Tag: Niele Ivey

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:

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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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Watch: Niele Ivey praises Muffet McGraw after ACC Tournament title win

Get some tissues ready.

Even though she’s retired from coaching, Basketball Hall of Famer and Notre Dame legend [autotag]Muffet McGraw[/autotag] has not slowed down. She’s kept busy these days providing women’s basketball analysis for the ACC Network. Still, she has not shied away from the university she established a legacy at, and [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] didn’t let viewers forget that Sunday.

After ESPN’s coverage of the Irish’s ACC Tournament title win wrapped up, the ACC Network picked up the postgame coverage, and McGraw was there as she has been the entire tournament. Ivey knew that and chose to include her in her triumphant moment, and you can see her reaction in this video from co-analyst Kelly Gramlich:

But that only was the beginning as soon after, Ivey crashed the desk during an interview with tournament MVP [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag]. After wrapping her mentor in a bear hug, she took the mic and gave her all the praise she could:

The bond that ties these women together is strong and must be admired. Hopefully, we can see this over and over again for a long time to come.

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Ivey, Hidalgo, Citron, Westbeld speak after winning ACC tourney title

When the story about the 2023-24 Notre Dame women’s basketball season is written, Hannah Hidalgo’s name will be the first one to come up. But the reality is sonia citron and Maddy Westbeld were just as important, and all three showed it by being …

When the story about the 2023-24 Notre Dame women’s basketball season is written, [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag]’s name will be the first one to come up. But the reality is [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] and [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] were just as important, and all three showed it by being named to the ACC All-Tournament First Team with Hidalgo winning MVP honors. What else was there to do after the Irish beat NC State, 55-51, for the ACC Tournament title.

To the surprise of no one, all three players accompanied [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] to her postgame news conference that was long-awaited after the Irish spent a lot of time celebrating their latest honor. It’s amazing that they were able to gather their thoughts for the assembled media, but they know this is part of what they need to do after games. Of course, enough time had passed by then that had had time to assemble their thoughts.

Social media reacts to Notre Dame’s ACC Tournament championship

Notre Dame has won its sixth ACC Tournament championship. That happened after beating NC State in a close 55-51 contest. Niele Ivey has won first such championship since taking over for Muffet McGraw, and we can safely say that the coaching …

Notre Dame has won its sixth ACC Tournament championship. That happened after beating NC State in a close 55-51 contest. [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] has won first such championship since taking over for [autotag]Muffet McGraw[/autotag], and we can safely say that the coaching excellence will continue for the foreseeable future. Not every program has that luxury.

As one can imagine, social media was filled with chatter about the Irish’s title afterwards. They ranged from former players to alumni to people who cover both this program and women’s basketball. It’s hard not to be excited about the future regardless of how the NCAA Tournament shapes up for this year’s Irish. After a couple of lean years, the Irish are back to being among the class of women’s basketball, and they no plans to divert from that anytime soon.

Here is what some people said on social media afterwards, and you likely will recognize a few of them:

Niele Ivey, Sonia Citron, Anna DeWolfe speak after Notre Dame win

Notre Dame undoubtedly feels good about making the ACC Tournament championship game after beating Virginia Tech, 82-53. But it also understandably is anxious for any sort of good news surrounding Kylee Watson, who injured her left knee in the third …

Notre Dame undoubtedly feels good about making the ACC Tournament championship game after beating Virginia Tech, 82-53. But it also understandably is anxious for any sort of good news surrounding [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag], who injured her left knee in the third quarter of the semifinal win. She was last seen on crutches, and nobody knows what that means right now except the injury-riddled Irish were just dealt another blow.

[autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] spoke about the game afterwards and reiterated that she didn’t have any updates about Watson. Accompanying her at the postgame news conference were [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag], the Irish’s best player for the day with 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals, and [autotag]Anna DeWolfe[/autotag], who scored 14 points, including four 3-pointers.

Given the unknown status of Watson, they need to be given credit that they still were able to talk about the dominant performance they had just displayed. Here is most of what they had to say:

Niele Ivey confirms Olivia Miles’ Notre Dame return for 2024-25 season

Any rumors about transferring can be squashed.

With [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] having taken this season by storm the way few others have, it’s safe to call her the face of Notre Dame. For the previous two years, it was [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag], who has missed this entire season with a knee injury. With Hidalgo and Miles playing the same position, questions arose about whether Miles would stick with the Irish.

Miles’ future in South Bend no longer is in doubt. Speaking ahead of the Irish’s trip to the ACC Tournament, [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] announced that Miles had given her permission to publicly relay that she will return to the Irish for the 2024-25 season. That means Irish fans will see their dream backcourt of Miles and Hidalgo come to pass.

In her first two full seasons, Miles made the All-ACC First Team and led the conference in assists both times. She also was a Second Team All-American in 2023 and had three triple-doubles. One of those was the first for a freshman, men or women, in the NCAA Tournament. That came in the Irish’s 2022 first-round victory over UMass (12 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists).

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