2023-24 Notre Dame Women's Basketball

[arrowryan]

and really nothing substantive to say at all.

This team mainly (to my slightly-trained eye) is as dangerous or not depending upon whether Westbeld decides to play ("hard"?, "in focus", "confidently"?, "physically"?) in whatever game. You get essentially the same effort level out of all the other players, even if they can't do much in a certain circumstance due to the type of opponent. So, I don't get what exactly is going on here. Injuries? Illness? Psyched out by busted nose? Mental personal issues? "Team culture" whatever the hell that is? ... but something(s) is causing a wide level of play "to the eye." I am still not convinced that Ivey actually knows head coaching at a high level, but this year she may fail just because the hand dealt has been brutal. Something goes on with Westbeld however and that could always be "handling."

I think Ivey and Freeman were in very similar situations when taking over their programs. Both had zero HC experience, but both were/are young and are successful recruiters. Freeman seems to be further along on the learning curve than Ivey, at this point. I just would’ve thought Ivey would be further established at this point, so I think that’s where my disappointment comes from.

 

[BabyIrish]

I agree that Ivey struggled in previous years. There were definite head scratching moments. But I haven’t felt that way this year. The injuries this year have been ridiculous and I think she’s gotten a lot out of this team especially defensively. This is the best the team has played defensively in her tenure in my opinion.

There’s one reason why we lost against Louisville on Thursday. Shooting. We had the same looks we had against UCONN. The difference. We missed. Plain and simple at least from my viewpoint.

 

[Old Man Mike]

I'll take that as correct.
I'd add that I think that Sonia probably gets really gassed.
She can't be as strong as she was last year, AND she's required to play more than anyone.
For players across a season, that sort of wear is going to create games that even from the tip are not up to standard.
I believe that although Ivey thinks (understandably) that she can't afford to take her out, she MUST rest her.

 

[irishrb]

I'll take that as correct.
I'd add that I think that Sonia probably gets really gassed.
She can't be as strong as she was last year, AND she's required to play more than anyone.
For players across a season, that sort of wear is going to create games that even from the tip are not up to standard.
I believe that although Ivey thinks (understandably) that she can't afford to take her out, she MUST rest her.

Facts! She's usually guarding the opponent's best player, and moves without the ball constantly..Gotta give her some breaks!

I will say, for as good as Hidalgo is, and she's pretty freakin' good...Is she making the other players better? Last game she had 30 points on 25 shots and 1 assist. Obviously that's tough for a freshman, but, IMO, Ivey has to work on getting Hidalgo to, more consistently, keep her teammates involved.

 

[stpeteirish]

Facts! She's usually guarding the opponent's best player, and moves without the ball constantly..Gotta give her some breaks!

I will say, for as good as Hidalgo is, and she's pretty freakin' good...Is she making the other players better? Last game she had 30 points on 25 shots and 1 assist. Obviously that's tough for a freshman, but, IMO, Ivey has to work on getting Hidalgo to, more consistently, keep her teammates involved.

good point. Miles and Hildago together will be interesting. I think HH will make a killer two guard with Miles the playmaker. Hope the egos allow.

 

[BabyIrish]

I'll take that as correct.
I'd add that I think that Sonia probably gets really gassed.
She can't be as strong as she was last year, AND she's required to play more than anyone.
For players across a season, that sort of wear is going to create games that even from the tip are not up to standard.
I believe that although Ivey thinks (understandably) that she can't afford to take her out, she MUST rest her.

Yeah Sonia looked to be a shell of herself in the second half.

 

[BabyIrish]

Facts! She's usually guarding the opponent's best player, and moves without the ball constantly..Gotta give her some breaks!

I will say, for as good as Hidalgo is, and she's pretty freakin' good...Is she making the other players better? Last game she had 30 points on 25 shots and 1 assist. Obviously that's tough for a freshman, but, IMO, Ivey has to work on getting Hidalgo to, more consistently, keep her teammates involved.

I think in most games she does. But in the second half against Louisville it seemed to be the Hannah show. There was a time on a 2-1 fast break she could have passed to Anna for an easy layup but instead took a contested layup that didn’t result in points.

 

[NumbersGuy0520]

good point. Miles and Hildago together will be interesting. I think HH will make a killer two guard with Miles the playmaker. Hope the egos allow.

I’m not so sure Miles is back for ND next year. Something does feel off here. It’s probably more likely that something is going on behind the scenes than the fact that she is still injured and will be for the rest of the year.

