SOUTH BEND, Ind. — As sophomore point guard Hannah Hidalgo and ACL-rehabbing senior center Kylee Watson playfully chucked half-court shots at Rolf Athletics Hall as a prelude to Thursday’s practice, grad transfer forward Liza Karlen quietly went about her business.
The 6-foot-2 import from Marquette is one of three newcomers on a team with reiterative NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Sweet 16 history and perhaps a Final Four future — or at least potential. And all three are part of the depth chart in the post position while 2023 starter Watson — who incidentally swished one of her long shots — recovers with no clear timeline for a return.
And yet they’re all so much more.
Freshman Kate Koval has Ruth Riley size (6-5) and strength and five-star pedigree. And Irish fifth-year head coach Niele Ivey, who played with and won a national title with Riley at ND, doesn’t push back in the least on the comparisons.
Koval’s face-up game in practice Thursday was impressive. She can comfortably wander out to the 3-point line as well, and she can play with her back to the basket. The Ukraine native, who played her high school ball at national prep power Long Island (N.Y.) Lutheran against an aggressive and national schedule, should get plenty of opportunities early in the season.
Especially, as All-ACC and grad senior forward Maddy Westbeld works her way back from a lower-leg injury with a likely early January return for her.
Grad transfer senior forward Liatu King is a double-double machine, the second-ever Pitt women’s basketball player to earn first-team All-Big East honors and is the reigning ACC Most Improved Player as she changes zip codes but not conferences.
At 6-0, King has guard size with forward hops and post toughness.
And then there’s Karlen, whose last game in a Marquette uniform, ironically, came on Notre Dame’s home floor, in an NCAA Tournament first-round loss to Ole Miss last March. Afterward, she sat in the stands and watched the Irish put away their first-round assignment, Kent State.
“I was really back and forth,” Karlen, a civil engineering major, explained about even coming back to college anywhere for a fifth year. “I think that I was actually in the stands watching Notre Dame play when I knew for sure I was taking my fifth year, which is crazy.
“I know the seat and everything in the arena, and I just remember watching and looking around and being like, ‘Wow. I kind of only thought this environment was at UConn.’ I mean, I played UConn 12 times in the Big East, and so that was the only place that had that environment.
“And then I come here and see that exact same environment, the same energy around women’s basketball. And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I want to come back one more time, and I want to be at a school like this.’ So, crazy that ended up being that actual school. But yeah, I feel really blessed to be here.”
And Notre Dame feels blessed to have her.
Karlen was a unanimous All-Big East selection last season while playing for another former Irish point guard, Megan Duffy. She averaged 17.7 points and 7.9 rebounds a game in 32 starts with 10 double-doubles. That includes 19 points and 14 boards in the season-ending loss to Ole Miss, which the Irish promptly dismissed, 71-56, in the tourney’s second round.
She improved her field-goal percentage more than 80 points last season to a career high .497, and her 3-point accuracy almost 70 points to .357.
“I’m kind of taking on the mindset of whatever this team needs,” Karlen said Thursday at Irish Media Day. “I know that my numbers aren’t going to be the same as last year at Marquette, but that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to hang a banner. So, whatever that takes, I’m willing to do.”
That mantra is echoed by 2024 All-American Hidalgo, who now shares point guard duties with 2023 All-American Olivia Miles, back from a year off recovering from ACL surgery. And by Miles. And by guards Cass Prosper and Emma Risch, both back from injuries that wiped out all but a handful of early-season games last season on a team that transcended to go 28-7 and win the ACC Tournament title.
And by All-ACC senior guard Sonia Citron, who proclaims herself as healthy as she’s ever been in her college career and who Ivey claims is a faster, stronger, better version.
In all, nine of Notre Dame’s 12 players fully took part in Thursday’s practice, with a Friday afternoon session open to the public set for 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Purcell Pavilion. Watson, Westbeld and redshirting guard KK Bransford were the exceptions.
Notre Dame gets an Oct. 30 dress rehearsal at home against Davenport before opening for real Nov 4 at Purcell Pavilion against Mercyhurst.
“I have a very unselfish team,” Ivey said. “So that’s No. 1. They all want to win. They all want to compete. So, we see a mismatch, [then] something [a play] is called for that mismatch. We see somebody that needs to be fed. You know, they’ll do that.
“So, when you have a great group of unselfish players, no one cares about getting the credit. They all want to win. And we’re just growing, trying to figure out. Where does Liatu like the ball? Where does Liza like the ball? Because we have a lot of new pieces.
“So, I think that’s the recipe you guys are going to see, is that they’re unselfish and anyone can step up. We have a lot of weapons, and I’m hoping that helps us as we’re going against opponents, because it’s not really one person you can stop.”
The biggest offseason intrigue was how Miles and Hidalgo would fit in the same backcourt, or perhaps not fit.
Ivey studied NBA teams with dynamic ball-handling guard duos and some WNBA examples as well to get a gist of how it might work best.
“I look at all those types of offenses and schemes,” she said, “and try to kind of implement things that I think could work for us.”
And now?
“Electric is one word,” Ivey said.
“It’s incredible,” Karlen added. “I think that something I’m reminded of daily is that I’m playing with two of the best point guards to see the court at Notre Dame. I think that their chemistry — it’s so easy to play with them. They’re incredible leaders. They are very vocal, which is great, and they’re just so competitive.”
And so is Karlen in an unassuming way.
“Oh, her motor,” Ivey offered. “You talk about toughness — she brings toughness. She has the experience. She’s really a great locker room young woman, as far as, like, culture. She’s such a great leader — quiet leader. But I feel like her experience is exactly what we needed, especially with the absence of Maddy for right now.”
Westbeld (14.4 ppg, 8.7 rpg) had previously just missed one game in her career, taking an inadvertent blow to the face in traffic on Jan. 4 from new teammate King when the Irish played at Pitt. Westbeld suffered a concussion and a broken nose in the narrow Irish win, and had to wear a protective mask for several weeks.
Ironically, it was the game that Ivey almost ran out of on-court options, with all the injuries the team endured last season and the foul trouble they ran into in that particular game. Now she’s having fun figuring out how all the pieces, new and returning, fit.
And Karlen, for one, is loving every minute of that process.
“I think that even before I entered the transfer portal I knew how good this team was going to be,” she said. “I think watching them on the court in March Madness last year, seeing them in person. I mean, almost everyone was returning.
“So, I think there’s no doubt in my mind that they were going to be a really good program this year, I mean, with or without me. And I obviously wanted to be a part of that.”
