Tag: Niele Ivey

Notre Dame loses two rotational players to transfer portal

Notre Dame widely is expected to compete for a Final Four berth during the 2024-25 season.

Notre Dame widely is expected to compete for a Final Four berth during the 2024-25 season. However, a couple of players have chosen to take their talents elsewhere. Forward Natalija Marshall has announced that she will enter the transfer portal:

https://www.instagram.com/natalijamarshall/p/C5meAvQN9Ro/?hl=en

This news dropped only two days after sophomore guard KK Bransford also announced she was entering the transfer portal:

https://www.instagram.com/kkbransford/p/C5dqbVFunv3/?hl=en

Marshall will leave the Irish despite starting their final four games of this past season for the injured [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag]. In three seasons with the Irish, Marshall averaged 4.1 points and 1.3 rebounds a game.

Bransford is out after only two years with the Irish. In her 66 games, she made 19 starts and averaged 7.5 points and 3.8 rebounds a game.

[autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] already is down two players whom she played regularly. That hurts regardless of the talent coming in via the transfer portal and the 2024 recruiting class. Whatever the reason though, this is a sure sign that the new season already is here.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Niele Ivey, Sonia Citron, Maddy Westbeld speak after Notre Dame loss

Niele Ivey surely has to be bothered that she still can’t get over the Sweet 16 hump as a head coach. Yes, Notre Dame was ravaged of depth and height by season’s end, but that likely doesn’t make the pill any easier to swallow. Still, she has no …

[autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] surely has to be bothered that she still can’t get over the Sweet 16 hump as a head coach. Yes, Notre Dame was ravaged of depth and height by season’s end, but that likely doesn’t make the pill any easier to swallow. Still, she has no choice after the Irish lost to Oregon State in Albany Regional 1, 70-65. It’s the third straight season the Irish have been stopped short of the Elite Eight.

Among those returning next year will be guard [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag]. In three NCAA Tournament games this season, she averaged 22.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.0 assists while shooting 47.4% from the field. She will be key to the success of the 2024-25 Irish.

Unknown at this point is whether [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] will exercise her final year of eligibility and return to the Irish for a fifth season. She averaged 16.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks a game in March Madness. Hopefully for Irish fans, it won’t take much convincing for her to come back, especially with a healthy team sure to have high expectations.

Ivey, Citron and Westbeld all spoke to the media shortly after their season ended. Here’s what they had to say:

Photos of Notre Dame’s season-ending loss to Oregon State in Sweet 16

See how the 2023-24 Irish wrapped up play, even if they surely didn’t want to.

Three straight years, Notre Dame has made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. Three straight years, it has been eliminated from the tournament in that round. [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] will have to wait at least one more season for her first Elite Eight berth as a head coach. But right now, she and the rest of the Irish are left to contemplate their 70-65 loss to Oregon State.

Many hoped this season would go at least one more game. The Irish had the personnel to do it, and they were in this loss until only seconds remained. But the depth and size issues even the biggest Irish fans couldn’t ignore finally caught up to them, and both of those issues were on display in this final contest of the season.

The hope now is that the Irish can get healthy and make a serious run at next year’s national title. Until then, here are some of images from the game that stopped the Irish from pursuing this year’s championship any further:

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Niele Ivey speaks day before Notre Dame plays in Sweet 16

As coach, Niele Ivey has yet to break through the barrier that is the Sweet 16. She has a national championship from when she was an assistant coach as well as a player, but she hasn’t gotten nearly that far yet as the top dog at Notre Dame. To her …

As coach, [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] has yet to break through the barrier that is the Sweet 16. She has a national championship from when she was an assistant coach as well as a player, but she hasn’t gotten nearly that far yet as the top dog at Notre Dame. To her credit, she has been in the Sweet 16 three times now, so it’s not like she hasn’t accomplished anything in the NCAA Tournament. The hope now is that she gets one step closer by beating Oregon State in Albany Regional 1 to advance to her first Elite Eight.

As is her duty before important games like this, Ivey met with the media the day before the Irish’s first game of the tournament’s second weekend. Hopefully, this won’t be the final time she does that this season, but that obviously is the hope unless the Irish are preparing for the national title game.

This marked the first time in the tournament that Ivey wasn’t addressing a group of media in South Bend. Let’s see what she had to say:

Niele Ivey, Hannah Hidalgo, Maddy Westbeld speak after Notre Dame win

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame has won 10 straight games now. Pretty much each of those wins has been more important than the one before it, and it will continue to be that way as long as the Irish keep winning in the NCAA Tournament. That latest …

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame has won 10 straight games now. Pretty much each of those wins has been more important than the one before it, and it will continue to be that way as long as the Irish keep winning in the NCAA Tournament. That latest victory came via a 71-56 final score against Ole Miss. Awaiting the Irish in their third straight Sweet 16, this one officially called Albany Regional 1, will be Oregon State.

After this win, [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] met the media as she always does. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] joined her after playing the entire game, potentially her last at Purcell Pavilion, and leading all scorers with 20 points. Also taking the podium was [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag], doing so for the first time in this tournament after scoring 19 points and stealing the ball four times. In short, it was a typical game for her.

