ND Women's BB '17 -'18 Season

[IrishLax]

Announcer cam from last night: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I'm such a fan of the announcer camera. Adam Amin, Kara Lawson, and Rebecca Lobo are national treasures. <a href="https://t.co/9CDini9Qjz">pic.twitter.com/9CDini9Qjz</a></p>— Justin Russo (@FlyByKnite) <a href="https://twitter.com/FlyByKnite/status/980602293056778241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Also around social media:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">On July 13, 2014 at 6:06 pm, Arike Ogunbowale tweeted her final five colleges she was considering. UCONN was not included on her list. 14 minutes later, Geno Auriemma tweeted. Arike gets the last laugh. <a href="https://t.co/RGH6RIUJ5S">pic.twitter.com/RGH6RIUJ5S</a></p>— Travis Wilson (@travisWSN) <a href="https://twitter.com/travisWSN/status/980216282934063104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Arike Ogunbowale is cold blooded!!!!</p>— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/JJWatt/status/980599852601151488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wow. She’s a bad Woman!!! <a href="https://t.co/d9brS8IUtq">https://t.co/d9brS8IUtq</a></p>— DWade (@DwyaneWade) <a href="https://twitter.com/DwyaneWade/status/980609001250590722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NOTRE DAME WOMENS BASKETBALL HITS ONE OF THE GREATEST BUZZER BEATERS EVER TO WIN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WITH TITANIC <a href="https://t.co/pIVoBGHw0w">pic.twitter.com/pIVoBGHw0w</a></p>— paco (@AllaireMatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/AllaireMatt/status/980602358412529664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
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[tko]

Love the Titanic theme to both ND over LSU in the bowl game and this, so good.

 

[connor_in]

All-American Brianna Turner, F, will join the team in the Fall of '18 after a year of rehab for an ACL tear.

In addition to the 6-3 Turner, 6-3 Mikayla Vaughn, F, returns after ACL rehab.

They will join 6-3 Jessica Shephard, F on the '18 NCAA All-Tournament Team and 6-2 Sophomore Danielle Patterson giving ND four "Bigs". 8-4 Kristina Nelson, F, and 6-2 Kathryn Westbeld, F, will graduate with no remaining eligibility.

Mychal Johnson, G, will graduate and not be back, as will, Lili Thompson, PG, who used up her eligibility. Both have recovered from their ACL surgeries.

McGraw has the option of playing 3 guards and 2 forwards, or 3 guards, a forward, and a center, Shephard, or 2 guards, with a wing and 2 forwards, or 2 guards, a wing, a forward, and a center.

ND also brings in two freshman PGs, 5-10 Katlyn Gilver and 5-8 Jordan Nixon.

We're gonna need more basketballs.

So we lose 4 and bring in two?

 

[BabyIrish]

So we lose 4 and bring in two?

We’re bringing in 4, a quick google search would have confirmed that for you.

Go Irish, still in awe of that shot!

 

[SoDakDomer]

What a game. What a season.

Pro Tip: When you play the game like Rugby, it makes it really, really tough on officials to get every call. They missed a call at the end of the game, and MSU should have had 2 shots. Wait, I mean during a normal basketball game, they missed a call.

When you play that physical, you live with the position you put the officials in.

Miss St set the tone for that kind of game. They mugged us and pressured us in the first half with a mentality of "they can't call a foul every possession". Then when a questionable non call in a scrum with 10 seconds left goes against them, they are all over twitter complaining. You made your bed, sleep it in. Hang a Banner.

 

[zelezo vlk]

What an amazing run and season. Erect the statue of Muff

 

[IrishLax]

Miss St set the tone for that kind of game. They mugged us and pressured us in the first half with a mentality of "they can't call a foul every possession". Then when a questionable non call in a scrum with 10 seconds left goes against them, they are all over twitter complaining. You made your bed, sleep it in. Hang a Banner.

One other thing I'll add... I reffed basketball for years, and there is no ref that is ever going to call a reach there. First, because of how the play is moving down the court and all the people in the way you are not going to be in a good position to clearly discern contact.