Which adds credence to the culture claim. Also thought it was weird when Gus announced that Miles is out for the season during the UConn game and Ivey was basically like “that’s news to me” after the game. Sure, maybe she knew and is downplaying, or maybe there really is a disconnect.

All speculation.

 

[irishjim]

I’m not so sure Miles is back for ND next year. Something does feel off here. It’s probably more likely that something is going on behind the scenes than the fact that she is still injured and will be for the rest of the year.

Which adds credence to the culture claim. Also thought it was weird when Gus announced that Miles is out for the season during the UConn game and Ivey was basically like “that’s news to me” after the game. Sure, maybe she knew and is downplaying, or maybe there really is a disconnect.

All speculation.

Agreed. Something seems off. Kawhi Leonard situation maybe

 

[laughingirish90]

i follow the team all over social media and listen to a podcast done by the voice of irish wbb and i haven't heard anything about a bad culture even though it doesn't mean there aren't riffs after a bad loss as most teams probably have that.

 

[irishandy]

Great win vs. UConn, Louisville was winnable, and 2 different teams.

Hannah Hidalgo can't do it all- Westbeld was her Robin vs. UConn.

If rumor is that the culture is bad within the team, hopefully Hidalgo stays....why do people think the culture is bad?

Injuries have also hurt this team.

 

[BabyIrish]

Double OT in Tallahassee

 

[irishandy]

Nice win for ND WBB. DeWolfe had a nice game, Citron played great later in the game, and another great game by Hidalgo.

Is Cass Prosper out for the season?

 

[Ndaccountant]

Hidalgo is obviously phenomenal, but she does have usually 5 or so wasted possessions each game. If she can limit those, ND will take it to another level. Also, Marshall and Watson should never be counted on to pass into the post. It's and instant TO.

 

[stpeteirish]

Hidalgo is obviously phenomenal, but she does have usually 5 or so wasted possessions each game. If she can limit those, ND will take it to another level. Also, Marshall and Watson should never be counted on to pass into the post. It's and instant TO.

As opposed to passing it to either Marshall or Watson in the post? Not a good idea either.

 

[stpeteirish]

Nice win for ND WBB. DeWolfe had a nice game, Citron played great later in the game, and another great game by Hidalgo.

Is Cass Prosper out for the season?

Not officially but NDWBB seems to have a policy to not discuss injuries so who knows?

 

[irishrb]

Pretty entertaining game overall. DeWolfe's shooting was huge today. Hidalgo, Citron, Westbeld, KK all played very solid ball. Overall, good win for them.

 

[BabyIrish]

I believe Cass is also out for the season, but not entirely sure.

Extremely frustrating to watch Watson on the offensive side of the ball. More often than not she has her shot blocked. Not sure why she can’t figure out how to score.

In terms of the turnovers from the post. It was disappointing to see the bigs/coaches not make an adjustment. It was clear FSU was doubling/tripling are high low action. It should have been easy for the high post to kick to an open wing for a jump shot. Should have been easy to exploit, but we failed too.

Sonia and Hidalgo are both banged up. Not confident in are ability to finish well down the stretch. We’re looking like a beat up team. Coach may need to start subbing more even if it means playing Sarah and Becky. Cause I don’t know if the guards can take much more of 35/40+ minute games.

 

[Ndaccountant]

I believe Cass is also out for the season, but not entirely sure.

Extremely frustrating to watch Watson on the offensive side of the ball. More often than not she has her shot blocked. Not sure why she can’t figure out how to score.

In terms of the turnovers from the post. It was disappointing to see the bigs/coaches not make an adjustment. It was clear FSU was doubling/tripling are high low action. It should have been easy for the high post to kick to an open wing for a jump shot. Should have been easy to exploit, but we failed too.

Sonia and Hidalgo are both banged up. Not confident in are ability to finish well down the stretch. We’re looking like a beat up team. Coach may need to start subbing more even if it means playing Sarah and Becky. Cause I don’t know if the guards can take much more of 35/40+ minute games.

Agree on the banged up look. Problem is, sub in who? KK can play 10 to 15, but any more and it's a liability.

 

[BabyIrish]

Agree on the banged up look. Problem is, sub in who? KK can play 10 to 15, but any more and it's a liability.

Develop a healthy rotation between the four of Hidalgo Citron De Wolf and Bransford. Find a way to get them rotated each quarter. Maddy can play the 3 if need be at times.

 

[irishrb]

I believe Cass is also out for the season, but not entirely sure.

Extremely frustrating to watch Watson on the offensive side of the ball. More often than not she has her shot blocked. Not sure why she can’t figure out how to score.