As this was the final time this season they spoke with the media after a game in South Bend, the questions posed them were plentiful. Here are the answers to those questions:

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Niele Ivey speaks day before Notre Dame’s next NCAA Tournament game

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame is heading into the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Ole Miss. Niele Ivey, like any college coach who gets this far, knows each opponent gets tougher than the last starting now. She and her team have gotten …

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame is heading into the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Ole Miss. [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag], like any college coach who gets this far, knows each opponent gets tougher than the last starting now. She and her team have gotten familiar with this year’s SEC, too, with her team already having faced South Carolina and Tennessee. Now, they must add the Rebels to that list.

This will be the second straight season the Irish will faced a Mississippi-based SEC team in the second round of March Madness. Last year, they bounced Mississippi State to advance to their second straight Sweet 16. The Irish will try to make it three in a row with this win for the opportunity to advance beyond that round for the first time since Ivey took over the program. That would add to a series of accomplishments for Ivey over the past couple of seasons.

Here are some of the things Ivey said when she met the media the day before the Irish’s next game:

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Photos of Notre Dame’s first-round NCAA Tournament win vs. Kent State

See how the Irish’s first tournament game looked.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – After Notre Dame wrapped up its final regular-season game, [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] addressed the Purcell Pavilion crowd. While she didn’t say so directly, she more or less pleaded with the NCAA Tournament selection committee to give the Irish a top-four seed so that they could host the first weekend. Just to remove any doubt, the Irish won the ACC Tournament, and it became impossible for the committee to ignore them after that.

The Irish ultimately earned a No. 2 seed, so their fans fans found themselves back where they were three weeks ago. They provided a tough environment for Kent State in this first-round game, and the Irish rode that to an 81-67 win. That means they’ll get to see the team one final time this season in Monday’s second-round game and surely will be no less vocal.

If you missed the start to the Irish’s latest quest for their third national championship, here are a few examples of what it looked like:

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Niele Ivey speaks day before Notre Dame opens NCAA Tournament

Niele Ivey is living her best life right now. Not only is she coaching Notre Dame’s women’s basketball program, the same one she’s won national championships with as both a player and assistant coach, but she’s excelling at it. She’s proven to be a …

[autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] is living her best life right now. Not only is she coaching Notre Dame’s women’s basketball program, the same one she’s won national championships with as both a player and assistant coach, but she’s excelling at it. She’s proven to be a worthy successor to the legendary [autotag]Muffet McGraw[/autotag], whom she gave praise to live on the ACC Network right after the Irish won the ACC Tournament. That victory gave the Irish a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a first-round date with Kent State.

Ivey didn’t repeat as ACC Coach of the Year, but she easily could have. With so many injuries, the Irish had no business coming into the tournament on an eight-game winning streak and getting the seed they did. It happened though, and the reward is her team getting to play in front of its home fans. The first of those games at least is sold out, and the second game surely will be, too, assuming there is one. It probably is a safe bet given all the momentum the Irish have right now.

Ivey met with the media the day before the Irish began their third straight tournament run. Here is some of what she had to say:

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Purcell Pavilion sold out for Notre Dame’s first NCAA Tournament game

Hope you have your ticket already.

After Notre Dame played its final regular-season home game at Purcell Pavilion, [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] hoped to be back for the NCAA Tournament. Thankfully, she coached the Irish to the finish needed to make that happen. And now on top of that, their first-round game against Kent State has been sold out, so Ivey will get that loud South Bend crowd she loves so much:

BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY’s NCAA tournament bracket contest, create a pool and invite your friends!

It’s not known how much of that sellout crowd will stick around to watch Saturday’s second game between Ole Miss and Marquette. But for the first game at least, a loud partisan crowd will be on hand, so the Golden Flashes will have more than only the Irish to deal with. That’s just what the Irish have been playing for all year, and they have the luxury for the second straight year.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo named AP First Team All-American

What a season she’s had.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] has had a special freshman season at Notre Dame, and now, we know exactly how special. She has joined USC’s JuJu Watkins as the fourth and fifth freshmen to be named to the AP All-American First Team since it began during the 1994-95 season. They join Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley and Texas’ Madison Booker.

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Trojans coach Lindsay Gottlieb obviously has seen Watkins up close and personal throughout this season, but she reserved praise for Hidalgo, too:

“We’ve had a front row seat to JuJu, but what Hannah’s done is unbelievable Coach Niele (Ivey) has done an incredible job.”

Ivey also was quoted in the AP story and said this about Hidalgo, the nation’s steals leader at 4.6 a game and its third-leading scorer at 23.3 points a game:

“She deserves to be listed amongst the best in women’s basketball. Hannah is a fierce competitor and an elite performer who rises to the occasion and has been extremely consistent and dominant this season.”

What has to be scary to opponents is that Hidalgo only is getting started. She likely will hold many Irish records by the time she’s done with the program. Irish fans will be anxious to find out how many of those records she holds in the end.

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