Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo named Naismith Player of the Year semifinalist
Notre Dame freshman point guard Hannah Hidalgo is one of the 10 best players in NCAA women’s basketball. She was named a 2024 Naismith Player of the Year semifinalist on Thursday.
Only nine other players across the country landed on the prestigious list. Hidalgo is one of three freshmen to make the cut along with Madison Booker of Texas and JuJu Watkins of USC.
Hidalgo is having an historic inaugural season at the college level. She’s averaging 23.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 4.6 steals per game. She’s the only player in the country who’s putting up at least 20 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals per game.
Her scoring average ranks third nationally and is on pace to break Arike Ogunbowale’s all-time Notre Dame mark of 21.8 set in 2018-19. Hidalgo has more steals than anyone else nationwide with 147.
Hidalgo continued her torrid roar of a freshman season by earning ACC tournament Most Valuable Player honors for averaging 19.3 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals per game in Notre Dame wins over Louisville, Virginia Tech and NC State. All three of those foes appeared in the penultimate Associated Press Poll of the season earlier this week.
It’ll be tough for any of the nine other semifinalists, including Hidalgo, to dethrone reigning player of the year Caitlin Clark of Iowa, who became the NCAA’s all-time scoring leader earlier this season. Clark leads the country with her 31.9 points per game. Watkins is No. 2 at 27.0. Then it’s Hidalgo.
Notre Dame has not had a Naismith Women’s Player of the Year winner since Ruth Riley in 2001. Riley averaged 18.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in the season the Irish won their first ever national championship.
This year’s edition of the Irish will find out what their path to chasing a national title looks like when the full bracket is revealed this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
2024 Naismith Women’s Player of the Year Semifinalists
| NAME | CLASS | POS | SCHOOL | CONFERENCE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison Booker | Freshman | F | Texas | BIG 12 |
| Cameron Brink | Senior | F | Stanford | PAC-12 |
| Paige Bueckers | Senior | G | UConn | BIG EAST |
| Kamilla Cardoso | Senior | C | South Carolina | SEC |
| Caitlin Clark | Senior | G | Iowa | BIG TEN |
| Hannah Hidalgo | Freshman | G | Notre Dame | ACC |
| Elizabeth Kitley | Grad Student | C | Virginia Tech | ACC |
| Angel Reese | Junior | F | LSU | SEC |
| Jacy Sheldon | Grad Student | G | Ohio State | BIG TEN |
| Judea “JuJu” Watkins | Freshman | G | USC | PAC-12 |
