2024-2025 Notre Dame Women's Basketball

[Old Man Mike]

Didn't watch the game (no means to do so) so I'm hoping that some folks can comment. ND vs VT.

I didn't like the look of the stat sheet. The number of assists-to-baskets was not as high as optimal.

I worry that Olivia and Hannah are taking over the game TOO much. The others need more active involvement.

We are more threatening when the opponent has to watch all five people on the court.

Please let me hear your analyses if you can.

 

[stpeteirish]

Didn't watch the game (no means to do so) so I'm hoping that some folks can comment. ND vs VT.

I didn't like the look of the stat sheet. The number of assists-to-baskets was not as high as optimal.

I worry that Olivia and Hannah are taking over the game TOO much. The others need more active involvement.

We are more threatening when the opponent has to watch all five people on the court.

Please let me hear your analyses if you can.

No, the stats don’t lie. It wasn’t a particularly good game for most of the team. But Karlen had a really good game, much needed.
Our bench is going to be needed it’s a long grind from here to the finish.
I wouldn’t be too worried about Hildago carrying the team. She is a force of nature.

 

[Old Man Mike]

I watched the condensed highlights. VT was hard to pick a person to concentrate upon stopping (therefore Soni wasn't the hidden factor/stopper that she usually is --- their more consistent scorer would have taken a big.) I'm still concerned about Hannah and Olivia taking "all" the shots --- they shoot almost 20 per game while the others only get 5-7. The two are REALLY good, but I still don't like the long-term philosophy.

This offense seems coach-lazy, and maybe she can afford be. But what we do (other than run) is bring the ball down with Miles, tell King to go hide on the baseline, tell Citron to run away into the opposite corner, and let Miles work off Westbeld (usually keeping it or passing to Hidalgo, who then buffoons the defense in a variety of ways.) This "works" most of the time as a freelance offense dependent upon two excellent skills. (It's almost like an NBA offense in this sense.)

But it is also dependent upon asking a lot of the other three starters to somehow be on the top of their games despite being almost deliberately non-involved. When we see games where Westbeld, Citron, and King are NOT making their (rare) shots, we shouldn't blame them. Maybe this is how we should go and must go, but I'd like a more whole-involved offensive system at least most of the time at half court. Liatu and Soni deserve awards of some kind sacrificing their games as they are required to do.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Girls playing now on ESPN. Pretty terrible first half though leading by one. Hannah is OK despite Louisville being very clever in defending her. Miles head is elsewhere. And very lazy defensively every other play. Soni can't even control her hands and feet today --- working her ass off defensively but utterly useless on offense. Westbeld's softness an embarrassment. King was killing Louisville inside then got two fouls. ND went straight into the toilet when she went out (announcers haven't noticed this, showing their usual incredible incompetence --- and Lobo is exceptionally anti-ND today --- she always is but usually less continuous.) Karlen has been useful, and Prosper is trying hard though usually ineffectively.) Louisville coach is in the heads of a particularly poor refereeing group. This showed mightily from near the end of the first quarter throughout the second.

Because of Louisville's excellent defensive schemes, this is a game where my concern in the previous post is emerging in a major way. Miles and Hidalgo cannot carry us vs good defensive scheme just by winging it. We need a non-lazy-coach active half court offense. Such an offense will get even Hannah and Olivia better shots. We'll see in the second half perhaps.

 

[FU BK]

Much better second half.

 

[Old Man Mike]

King back in ---> we win big. Announcers finally figured it out.

Weirdly simple "game plan."

 

[Old Man Mike]

Girls blow out another good team. (couldn't watch it; no coverage here at my retirement home.)

Stats, however, say that beyond the expected, "subs" Prosper and Karlen played very well. (and got lots of minutes.)

Prosper seems to be in a thrival period; really finding a role where her dynamic athleticism shines.

Karlen looked to me in the last game like she was perfectly complementing whatever the stars wanted --- definition of solid glue.

Looked at this game's stats: the team scored at higher rate when she's in. (It also scores at lower rate when Sony's in, but that seems to be due to Soni making it harder to find a shot against us, and team's wasting more offensive time. Our defensive efficiency is mind-bogglingly better when Soni is on.)

This emergence of Prosper and Karlen as full-fledged starter-quality players allows Ivey to rest unrestibles such as Liatu and Citron 5-10 minutes more. Also Westbeld's time this game was firmly dropped (that looked more like maybe she wasn't playing as well as usual.)

Perhaps someone who got to see the game can give a better report.

 

[texbender]

OMM, team played a team game. Scoring shared by many, and too many TOs by Cal to stay in game. ND just has so many weapons with their top 8 rotation. Lots of easy buckets.

