teammate movement, etc. that’s the idea of position-less basketball. And that includes movements/actions off driving. It’s certainly doable to teach and coach those actions at the collegiate level.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Agree with all of that.

I just marvel that there are not more aggressive ball attackers just with the built in instinct to want to get the damm ball.

I was a two guard, so had fast break defense responsibilities a lot, but when I didn't it just was natural to wade in there.
King is like that, and so was Bransford. But why isn't everybody? Yeh, you can get dinged in there but .... fear of fouling?
I really don't get the passivity in the paint most of the time regarding rebounding. Hannah sure as heck is not afraid to wade in, but sometimes she's not the person I'd rather be getting knocked around. ... but she gets the ball, and not only by steals.

 

[irishrb]

Wait....WHAT? ND 67 Utah 78
How? Maybe not as good as I thought. Hopefully they get healthy sooner than later!

 

[irishandy]

Final 4 team...not at this point!

 

[Old Man Mike]

Looked at the PDF readout: Hannah had to be utterly gassed or something worse. Very low contribution from her and perhaps zero assists?
Soni held up, but she always warriors it and is in great shape. King boarded. The combination of Koval and Prosper who were more or less the combo fifth player, had something like twelve turnovers. Miles was OK --- seven assists? Team probably is extremely tired --- paying just six people and four almost required on court all the time, and dependent upon up tempo and defensive hustling --- yow, just doesn't compute.

 

[Huntr]

Ridiculous.

Tyler DeLuca (@tylerdeluca.bsky.social)

HANNAH HIDALGO WITH THE STEAL AND OVERHEAD PASS TO OLIVIA MILES 😮‍💨😮‍💨

bsky.app

 

[ab2cmiller]

dohhh!

 

[NumbersGuy0520]

Big W. This team can compete with anyone.

 

[stpeteirish]

Add Westbeld and Karlen and this is a really good team. Koval and Prosper need to play less which isn’t possible now.

 

[BabyIrish]

I thought the offense was much improved. Hannah and Olivia were much more open and alert for passing options off their drives. The spacing, movement and cuts off the drives was also much better. We should have ran away with the game if it weren’t for the crap ton of missed layups off those passes.

It’s clear we were worried about their size and for good reason. They dominated the offensive glass. We really need our bigs back asap.

 

[Irish#1]

Too sloppy with the ball, but the ladies played excellent defense to get the win.

 

[irishrb]

Add Westbeld and Karlen and this is a really good team. Koval and Prosper need to play less which isn’t possible now.

Hopefully Koval and Prosper develop...Not surprised with Koval, as she's a freshman, but I really expected a lot more from Prosper! Gotta get better!

 

[texbender]

Texas seemed so much bigger, and seemed to have their way in the paint. Great team win, but hope they find some help on the bench so as not to wear out the 6. They've beat the 2 top ten teams they've played, so they can play with anyone. Should be a fun season if they stay healthy.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Hannah back to herself thankfully. And she needs a sidekick, and that's Soni. Citron had 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 steals, plus, as usual, guarding an ace opponent all game long. (Hannah cited Soni for that during the presscon, so it's not "hearsay"). There's a reason that Ivey tends to bring Hannah AND Soni with her to the postgame pressers. Best "quiet" star in the country in my opinion. AND King as usual bossing the defensive boards. What a warrior. If Miles can be focussed and physically active every game (it looked like Ivey had to talk to her between first and second quarters to get her involved), then we have four very unusual and very hard-to-deal-with athletes. But Lord Almighty! please find us SOMEBODIES to help them out!

 

[irishrb]

Hannah back to herself thankfully. And she needs a sidekick, and that's Soni. Citron had 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 steals, plus, as usual, guarding an ace opponent all game long. (Hannah cited Soni for that during the presscon, so it's not "hearsay"). There's a reason that Ivey tends to bring Hannah AND Soni with her to the postgame pressers. Best "quiet" star in the country in my opinion. AND King as usual bossing the defensive boards. What a warrior. If Miles can be focussed and physically active every game (it looked like Ivey had to talk to her between first and second quarters to get her involved), then we have four very unusual and very hard-to-deal-with athletes. But Lord Almighty! please find us SOMEBODIES to help them out!

Facts....and Facts!!!!

 

[irishandy]

Nice win for the women's Irish team today. Citron with 25pts, if she can keep it going this is another weapon on offense for them.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Miles was good today. She's really more of a wild card than Hannah, Soni, or King --- those three will deliver what you expect from them almost 100% of the games. Sometimes Miles sleeps a bit. Until Westbeld arrives (allegedly that's getting close), we need Olivia full at work every game. Three players with solid performances vs our quality opponents is not enough. Hannah can't carry her cape into battle every time. Once Maddy gets there, then one of the other four might have a punk game and we still get by.

Koval still has a LONG way to go. Glimpses only. King is actually the choice for jumping center over her in games. Seems way out of college athlete shape. Saw a play with a loose ball --- opponent goes ten yards while Koval goes less than five. (opponent NOT a Hannah Hidalgo type by the way.) r--e--a--l s--l--o--w. OK, frosh center --- but GOT to be better than that. My memory of Maddy is that while she was WAY more immediately effective than Koval, she played a lot like a pudgy girl than a rough-house woman ... and finally (took at least two years) decided to grow up into a force rather than a talented passivity. .... eagerly waiting that transformation. Where are the Mabrey genes when we need them?

 

[laughingirish90]

irish leads UCONN at the half 39-28 with Hannah Hildalgo leading the way with 17 pts andMiles has not played much due to injuring her ankle

 

[ab2cmiller]

King's a beast on the boards

 

[laughingirish90]

50-48 now as UCONN adjusted well from the 1st half and yes King is a beast on the boards

 

[laughingirish90]

i know a lot of the national media asses won't say it because they are obsessed with Watkin of USC and Beckers of UCONN but now way Hildalgo isn't the best player in the nation right now as she now has 23 pt 10 rebounds and 7 assists and just hit a 3 pointer as the 3rd ended

 

[arrowryan]

3-0 against top 5 opponents.

Their Thanksgiving weekend performance in Grand Cayman remains a huge head scratcher.

 

[laughingirish90]

3-0 against top 5 opponents.

Their Thanksgiving weekend performance in Grand Cayman remains a huge head scratcher.

yeah don't know how they lost to Utah because they looked like the best team in the nation in the 4th as they dominated that quarter to win big over UCONN

 

[stpeteirish]

3-0 against top 5 opponents.

Their Thanksgiving weekend performance in Grand Cayman remains a huge head scratcher.

Really think its the crowd that gets these girls going especially HH. There was only a few hundred at the games in the Caymans. JACC crowd was terrific tonight.

Don't see anyone beating us at home this year. Texas and UConn are better than anyone in the ACC and we beat both convincingly.

 

[SDIrishFan]

3-0 against top 5 opponents.

Their Thanksgiving weekend performance in Grand Cayman remains a huge head scratcher.

As many wins against the top 5 as the rest of the country COMBINED.