In terms of the turnovers from the post. It was disappointing to see the bigs/coaches not make an adjustment. It was clear FSU was doubling/tripling are high low action. It should have been easy for the high post to kick to an open wing for a jump shot. Should have been easy to exploit, but we failed too.

Sonia and Hidalgo are both banged up. Not confident in are ability to finish well down the stretch. We’re looking like a beat up team. Coach may need to start subbing more even if it means playing Sarah and Becky. Cause I don’t know if the guards can take much more of 35/40+ minute games.

I didn't want to say it, but yeah, she is tough to watch.

 

[laughingirish90]

I believe Cass is also out for the season, but not entirely sure.

Extremely frustrating to watch Watson on the offensive side of the ball. More often than not she has her shot blocked. Not sure why she can’t figure out how to score.

In terms of the turnovers from the post. It was disappointing to see the bigs/coaches not make an adjustment. It was clear FSU was doubling/tripling are high low action. It should have been easy for the high post to kick to an open wing for a jump shot. Should have been easy to exploit, but we failed too.

Sonia and Hidalgo are both banged up. Not confident in are ability to finish well down the stretch. We’re looking like a beat up team. Coach may need to start subbing more even if it means playing Sarah and Becky. Cause I don’t know if the guards can take much more of 35/40+ minute games.

i would agree about the subbing early in the season but we now are in a stretch where we play NC State, VA Tech and the cardinals so subbing with way less talented players might be tough.

 

[stpeteirish]

i would agree about the subbing early in the season but we now are in a stretch where we play NC State, VA Tech and the cardinals so subbing with way less talented players might be tough.

Those three are home games. That’s the season right there.
We could end up anywhere from first in the league to not even in the top five (regular season).

 

[Old Man Mike]

Some BS from me from past coaching experiences: this on Watson in the post.

Watson's inability to score inside, AND NOT IMPROVE ON THAT, has been the biggest puzzlement for me about this team for two seasons.
Why? Watson is not a stumblebum. She has, in different ways of moving around the court, quite a bit of facile ability to get where she needs to be, and usually on balance. Secondly, Watson is not a loafer or low effort player. She's out there TRYING to get something done most all the time, BUT NOT DOING SO. Now, this just has to be as confusing to Ivey as it is anyone else, because she KNEW that Watson had the best chance of being a solid competitive center way back last season. That's why she started.

When I look at Watson in the heat of the competition, she has one devastating characteristic in evidence almost 100% of the time: She does not have ANY ABILITY TO "GATHER" herself before doing anything with the ball at the basket. Where's that "ZEN" moment (just a split second) where the good scorer strongly possesses the ball, sees the thrashing in the air around her, and either explodes into where the small gap is or takes a strong pivot and powers through? ... NOTHING. (I saw one sequence in a game about a month ago or more, in a second half, where this happened a handful of times in a row, and you would have guessed that she was one of our leading scorers.)

I cannot imagine that Watson's mind is somehow so frazzled that she is hopelessly defective here. There MUST be some COACHING deficit. Some almost-dedicated coach should be at every practice scrimmage and drill yelling "GATHER!", "POWER!", "STEP THROUGH!", "EXPLODE!!!" I'd also have her taking an adjusted Mikan Drill emphasizing baby hooks in front of the rim, when that's where the gap opens. I am utterly flummoxed as to why this doesn't show improvement. I could coach a shooter with a footwork flaw to not do that right as the play was occurring; our coaching staff should be able to coach the GATHER_EXPLODE issue in real time also.

 

[laughingirish90]

looks like our irish wbb team are going get there butts kicked tonight unless things change because they are down 14-2 in 1st with six turnovers already.

 

[BabyIrish]

It boggles my mind that some games we can shoot lights out and others we can’t even hit the broad side of a barn. Perplexing to say the least.

 

[laughingirish90]

It boggles my mind that some games we can shoot lights out and others we can’t even hit the broad side of a barn. Perplexing to say the least.

yeah just about everything they put up in the 1st half seemed to be junk, the wolfpack missing there best post player and we want to settle for a lot of 3 pt shots instead of going hard inside constantly, they are lucky to only be down 30-18 at halftime

 

[stpeteirish]

Hildago 0-9. Only two girls have scored, Westbeld and Citron.

 

[BabyIrish]

First four possessions:
Missed open Westbeld layup, Watson blocked by a guard, missed open Westbeld 3, missed open DeWolf 3

 

[BabyIrish]

30 pints through theee quarters. This team is tired. Missed three free throws to end the quarter.