Where Notre Dame women’s basketball stands in newest ESPN bracketology
Notre Dame fans living locally in South Bend should keep next weekend free on their calendars. It’s highly likely postseason basketball is coming to Purcell Pavilion.
The Fighting Irish women’s basketball program is in a position to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Head coach Niele Ivey’s team came in as a No. 3 seed in ESPN analyst Charlie Creme’s latest bracketology reveal, which was released Monday night after the conclusion of conference championship week.
Creme has Notre Dame playing No. 14 seed Boston University in the first round. The other two teams in the South Bend pod are No. 6 seed Michigan and No. 11 seed Columbia. The BU Terriers won the Patriot League regular season and conference tournament championships. The Columbia Lions won both titles in the Ivy League. The Wolverines finished tied for fifth in the regular season Big Ten standings and lost to Ohio State, 81-79, in the conference tourney quarterfinals.
Possible opponents five days in advance of selection Sunday are less consequential than the number next to Notre Dame’s name. As long as it stays at a No. 4 or better, there will be NCAA Tournament basketball returning to Notre Dame’s campus for the first time since 2019.
The Irish’s expectations for the tournament, meanwhile, hinge on whether sophomore point guard Olivia Miles is able to play. She missed both of Notre Dame’s ACC Tournament games with a knee injury. Judging by her heavy limp in an arena hallway last Thursday night, she might not be close to getting cleared for the court.
Notre Dame could still be good for a win or two in the tournament without Miles. The Irish overcame her injury in the second half of the game she went out in, coming back to beat Louisville 68-65 on the road. Then they beat NC State in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. But when Louisville had time to devise a game plan to face a Miles-less Notre Dame, the Cardinals cruised to a 64-38 beatdown. The blueprint is out for Notre Dame’s future NCAA Tournament opponents; play harassing defense on sophomore guard Sonia Citron and get her and her teammates in foul trouble.
Here are the clusters of top four seeds in Creme’s latest bracketology reveal.
No. 1 seeds: South Carolina, Stanford, Indiana, Virginia Tech
No. 2 seeds: Utah, Iowa, UConn, Maryland
No. 3 seeds: Ohio State, Duke, Notre Dame, LSU
No. 4 seeds: North Carolina, Texas, UCLA, Villanova
