Notre Dame 2025-2026 Regular-Season Thread.

[BRS24]

Geno knows greatness.

 

[Dillon77]

You don't see or hear that too often from Coach G, so that's something she should take to heart.
Irish fans will love to hear Hannah wants to come back and get a shot at UConn again. Actually, all fans should: it's great for the game. Thanks for passing along....

 

[Dillon77]

Geno knows greatness.

Yup. He should...gosh knows he sees enough of it looking out on his own practice court.
He's said some complimentary things about Irish players over the years, but Hannah seems to have captured something in him.

 

[VA Huskie]

Well, the great late-season/tournament run by Notre Dame ends in a 70-52 loss to UConn.
While this was not totally unexpected, we Irish fans were still into the game wholeheartedly, particularly when it was hovering around 10.

However, Geno has amassed top-flight talent from around the world. He employed it and it paid dividends. Sarah Strong is, indeed, awesome, but it sure seems like her co-partner just showed up in Blanca Quinonez. Wow...what an athlete and her three-pt form is spectacular. And now he brings Jana El Alfy off the bench to lead a charge on the offensive boards. Simply too much.
Great team...all power to them.

Hannah had to be in overdrive and she was, finishing with another double double. In the process, she became the first NCAA male or female player to garner more than 900 steals. Wow. The trouble was there was no other Irish player capable of attacking UConn's defense with HH. The second highest scorer was Vanessa de who had a mere 8 points and 5 boards. Iyana Moore was dormant until the fourth, which was too little, too late. A tip of the hat to Strong, who did a good job of keeping Cass Prosper on a leash, not allowing her to get free to build up steam for her attacks to the hoop, which is her best mode.

I thought this was a "bridge" team to next year because there simply wasn't quite enough talent to challenge the top teams. We saw that today. But, hey, they idid do better than expected and the coaches maximized their play to a level I never expected.
Or perhaps these players finally got a chance. In particular, I think Vanessa de Jesus was a great complement to Hannah Hidalgo all season; being able to bring the ball up, play solid defense, keep calm and shoot some threes. I think Hannah will need another "VdJ" next year and that's a huge pat on the pack to Vanessa. Well done.

Well....time to move onto Leah Macy playing power forward, Jenica Lewis being a shooting guard and a slew of 6'2" wings in Jacy Abii, Bella Ragone and Amari Byles. Volleyball/Hoops player Isabella Sangha will be aboard, too. Now we';; see if Cass Prosper or KK Bransford will come back and add some transfers (a center?). And, of course, Ms. Hidalgo.

Thanks Irish!!

Love your comments. Always insightful and balanced. I went into this game not liking HH…I’m just not comfortable with her emotional outbursts. Came out of it more respectful of her talents and less focused on her behavior. Must be really fun to root for her!

 

[BRS24]

Hidalgo shoots for growth on and off court at Notre Dame

After her record-breaking season ended in the Elite Eight on Sunday, Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo talked about all she hopes to do in 2026-27 as a senior.

www.espn.com

I'll see if I can find another article that explains why HH goes into "beast mode" in games. She has older brothers and used that to compete with them.

 

[TheGOAT23]

Hannah is the type of player that you would love to have on your team. Good thing that they didn’t have a consistent 2nd scorer. My nerves are shot!

Not sure why more teams didn’t run their offenses away from Hannah. You won’t have the luxury to do it next season. They will have an upgraded roster. I know that Jeff Walz successfully did it during their first meeting of the season. I don’t know if he did in their second meeting, which resulted in a loss for the Cards. Vandy found out that you do not want to test Ms. Hildago. If I was a female playing against her, I would have gone to the locker room or nearest DD to take her away from the play. 😜

 

[Ozimoto]

Congratulations to the Irish on a fine season. Remembering the angst and hand wringing from the off season, Neile and company certainly made lemonade out of the lemons.

 

[Frankus]

Congratulations to UCONN. I think this year's team is better than last year, which is an incredible feat of recruiting and development. Geno knows talent, knows how to develop it and is in complete charge. You never see a UCONN player go off the reservation, which is a pleasure to watch.

