Notre Dame, 2022-'23 Season | Page 4 | The Boneyard

Notre Dame, 2022-'23 Season



I didn't expect to win this game, I was just hoping that we wouldn't get McCallied :oops:

Despite this victory, I think ND is in excellent shape to get the #1 seed in Greensboro. They have the tiebreaker over FSU, and other than a road trip to Louisville.. I don't see any other possible roadblocks on the schedule. FSU still has trips to Blacksburg and Miami.
 
Hidalgo, ND 2023 Commit, Battles It Out in Jersey Against an ND 2024 Offer, Mikayla Blakes

Hannah Hidalgo's Paul VI WBB team recently beat a very game Rutgers Prep, 72-67, led by junior Mikayla Blakes. And both the ND commit and ND prospect (with offer) excelled.
  • Hidalgo had 29 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals; and,
  • Blakes had 34 points (including 5 three-pointers) and 4 assists. (The article incorrectly says she had 24 pts. Highlights and boxscore indicate the higher number.)

Both got to and excelled at the FT line: HH was 12-14 and Blakes 9-9.

Hidalgo, a McDonald's All-American selection, is one of the top point guards in the country, while Blakes is a 6'1" athletic guard. When I saw Blakes play she was more of an athletic slasher, like Celeste Taylor. Like Taylor now -- but a lot earlier in her career -- Blake has developed a three-point shot. An accurate one.

Here's are some clips of that game (kudos to The Bench's BabaGhanouj for the link).

www.nj.com

Girls basketball: Hidalgo’s double-double pushes No. 2 Paul VI past No. 3 Rutgers Prep

Mikayla Blakes scored 34 points in the Argonauts' loss
www.nj.com www.nj.com
 
One could only wish that UCONN had Sonia Citron, right now. This young lady can simply play the game, with little to no flash, at an All American level. Between her and Olivia Miles, I believe that Notre Dame "currently" has the BEST BACKCOURT in the NCAA
 
.-.
CONNCAN said:
One could only wish that UCONN had Sonia Citron, right now. This young lady can simply play the game, with little to no flash, at an All American level. Between her and Olivia Miles, I believe that Notre Dame "currently" has the BEST BACKCOURT in the NCAA
Expand ...
Given the health issues at UConn I would agree (quietly) :).
 
CONNCAN said:
One could only wish that UCONN had Sonia Citron, right now. This young lady can simply play the game, with little to no flash, at an All American level. Between her and Olivia Miles, I believe that Notre Dame "currently" has the BEST BACKCOURT in the NCAA
Expand ...

MSSportsGuy said:
Given the health issues at UConn I would agree (quietly) :).
Expand ...

Per your posts, I thought you might enjoy this clip of a steal, drive and lay-up by Soni (as she's called by teammates, coaches & ND fans):

 
for those ND fans out there, it is interesting to see how well Kaylee Watson has stepped up her game within the past couple of weeks. She has been scoring in double digits in consecutive games (1 being over 20 vs. Louisville) and had a Double Double vs. Georgia Tech last night. Now that ND has Ebo back and playing, it has helped The Fighting Irish on the court. Do they still miss Dara Mabrey? In some ways, Prosper has been up'ing her game in recent outings. It will be a extremely competitive ACC Tournament and Sunday's rematch vs. Louisville at Louisville will be a really good test for ND prior to the ACC Tournament. [Still say that Miles and Citron is the best backcourt in the NCAA this year]
 
