Notre Dame 2021-2022

[Dillon77]

Incredible balance from the Irish. Maya’s early dominance opened up Maddy’s mid range jumper and good looks for Dara and Sonia and they all shot well. Just a beautiful offensive clinic and a smart, well executed defensive game plan.

As we all know, defensive pressure and equal talented bigs makes for a huge challenge as we move forward. Liv’s court awareness is a huge factor, but we must score against better athletes than we’ve faced so far in the tournament who will bring more defensive pressure. Patience is going to be very important at certain times.

Really excited about the rematch with NC State. Maya staying out of foul trouble will be huge. Hoping Dara can continue her 3 point accuracy and Maddy hitting her mid range jumper. Sonia getting to the free throw line is another big bonus. It’s going to be a challenge. Fun watching this team develop and hoping we can grind out a win Saturday. Go Irish!

Maddy's been hitting the mid-range more consistently the last few games, which seems to have energized her rebounding and loose-ball situations. Maybe having older sister Kat "in the house" to watch/support helps. Like you, I'm excited about the NC State rematch.

 

[CTFan]

All I can say is if they play like they did against Okie, they have a great shot to win it all.

 

[BRS24]

I did not see this one coming. I had OK on all my brackets ...

 

[Gate81]

IIRC with regards to Dodson (who had foot issues for much of her time at Stanford), the last few games she played were primarily because she wanted to have a chance to play again with her classmate and good friend Nadia Fingall. Will be interesting to see what happens going forward but either way Stanford and its fans very proud of her play (and would love to see them advance).

 

[jchusky]

Citron is a special player, congrats Nd has a great one

 

[Gamecockfan77]

I'm sorry, ND.

I must have jinxed you.

 

[Mdoggie]

Good job Coach Ivey. Great season.

 

[visitingcock]

Great game. Just couldn’t hold on to the 4th quarter lead down the stretch.

First tournament run under the new coach. Player and coach got some good tournament experience that should carry forward.

 

[Frankus]

Not a surprise. Like all year, Notre Dame wilted against defensive pressure with bad passes, steals and untimely shot selection. It doesn’t help that Miles and Westbeld had to play the entire games, resulting in fatigue. This is not a NC caliber team, but they played their hearts out despite having roster gaps.

The Irish desperately need another guard who can shoot, play defense and handle the ball against elite pressure, and another versatile Westbeld-like player who can be a handle the ball, create her shot and be a shut down defender. If Dodson doesn’t come back they must find as capable a big in the portal.

I do not believe that, if Dodson comes back, standing pat with Bransford and the current roster will solve this team’s issues. There is a lack of athleticism that must be addressed if ND is going to take the next step. NC State exposed this. Again. It would have been worse had the Irish advanced.

 

[UcMiami]

Have to say they looked clueless on sideline in-bounds plays. That is not a difficult in-bounds as you have the whole court to work with and they couldn't get anyone open. That should be coaching 101.

 

[Orangutan]

Too many mistakes down the stretch.

Miles didn't box out and gave up the easy putback.

Then Miles is about to dish to Dodson for an easy layup only for Ivey to call timeout. Then Mabrey's spin moves gifts a turnover.

And Westbeld still had an open 3 to retake the lead but left it just short.

NC State really turned up the defense in th 4th and just grinded it out. More experienced team and more experienced coach and that was the difference in the end.

 

[jchusky]

whoever lost this game I would feel so bad for, both teams really did great tho!

 

[DefenseBB]

Too many mistakes down the stretch.

Miles didn't box out and gave up the easy putback.

Then Miles is about to dish to Dodson for an easy layup only for Ivey to call timeout. Then Mabrey's spin moves gifts a turnover.

And Westbeld still had an open 3 to retake the lead but left it just short.

NC State really turned up the defense in th 4th and just grinded it out. More experienced team and more experienced coach and that was the difference in the end.

So, on your opinion and to put you on the spot, who wins Monday night?

