Tag: All-ACC

Jalon Moore’s evolution is pivotal to remainder of Sooners season

Jalon Moore has morphed into Oklahoma’s most important and consistent player.

Last year was a disaster of a season for No. 23 Oklahoma. They were abysmal, inconsistent, flawed, and simply not a good basketball team. Porter Moser knew things had to change, and in college basketball, for better or worse, your team can change entirely over months due to the NCAA transfer portal.

As players from last year’s team departed for professional opportunities, sought fresh starts elsewhere, or committed themselves to the Crimson and Cream, Oklahoma had holes to fill.

The most pressing needs were for athleticism, shooting, and playmaking. And so, Porter Moser and his staff attacked the portal with the desperation of a team down five points with under a minute left.

They pressed the portal hard and landed many players who filled their needs.

Javian McCollum came in with plenty of buzz as a sleeper NBA draft selection should he have a big year in Norman after transferring from Siena. He’s on his way to doing just that.

Le’Tre Darthard was a valuable member of a Utah Valley team that played postseason basketball last year. John Hugley IV transferred from Pittsburgh looking to reclaim the form that landed him on an All-ACC team.

Rivaldo Soares was looking for a more prominent role than he had at Oregon State. Jalon Moore started 15 games for Georgia Tech last year, where he averaged 7.6 points and 4.7 rebounds a game. He was a part of their rotation, but it always felt like he had more to give.

College basketball media even believed it. The pressure was off of him, too. In Norman, he’d get a fresh start, an expanded role, and thus the opportunity to flourish.

Moore has done just that, and Tuesday night’s performance against Kansas State culminated in a season’s worth of growth for Moore.

Against the Wildcats, Moore had a career-high 23 points on 8 of 11 shooting with nine rebounds. He was pivotal in the first half and equally impactful in the second, especially when Kansas State pushed to tighten things up.

He plays hard every game, even when he shoots poorly, and his motor doesn’t stop. His length allows him to guard positions 1-4 without real trouble. His performance earned him KenPom Game MVP, highlighting his efficiency and positive contributions to his team’s win.

Oklahoma is far from out of the woods, though. A massive road game against UCF is on tap for Saturday. The Knights have already knocked off Texas and Kansas at home. The Sooners need this game, and for them to win, they’ll need more of Moore.

Moore has been the constant, while Otega Oweh, Milos Uzan, and Javian McCollum have been inconsistent from game to game. The steady stream of high energy and winning plays Moore makes nightly could be the essential piece Oklahoma needs to weather the slide they’ve been in and elevate their play as we inch closer to March.

He won’t end up on any All-Big 12 teams because his numbers won’t reflect that, but there’s been no player more valuable to Oklahoma’s success this season than Jalon Moore.

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Notre Dame’s Maddy Westbeld named to preseason award watch list

Another player who figures to be key this season.

Notre Dame is racking up representation on preseason watch lists. Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron already have been named to watch lists for awards given to the country’s best point guard and shooting guard respectively. Now, you can add Maddy Westbeld to the list.

Westbeld has been named to the watch list for the Katrina McClain Award. This award is given to the top power forward in the country. Given that the All-ACC Team has seen Westbeld become a member each of the past two seasons, that shouldn’t be a surprise.

Westbeld has started all 86 games in the three seasons that have spanned her Irish career so far. In 2022-23, she led the Irish with 1.2 blocks a game while also averaging 11.2 points and 6.6 rebounds and shooting 44.9% from the field. She tied her career scoring high with 25 points against Wake Forest. She also set career highs in blocks (four against Northern Illinois) and steals (four against Louisville).

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Kylee Watson, Sonia Citron will represent Notre Dame at ACC Media Day

Wonder what these two will say.

With the season creeping closer, ACC programs soon will head to Charlotte, North Carolina for the conference’s annual Media Day. Every team is represented by its coach and two of its players, making it no different than a typical postgame news conference. Obviously, Notre Dame coach [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] will be in attendance. Meanwhile, the players will be represented by [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] and [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag]:

Citron led the Irish in scoring last season (14.7 points a game) by a slim margin over [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] (14.3 points a game), who was injured in the regular-season finale and didn’t play any of the remaining games. Citron also averaged the most minutes for the Irish at 33.5. For all of that and more, she made the All-ACC First Team.

Watson was the Irish’s field-goal percentage leader in 2022-23 at 60.1%. She also had career highs in most major statistical categories in her first season at Notre Dame after two years with Oregon.

The Irish are ranked 10th in the AP preseason poll and open against South Carolina on Nov. 6 in Paris.

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College Sports Wire’s midseason All-ACC team

North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye has separated himself from the other ACC quarterbacks, but who else in the conference has stood out?

The ACC teased a little upheaval this preseason, and the conference schedule has delivered and then some.

Clemson and coach Dabo Swinney have won the conference crown in seven of the past eight seasons buoyed by some of the most decorated quarterbacks in conference history, including budding NFL star Trevor Lawrence. But the Tigers lost by three scores to Duke on opening night and fell to Florida State in overtime, opening the door for some teams hoping to move back atop the ladder.

The Seminoles lead the way so far, still undefeated and seemingly in line for their first College Football Playoff appearance since 2014. Duke lost a heartbreaker to Notre Dame but remains undefeated in conference play, and Louisville beat the Fighting Irish by two scores the following week to announce themselves. And what about North Carolina, led by quarterback phenom Drake Maye?

