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Notre Dame

Where Notre Dame women’s basketball ranks in first 2023-24 NET Rankings

IMG_9992by: Tyler Horka12/04/23tbhorka
team (1)
Notre Dame women's basketball. (Photo by Chad Weaver)

It’s one month into the NCAA women’s basketball season, and Notre Dame has one of the best teams in the entire country. The Fighting Irish (6-1) checked in at No. 5 in the first release of the NCAA’s NET Rankings, a key determinant in filling out the tournament field in March.

So much will happen between now and then, but what head coach Niele Ivey has guided her team through to this point has been very encouraging. After a 29-point loss to South Carolina in the season opener, Notre Dame has rattled off six straight wins. The Irish’s most recent was their best; a 74-69 win at then-No. 20 Tennessee. They came back from down 16 points to notch the victory.

That was without junior guard Sonia Citron and sophomore guard/forward Cass Prosper, too. And of course, junior point guard Olivia Miles has yet to make her season debut coming back from offseason knee surgery. The schedule has not been too difficult outside of the trip to Knoxville, but Notre Dame could have fallen apart without two of its best players.

Freshman guard Hannah Hidalgo has steadied the ship.

Hidalgo is averaging 23.3 points, 6.0 steals, 5.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds in her first seven college games. She scored fewer than 20 points in a game for the first time this season against Tennessee, but she was one of five Notre Dame players in double figures. Ivey got the most out of some key role players, including 15 points from senior center Nat Marshall and 15 more from senior forward Maddy Westbeld, to complete the comeback.

Notre Dame got a full week off after that game and before the Irish return home for the first time in just over two weeks to face Lafayette on Wednesday. Then it’s another 11 days off before hosting Purdue on Dec. 17. Former head coach Muffet McGraw will have her statue unveiled before a noon tipoff against the Boilermakers.

Here is a look at the top 25 of the first NCAA NET Rankings. Of note, there are three other ACC teams in addition to Notre Dame; No. 9 NC State, No. 18 Louisville and No. 24 Duke. The Irish also have a scheduled game against No. 16 UConn.

Dec. 4 NCAA NET Rankings Top 25

  1. South Carolina (7-0)
  2. Stanford (8-1)
  3. Texas (9-0)
  4. Utah (5-1)
  5. Notre Dame (6-1)
  6. Iowa (8-1)
  7. Michigan State (7-1)
  8. UCLA (7-0)
  9. NC State (9-0)
  10. Kansas State (7-1)
  11. UNLV (8-0)
  12. USC (7-0)
  13. Creighton (6-1)
  14. Baylor (7-0)
  15. Ohio State (6-1)
  16. UConn (4-3)
  17. Gonzaga (8-2)
  18. Louisville (8-1)
  19. Colorado (8-1)
  20. LSU (8-1)
  21. Washington State (9-1)
  22. Marquette (8-0)
  23. Alabama (7-2)
  24. Duke (5-3)
  25. Michigan (7-1)

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