2023-24 Notre Dame Women's Basketball

[irishff1014]

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?

Communication wasn’t there that’s for sure.

 

[BabyIrish]

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

Not sure. No one seems to know. Her injury has only been described as a lower leg injury.

The announcers on Thursday said that she was out for the year but that Miles was on the road to playing again soon. Then yesterday the announcers said Olivia was out for the year and that Cass is just out. So who knows.

I do know that this is the first week that Cass has been out of a walking boot.

 

[BabyIrish]

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.

I think this is a big reason why we lost to Syracuse twice this year. Our roster does not stack up well against them. Definitely interested to see with an ACC gauntlet in February.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

This got the sports weekend off to a great start. I love seeing ND beat Geno. Love it.

 

[NDFAN2008]

ND girls should be preseason number 1 or 2 next year

 

[Old Man Mike]

Uhhh ... I don't think so.
One needs several BIGS to win championships. We MIGHT lose every big on the current roster.
The Big coming in looks potentially great --- potentially.
Will Ivey get successful in the portal?

 

[IrishLax]

I was talking to a college coach yesterday about how there is NIL in play even for smaller sports now like lacrosse and soccer. Basically, sports that are non-revenue and partial scholarship have top players getting some compensation... mainly to close the gap on what scholarship can't cover and maybe a tiny bit of walking around money, nothing huge.

Does anyone know if we do NIL for WBB? Or what top WBB players like Caitlin Clark are getting? Made me curious.

 

[stpeteirish]

ND girls should be preseason number 1 or 2 next year

Uhh…Do you know what our roster is going look like next year? Lots of questions especially in the era of open transfers. If we trade Watson for Koval and the rest of the roster returns we could be very good.
Pretty big if though.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

I was talking to a college coach yesterday about how there is NIL in play even for smaller sports now like lacrosse and soccer. Basically, sports that are non-revenue and partial scholarship have top players getting some compensation... mainly to close the gap on what scholarship can't cover and maybe a tiny bit of walking around money, nothing huge.

Does anyone know if we do NIL for WBB? Or what top WBB players like Caitlin Clark are getting? Made me curious.

A look at Caitlin Clark's NIL deals from Nike to Gatorade and many more

Caitlin Clark’s stardom has major companies lining up for her to endorse their products. Check out all of the NIL deals Clark currently has.

hawkeyeswire.usatoday.com

It has to be millions. Look at her portfolio.

The two women at LSU were millionaires as well, but I don't think they have the list of companies that Clark does. This is insane. She can make her money now and play in the WNBA for fun at this point.

 

[BabyIrish]

Uhh…Do you know what our roster is going look like next year? Lots of questions especially in the era of open transfers. If we trade Watson for Koval and the rest of the roster returns we could be very good.
Pretty big if though.

The only three who exhaust eligibility are Jenna Brown, Anna DeWolf, and Becky Obimna. Everyone else has an option to return. Obviously transfers happen regularly so we could see some attrition. But it wouldn’t surprise me to see the core of the team come back.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Westbeld and Marshall still have eligibility? Mindboggling ... but great if true.

 

[BabyIrish]

Westbeld and Marshall still have eligibility? Mindboggling ... but great if true.

I was surprised too but the official roster on the ND website lists Marshall annd Westbeld’s eligibility as a Junior.

 

[sfk324]

I was surprised too but the official roster on the ND website lists Marshall annd Westbeld’s eligibility as a Junior.

They have the extra COVID year. Fall/winter seasons for 2020-21 got an extra year.

 

[laughingirish90]

Westbeld and Marshall still have eligibility? Mindboggling ... but great if true.

Westbeld has a 5th year but read somewhere recently where she stated that she is undecided if she'll use it or not and Marshall can come back also if she chooses but Watson is done and i'm more than okay with that because to me personally she hasn't been a difference maker for our irish in the post.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Marshall is one of that type of veteran who might never start but gets to an advanced level of play where she has grown into the game so thoroughly that it is no longer too big for her. She can just go out there vs any team and play ball. That sort of back-up vet is uber valuable. Hopefully she is eligible and comes back --- would be a superb back-up big to have. I always love players like that. They get to the point where they are never loafing or daydreaming.

 

[arrowryan]

Hidalgo had a casual 35 last night @ GT. I knew she was good but hadn’t really watched her yet. She crossed over a GT defender twice last night on the same dribble and followed it up with a step back jumper. Probably the filthiest play I’ve seen from the women’s team.

 

[NDFAN2008]

Hidalgo had a casual 35 last night @ GT. I knew she was good but hadn’t really watched her yet. She crossed over a GT defender twice last night on the same dribble and followed it up with a step back jumper. Probably the filthiest play I’ve seen from the women’s team.

Her along with Citron and MIles if she comes back healthy plus westbald and prosper back healthy and the number 1 post player coming in they should be elite next year.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

Could Hidalgo win POTY honors as a freshman? I was watching them to a top 20 on ESPN and she was in the mix.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Well, it's going to be hard to unseat Caitlin Clark.

Other than that, there's prejudice towards South Carolina, LSU, and UCONN to get past.
Clark is the most amazing long-gun flamethrower I've seen since Becky Hammon, so she probably deserves it.

 

[BabyIrish]

I suspect Hannah will be a semi finalist and maybe a finalist but yeah Caitlin Clark is winning that award.

Hannah should be an easy 1st team ACC. She should get some type of All American award. She’ll definitely win ACC rookie of the year award. She’ll be in the running for ACC player of the year but that’ll probably go to Fair of Syracuse or maybe the guard from FSU. But it’s hard for me to believe she won’t win POY awards in the future as long as she stays healthy.

 

[laughingirish90]

Hidalgo had a casual 35 last night @ GT. I knew she was good but hadn’t really watched her yet. She crossed over a GT defender twice last night on the same dribble and followed it up with a step back jumper. Probably the filthiest play I’ve seen from the women’s team.

her and Juju Smith from USC are the two frontrunners for national freshmen of the year award and Hannah was just named to the late season top 20 John Wooden award list which is pretty amazing for a freshmen on the women's side.

 

[stpeteirish]

her and Juju Smith from USC are the two frontrunners for national freshmen of the year award and Hannah was just named to the late season top 20 John Wooden award list which is pretty amazing for a freshmen on the women's side.

you mean JuJu Watkins I think. SC's had a run of JuJu's

 

[IRISHDODGER]

Well, it's going to be hard to unseat Caitlin Clark.

Other than that, there's prejudice towards South Carolina, LSU, and UCONN to get past.
Clark is the most amazing long-gun flamethrower I've seen since Becky Hammon, so she probably deserves it.

Good point. And they’ll reflexively look at Hidalgo and say she’s got next year or the season after to win it.

 

[laughingirish90]

you mean JuJu Watkins I think. SC's had a run of JuJu's

i stand corrected as you are right

 

[IrishSportsDaily]

 

[arrowryan]

Rumor is that the culture in the program sucks right now. Seeing how they play against good competition, I’m not shocked.

 

[Ndaccountant]

Rumor is that the culture in the program sucks right now. Seeing how they play against good competition, I’m not shocked.

How so? Clash between players? Players and coaches?

 

[BabyIrish]

I’m shocked. Ryan comes in with his typical troll comments after a loss but nothing to say after a win.

 

[arrowryan]

I’m shocked. Ryan comes in with his typical troll comments after a loss but nothing to say after a win.

The UCONN win was outstanding and unexpected. I’ve been following them for a while and hope like hell for their success.

I’m just passing info I was told yesterday by someone in the college game.

 

[Old Man Mike]

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."