Preview:
I'm tempted to make this the shortest preview I've written this year: Notre Dame good, Stanford not so very good. But I suppose that would let down the dwindling number of fans who continue to follow the team closely and want more. In any case, this might be a "trap game" for Notre Dame, and if we should somehow pull off LSU + 1 it would make our whole season. And that is about as positive a spin I could possibly make on this.
Notre Dame is 19-2 and currently ranked 3/3. Massey has them at 6 overall, their offense at 6 and their defense at 16. (Enough 6s for you?) They have won 14 in a row including over several teams that have beaten us, such as North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Duke, not to mention also beating USC and UConn. Their only 2 losses were at a Caribbean tournament last fall and don't really seem relevant any longer.
Notre Dame has an all-star cast. Hannah Hidalgo. a 5'6" sophomore guard, is averaging 26 ppg, she has 77 steals on the year, is shooting 43% from three point range and 50% overall. I do not recall ever seeing anyone other than a post averaging 50%. A generational talent and a lot of fun to watch--except when we have to play against her.
Olivia Miles, a 5'10" graduate student guard, is the second leading scorer at 16 ppg. She also has a whopping 134 assists on the year to 54 turnovers. Again, not sure I have seen a statistically more proficient point guard. Oh, she also shoots 42% of her treys, a whole point lower than Hannah.
Sonnia Citron is the third "big name" player, a 6'1" senior guard. 13 ppg, 92% of her free throws, etc. No doubt she would score even more if Hidalgo and Miles weren't filling up the stat sheet.
Liatu King, a 6'0" grad student forward is the fourth starter. She shoots 58%, all from inside. She also leads the team in rebounding with 11rpg--impressive for an undersized forward.
The 5th starter has shifted over the season with injuries. In their last game--an 18 point thumping of Louisville, the starter was Maddy Westbeld, who has played in about half of the Notre Dame games this year. I presume there was an early injury of some sort--perhaps a reader will chime in with the full story about her later in this thread. Maddy is a 6'3" grad student forward and gives them some much needed height in the post.
Notre Dame thus puts on the floor 3 grad students, 1 senior, and a sophomore. They are far and away the more experienced team, playing at home, and no doubt more than eager to kick us while we are down. And yet--it is not a terrible match-up for our offense. Agara should match up well against King, for example. The Notre Dame defense is very good, but it is not exactly elite. We ought to be able to score some points.
The real problem is that we probably have no one who can match up with Hidalgo. Then again, no one else seems to be able to stop her either. Furthermore, all their players are good enough that doubling anyone might be perilous.
One interesting note: our assistant coach Heather Oesterle was at Notre Dame last year. I imagine our scouting report will be of high quality, at least.
I'm tempted to make this the shortest preview I've written this year: Notre Dame good, Stanford not so very good. But I suppose that would let down the dwindling number of fans who continue to follow the team closely and want more. In any case, this might be a "trap game" for Notre Dame, and if we should somehow pull off LSU + 1 it would make our whole season. And that is about as positive a spin I could possibly make on this.
Notre Dame is 19-2 and currently ranked 3/3. Massey has them at 6 overall, their offense at 6 and their defense at 16. (Enough 6s for you?) They have won 14 in a row including over several teams that have beaten us, such as North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Duke, not to mention also beating USC and UConn. Their only 2 losses were at a Caribbean tournament last fall and don't really seem relevant any longer.
Notre Dame has an all-star cast. Hannah Hidalgo. a 5'6" sophomore guard, is averaging 26 ppg, she has 77 steals on the year, is shooting 43% from three point range and 50% overall. I do not recall ever seeing anyone other than a post averaging 50%. A generational talent and a lot of fun to watch--except when we have to play against her.
Olivia Miles, a 5'10" graduate student guard, is the second leading scorer at 16 ppg. She also has a whopping 134 assists on the year to 54 turnovers. Again, not sure I have seen a statistically more proficient point guard. Oh, she also shoots 42% of her treys, a whole point lower than Hannah.
Sonnia Citron is the third "big name" player, a 6'1" senior guard. 13 ppg, 92% of her free throws, etc. No doubt she would score even more if Hidalgo and Miles weren't filling up the stat sheet.
Liatu King, a 6'0" grad student forward is the fourth starter. She shoots 58%, all from inside. She also leads the team in rebounding with 11rpg--impressive for an undersized forward.
The 5th starter has shifted over the season with injuries. In their last game--an 18 point thumping of Louisville, the starter was Maddy Westbeld, who has played in about half of the Notre Dame games this year. I presume there was an early injury of some sort--perhaps a reader will chime in with the full story about her later in this thread. Maddy is a 6'3" grad student forward and gives them some much needed height in the post.
Notre Dame thus puts on the floor 3 grad students, 1 senior, and a sophomore. They are far and away the more experienced team, playing at home, and no doubt more than eager to kick us while we are down. And yet--it is not a terrible match-up for our offense. Agara should match up well against King, for example. The Notre Dame defense is very good, but it is not exactly elite. We ought to be able to score some points.
The real problem is that we probably have no one who can match up with Hidalgo. Then again, no one else seems to be able to stop her either. Furthermore, all their players are good enough that doubling anyone might be perilous.
One interesting note: our assistant coach Heather Oesterle was at Notre Dame last year. I imagine our scouting report will be of high quality, at least.
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