Notre Dame's Success: Who Gets the Credit?

[Tenspro2002]

Notre Dame has had a very impressive season and looks like the clear-cut #2 and possibly the only legitimate contender for the championship.

What does their success this season imply about Muffet, her players, and Skylar Diggins?

Is this the coaching performance of Muffet's life, getting the most out of a team that was expected to be down this year?

Does their performance speak to the clutchness of McBride, Jewel Loyd's superstardom, or the experience of players like Achonwa?

Is this a sign that Skylar Diggins imbued them with the confidence they need to win big games, or that they're just fine -- and maybe even better -- without her?

 

[rocky rococo]

Muffet was always a good strategist and game coach. She couldn't recruit her way out of a paper bag. Then she hired Niele Ivey, and presto! that problem was gone.

 

[John Glass]

McGraw is a great coach, they have good, not great talent . Braker, and Allen are solid role players. She developed McBride, and Archonwa. Lloyd is a star. Notre Dame is not in the top 5 talent wise.

 

[Tonyc]

MD has one scorer and won other double digit player. I was surprised MD came back with Thomas leading the way almost all by herself. I was surprised ND couldn't stop her. Lack of height hurt ND. I think it gives a lot of teams hope against ND if they have some balanced scoring. ND executed well and stuck with their game plan. MD just didn't have enough players who could put the ball in the hoop. ND has terrific balance on both sides of the ball. It was a great game and I never thought ND would lose. This is UConns year and it will be a big year. Still full of injuries UConn continues to roll. Healthy in March and UConn wont be beaten.

 

[John Glass]

MD has one scorer and won other double digit player. I was surprised MD came back with Thomas leading the way almost all by herself. I was surprised ND couldn't stop her. Lack of height hurt ND. I think it gives a lot of teams hope against ND if they have some balanced scoring. ND executed well and stuck with their game plan. MD just didn't have enough players who could put the ball in the hoop. ND has terrific balance on both sides of the ball. It was a great game and I never thought ND would lose. This is UConns year and it will be a big year. Still full of injuries UConn continues to roll. Healthy in March and UConn wont be beaten.

"won other double digit player" actually it was two. There were two more with 8 and 9 points, who got limited playing time so that Rutan who did not score could play.

 

[ocoandasoc]

McGraw is a CEO-type coach and a great one. She gets the max out of her players and staff. She coaches more like Geno than any other Top 20 coach. ND plays more like UConn than any other top 20 team. Muffet knows her weaknesses (schmoozing/closing recruits) and knows how to bring in help to get it done. (There will always be kids and parents strongly drawn to what Notre Dame has to offer.) Her teams are never one-dimensional and usually play the kind of team basketball that is fun to watch. Yes, Diggins was over-hyped and over-rated imho -- but McGraw didn't let it negatively affect the program. If they can beat Duke you can pencil them in for a #1 seed along with UConn and Stanford. There'll be a handful of candidates for the final #1 and there should be some great Regional Finals this spring.

 

[choochoo]

Braker has always seemed to be a little soft or slow compared to other post players, she got exposed against uconn in the final 4 last year and fouled out IIRC.

 

[msf22b]

Notre Dame has had a very impressive season and looks like the clear-cut #2 and possibly the only legitimate contender for the championship.

What does their success this season imply about Muffet, her players, and Skylar Diggins?

Is this the coaching performance of Muffet's life, getting the most out of a team that was expected to be down this year?

Does their performance speak to the clutchness of McBride, Jewel Loyd's superstardom, or the experience of players like Achonwa?

Is this a sign that Skylar Diggins imbued them with the confidence they need to win big games, or that they're just fine -- and maybe even better -- without her?

Every year it seems Notre Dame is expected to be in a rebuilding mode…and every year they compete at a high level.
I don't think it's only Loyd or Achonwa or Mcbride, it's getting the best out of your whole team which is a Muffit specialty.
I never count them out or underestimate them.
Has nothing to do with Skylar.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Muffett has always been a good coach. Now IMHO thanks to Niele Ivey they are getting the recruits that will enable ND to remain as one of the Elite programs. They're getting the guards/wings to compete for a National Championship. IMHO they need to get a quality post player to get them over the Top. Still a very dangerous team as they've got plenty of players who can score.

 

[FairView]

Sounds to me like the key to not worrying about Notre Dame anymore is to get Niele Ivey a head coaching job.

 

[triaddukefan]

Sounds to me like the key to not worrying about Notre Dame anymore is to get Niele Ivey a head coaching job.

At least not for a few more years Unless its a gig in the ACC

 

[UcMiami]

They have three top flight players in Achonwa, Loyd, and McBride and their other starters and bench aren't chopped liver either so ... they have more talent than most teams, and they have a better coach than most teams. Skyler is a loss on the confidence and swagger front, but they brought in a really nice freshman class as well.
So -
Great coaching
Great players
= great team.
Not sure you are getting any new information from this year, except maybe they have played a few games closer than they would have with Skylar last year.

