Dishin & Swishin Podcast: Muffet McGraw & ND get ready to do it again

[DishNSwish]

Last season was one for the ages for Notre Dame’s women’s basketball program and their acclaimed head coach. It included a school record 37 victories, an undefeated record until the national championship game, All-American honors for stars Kayla McBride and Jewell Loyd plus Associated Press, WBCA, espnW, and the USBWA Coach of the Year honors for McGraw.


When the season came to a disappointing conclusion though, the loss to also undefeated Connecticut while playing without injured star center Natalie Achonwa, McGraw and her staff did not sit back and say “what if?” As she says on this week’s Dishin & Swishin podcast, the 2014-15 season began the next day.

It is a fast-paced podcast, with McGraw conveying her thoughts on many topics:

• Last year is behind them, but how difficult was it to move on after the way the season ended?
• Should Notre Dame be ranked as high as number three after losing three starters?
• Why Notre Dame plays and will continue to play difficult early season schedules
• Post depth on this year’s team; is this the deepest front court she’s had at Notre Dame (six players are listed at 6’2 or taller)?
• Skylar Diggins and Kayla McBride’s impressive WNBA seasons.
• Guards on the USA Senior national team; is Diggins the point guard of the future for USA Basketball?
• Does McGraw want to coach for USA Basketball, and be a part of senior national team program?
• With one year behind them now, does Notre Dame like being in the Atlantic Coast Conference?

http://post original url/g9ulCnJLDh

 

[Waquoit]

Do what again? Talk trash and choke?

 

[calpedaler]

Do what again? Talk trash and choke?

While they did trash talk, I wouldn't call the beating they took choking. UConn was simply a much better team.

 

[Beemer]

The game would have been closer if Achonwa hadn't blown her knee, but UConn still would have won.

 

[UConnCat]

Great interview David. Some observations on some of the things she said:

• She said her team is over-ranked, yet I don't know when I've heard a coach speak more glowingly about her team and players. Funny.
• "Diggins is USA BB PG of the future" and is someone "everybody would like to see running that team." I'm not sure about the "everybody" part but I guess we'll find out soon enough whether USA BB agrees. Sims may have something to say about that.
  
• Diggins is a great defender and she was surprised Sims made the team over Diggins. I don't agree that Diggins is a great defender but that's certainly not a prerequisite to being the national team point guard (see Bird and Whalen).
  
• The National Team "could have used her [Diggins] and she should be the point guard of the Olympic team" The team did okay at the worlds.
• Muffet now wants to be part of the mix for coaching the senior national team and would have liked to have been an asst coach this year (tho USA BB not ready for her and Geno). I wonder if Geno being the coach for 2 WCs and 2 Olympics has caused her to change her thinking on USA BB. Maybe she can be an asst to Dawn at the 2018 WCs as I can not see USA BB passing over Dawn for someone who chose not to be part of USA BB for so many years.
  
• McBride should have been WNBA ROY. McBride came in 3rd, btw, after Chiney and Sims. I think being involved with the national team might help Muffet with some perspective and generosity when it comes to other players.

I'm always struck by how different Muffet and Geno are. A prime example is what she said about Loyd being one of if not the best players in the country. I agree that Loyd is a great player, but if Breanna Stewart had underperformed in the FF the way Loyd did the past 2 years I can not imagine Geno would fail to mention that in talking about the state of her game and what she needs to do to be considered the best player in the game. Perhaps Muffet has those private conversations with her players and keeps it in-house whereas Geno has always spoken so publicly about the strengths and weaknesses of his players.

 

[geneticrex]

The game would have been closer if Achonwa hadn't blown her knee, but UConn still would have won.

The game would have been less close had Tuck, KML and Banks not suffered their injury/illness.

 

[pap49cba]

I guess what bothers me about Muffet is she seems always to be looking for ways to put a ND-biased chip on her shoulder. It's poor ND, we're always getting scr3wed.