 

[BabyIrish]

Best game the team has played since December. Offensive sets were much better than we’ve sent in a while. Lots of movement. Hannah was off by all accounts and she somehow got to 24 and we still won by 39. Cass is playing exceptional. Soni was amazing on both ends. Olivia played really well. I’ll be honest, Hannah was off and out of sync with the team in general. Not as much movement when she was driving.

Westbeld got two very horrendous calls on her early in the third that caused her to get in foul trouble which is what led to the low minutes. I believe she picked up a fourth in the fourth as well.

Stadium was packed today. Great atmosphere.

This team can win it all if it plays like it did today. Too many weapons to shut this team down.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Thanks very much, guys. And really nice to hear that the game matched and surpassed the stats.

 

[laughingirish92]

yep a total team victory today as they are rolling and look unbeatable at times with Westbeld and Liza both now back and shooting well, defense and turnovers still got to get better but they are showing improvements, nc state game in my opinion will decide conference champion as they are playing really well right now and are just one game behind irish and with SC losing today the irish should be #2 in polls monday

 

[irishandy]

This team is so damn good, you can tell that they are well coached, they all mesh well together. Maybe coach Shews and the men's team should watch and learn.

 

[stpeteirish]

Girls blow out another good team. (couldn't watch it; no coverage here at my retirement home.)

Stats, however, say that beyond the expected, "subs" Prosper and Karlen played very well. (and got lots of minutes.)

Prosper seems to be in a thrival period; really finding a role where her dynamic athleticism shines.

Karlen looked to me in the last game like she was perfectly complementing whatever the stars wanted --- definition of solid glue.

Looked at this game's stats: the team scored at higher rate when she's in. (It also scores at lower rate when Sony's in, but that seems to be due to Soni making it harder to find a shot against us, and team's wasting more offensive time. Our defensive efficiency is mind-bogglingly better when Soni is on.)

This emergence of Prosper and Karlen as full-fledged starter-quality players allows Ivey to rest unrestibles such as Liatu and Citron 5-10 minutes more. Also Westbeld's time this game was firmly dropped (that looked more like maybe she wasn't playing as well as usual.)

Perhaps someone who got to see the game can give a better report.

You need to get yourself a streaming package. Get someone under 30 to show you how

 

[Irish#1]

Good to see the bench get some decent time on the court. Helps keep them focused.

 

[Old Man Mike]

To StPeter: You, of course, talk like a young person who can just spend money at will.

Pardon me if I am "over thirty" and concerned if I have enough saved to live out my life.

This sort of remark with its age assumptions regarding stupidity, well .....

 

[NDFAN2008]

Anyone know why we only got one recruit coming in don’t we lose 6-7 players

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

To StPeter: You, of course, talk like a young person who can just spend money at will.

Pardon me if I am "over thirty" and concerned if I have enough saved to live out my life.

This sort of remark with its age assumptions regarding stupidity, well .....

I think st Peter was genuinely just saying if you don't know how to "play the game" of streaming someone could show you the ropes (there's ways of sharing logins etc)

I don't think he meant that as a shot at all

 

[laughingirish92]

Anyone know why we only got one recruit coming in don’t we lose 6-7 players

i try to follow wbb recruiting but it just doesn't have the same coverage as football recruiting but from what i know from reading and hearing it seems like the staff goes out on the road and recruits hard but just got beat out for a lot of elite recruits these past two classes signed, maybe they don't close well with recruits like UCONN, SC and LSU and other powers

 

[stpeteirish]

I think st Peter was genuinely just saying if you don't know how to "play the game" of streaming someone could show you the ropes (there's ways of sharing logins etc)

I don't think he meant that as a shot at all

Indeed. In fact I too am old and have learned the benefit of getting the young uns to aid with technology. There are many cheap options to get TV these days.

 

[BabyIrish]

Anyone know why we only got one recruit coming in don’t we lose 6-7 players

To piss you off

 

[AllTimeIrish]

Anyone know why we only got one recruit coming in don’t we lose 6-7 players

Yes they recruited one player only each of the past two cycles after getting 3x 5 star players the year before. And because of that, players decided to pick other teams that had more open immediate playing time.

Due to injuries some of those recently recruited players haven’t played at the G and SF position. Next year if everyone is healthy, there will be guard depth, though outside Hidalgo they will be relatively inexperienced.

At F and C, we will have two very good young players recruited the last two years but need some depth, unless they move Prosper to SF, her natural position.

So they need 3 overall players this coming recruiting cycle (including ideally two ‘big’ forwards and a point guard) along with two transfers and they should be ok.

Next years group will have a LOT less experience and proven depth overall, however. So I expect a step back and mini rebuild for a year or so and then another big run of 2-3 years towards the tournament. That is if recruiting is successful this coming cycle.