CONNCAN said:
for those ND fans out there, it is interesting to see how well Kaylee Watson has stepped up her game within the past couple of weeks. She has been scoring in double digits in consecutive games (1 being over 20 vs. Louisville) and had a Double Double vs. Georgia Tech last night. Now that ND has Ebo back and playing, it has helped The Fighting Irish on the court. Do they still miss Dara Mabrey? In some ways, Prosper has been up'ing her game in recent outings. It will be a extremely competitive ACC Tournament and Sunday's rematch vs. Louisville at Louisville will be a really good test for ND prior to the ACC Tournament. [Still say that Miles and Citron is the best backcourt in the NCAA this year]
Expand ...
I think the Irish are reconfiguring a bit following the season-ending injury to Dara Mabrey and the lower-extremity injury that forced Lauren Ebo to the bench for a few weeks. However, as ACC analyst Kelly Gramlich, better to have those injuries happen mid-winter than now, so Coach Ivey and her staff can figure out what works best going forward.
  • Clearly, Watson benefitted from getting more uninterrupted playing time once Ebo went down. Whether a light went on or the coaches helped the light go on, she's been much more aggressive in taking the ball to the hoop, both off the dribble and from down-low passes. On the latter, she's going straight up more often than not and that's had benefits.
  • Cassan Prosper is doing a remarkable job for a player who is still 17. She's already helped the Irish defensively, in rebounding and on 50/50's. She's not jacking up shots all the time, but letting them come to her so she can set her feet. KK Bransford needs to work on the jumper beyond 10 feet, but she is decisive in going to the hoop and hoisting up pull-up jumpers and finding lanes.
  • And, perhaps most surprisingly, Nat Marshall and Jenna Brown are getting PT and Marshall, particularly, is taking advantage of it.

They're rounding into form for the ACC and NCAA tourneys. Last night was the well-rounded attack you like to see, so Miles and Citron don't get too fried.
 
.-.
Geew1992 said:
Miles just went down with an apparent knee injury. Didn’t look good
Expand ...
It definitely didn’t look good. Hopefully, it’s not serious. She was in good spirits in the 4th cheering on her teammates. Her dad seemed to give her some words of comfort. Waaay to go dad! GodSpeed, Olivia.
 
Congrats to the Irish winning the regular season ACC title. For some ND fans, there was skepticism with what Ivey wanted to do. Think this helps to prove that "trusting the process" isn't a bad thing.

Unfortunate to see Miles go down during this intense game against Louisville. Citron picked the slack and helped keep the team on track offensively. Prosper's early enrolment is proving to be a fortunate move due to these unfortunate injuries that is depleting ND's guard depth.

Fingers crossed that the news on Miles' injury isn't serious. Her availability for the tournament isn't my primary concern. I'm hoping that she's not out for a significant period of time.
 
Four Notre Dame Players Cited in 2022-'23 ACC End-of-Season Awards
(by Tyler Horka of 'Blue and Gold")

"Four of Notre Dame’s 10 scholarship players earned recognition from the league. Sophomore guards Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron are All-ACC First Team selections. Junior forward Maddy Westbeld made the Second Team while freshman KK Bransford was named to the All-Freshman team.

"Notre Dame has one of the best guard duos in the country in Miles and Citron. Hailing from the same recruiting class, Citron leads Notre Dame with 14.5 points per game while Miles is right on her heels at 14.3. Miles leads the Irish in rebounds (7.2), assists (6.9) and steals (2.1) per game. Citron ranks fourth (5.5), fourth (2.3) and second (1.6) on the Irish in those respective categories. Citron’s three-point percentage of 45.1 leads all Irish players by a considerable margin. The next best figure is Westbeld’s mark of 35.7.

"Westbeld, a former ACC Freshman of the Year, is the Irish’s third-leading scorer at 10.9 points per game. She also sits at 6.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Like Citron and Miles, Westbeld started all 28 of Notre Dame’s regular season games. Among players who played in all 28, Westbeld also ranked third among them in minutes per game at 26.8. Citron led the team at 33.1, and Miles ranked second at 31.7.

"Bransford has played in all 28 games and has averaged 8.5 points, 2.8 rebounds 1.1 assists and 0.8 steals per game. She made seven starts after the injury to graduate student guard Dara Mabrey, and she could be slotted back into the starting lineup if Miles is unable to return from a knee injury of her own this week. Miles’ status is to be determined after going down in the first half at Louisville on Sunday."
 