Here are the ACC’s best of the best as we reach the halfway point.

Notre Dame gives out team awards for 2022-23 season

Congratulations to the honorees.

For the second straight season, Notre Dame made noise that forced the women’s basketball world to pay attention to it. The impact this past year was even greater than the year before though. The Irish upset UConn during nonconference play, won the outright ACC regular-season championship and made their second straight Sweet 16. That’s a year almost any program would take.

The book on the 2022-23 season officially closed Wednesday when the Irish held their awards banquet. It had to have been tough for ACC Coach of the Year [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] and her staff to select the winners of these awards. Then again, when you look at who won, you probably won’t be surprised. These winners embodied the very things they were honored for, and if the awards had to be voted on again, it’s likely the same results would have come out.

Here are the players who shined the most for the Irish this season:

Top 10 Notre Dame women’s basketball players according to ChatGPT

Does the bot know women’s basketball?

I asked AI information bot ChatGPT to list what it believes are Notre Dame’s top 10 men’s basketball players. It only makes sense for me to give the women equal treatment. Plus the women have both a better recent past and future than the men. You know people want to know who’s made the program so special.

Please note that ChatGPT’s knowledge cuts off at September 2021, so you won’t find [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] on this list. Heck, she probably wouldn’t have made it anyway since she just completed her sophomore season. She still has a legacy to complete.

Here is ChatGPT’s disclaimer regarding the list:

“As a language model, I do not have personal opinions or beliefs, and my responses are generated based on data and information available to me. However, I can provide you with a list of some of the most notable Notre Dame women’s basketball players, based on their achievements, accolades, and impact on the program.”

It also says this:

“Please note that this list is not exhaustive and is subject to personal opinions and interpretations. There have been many talented and accomplished players in Notre Dame women’s basketball history, and different people may have different criteria for their top 10 selections.”

With that out of the way, let’s see who the information bot has deemed worthy of making this list and what it had to say about each player:

Top 10 Notre Dame men’s basketball players according to ChatGPT

Let’s see what AI knows about Irish men’s hoops.

For the past few months, I’ve heard quite a bit about the AI information bot known as ChatGPT. It was the subject of an episode during this past season of “South Park”. More importantly, I’ve heard how it’s such a game-changer that writing jobs are done for. We’ll see about that as I’m not too worried about it, but then again, I’m sure newspaper employees said the same thing about the internet in the mid-1990s.

When our editor Nick Shepkowski decided to ask ChatGPT what it thought Notre Dame’s 10 best football players were, I decided to follow suit and ask the same question but for the 10 best men’s basketball players instead. Keep in mind that even the bot knows this list is subjective:

“Please note that there are many other outstanding players who have played for Notre Dame and could also be included on this list.”

So keep that in mind as you go over the following list, which also includes ChatGPT’s description of each player:

Thirteen Notre Dame players make ACC All-Academic Team

These players knew to hit the books before they hit the court.

Generally speaking, Notre Dame basketball is a very mixed bag right now. The women are coming off their second straight Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament. After a historically bad season, the men have a new coach and need to somehow figure out how to fill up a roster with many gaps. The one thing both programs have in common is they have some very intelligent players.

As a reflection of Notre Dame’s high classroom standards, 13 basketball players have made their respective ACC All-Academic Teams. Specifically, seven women and six men were so honored. It’s the latest example of the university refusing to compromise its values if it means accepting student-athletes who won’t take their studies seriously. With this latest news, that stubbornness won’t change anytime soon.

Take a look at the players who are as good in the classroom as they are on the court. Maybe this can serve as an inspiration to a young person who is struggling with grades. If you are one of them, don’t give up because these men and women sure don’t. It’s the first ACC All-Academic selection for all players unless noted:

ACC honors galore for Notre Dame

So many Irish folks won awards that we had to make a listicle out of this story.

When you win the outright ACC regular-season championship, as Notre Dame did, many conference honors are sure to come. That’s exactly what happened when the ACC unveiled its annual honors. The best part is the honors weren’t limited to those who are on the court every game.

All of this is happening ahead of the ACC Tournament, which begins Wednesday in Greensboro, North Carolina. Having earned one of the top four seeds, the Irish received an automatic berth to the quarterfinals, which will take place Friday. As the top seed, they will play the winner of the second-round game between Syracuse and an NC State program that has given them problems over the past year.

Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology has the Irish holding steady as the No. 3 seed in the quadrant featuring undefeated and top-ranked South Carolina. Should the Gamecocks draw the Irish in the Elite Eight in that scenario, they’ll have to deal with these heavy hitters that have made the Irish such a force this season:

Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles makes Naismith Trophy Watch List

Big honor for the point guard.

We’re getting to the point where we have to ask what Notre Dame point guard [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] hasn’t been honored for in the preseason. She’s made the all-ACC preseason team and is on the watch list for the Nancy Lieberman Award. Now, she’s made the watch list for the Naismith Trophy, the top award in college basketball. Only [autotag]Ruth Riley[/autotag] in 2001 has won this award for the Irish.

Obviously, there’s a long way to go before we seriously can consider Miles as a contender for the award. A list of 30 potential winners will come out in February, and that list will be trimmed to 10 in early March and then four March 21. The winner will be announced March 29, two days before the Final Four starts.

Miles will face a lot of competition just from within the ACC, which has nine watch list members total. Saying more about that competition would be too obvious, so we’ll just leave it as it is.

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