Newsstand: Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo named finalist for Dawn Staley Award
Notre Dame freshman guard Hannah Hidalgo is stockpiling hardware. The ACC Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year was named a finalist for the Dawn Staley Award, which recognizes the best guard in Division I women’s basketball, on Tuesday.
The award is named after South Carolina head coach and Virginia point guard legend Dawn Staley. Hidalgo is one of four finalists, including USC freshman Juju Watkins, UConn senior Paige Bueckers and Iowa senior Caitlin Clark.
Clark has won the Staley Award three years in a row and is certainly the favorite to win again in 2024. She leads all of women’s college basketball with 31.9 points per game, almost 5 full average points ahead of Watkins at 27.0. Hidalgo is third, though, at 23.3 and she also averages 6.4 rebounds. 5.5 assists and 4.6 steals each time out.
Hidalgo and the Irish won the ACC Tournament Championship on Sunday and are projected to host first and second-round matchups in the NCAA Tournament.
Notre Dame Tweets of the day
Graduate Irish defensive tackles Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills are among the best at their craft in college football.
Notre Dame men’s basketball advanced to the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
The women’s basketball team, though, is still celebrating.
Quote of the day
“Listen, the mindset I have is, we have a bye Week 13. We’re playing 12 games straight, and we get a bye Week 13. There’s two teams in the country that are probably gonna get a bye Week 14 — actually, I know there’s four teams. But the reality is, there’s still going to be plenty of teams that don’t have a bye. There are going to be some teams that play in championship games that are gonna make the playoffs that don’t get a bye. We are guaranteed a bye Week 13. Control the things we can control, and let’s go and take care of the business we can take care of.”
— Irish head football coach Marcus Freeman on Notre Dame’s place in the 12-team College Football Playoff
Headlines of the day
- How Markus Burton mastered the mid-range jump shot
- What to know about every 2026 recruit Notre Dame has offered on offense
- What to know about every 2026 recruit Notre Dame has offered on defense
- What life after Joe Alt, Blake Fisher looks like for Notre Dame offensive line
- What Marcus Freeman said about QB/OL competitions on Andy Staples On3
- Why ESPN says Fighting Irish are one of 10 teams that can win a national title
- Five things Marcus Freeman said on The Hard Count with J.D. PicKell
- What makes Hannah Hidalgo different from other defensive player of the year candidates
- Top 150 CB Trystan Haynes includes Notre Dame football in Top 6 schools
- 2026 CB Dominick Kelly earns Notre Dame offer, raves about visit
- Instant observations: Notre Dame survives Georgia Tech, advances in ACC Tournament
- Transfer Portal: Former Colgate RB/WR Max Hurleman commits to Notre Dame football as PWO
- How Notre Dame responded, stayed alive after Georgia Tech comeback
- Lucky Charms: Insight on where Notre Dame stands with four-star CB Trystan Haynes
