2025-2026 Notre Dame Women's Basketball

[burmafrd1944]

Cass got picked 19th in the draft. It showed me that the professionals running WNBA teams were watching and knew basketball. The TV commentators (as usual) went about disrespecting Notre Dame and never mentioned her and "surprise" there she went. Who knows what Cass will do, but she had that rare get-after-it motor that any coach treasures. Whoever says that she's easy to replace ... well ... no comment.

not easy to replace but replaceable
the only one on this team I would put as irreplaceable is Hidalgo

 

[sfk324]

Reading the tea leaves to this point, it would appear Ivey is being treated more like Shrewsberry than Marcus, meaning she gets to try to build a roster with high school recruits and grad students. If this holds, it's really disappointing with everything she has given to ND for 20+ years as a player and coach that the University is unwilling to trust that she "gets it" and give her the benefit of the doubt.

 

[burmafrd1944]

Reading the tea leaves to this point, it would appear Ivey is being treated more like Shrewsberry than Marcus, meaning she gets to try to build a roster with high school recruits and grad students. If this holds, it's really disappointing with everything she has given to ND for 20+ years as a player and coach that the University is unwilling to trust that she "gets it" and give her the benefit of the doubt.

depends on what you last ate as regards reading tea leaves. I have not seen any sign of what you claim. She clearly is working the transfer portal and recruiting what you SHOULD be recruiting as regards high school. My only complaint about her recruiting is so far not getting a real center. Now we have a fair amount of time before next season so at this moment as regards recruiting I am not seeing anything to really be concerned about

 

[irishandy]

Reading the tea leaves to this point, it would appear Ivey is being treated more like Shrewsberry than Marcus, meaning she gets to try to build a roster with high school recruits and grad students. If this holds, it's really disappointing with everything she has given to ND for 20+ years as a player and coach that the University is unwilling to trust that she "gets it" and give her the benefit of the doubt.

The incoming high school recruits for next season look to be good on paper and Ivey's best class. If Hannah got the team to rally around her this past season, I would hope the same for this coming season.

 

[burmafrd1944]

The incoming high school recruits for next season look to be good on paper and Ivey's best class. If Hannah got the team to rally around her this past season, I would hope the same for this coming season.

View attachment 3063038

we still need a real BIG

 

[irishandy]

we still need a real BIG

Ivey can portal that.

 

[burmafrd1944]

Ivey can portal that.

I hope so. It is the one glaring problem she has not been able to really solve.

 

[ab2cmiller]

 

[burmafrd1944]

sigh. Good contributor. sorry to see her go

 

[Irish5Saint]

Reading the tea leaves to this point, it would appear Ivey is being treated more like Shrewsberry than Marcus, meaning she gets to try to build a roster with high school recruits and grad students. If this holds, it's really disappointing with everything she has given to ND for 20+ years as a player and coach that the University is unwilling to trust that she "gets it" and give her the benefit of the doubt.

yet everyone said Bevacqua and Dowd were totally different and complete upgrades from Swarbrick and Jenkins!

 

[arrowryan]

yet everyone said Bevacqua and Dowd were totally different and complete upgrades from Swarbrick and Jenkins!

It is not Bevacqua’s or Dowd’s fault that Ivey decided to give Hidalgo over 50% of the team’s NIL last year.

But, yes, Bevacqua is better than Swarbrick. Swarbrick helped develop the bullshit CFP criteria that allows G5 teams in and was a big reason why ND was behind in the NIL department for a long time.

 

[irishrb]

sigh. Good contributor. sorry to see her go

I would assume she didn't like her NIL deal and figured she could make more elsewhere? Still surprising.

 

[Old Man Mike]

This, in my very humble opinion (I don't know the practice atmosphere), hurts the ease in which next year's team will gel and find its fire. It was not just Hannah who somehow brought them together, but Cass and KK were full-grown heated competitors and tough ladies. (I include Vanessa de Jesus in that.) With all those "fighters" gone, it's a lot to ask freshmen to produce that attitude. Hannah has it, but she is a true unicorn. She'll never be just another teammate out there. Everyone else on the team knows that they cannot do what Hannah does. Hannah needed Soni. Hannah needed Cass and KK. (Hell, they even needed the bench presence of Watson, even though injured, two years ago.) I hope that she can grow into the bigger role, or Ivey somehow finds how to create it. ... mildly optimistic but that's as far as I can go now.

 

[sfk324]

The incoming high school recruits for next season look to be good on paper and Ivey's best class. If Hannah got the team to rally around her this past season, I would hope the same for this coming season.

View attachment 3063038

Next year's team has more talent on paper than this year. But this year had a good amount of experience that figured it out down the stretch when KK returned. Next year's team is light on experience, and now that KK has entered the portal, it is even lighter. Although I will note she entered last year and returned, the issue last year was her expected role on the team whereas she was pretty clear it was going to be a financial decision this time. Maybe she can be lured back again, but I'm not holding my breath.

If they are only bringing in GS transfers, they are looking at a team with players who will leave after this year (how many will they even get?) and a bunch of first year players. That's not a great dynamic for sustainable success, and you're counting on a lot of first year players being able to adapt to the speed and physicality of P4 basketball quickly. That is often a substantial challenge -- some players take multiple years to figure it out, and some never do.

The roster is unbalanced and the only way to fix it is to ease the transfer rules like they did for the football team. They don't appear to be willing to do that, which should raise some concerns for how they are going to navigate things for non-FB sports. From the outside, the plan appears to be "hope this free-for-all doesn't continue for much longer and just try to hang on until it ends." Not sure that's a great strategy based on the last two cycles and the fact zero progress has been made in addressing the issue as a whole beyond an executive order that won't last beyond the first court case (if any institution even tries to use it).

 

[burmafrd1944]

Losing both Cass and KK is a heavy blow
their experience and grit was important
I wonder why we keep losing so many

 

[Irish5Saint]

It is not Bevacqua’s or Dowd’s fault that Ivey decided to give Hidalgo over 50% of the team’s NIL last year.

But, yes, Bevacqua is better than Swarbrick. Swarbrick helped develop the bullshit CFP criteria that allows G5 teams in and was a big reason why ND was behind in the NIL department for a long time.

You’re avoiding my point about undergrad transfers.

Jack got us that $150 million football building.

Pete has done absolutely nothing notable as AD. A monkey could have resigned Freeman.

 

[arrowryan]

You’re avoiding my point about undergrad transfers.

Jack got us that $150 million football building.

Pete has done absolutely nothing notable as AD. A monkey could have resigned Freeman.

I have no idea why they don’t/can’t bring in undergrad transfers. But I know they’re at least competitive in NIL.

In his first 2-3 years as AD, Pete has shown more commitment to being competitive in football and genuinely trying to win a championship than Swarbrick did in 16 years.

 

[Irish5Saint]

I have no idea why they don’t/can’t bring in undergrad transfers. But I know they’re at least competitive in NIL.

In his first 2-3 years as AD, Pete has shown more commitment to being competitive in football and genuinely trying to win a championship than Swarbrick did in 16 years.

Committed to being a dolt?