Yahoo Sports Profiles Dara Mabrey as the Mabrey Era Comes a Close at ND After 11 Years

As someone who has watched them personally in both High School and at Notre Dame, it's been strange to not see a "Mabrey" in the starting line-up column. And my wife says it's strangely off-kilter not to hear "Dara....no, no, no....Yes!" or something to the effect. Very long article, but some interesting points. (Thanks to NDWBB202 for initial post on The Bench)

www.wokv.com

This website is unavailable in your location. – 104.5 WOKV

www.wokv.com www.wokv.com
 
Muffet McGraw/Jewell Loyd Sighting...Together, No Less.
Not surprising that Natalie "Ace" Achonwa can bring anyone together...particularly when you factor a baby into it! ;)
For an ND fan, good to see this. Best of luck, Ace!

 
.-.
Dillon77 said:
Yahoo Sports Profiles Dara Mabrey as the Mabrey Era Comes a Close at ND After 11 Years

As someone who has watched them personally in both High School and at Notre Dame, it's been strange to not see a "Mabrey" in the starting line-up column. And my wife says it's strangely off-kilter not to hear "Dara....no, no, no....Yes!" or something to the effect. Very long article, but some interesting points. (Thanks to NDWBB202 for initial post on The Bench)

www.wokv.com

This website is unavailable in your location. – 104.5 WOKV

www.wokv.com www.wokv.com
Expand ...
They definitely seemed like players you loved if they were on your team and hated if they weren't lol. Pretty amazing a group of sisters all have careers playing D1, especially for the same school.
 
Without Miles, the Irish are an average team. I don’t expect her back and expect the Irish to not reach the elite 8. It’s not Ivey’s fault. The Irish simply don’t have the talent to lose Miles and compete at an elite level.

Assuming Miles is completely healthy next year, they have the potential to be elite, but not without a dominant big.

Ebo is graduating and Watson/Marshall are not the answer.

Ivey’s most important recruit postseason will be a big via the portal.
 
Without Olivia Miles (and Dara Mabrey, who is already done for the season), this Notre Dame team just doesn't have the firepower to overcome many Top 20 Teams in the country. Maybe Olivia Miles will pull a "Willis Reed" and come out for the NCAA Tournament, after a week's worth of PT.
 
CONNCAN said:
Without Olivia Miles (and Dara Mabrey, who is already done for the season), this Notre Dame team just doesn't have the firepower to overcome many Top 20 Teams in the country. Maybe Olivia Miles will pull a "Willis Reed" and come out for the NCAA Tournament, after a week's worth of PT.
Expand ...
As you know, I'm an ND fan and they ran into a perfect storm in Louisville: aggressive defensive coach who had the savvy and resources to throw waves at a ND team short of scoring resources. Hard for Sonia Citron to carry a team when she's got a defender in her uniform and no other shots are going in. Plus, I'm not sure Lauren Ebo is "back" from that injury she had -- she's just looked a tad off in her reactions since then.

However, the NCAA is a different beast: day off in between games (if you win) and just two in three days. Knock on wood, if the Irish keep at least a 4 seed, they'll be at home and be able to go after two teams they can handle in their current depleted state.
After that, who knows.

p.s. I don't expect to see Olivia Miles on a court anytime soon. "Day to day?" Well, only if September is a day.
 
Last edited:
Dillon77 said:
As you know, I'm an ND fan and they ran into a perfect storm in Louisville: aggressive defensive coach who had the savvy and resources to throw waves at a ND team short of scoring resources. Hard for Sonia Citron to carry a team when she's got a defender in her uniform and no other shots are going in. Plus, I'm not sure Lauren Ebo is "back" from that injury she had -- she's just looked a tad off in her reactions since then.

However, the NCAA is a different beast: day off in between games (if you win) and just two in three days. Knock on wood, if the Irish keep at least a 4 seed, they'll be at home and be able to go after two teams they can handle in their current depleted state.
After that, who knows.

p.s. I don't expect to see Olivia Miles on a court anytime soon. "Day to day?" Well, only if September is a day.
Expand ...
The problem is that there isn’t anybody on the team besides Sonia that can beat anyone off the dribble, and teams are going to use Louisville’s blueprint on how to guard Sonia.