 

[jpp13]

Really tough loss for the Irish BUT, they are going to be scary good next year. Looking forward to Dec 4 in South Bend!

 

[rvwsleep]

Really tough loss for the Irish BUT, they are going to be scary good next year. Looking forward to Dec 4 in South Bend!

It depends if Dodson gets the ok for one more year. If not, they would need the top big in the portal. Whoever that may be.

 

[JellyBean]

Notre Dame is going to be a problem for a few years. Wow! With Olivia Miles asserting herself as the season progressed. I swear as she got more comfortable and got more confident, her game just took off! Same with Sonia Citron. Those two are going to be a problem, provided they stay. Same with Maddy Westbled. Those three are the foundation of Coach Ivey's squad, the future looks really bright for Notre Dame.

 

[UConnCat]

Notre Dame should have won. They outplayed NCST for most of the game.

Westbeld's two errant passes at the top of the key were just brutal. Telegraphed and lazy passes that were easily picked off by Crutchfield.

 

[Geew1992]

Is Dodson definitely eligible for a sixth year? She didn't play at all during the covid year, opting out (I thought) to preserve eligibility. But maybe that plus using a medical redshirt for the prior year when she only played 9 games was sufficient? (or was the medical redshirt year the covid year she also opted out of)?

I guess I'm confused because she's now played 5 seasons of basketball, so there must be a medical redshirt involved somewhere.

Either way, glad she's really found her way in North Bend.

Although she shouldn’t be, she applied for a waver

 

[my2cents]

Almost winning and almost losing are not part of reality. ND lost because they had 7 turnovers and scored only 10 points in the 4th qtr.
They do have some nice pieces moving forward.
As a UConn fan, I do not believe we should be playing them anymore. Too much bad blood between the programs, and since their former coach believes Uconn gets too much exposure, then lets schedule someone who would appreciate the opportunity to play us on National TV.

 

[UConnCat]

Is Dodson definitely eligible for a sixth year? She didn't play at all during the covid year, opting out (I thought) to preserve eligibility. But maybe that plus using a medical redshirt for the prior year when she only played 9 games was sufficient? (or was the medical redshirt year the covid year she also opted out of)?

I guess I'm confused because she's now played 5 seasons of basketball, so there must be a medical redshirt involved somewhere.

Either way, glad she's really found her way in North Bend.

Actually she's played 4 seasons of basketball (2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2021-2022). Because she opted out of last season, that should be all she gets. The NCAA's Covid rule gave her 6 years to play those 4 years but she didn't need it.

However, and I posted about this earlier in this thread, she must be arguing to the NCAA that the 9 games she played at the end of the 2019-2020 season should not count as one of her 4 years of eligibility. Why not? We can only surmise, but she may argue the following: The NCAA's medical hardship rule requires that "[t]he injury or illness occurs prior to the first competition of the second half of the playing season that concludes with the NCAA championship in that sport . . . and results in incapacity to compete for the remainder of that playing season" Perhaps she'll argue that even though she played in the final 9 games of Stanford's season (i.e., her injury was not season-ending), the entire 2019-2020 season was not "a playing season" under the hardship rule because it did not conclude with the NCAA championship. The counter of course is that the reference to the NCAA championship is for purposes of calculating the first half and second half of the season which is a moot point since Maya only played the final 9 games of the season (including the PAC-12 tourney).

The waiver request should be denied but we've already seen an unusual waiver ruling when Notre Dame was in need of a post player.

 

[UcMiami]

Perhaps she'll argue that even though she played in the final 9 games of Stanford's season (i.e., her injury was not season-ending), the entire 2019-2020 season was not "a playing season" under the hardship rule because it did not conclude with the NCAA championship.

Yeah - that could sure open a can of worms for the NCAA as they would need to give everyone who played in 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons a 6th season - talk about a nightmare!

