Where Notre Dame women’s basketball ranks in ESPN’s way-too-early top 25
Notre Dame will have one of the most talented women’s basketball rosters in the country next season. ESPN knows it. The outlet released a way-too-early top 25 for the 2024-25 season and put the Fighting Irish at No. 3 behind reigning national champion South Carolina and Texas.
“The idea of Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles playing together is tantalizing even if it begs the question of how the two point guards will share the ball,” ESPN’s Charlie Creme wrote. “Coach Niele Ivey likely welcomes the opportunity to figure it out. Having Sonia Citron to receive passes from either also helps Notre Dame’s chances of getting to the Final Four for the first time under Ivey.”
The road has stopped in the Sweet 16 for Ivey and company in each of the last three seasons. The last two tournament runs have been compromised by multiple injuries to key players. The hope for Ivey is this year Miles and other important contributors will stay healthy. If they do, there aren’t a lot of lineups across the country that will compare to that of Notre Dame.
Ivey still has some work to do this offseason in terms of rounding up some depth for her roster. She lost rising junior guard KK Bransford to the transfer portal. Anna DeWolfe, Jenna Brown and Becky Obinma exhausted their eligibility at the end of the season. With just one signee coming to South Bend this summer, Notre Dame is currently projected to have 10 scholarship players.
That one signee is one of the best in the nation; five-star center Kate Koval, the No. 5 recruit in her class according to ESPN. But with graduate student center Kylee Watson having torn her ACL in March, Notre Dame needs more front court players to bolster what the Irish have their in Koval and presumably center Nat Marshall. Marshall has one year of eligibility remaining and has not signaled an entrance into the transfer portal as of April 8.
If Notre Dame is truly going to be one of the three best teams in the country, the Irish will need Maddy Westbeld to announce she is using her COVID-19 waiver to play a fifth season in South Bend. She has also not done so as of April 8. It was a good sign she did not declare for next week’s WNBA Draft, though. Now her options are remaining at Notre Dame, where she has started all 120 of her appearances, transferring elsewhere for one season or playing overseas.
Here’s a look at ESPN’s entire way-too-early top 25.
ESPN’s way-too-early NCAA women’s basketball top 25
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Notre Dame
- UConn
- USC
- UCLA
- LSU
- NC State
- Stanford
- Iowa State
- Duke
- Oregon State
- Baylor
- North Carolina
- Louisville
- West Virginia
- Kansas State
- Florida State
- Oklahoma
- Creighton
- Nebraska
- Ohio State
- Alabama
- Utah
- Illinois