It's always good to see your weaknesses exposed by a superior team. So, with decisions on the 2026-2027 team pending, here are my thoughts, with a big caveat that what I hope we do and what ND might be willing to spend to get it might be completely different.

If we stand pat, we're Stanford 2025-2026 with Hannah Hidalgo. They had just as good a 2025 class as our 2026 class. Bransford is a slow guard who cannot get to the rim against elite bigs. Nor can Prosper, and she's rumored to be going pro. Macy is coming off a severe knee injury. Standing pat with a generational talent and competitor like Hannah would be a crime.

Going to the portal:

I've said all year we don't have bigs. Our "bigs" Cowles, Sanchez and Prosper had 0 offensive rebounds and 3 defensive rebounds last night. We need at least one true big, strong, physically dominant basket defender who can score and rebound, plus one Duke- like big who can run the court and battle.

Impossible? Money talks in this era.

There's this, "ND will only allow graduate transfers" idea out there. The football team just signed two 5- star wide receivers from Ohio State, one a freshman and one a sophomore. So, unless there's a double standard, ND wbb can go get undergraduates.

I would let Sanchez go ( the men's fb program does this all the time) I think Prosper is going to go, but if she stays she'd have to get much stronger and tougher than she is today. She fashions herself as an inside/outside player, which works against weaker teams, but teams with bigs stymie her inside and she isn't a reliable outside shooter who can create her outside shot. She'd be better off getting stronger and become more effective inside. The trouble is, I don't think she has the personality for that. So, I'd replace her with someone her size, but tougher.

Guards

I thought deJesus was a good pickup. She's a tough guard who protected the ball, defend well and hit enough outside shots to not allow teams to sag off her. We need to find a guard that fits her prototype.

Moore simply wasn't a great outside shooter. We have got to find a guard who is money on all the open shot opportunities that Hannah will get her, plus is fast enough to create her own shot.

I'd let Bransford go. She is a slow guard who can't create open shots. She's strong, but all you need to do is rewatch last night to see she can't score inside against teams with elite bigs. She's prone to injury and nothing tells me there's a higher ceiling for her. She's got her degree and will be cherished by the fanbase for her effort and leadership, but if she wants to play it should happen somewhere else.

Will NI be able to make that decision? If she wants a chance to win a NC in 26-27 she will.

Soon, we're going to find out a lot about ND woman's basketball and if there's a commitment in this portal era for the program to be truly elite again. Clearly the football program has it. I hope they give Hannah what she needs. She is truly special.

 

[Reypl21]

I don't know if ND is in the position to just let players go. Niele has been saying this post season how she appreciates KK and Cass for sticking it out. I don't see her telling them to look elsewhere if either of them want to stay. I'd love for both of them to come back. I think KK's role as a versatile bench player is better for her, rather than a starter. If she comes back, I hope Niele has the conversation with her to come off the bench.

I agree with the sentiment that we need to go all-in for Hannah's senior season. I hope KK and Cass are back. Cass is a legit starter at the 3/4. I see the Freshman Abii as a starter at the 3/4 regardless if Cass stays or not. ND needs a true 5, and I think they should try to get a big time SG too. Also a backup PG or another athletic big. I hope this post season success helps with normal recruiting and portal recruiting.

 

[Reypl21]

Congratulations are in order for Niele and the Fighting Irish! I know I was one of the fans earlier in the season that had to learn that this season would be a transition season. They faced a lot of adversity. I still watched their games, but decided to keep the noise offline. This team reminds me of the 2024 team, where they turned a corner late in the season. It's been a joy to watch them this year grow their confidence and compete all the way to the Elite 8. I hope the coaching staff has new confidence as well.

 

[HuskyNan]

Love your comments. Always insightful and balanced. I went into this game not liking HH…I’m just not comfortable with her emotional outbursts. Came out of it more respectful of her talents and less focused on her behavior. Must be really fun to root for her!

If you’re a fan of UConn’s men’s team and liked Cam Spencer you shouldn’t mind Hannah’s demeanor. Two peas in a pod