Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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48 OCT. 15, 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED WOMEN'S BASKETBALL BY LOU SOMOGYI M ore options don't always mean better choices. Naismith Hall of Fame basketball coach Muffet McGraw and her reign- ing national champions lived by that motto throughout the 2017-18 cam- paign and are maintaining that the program will remain a meritocracy, not one of entitlement. Because of four season-ending ACL injuries by the end of December last year, Notre Dame was reduced to seven scholarship players with no true point guard and utilized mainly a rota- tion of six players during the NCAA Tournament. Nevertheless, with two of the in- jured forwards returning — fifth-year senior All-American Brianna Turner and sophomore Mikayla Vaughn — to augment the top four scorers and the influx of four freshmen, it doesn't mean McGraw is going to suddenly become substitution happy with the rotation. Practice for the consensus preseason No. 1 pick in the nation began Oct. 4, with ACC Media Day held two days earlier in Charlotte, N.C. "It's mostly by feel," McGraw said of how she will utilize her rotation that now features 11 scholarship players. "You can look at it and go, 'We're go- ing to cut some minutes down, we're going to try to play this group to- gether,' but things happen in a game. Somebody gets hot, and you don't want to take them out of the game. Somebody gets a couple of fouls, and you have to take her out of the game. "I feel like we may play six or seven, and then the people on the bench need to earn their playing time. Just because we have 11 now doesn't mean we're going to play 11 people. "With different lineups it's going to take a little time to get some chemistry back. It's going to be challenging in the beginning to see how the playing time will go." There are two certainties heading into the 2018-19 season. One is the starting five with the vet- eran contingent that returns the top four scorers from last season: senior Arike Ogunbowale (20.8 points per game), senior forward Jessica Shepard (15.6), junior guard Jackie Young (14.5) and senior guard Marina Mabrey (14.4). Ogunbowale set a Notre Dame sin- gle-season scoring record while earn- ing second-team All-American notice from the Associated Press, USA Today and espnW. Now add Turner, who has also been a two-time All-American and is the two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year with her shot-blocking pres- ence. She is thankful about not trying to rush back from her spring 2017 ACL surgery last season, opting for a medi- cal redshirt instead. Her time on the bench last season served as her own laboratory of continued development. "I feel like I read the game better, and I see the game better," Turner said. "I think sitting out just helped me re- ally see stuff that playing wise I don't think I saw before." "She plays so much harder, so much more aggressively and catches so many more passes," Mabrey said of Turner. "She cuts to all the right spots, and her shooting game has improved so much." The ACC coaches named Mabrey to their first team last year, while the ACC Blue Ribbon panel had Shepard on the first unit. Yet, both Mabrey and Turner at the ACC media day pointed to Young, the nation's Naismith Player of the Year in high school, as the figure who rivals anyone in all-around excel- lence on both ends of the court. "I feel like Jackie is somebody peo- ple are going to really recognize, not that they already haven't," Mabrey said. The second preseason certainty is freshman Jordan Nixon will see much playing time off the bench in order to provide more of a natural flow at point guard, especially after distinguishing herself well during the team's August trip to Italy and Croatia. This will take some of the burden off Mabrey, who played the point the first time last year after graduated se- nior Lili Thompson and senior Mychal Johnson were both sidelined by ACL tears. "At times 40 minutes were a little rough. I thought my lungs were go- ing to collapse," Mabrey said of play- ing the new position, with Young also helping out on occasion as the season progressed. A highly vocal figure who brings the fire to the entire operation, Mabrey said part of her job description this year will be to help the freshmen un- derstand the daily grind, sacrifice and mental toughness required in the col- lege game. Mabrey's three-pointer in the wan- ing moments of the NCAA title game while trailing Mississippi State was overshadowed by Ogunbowale's epic game winner at the horn, but the make by Mabrey after the Irish had gone 0 of 7 behind the arc provided a life line. "From a leadership standpoint, I don't think the freshmen saw ev- erything we had to do to get there," Mabrey said of winning last year 's national title. "We are just trying to teach them that there are so many little things that don't seem so important now, but when you get to April they're important." Plenty voices of experience on the team concur. ✦ A Deeper Pool Of Talent Must Follow The Veterans' Lead Senior guard Marina Mabrey, who averaged 14.4 points per game and manned the point for the first time in her career, is one of four returning starters from last year's national championship team. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND