Notre Dame Dealing with Injuries

[UConnCat]

Story in SBT in advance of ND's exhibition game this evening. Achonwa and Braker are definitely out, while McBride may be ready to play.

• Natalie Achonwa has a torn meniscus and may miss 6-8 weeks but Muffet hoping she'll be back sooner (4-6 weeks) since the tear is small.
• Braker experiencing knee pain and hasn't done anything for 2 weeks.
• McBride sprained her ankle twice in the past 2 weeks.
• Irish likely to go to 4 guard offense with Reimer in the post; Nelson and Thompson not likely to see a lot of action this year.
• Allen is looking good at the point.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/spo...cle_5a4cce1a-40e6-11e3-9ad1-0019bb30f31a.html
http://www.southbendtribune.com/spo...cle_5a4cce1a-40e6-11e3-9ad1-0019bb30f31a.html

 

[EricLA]

That's a real bummer for them. Achonwa, Braker and McBride are all starters. It will certainly give Reimer lots of great experience early in her college career. I think it helps Maryland, Louisville, Stanford and Tennessee in the short run as IMHO, ND was better than all those teams, but may experience some losses early in the season due to the injuries...

 

[doggydaddy]

Has Clay Kallum seen this? I'm pretty sure he thinks only Uconn has injury issues.

 

[Wonkster]

.
How tough is ND's early season schedule?

 

[Bigpetunia]

Thanks for the post, Cat. Early in the season, I doubt that the injuries will pose much of a problem for them, even if they result in a loss or two. It's not as though they have any risk of missing the tournament in March. Early on, Muffett needs the luxury of building confidence and floor time in her key Freshmen, Reimer and Allen. As long as everyone else is ready by January, especially Achonwa, they'll be fine, and will be a formidable opponent. I sure hope that we meet up with them again in March, and that, if and when we do, they're completely healthy (us too, of course!). Getting #9 won't be nearly so much fun unless we deny them yet again!

 

[UConnCat]

That's a real bummer for them. Achonwa, Braker and McBride are all starters. It will certainly give Reimer lots of great experience early in her college career. I think it helps Maryland, Louisville, Stanford and Tennessee in the short run as IMHO, ND was better than all those teams, but may experience some losses early in the season due to the injuries...

ND still has a good chance of going undefeated in OOC play and the early ACC games. The toughest OOC games in Nov and Dec will be #18 Michigan State, @ #15 Penn State and #25 UCLA (already lost 2 to acl tears). Even the early conference games are against teams ND should beat pretty easily (Clemson, BC, UVA and Pitt). ND's first game against a top 10 team will be @ Tennessee on Jan 21. Achonwa should be back by January.

ND's Nov and Dec schedule:

UNC Wilmington
Mich State
Valparaiso
@Pennsylvania
DePaul
Duquesne
@Penn State
UCLA
@Michigan
Central Michigan
@Oregon State
South Dakota State

 

[jsloanjr]

Wow!!.......They are going through some tough streches and they will bounce back..........The good news, they are in the ACC and they do not play a Top 25 team until December at Penn State and the heart of their heavy load comes in January and Feb in the ACC......By the, hopefully, they will be back to full strength........

 

[Wbbfan1]

Muffett McGraw tweeted earlier today 3 Seniors will not play. Will start 2 Freshmen and 3 Sophomores tonight.

 

[meyers7]

Muffett McGraw tweeted earlier today 3 Seniors will not play. Will start 2 Freshmen and 3 Sophomores tonight.

Could be a tough game tonight, they are playing California.

 

[UcMiami]

I know that the ACC is a great conference and the AAC is chopped liver - but that is a pretty pathetic OOC schedule - not quite Baylor pathetic but ...

 

[HGN]

I don't think it will hurt them too bad.......Muffet will just develop the frosh a little earlier than planned. They are lucky ( Luck of the Irish I guess) that these injuries are at the beginning of the season. Muffet will have them ready in March.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Could be a tough game tonight, they are playing California.

Division 2 California, PA

 

[rjp172]

I know that the ACC is a great conference and the AAC is chopped liver - but that is a pretty pathetic OOC schedule - not quite Baylor pathetic but ...