Second, it appears she get the ball before making any body contact. Believe it or not, the way the rule is written, there is no such thing as a "reach"... you have to call the person for holding, blocking, pushing, etc. Because she gets the ball clean, it's then a loose ball which means they both have equal right to it... so you're never going to see a ref call a "block" on a loose ball where the defensive player knocked it away clean and then a step later gets run into by the offensive player. If she had gone for the ball, missed it, and then gotten run into while the MSST player still had possession they would call a block 100% of the time. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Shallow thoughts but maybe true:

1. Muffet had two legendary coaching successes this year, not just one. The injury-hampered team winning the title was the obvious one, but the second was the handling of Arike Ogumbawale. Last year I was watching a player with KRAAYZIE athleticism but with no clue as to how to play team basketball. I mentioned here that Muffet's biggest challenge was getting SOMETHING of team BBall IQ into Arike without squashing her astounding abilities on the court. My guess was that it wouldn't happen until Arike's senior year, when she would be an unstoppable AA. Arike still wasn't there (and on defense still isn't) at the beginning of this season, but it is a tribute to her that she took Muffet's Iron Insistence (Coach benched her many times this season for "infringements" on team play and mind-absent defensive play.) Standing applause to the two of them for finding a workable compromise (for, mind-boggling as she is, Arike's team BBall IQ is still the lowest on the team by far.) ... but what an athlete.

2). Muffet deserves a third Coach-of-the-year award for something some might deem minor, but which contributed mightily to our win yesterday: Koko Nelson did something I thought was impossible --- slowly developed into a very good substitute player rising on an asymptotic curve to peak on the final game of her career. I've seen that once while helping Ron Stewart a little with WMUs BBall team --- a girl who you could barely allow on the floor somehow finding a high IQ Ballplayer in herself just as her career wound down. Standing applause for Koko and Coach.

3). On basketball IQ: Muffet is about a 180. Kat, Koko, and Marina are about 160/155/150. REAL high. Jessica and Jackie are about 125s and learning fast. Arike is a happily exuberant 110. Arike therefore was on the exactly right team for her, surrounded by high BB-IQ players who could knit the game together so that she could frolic about making SportsCenter highlight reels. What Kat and (in the end) Koko did CREATING total team play cannot be underestimated (yet it will in everyone's but Muffet's mind --- she had a tweet the other day which said "My Favorite Two Players." It was a picture of her with Kat and Koko. Yes, she was honoring her senior warriors, but she wouldn't have unless she meant it.)

4). The incoming guards for next season are so important that it's not describable. Marina was so mentally stressed and "attacked" by those final two games that she could rarely function offensively vs Connecticut and not at all vs Mississippi State. Muffet had to tell Jackie to try to run the point vs MSU, while Marina almost hid in the corner trying to marshall what energies were still left to her. Jackie was lost doing a job never intended for her --- but Wow --- what an iron-willed effort by both her and Marina grinding it out those games.

5). And then there was the play of Jessica Mother Bear. She was NOT going to be intimidated by anyone and she was NOT going to be beaten. The Jessica Shepard we saw in the tournament was not just an All Tournament player but an All-American-Serious-Problem-To-Come for every opponent in 2018-9. Muffet will have to dream something up so that both Jess and Brianna can get close to the basket without bumping into one another, but I have faith.

6). I do worry a bit about losing the two highest BBall IQ players that we have. That doesn't always just simply replace. But Marina will still be there, and Jessica and Jackie are growing into that. Hopefully the rookie point guard just naturally has that like Skylar and Lindsay did. Those freshmen need to grow up fast despite the loaded senior class occupying so many court minutes theoretically --- look for Muffet to play them all she can. For after 2018-9 only Jackie Young will still be here from our Fab Five. ... but Muffet will figure it out, and we can sit back and enjoy what should be (barring injuries, excess cockiness [I don't see THAT happening] and Jess getting overweight) a wonderful second run at this.

 

[GowerND11]

One other thing I'll add... I reffed basketball for years, and there is no ref that is ever going to call a reach there. First, because of how the play is moving down the court and all the people in the way you are not going to be in a good position to clearly discern contact.

