Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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50 AUGUST 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED WOMEN'S BASKETBALL BY LOU SOMOGYI T he 2017‑18 Notre Dame national champions had an epic journey. Now it's time for more travel this summer in an attempt to become even better in 2018‑19. Head coach Muffet McGraw and the Fighting Irish were allowed 10 prac‑ tice days before embarking to Europe from July 31 to Aug. 9 in an exhibition tour allowed once every four years by the NCAA. The Irish will spend three days in Rome, Italy, three more in Split, Croatia, and the final three in Dubrovnik, Croatia, before returning. The trip to Europe actually was supposed to occur last summer, but had to be cancelled because there weren't enough healthy bodies to make it worthwhile and productive. Both senior starting forwards, All‑ American Brianna Turner and Kath‑ ryn Westbeld, were sidelined with injuries — which would result in a medical redshirt for Turner — and several others were nursing wounds. Furthermore, Ali Patberg and Erin Boley transferred to Indiana and Or‑ egon, respectively, making the body count even smaller. Now with 11 scholarship players, including four incoming freshmen, McGraw has an embarrassment of riches after scrapping through last season with merely seven scholarship players from the beginning of January. "I have to get used to looking down the bench and realizing, 'Hey, we have some guards!'" McGraw said with a laugh. Avoiding complacency and learn‑ ing how to effectively use a rotation again are going to be two of the pri‑ mary adjustments for the Fighting Irish, the likely consensus preseason pick to repeat as national champions the way Connecticut was last year. With the top four scorers returning — seniors Arike Ogunbowale (20.8 points per game) and Jessica Shepard (15.6), junior Jackie Young (14.5) and senior Marina Mabrey (14.4) — plus the addition of the two‑time All‑ American Turner with sophomore forward Mikayla Vaughn, who had a strong start as a freshman before get‑ ting sidelined with an ACL tear (8.0 points and 4.3 rebounds in the six games she played), there is no team in the country that bests the Fighting Irish frontcourt and backcourt. One of the first items on McGraw's checklist, especially with a deeper bench, is incorporating 40 minutes of intense team defense. That will take some recalibration because of the way the Irish had to play last sea‑ son, although the presence of Turner, MORE TRIPS OF A LIFETIME The reigning national champs will use their European tour to get even better Muffet McGraw and her team were allowed 10 practice days before traveling to Italy and Croatia for an exhibition tour from July 31 to Aug. 9. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND