EricSD
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- Aug 24, 2011
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There have been some rumblings. Rumors of promises made during recruitment, but not kept. We got the negative comments from Jewel Loyd about being a black student athlete at Notre Dame, and her early departure. The early departure of Jackie Young. The departure of Niele Ivey. Muffet's frustration this year in really coming down hard on the team, and lots of comments about lack of effort and what not.I wonder why Patberg, Boley, Nixon, Patterson et al left Muffett's program?... was it something she said?
People talk about ND being back on the upswing, but in the past, they have landed more than their fair share of top 10 and top 5 kids. They missed out on the incoming class. People will rank it high, with 4 top 50 recruits, but their highest rated kid is #23 Maddie Westbeld. I think people over-estimate how good they will be without landing any top 5 kids.
Don't get me wrong - Peoples and Brunelle are a nice pair to build on. Westbeld, Campbell, Marshall and Hayes are all nice players, but not enough to get them in the top 5, and probably not in the top 10. The kid they really wanted, #4 Caitlin Clark, spurned ND and went to Iowa.
I think they now go all in on Miles, #2 in 2021, but if they don't land a top 5 or so kid from that class, I don't see them moving up to challenge top 10 teams any time soon. Not when you have UCONN, Stanford, SC, Mississippi State, Oregon, Oregon State, Maryland, Syracuse, Baylor, and Louisville all getting top 5-10 kids ahead of ND.
Not saying they are dead, but it will be fascinating to see how the loss of Ivey impacts them for the 2022 and 2023 classes - they really need some top 10 talent, not top 30... Just like Tennessee, I'm rooting for them to strike out early and often.
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