Second, it appears she get the ball before making any body contact. Believe it or not, the way the rule is written, there is no such thing as a "reach"... you have to call the person for holding, blocking, pushing, etc. Because she gets the ball clean, it's then a loose ball which means they both have equal right to it... so you're never going to see a ref call a "block" on a loose ball where the defensive player knocked it away clean and then a step later gets run into by the offensive player. If she had gone for the ball, missed it, and then gotten run into while the MSST player still had possession they would call a block 100% of the time. Hope that makes sense.

Exactly right. Anytime a ref calls a reach, they're really saying contact was made in some form. Mabrey got ball there, no call.

 

[ColinKSU]

Not that it was really up for debate, but Muffet is in a league of coaching that Brey and Kelly could only dream of at the moment.

 

[Ndaccountant]

Not that it was really up for debate, but Muffet is in a league of coaching that Brey and Kelly could only dream of at the moment.

Muffet may be best in the biz, or is at least second. Brey isn't that far off though. I think he is top 20 for sure, perhaps top 15 or better. He isn't THAT far off muffet.

 

[IrishTusker]

The team's return to campus is being carried on Periscope and UND.COM :: The Official Site of Notre Dame Athletics.

 

[clashmore_mike]

Lol

 

[Old Man Mike]

If as mentioned above, Muffet does not get a campus statue, that will say something very poor about our psychology.

 

[Irish#1]

If as mentioned above, Muffet does not get a campus statue, that will say something very poor about our psychology.

They'll wait until she retires. They don't want to put it up and have her start resting on her laurels! lol

 

[IrishLax]

Lol

hahahahaha this is gold!!!

 

[Luckylucci]

Great job to the ND Women's team for such a fantastic season. That was a remarkable shot. Can't say I watch too much women's bball but did enjoy some of the ND women's wins this tournament.

 

[BGIF]

It's Offical ND #1 per The Coaches Poll

It's Offical ND #1 per The Coaches Poll

USA Today Coaches Poll Postseason (Apr. 2)

RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Notre Dame (32)	35-3	800
2	Mississ St	37-2	764
3	UConn	36-1	738
4	Louisville	36-3	706
5	Oregon	33-5	666
6	S Carolina	29-7	604
7	UCLA	27-8	590
8	Oregon St	26-8	567
9	Baylor	33-2	555
10	Texas	28-7	470
11	Tex A&M	26-10	451
12	Duke	24-9	389
13	Stanford	24-11	363
14	Florida St	26-7	337
15	Ohio State	28-7	323
16	NC State	26-9	318
17	Tennessee	25-8	298
18	Maryland	26-8	238
19	Georgia	26-7	213
20	Cent Mich	30-5	201
21	Buffalo	29-6	166
22	Missouri	24-8	159
23	DePaul	27-8	138
24	South Fl	26-8	74
25	Fl Gulf Ct	31-5	63

Others receiving votes: Green Bay 45, Oklahoma State 27, Indiana 25, Mercer 23, Quinnipiac 12, Marquette 11, Michigan 11, Belmont 10, Minnesota 9, Miami 8, Syracuse 7, Virginia 6, Virginia Tech 5, Villanova 4, LSU 3, Nicholls 2, Little Rock 1

Dropped from rankings: Green Bay 21, Mercer 24, Belmont 25

 

[BGIF]

AP Poll isn't up yet.

 

[dshans]

I'm just grateful that my sister-in-law has Tivo/DVR or whatever, since just as the game was starting my older sister, my twin sister and her hubby, and a dear cousin and her husband were packing it in for the day and heading to their respective Florida homes.

Hug, hug; kissy, kissy and all that, "see you soon" and all that. The game was probably close to over when we got back to it.

We had no idea of the outcome. That my s-i-l had been a high school PE teacher for many years and coached many sports was a bonus for me. She could analyze the game much better than I could.

We agreed that an Irish victory would be ideal, but agreed that a win by either "Cinderella" team would be a good thing.



As a side note, her youngest daughter played b-ball with Patrick Ewing's son, Patrick, Jr., on a co-ed team when she was in middle school.