It doesn’t help that neither Ebo or Watson can consistently finish at the rim and Westbeld is a good player, but can’t take over a game due to her inability to create her own shot, or beat a defender off the dribble and dish an assist.

That being said every bit of game playing time is good for the two Freshmen to adapt to the speed of the college game and hopefully Olivia will come back 100% (and stay healthy) next year.
 
.-.
Frankus said:
The problem is that there isn’t anybody on the team besides Sonia that can beat anyone off the dribble, and teams are going to use Louisville’s blueprint on how to guard Sonia.

It doesn’t help that neither Ebo or Watson can consistently finish at the rim and Westbeld is a good player, but can’t take over a game due to her inability to create her own shot, or beat a defender off the dribble and dish an assist.

That being said every bit of game playing time is good for the two Freshmen to adapt to the speed of the college game and hopefully Olivia will come back 100% (and stay healthy) next year.
Expand ...
Points all well-taken.
- Maddy can't face the basket and drive by anyone, that's true. However, she has a solid dribble/pull-up move and and excellent turnaround jumper when she goes back to the basket. Still, tall order when you run into a team that has the resources to shut down she and Sonia (btw, I don't think all teams can pull of what Walz did; otherwise, why didn't Wes Moore shadow Citron?).

- Niele likes players who can create their own shots, which is one reason why Hannah Hidlago is coming next year. While Emma Risch is known as a sterling 3-point shooter, she can also create her own shots off the dribble. And she's 6'1", like Citron.
 
Dillon77 said:
Points all well-taken.
- Maddy can't face the basket and drive by anyone, that's true. However, she has a solid dribble/pull-up move and and excellent turnaround jumper when she goes back to the basket. Still, tall order when you run into a team that has the resources to shut down she and Sonia (btw, I don't think all teams can pull of what Walz did; otherwise, why didn't Wes Moore shadow Citron?).

- Niele likes players who can create their own shots, which is one reason why Hannah Hidlago is coming next year. While Emma Risch is known as a sterling 3-point shooter, she can also create her own shots off the dribble. And she's 6'1", like Citron.
Expand ...
I think Westbeld would be better in a more structured offense where there’s more ball movement, but this offense (and the future) is designed for more athletic players. Right now she really needs a point guard to set her up and there’s no one to do that. I wish Brown could have stepped in, but she still appears limited by her knee injury. Let’s hope OM isn’t wearing a brace next year.
 
Frankus said:
I think Westbeld would be better in a more structured offense where there’s more ball movement, but this offense (and the future) is designed for more athletic players. Right now she really needs a point guard to set her up and there’s no one to do that. I wish Brown could have stepped in, but she still appears limited by her knee injury. Let’s hope OM isn’t wearing a brace next year.
Expand ...
I don't disagree with your overall premise, but take a look at her playing 3x3 with Maddy Siegrest and Alyssa Ustyby over the summer: Maddy W. was very, very comfortable with the create on the fly nature of the 3x3 beast.

Interestingly, Maddy is one of the few ND players who benefits from the other team playing zone. She can nestle into that area between the front 2 and back 3 and find the open spot for a quick pop. And she can drift out for an open 3.

Let's take a deep breath, cross fingers and think good thoughts in regafrds to how 'Liv Miles is going to spend her next few months.
 
So what's the word on the streets re Miles injury and do we think ND is going to disclose anything before selection Sunday?
 
I expect that ND won’t say anything. It’ll only hurt their seeding if she’s doubtful/out and probably won’t help if she’s available.
 
BRS24 said:
So what's the word on the streets re Miles injury and do we think ND is going to disclose anything before selection Sunday?
Expand ...
How many third-or-fourth hand reports do you want to hear that may/may not be true? :confused:
The one that I've heard is plausible is that while Liv's at practice, she's not dressed for it and/or taking part in any drills.

Don't know if we'll hear anything disclosed at this point if we haven't already. No one on the Bench has heard anything, either.
Haven't seen any "official disclosures" on the status of Diamond Johnson or Ta’Niya Latson, either.
 
.-.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,259
Messages
4,560,165
Members
10,448
Latest member
MillerLitEd


Top Bottom