Notre Dame women’s basketball earns No. 2 seed in NCAA Tournament
The Fighting Irish are officially dancing. Notre Dame women’s basketball enters the NCAA Tournament this week as a No. 2 seed, the program’s best seeding since 2019. The entire bracket was unveiled Sunday evening. Dates and times for Round 1 games will be released later.
Notre Dame (26-6) opens tournament play against No. 15 seed Kent State (21-10). The Irish are coming off an ACC Tournament victory a week ago. They’re riding an eight-game winning streak and have not lost since Feb. 15.
The Irish are in the Albany 1 Region with No. 1 seed South Carolina, No. 3 seed Oregon State, No. 4 seed Indiana and No. 5 seed Oklahoma. The regional championship could come down to a rematch between the Gamecocks and Irish, who played in the season opener Nov. 6 in Paris, France. South Carolina won, 100-71.
The No. 2 seed comes with an opportunity for Notre Dame to play two more games at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend. Should the Irish beat Kent State, they’ll face the winner of No. 7 seed Ole Miss and No. 10 seed Marquette in the Round of 32.
Notre Dame has reached the Sweet 16 in each of the last two seasons. The Irish won two games at home against No. 14 seed Southern Utah and No. 11 seed Mississippi State as a No. 3 seed last year before falling 76-59 to No. 2 seed Maryland.
The Irish’s ability to advance further was hindered by a late-season knee injury to starting point guard Olivia Miles, who missed this entire season rehabbing. They chances of a deep run will be affected by another knee injury, this one suffered by senior center Kylee Watson in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament. Watson announced Sunday she tore her ACL.
Notre Dame put a six-player rotation on the floor against NC State in the ACC championship game. The Irish won a defensive slugfest, 55-51. It had shades of losing Miles but still conquering Louisville in the game she got hurt in. Ultimately, though, the Irish were too shorthanded to hang with the Terrapins in the tournament.
This year could be different because of freshman point guard Hannah Hidalgo, one of 10 Naismith Player of the Year semifinalists. The ACC Rookie of the Year and ACC Defensive Player of the year is third nationally in scoring at 23.3 points per game and has a nation’s best 147 steals, good for a staggering 4.6 per game.
Incredible individual performances make March Madness what it is, and Notre Dame has one of the best players in the country going into this year’s big dance. Hidalgo has the capability to make this a memorable month for the Blue & Gold. Her first taste of the NCAA Tournament comes in a few days.