Well documented that they had a tough time scheduling games with the conference change. Heck, they were even backed into playing UT twice in a row at TBA in order to get that game. It's not like they didn't try to schedule UConn, but UConn's OOC slate was full this season. UConn is the only OOC measuring stick they needed. Find another team minus UConn that has that tough of a schedule this year. Simply aren't that many. Stanford's is way worse and UT has definitely backed off their M.O. of loaded schedules.

 

[UConnCat]

Well documented that they had a tough time scheduling games with the conference change. Heck, they were even backed into playing UT twice in a row at TBA in order to get that game. It's not like they didn't try to schedule UConn, but UConn's OOC slate was full this season. UConn is the only OOC measuring stick they needed. Find another team minus UConn that has that tough of a schedule this year. Simply aren't that many. Stanford's is way worse and UT has definitely backed off their M.O. of loaded schedules.

I'm not sure Stanford's OOC schedule is "way worse." There were some threads a couple of months ago that compared team's OOC schedules based on last year's Sagarin ratings. The mean rank for Stanford is 71 and the mean rank for Notre Dame is 85. Mean ranks aren't the only (or most important) measure of a schedule but Stanford plays UConn, Tenn, Texas, Purdue and Gonzaga which isn't too shabby.

 

[meyers7]

Division 2 California, PA

Well if you are gonna be all nitpicky.

 

[John Glass]

That's a real bummer for them. Achonwa, Braker and McBride are all starters. It will certainly give Reimer lots of great experience early in her college career. I think it helps Maryland, Louisville, Stanford and Tennessee in the short run as IMHO, ND was better than all those teams, but may experience some losses early in the season due to the injuries...

I doubt Braker will be starting, Reimer gives them more size, and scoring.

Game Final: ND 118 CA of PA 49

Reimer 27 points 11-11 FG 5-5 FT _ _ _ granted it was weak competition

 

[tomcat]

Really surprised at how weak their OOC schedule is. Out of all of them Penn State is the toughest. Sheesh.

 

[Tonyc]

Not surprised at all. Diggins is gone. Point guards and guards are keys to winning. ND will not be as good as they were the past couple of seasons.

 

[willtalk]

Division 2 California, PA

That's nothing to laugh at. They are not just playing one, but two states- California and Pennsylvania

 

[meyers7]

I doubt Braker will be starting, Reimer gives them more size, and scoring.

Game Final: ND 118 CA of PA 49

Reimer 27 points 11-11 FG 5-5 FT _ _ _ granted it was weak competition

Impressive. California is in the same conference as Gannon. (As is West Chester, Geno's Alma Mater.) So it will be somewhat comparable competition.

Allen with 9 assists, 1 TO. Looks like they are back to their usual, 39 to 9 FTAs.

 

[Fightin Choke]

Impressive. California is in the same conference as Gannon. (As is West Chester, Geno's Alma Mater.) So it will be somewhat comparable competition.

Allen with 9 assists, 1 TO. Looks like they are back to their usual, 39 to 9 FTAs.

I guess that's one way to interpret the results, but there are others. For example, Notre Dame scored 64 points in the paint whereas California (PA) scored only 16. Thus one might expect 4 times more FT attempts.

 

[meyers7]

I guess that's one way to interpret the results, but there are others. For example, Notre Dame scored 64 points in the paint whereas California (PA) scored only 16. Thus one might expect 4 times more FT attempts.

Guilty conscience Choke?

 

[Fightin Choke]

Guilty conscience Choke?

Ha! I've read that complaint on this site so many times the past 2 years I've almost become immune. Almost. Most of the time, I just ignore it, but when a Smarty Pants chimes in, I have to respond!

 

[Phil]

Impressive. California is in the same conference as Gannon. (As is West Chester, Geno's Alma Mater.) So it will be somewhat comparable competition.

Allen with 9 assists, 1 TO. Looks like they are back to their usual, 39 to 9 FTAs.

Somewhat.

Gannon is picked first in the Conference and second in the country, while California is picked third in west, so fifth or sixth overall. (18 teams total, so about a third of the way down the list.)

That said, they split last year, each winning at home.

 

[meyers7]

Somewhat.

Gannon is picked first in the Conference and second in the country, while California is picked third in west, so fifth or sixth overall. (18 teams total, so about a third of the way down the list.)

That said, they split last year, each winning at home.

Exactly, we can compare.