 

[hussybulldog]

'possibly the only legitimate contender for the championship.'??? Did you mean the only OTHER legitimate contender?

Notre Dame has had a very impressive season and looks like the clear-cut #2 and possibly the only legitimate contender for the championship.

What does their success this season imply about Muffet, her players, and Skylar Diggins?

Is this the coaching performance of Muffet's life, getting the most out of a team that was expected to be down this year?

Does their performance speak to the clutchness of McBride, Jewel Loyd's superstardom, or the experience of players like Achonwa?

Is this a sign that Skylar Diggins imbued them with the confidence they need to win big games, or that they're just fine -- and maybe even better -- without her?

 

[DaddyChoc]

whats sooooo special about Niele Ivey?

 

[Scotter]

whats sooooo special about Niele Ivey?

Mainly what's special about Niele Ivery is that people can give her credit for everything Skylar did for Notre Dame and thus avoid having to give Diggins credit for anything.

 

[DaddyChoc]

Mainly what's special about Niele Ivery is that people can give her credit for everything Skylar did for Notre Dame and thus avoid having to give Diggins credit for anything.

oh that make sense...

 

[bbsamjj]

The recruiting cannot be underestimated. After ND's first title, you thought they'd get a huge boost on the recruiting end, but Kevin McGuff (now head coach at OSU) and Carol Owens (who is now back) left and there was a significant talent drop off. ND doesn't have that problem now.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

whats sooooo special about Niele Ivey?

The truth is there may be nothing all that special about her specifically, but she filled a need.

Every school needs a solid recruiter who not only can do the evaluations but do all the little things that massage the recruit and that the HC doesn't have time to do. The HC periodically goes and sits in the stands and gets seen, etc; but someone has to do the grunt work.

I expect that is Ivey for ND; does Muffet really seem all that charismatic?

 

[triaddukefan]

whats sooooo special about Niele Ivey?

 

[easttexastrash]

Sounds to me like the key to not worrying about Notre Dame anymore is to get Niele Ivey a head coaching job.

I was just wondering how soon it will be before someone snags her. Maybe she can stay with ND until Tennessee decides to make a change.

 

[easttexastrash]

Mainly what's special about Niele Ivery is that people can give her credit for everything Skylar did for Notre Dame and thus avoid having to give Diggins credit for anything.

Well, she certainly ads some esthetics to the sideline, if nothing else.

 

[DaddyChoc]

I was just wondering how soon it will be before someone snags her. Maybe she can stay with ND until Tennessee decides to make a change.

she's not going anywhere, former ND player... probaly waiting for MM to retire

 

[Icebear]

she's not going anywhere, former ND player... probaly waiting for MM to retire

There are several who will be in line for that position including Ivey, Washington, McGuff, others.

 

[Bigpetunia]

They have three top flight players in Achonwa, Loyd, and McBride and their other starters and bench aren't chopped liver either so ... they have more talent than most teams, and they have a better coach than most teams. Skyler is a loss on the confidence and swagger front, but they brought in a really nice freshman class as well.
So -
Great coaching
Great players
= great team.
Not sure you are getting any new information from this year, except maybe they have played a few games closer than they would have with Skylar last year.

I think you're right, but I'm not sure they've lost a beat with the graduation of Skylar. Loyd's development has been huge, and Mabrey's deadly three-point shooting off the bench is a real weapon. All season long, I've been a staunch advocate of the opinion that they had the second best team in the country and the second best coach. While I was shocked to see them allow Maryland make it close (Alyssa was unbelievable!), overall, nothing I saw changed my opinion. Someone posted here that they are not in the top five teams in the country in terms of talent....uh huh, and what flavor is that kool-aid? They're pretty formidable, and I hope we meet them in the final, both undefeated going in. Between now and then, absent Morgan, we're going to have to figure out how to get more production from our thin bench.

 

[Wbbfan1]

While the odds are Skylar was always going to attend ND, there were still some questions during her recruitment where she was going to go. Niele Ivey was hired and Skylar and ND came at the same time.

"Recruiting Skylar Diggins from South Bend’s Washington High School is hands down my biggest professional accomplishment. The assignment was proposed to me during my first interview, so to be able to say that I succeeded at that task from start to finish is amazing. I watched her play all over the country, and even travelled to Argentina to show our interest. So when Skylar committed to Notre Dame in November 2009 that was such an incredible day for me!” http://goblackirishgo.blogspot.com/2010/05/from-player-to-coachniele-iveys-move-to.html

I don't diminish what Skylar has done for ND with her accomplishments, but what Niele Ivey has done as the Recruiting Coordinator is to get more highly ranked talent to consider and ultimately sign with ND. In comparison to six years ago, ND is now being mentioned by many more top recruits and they are getting their fair share of them. Muffett wasn't able to accomplish that in the years following their one National Championship. If the play of the ND guards is an indication she must be one heck of a coach as they are an outstanding group.

ND is happy with her http://www.und.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/niele_ivey_11414.html