Well, let's address the Eyeglasses/Goggles on the Court situation in South Bend.
As we all know, Olivia Miles experienced a season-ending knee injury during the last regular-season game against Louisville and had surgery in May. It was major. No one (patient, team, university) has ever said what the specific injury was/is, but Coach Niele Ivey has stated she can relate to Miles since she had the same injury during her playing career. For the record, Niele Ivey had an ACL injury to her knee.
Ivey said Miles had successful surgery and is working hard and making good progress in her rehabilitation. However, an ACL injury can require a lot of time for a player to get back to optimal playing shape. Initial prognostications about a return for ACC play this season seem a bit optimistic if this was an ACL injury.
So, Irish fans can now understand one reason why Ivey brought in Fordham combo guard Anna DeWolfe to join grad student Jenna Brown to help with the point guard responsibilities. However,
the lion's share of that job will fall to ...
...Hannah Hidalgo. The highly rated frosh point guard, who had a stellar u19 World Cup this summer, will be running the ND offense on day one in Paris (tough start). Luckily, she'll be joined by mainstays Maddy Westbeld and -- most importantly -- Sonia Citron, who was connected at the brain with Olivia Miles from Day One. "Soni," ultimately tried to play three positions at once last year when Dara Mabrey, and then Miles, went down -- that's how much Ivey relies on Citron. Hidalgo will take over point responsibilities, thereby allowing Citron to return to wing or off-guard.
So, for the forseeable future: Hidalgo. Irish fans are excited about her, but 'Liv is "does not come around very often" type player. Heal well!
That's a scary thought.