 

[BabyIrish]

Yes,
We will have to hit the transfer portal hard in the off season to come close to fielding a competitive team next year. The 2026 class needs to have a lot of recruits in it as well. A very huge off season in recruiting is a must.

 

[Irish#1]

Ladies with another dominating win, allowing the bench to get some playing time.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Didn't get to see it as usual, but the stat-lines say that A.) Hannah couldn't throw one in the ocean tonight; and B.) Maddy couldn't stay on the floor with fouls. Karlen seems to have filled in, and Soni helped Olivia with the scoring.

Sounds as though we had a very peculiar game (possibly aided by Pitt being really excited at the beginnings of first and third quarters before running out of gas. They seem to only have about three competent players.)

Hannah did have SEVEN steals.

 

[Pete]

Didn't get to see it as usual, but the stat-lines say that A.) Hannah couldn't throw one in the ocean tonight; and B.) Maddy couldn't stay on the floor with fouls. Karlen seems to have filled in, and Soni helped Olivia with the scoring.

Sounds as though we had a very peculiar game (possibly aided by Pitt being really excited at the beginnings of first and third quarters before running out of gas. They seem to only have about three competent players.)

Hannah did have SEVEN steals.

Maddy also got bumped in the nose and it took them a little bit to get the bleeding to stop. Then she’d go back in and it would start bleeding again and the refs would make her go out.

The refs called a lot of fouls. It’s like they thought they were CFB Refs and thought the crowd came to see them.

 

[stpeteirish]

Maddy also got bumped in the nose and it took them a little bit to get the bleeding to stop. Then she’d go back in and it would start bleeding again and the refs would make her go out.

The refs called a lot of fouls. It’s like they thought they were CFB Refs and thought the crowd came to see them.

The “moving pick” is being called way more often this year it seems. Most of those called are borderline at best

 

[FU BK]

Not ND related, but ESPN had an article yesterday called Love Abby. Was about a little girl that had a tumor, and eventually passed, and how she forged friendships with the girls on UConn. Read it at my lasik follow up appointment and it must of got dusty in the waiting room

 

[BabyIrish]

Soni is playing on another level. She was fun to watch yesterday. Same with Olivia. Seemed to make all the other decisions on when to pass and when to shoot. I worry about Hannah. To put in terms most that everyone understands as it relates to football, she’s playing for individual glory( player of the year award) rather than team glory. She’s not looking to setup her teammates in the same way the other 4 do. I applaud Ivey. There were multiple times she took Hannah out in the second half. In the fourth, Hannah started looking team first again. We’ll see if it translates over to Duke.

 

[stpeteirish]

I'm more concerned about post play than HH. Pitt had a good post player (and very little else) and she totally outplayed all three of the players who matched up with her. Pitt's post had 23 pts and 16 rbs in 36 minutes, our threesome had a combined 12 pts and 10rbs in 48 minutes (they were in together a little in the 4th quarter. They also had 10 combined fouls and 7 turnovers, not good. Koval had 4 TOs in 10 minutes, she has trouble even catching the ball.

This is not a one game thing, none of the three have been consistently good this year. When we start playing top teams in the postseason this could be a real issue. I expected better from all three, especially Westbeld. This was her 11th game since returning and she's way behind last years production.

 

[BabyIrish]

I'm more concerned about post play than HH. Pitt had a good post player (and very little else) and she totally outplayed all three of the players who matched up with her. Pitt's post had 23 pts and 16 rbs in 36 minutes, our threesome had a combined 12 pts and 10rbs in 48 minutes (they were in together a little in the 4th quarter. They also had 10 combined fouls and 7 turnovers, not good. Koval had 4 TOs in 10 minutes, she has trouble even catching the ball.

This is not a one game thing, none of the three have been consistently good this year. When we start playing top teams in the postseason this could be a real issue. I expected better from all three, especially Westbeld. This was her 11th game since returning and she's way behind last years production.

I agree the post play is a cause for concern, but it’s not overly concerning to me. This team was never going to be threat down low. It was always going to be predicated by the guards. Our post defense, was good enough to beat USC and UCONN. Betts is probably the best post player out there on UCLA and SC gave the formula on how to beat them last night, which we are more than capable of playing the way SC did on defense.

How Hannah is playing is my main concern for Westbeld production. Last year Westbeld scored her points because Hannah was willing to pass to her off the pick and roll. Hannah isn’t willing to do that this year. She’s looking to score first. She misses open players all the time because she’s trying to fill the stat sheet. I’m hoping Hannah can turn it around and get back to the team first mentality. That could really unlock this offense and Westbelds production.