At some point, Jr. was struggling with his grades. Sr. laid down the law: "If you don't improve your grades, there's no more basketball for you."

My regard and my respect for Ewing, Sr. jumped a few notches, and Jr. got his shit together.

 

[NDVirginia19]

On a side note, what a fucking childish tweet by Geno. What an asshole

 

[IrishFanJMercy]

I think our Women will have a great shot at Repeating next year. Uconn just announced AZura Stevens is transfering that means they'll be losing 3 starters. Yeah they will reload, Miss St will be great again as well, they got a Conn transfer eglible to play and also bring in another 6'5 post player. Oregon will be tough as well

 

[GreenGemsOmally]

On a side note, what a fucking childish tweet by Geno. What an asshole

What was the tweet?

 

[dshans]

What was the tweet?

Yes.

Enquiring Minds Want To Know!

 

[connor_in]

Lol

just to follow this up Arike found this boy...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">😂🔥☘️ <a href="https://t.co/pZT1Vo3Lho">pic.twitter.com/pZT1Vo3Lho</a></p>— Arike Ogunbowale (@Arike_O) <a href="https://twitter.com/Arike_O/status/980864237999480832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
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[connor_in]

On a side note, what a fucking childish tweet by Geno. What an asshole

What was the tweet?

Yes.

Enquiring Minds Want To Know!

from Lax's post above

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">On July 13, 2014 at 6:06 pm, Arike Ogunbowale tweeted her final five colleges she was considering. UCONN was not included on her list. 14 minutes later, Geno Auriemma tweeted. Arike gets the last laugh. <a href="https://t.co/RGH6RIUJ5S">pic.twitter.com/RGH6RIUJ5S</a></p>— Travis Wilson (@travisWSN) <a href="https://twitter.com/travisWSN/status/980216282934063104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[ab2cmiller]

Yes.

Enquiring Minds Want To Know!

Edit:

Connor beat me by a minute

 

[dshans]

Edit:

Connor beat me by a minute

I suppose that I should buy a program so that I can identify the players ...

 

[PapaIrish37]

from Lax's post above

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">On July 13, 2014 at 6:06 pm, Arike Ogunbowale tweeted her final five colleges she was considering. UCONN was not included on her list. 14 minutes later, Geno Auriemma tweeted. Arike gets the last laugh. <a href="https://t.co/RGH6RIUJ5S">pic.twitter.com/RGH6RIUJ5S</a></p>— Travis Wilson (@travisWSN) <a href="https://twitter.com/travisWSN/status/980216282934063104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Geno could take a lesson from Coach Schaefer (spelling). Has been a class act from taking the blame himself for not being able to hold the late lead and praising his team to speaking at length about the talent, courage, resiliency and determination that the Irish women possessed allowing them to win two amazing games. A role model for response to a heart breaking loss on behalf of any coach anywhere.

Irish women were amazing both nights. Congrats to all of them and all of the coaches! GO IRISH!

 

[BGIF]

Why the Women's Final Four was the best ever
Mechelle Voepel espnW.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Buzzer-beating shots. Two (almost three) overtime games. The overall No. 1 seed losing for the first time all season. A program winning a second NCAA title 17 years after its first. A dozen or more future WNBA players taking the court. And, yes, even some officiating calls and non-calls that will keep fans debating as long as they remember this Women's Final Four.

And that should be for a long time. For everyone who wondered if all four No. 1 seeds reaching Nationwide Arena would result in a boringly predictable Women's Final Four -- it didn't. In terms of sheer drama, this weekend was the best women's college basketball has ever seen.

The 2017-18 season ended Sunday with Notre Dame's 61-58 victory over Mississippi State on Arike Ogunbowale's 3-pointer with less than 1 second left. She also hit a long, 2-point jump shot Friday to beat No. 1 overall seed UConn in the semifinals. Those two clutch baskets lifted Ogunbowale into Women's Final Four fame, along with the likes of North Carolina's Charlotte Smith and Maryland's Kristi Toliver.

...

Voepel contrasts this Final Four with those from '91, '93, '03, and '11 and finds '18 head and shoulders above the rest. No competition.