 

[Rocket009]

Almost winning and almost losing are not part of reality. ND lost because they had 7 turnovers and scored only 10 points in the 4th qtr.
They do have some nice pieces moving forward.
As a UConn fan, I do not believe we should be playing them anymore. Too much bad blood between the programs, and since their former coach believes Uconn gets too much exposure, then lets schedule someone who would appreciate the opportunity to play us on National TV.

We should replace them on the schedule with Stanford

 

[Orangutan]

So, on your opinion and to put you on the spot, who wins Monday night?

NC State has a good defense, but UConn should have way too much firepower for them. The performances of this UConn team seem to be quite variable but if the "good" version shows up this is a double digit win for the Huskies.

 

[Charliebball]

The performances of this UConn team seem to be quite variable but if the "good" version shows up this is a double digit win for the Huskies.

I appreciate your polite use of the term "variable".............others here have used far less charitable terms over the course of this season..........

 

[Zanzman]

We should replace them on the schedule with Stanford

Stanford backed out of playing cause they didn’t want to get whipped by Stewart and company In all set with playing them keep ND

 

[UcMiami]

(Not to seriously thread drift this, but since it's here...) BYers have oft repeated this, but does anyone have evidence to support that supposition? My two cents is that Tara's already had a running home-and-away with Tennessee, and there's generally only room for one other "back East" OOC swing outside of the Turkey Day tournament, and in most recent seasons that's been to either Texas or Baylor, I suspect since Texas is one of Stanford's most fruitful recruiting grounds (think Ogwumikes, Amber Orrange, Lili Thompson, Kiana Williams). Stanford has not traditionally recruited much from the Northeast, and there's not many other good teams to have OOC games with in the area apart from UConn.

If there's some actual evidence of this, I'll stand corrected, but since Tara has regularly scheduled OOC games against the SCAR/Tennessee/Baylor/Texas's of the world, and she's generally had a "bring on all comers" attitude, I guess it just doesn't really seem to fit with the idea that she's ducking difficult opponents.

(Also, FWIW, Stanford won the last regular season game against UConn back in 2014.)

Stanford definitely was the one to decline to extend the series, but absolutely no evidence that it was for any other reason than changing to a different east/midwest opponent. I believe for one H and H sequence ND filled the Uconn role but I might be mixed up.

Kim on the other hand was quoted as saying she wouldn't play Uconn when Baylor wasn't competitive when she broke off a series at some point.

Uconn rotates regional opponents as well as conference opponents - most schools do.

 

[undersized]

Saw Maya Dodson's name on the WNBA draft list. So was her petition for another year of NCAA eligibility denied? Or if she's still waiting for a ruling on that, might she still pull her name from draft consideration? For example, I know that Nancy Mulkey originally declared for the draft last year but then pulled her name from consideration a bit later so she could play her COVID year as a grad transfer at Washington.

 

[Orangutan]

Saw Maya Dodson's name on the WNBA draft list. So was her petition for another year of NCAA eligibility denied? Or if she's still waiting for a ruling on that, might she still pull her name from draft consideration? For example, I know that Nancy Mulkey originally declared for the draft last year but then pulled her name from consideration a bit later so she could play her COVID year as a grad transfer at Washington.

Guessing that it's the latter

 

[genzhusk]

Saw Maya Dodson's name on the WNBA draft list. So was her petition for another year of NCAA eligibility denied? Or if she's still waiting for a ruling on that, might she still pull her name from draft consideration? For example, I know that Nancy Mulkey originally declared for the draft last year but then pulled her name from consideration a bit later so she could play her COVID year as a grad transfer at Washington.

I noticed that too, Deja Church-Depaul had her name in last WNBA draft then appeared again at Depaul for a covid year. So the “must relinquish all NCAA eligibility before entering name in draft (paraphrasing here)“ must not be a regulated rule. or maybe i don’t understand how that works. but definitely precedent that dodson may still return

 

[Heytherego]