SOUTH BEND — No Notre Dame women’s basketball season since 2018-19 — when the Irish headed in as defending national champs with four stars back and newly healthy All-American Brianna Turner joining that mix — has been anywhere close to as anticipated as the one teasingly at our doorstep now.
It begins with the intriguing blending of two All-American point guards in Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles, is spiced by returning All-Atlantic Coast Conference selections Sonia Citron at wing and eventually Maddy Westbeld at forward, is frosted by all-league transfers Liza Karlen and Liatu King arriving, and is topped off by the addition of five-star freshman center Kate Koval.
With those ingredients, Notre Dame (28-7 in 2023-24, 13-5 in the ACC) is aching to go further than the Sweet 16 it’s reached each of the last three years.
Noie on Hidalgo/Miles: Notre Dame women’s basketball begins a new era playing two lead point guards. Can it work?
ND starts with a 7 p.m. home exhibition Wednesday against Division II Davenport, then tips for real on Monday, Nov. 4, when Mercyhurst comes to Purcell Pavilion for a 5 p.m. game.
Ranked No. 5 in the preseason coaches’ poll and No. 6 by the Associated Press, here are five things to know about the Irish.
Noie on Westbeld: How can injury actually help Notre Dame women’s basketball forward Maddy Westbeld?
In Hidalgo and Miles, Notre Dame will be directed by two alpha-type point guards, each accustomed to running things
Can it work?
From a talent perspective, and an Irish perspective, it’s already working.
“They’ve been meshing amazingly,” Citron said during the team’s recent media day. “It’s kind of crazy that we have two of the (nation’s) best point guards on the same team. … It’s every wing’s dream to play with two guards like that.”
Hidalgo was a first-team All-American sensation last season as a freshman, when Miles, a second-team All-American the year before as a sophomore, watched all winter while recovering from a February 2023 knee injury.
Thus they never have played together in games, though by now, they’ve practiced together abundantly.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Westbeld promised, adding with a laugh, “I’m just as excited as you guys are. … It can only be a good thing.”
Niele Ivey, the fifth-year Irish coach and ex-Irish point guard charged with making sure it’s a good thing, sounds confident it will be.
“They make each other better and they make (each other’s) job easier,” Ivey said, “because you have two incredible minds on the floor. I mean, personally, as a point guard, I would have loved to have another point guard with me because it takes a lot of pressure off. … They’re going to do a great job flowing off each other and kind of feeling each other.”
With its two deluxe PGs, and with Citron for that matter — is there a better third guard in the country? — ND will be able to create up-tempo chances at an “electric” rate, Ivey says, and in half-court sets present defenses with unusual challenges.
King and Karlen give Notre Dame perhaps its best double dose of transfer talent ever
The only other pair to arrive at ND with comparable combined credentials would be forward Jessica Shepard from Nebraska and point guard Lili Thompson from Stanford in 2017.
Shepard went on to help key the Irish to a national title and a national runner-up finish over her two seasons, while Thompson led that first team in assists before being sidelined 14 games in by injury.
Karlen and King are both grad student forwards with one season of eligibility remaining.
King, on her way to ACC most improved player honors, averaged 18.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocks, all-team leading figures, last winter at Pittsburgh.
Karlen, an All-Big East first-teamer, averaged 17.7 points, 7.9 boards and 1.2 blocks, all-team leading, while steering Marquette to a 23-9 record and an NCAA Tournament berth.
Kate Koval, the lone true freshman, is turning Notre Dame heads
“She’s no freshman,” Westbeld said matter-of-factly.
A native of Ukraine, the 6-foot-5 Koval is rated the No. 1 post in her class by ESPN and No. 5 overall.
“She is so special,” Westbeld continued, “and you can definitely see that European style where she can do a lot. She’s very mature. Her IQ is unbelievable. Even just the summer workouts, you could see everybody was in awe being able to watch her, just the decision-making that she had.”
“She’s very dominant, she’s very smart, and I’ve learned that her passing ability is just as great as her scoring ability,” Ivey said. “And she’s great defensively. So, she’s been prepared for this level, but I think her confidence is what impresses me the most.”
Notre Dame’s women’s basketball roster remains a churn of injuries and returnees
Most notably, Westbeld, as durable as anybody over the last four seasons, is sidelined while continuing to work back from offseason foot surgery.
“Early conference play,” Westbeld estimated of when she’ll return.
Westbeld, who opted into a fifth season by virtue of the NCAA’s COVID-related allowance, has started 120 of the 121 games that ND has played during her career.
Also out are junior guard KK Bransford, redshirting this season with a lower leg injury, and senior post Kylee Watson, still recovering from the knee injury she suffered in the ACC Tournament that the Irish won last March.
“Not sure,” Ivey said of whether Watson will make it back this winter.
On the flip side, the coach describes junior wing Cass Prosper and sophomore sharpshooter Emma Risch as “full go” after each missed major time last season with injuries.
Notre Dame women’s basketball schedule is brutal, which can also be beautiful
Fans love it, and it will benefit the Irish at NCAA Tourney time if they do well.
ND will face each of the No. 2 through No. 4 teams from the two major polls, hosting No. 4 Texas and No. 2 Connecticut a week apart on Dec. 5 and 12, besides visiting No. 3 USC on Nov. 23.
The Irish also will encounter TCU and Utah, both barely outside the two polls, at the Cayman Islands Classic on Thanksgiving weekend.
Then there’s the ever-rugged ACC, featuring five teams besides ND each ranked among the nation’s top 19.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Previewing 2024 Notre Dame women’s basketball season
