Not specific to Women's BB but back in the day I loved the Irish men's BB team - John Shumate, Gary Brokaw and company. UCLA was the top dog and I think a lot of folks outside of South Bend became Irish fans looking for them to knock off Wooden's teams.
I was lucky enough to attend ND during those years and even luckier to have a direct viewing line on Dwight "The Iceman" Clay's shot in that infamous UCLA vs. ND game in 1974 that ended UCLA's winning streak. As a frosh, attended classes with Irish first-year players"A.D." (Adrian Dantley), NJ's Bill Paterno and Toby Knight, a skinny forward from Long Island who had some good years later.
That was the only period I pulled for Notre Dame except when the women won the NC with local St. Louis product, N. Ivey.
The Irish were still in the Big East then (as were the Huskies) and saw that specific team frequently when they came to the metro NYC area, particularly Seton Hall and Rutgers. Big fan of Niele, Ruth Riley, forward Kelly Siemon (now an ACC commentator) and sharpshooter Alicia Ratay. Another Irish team that only went 6 deep, max.
