Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MAY 2022 41 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL BY TYLER HORKA S o much for continuity. When teams get ahead of their developmental schedule and make the type of run Notre Dame made in March — com- ing within a few possessions, a few seconds, just a shot or two from reaching the Elite Eight — the reaction is usually universal: "Dang, if that's what we were able to do this year, then just imagine what we'll be able to do with pretty much the same ex- act roster next year. Only up from here!" If the same exact roster was set to return in 2022-23, then head coach Niele Ivey and her coach- ing staff would absolutely be in the right to say those types of things. The Elite Eight would be a very realistic goal. But that isn't the case. And now, Ivey has to worry about re- tooling her roster way before she ever starts thinking about reaching an NCAA regional final next spring. A Notre Dame team that only consisted of 10 schol- arship players in 2021-22 has been cut down to half a dozen as of late April. Within a matter of 24 hours in late M a rc h , j u n i o rs Sa m B r u n e l l e a n d Anaya Peoples and senior Abby Pro- haska entered the NCAA transfer por- tal. Brunelle is off to Virginia to play for her home-state Cavaliers. Peoples is headed to DePaul to play for her home- state Blue Demons. Prohaska had not determined her new destination as of late April. The most devastating was learning that graduate student forward Maya Dodson will not return either. She filed a waiver with the NCAA requesting an extra year of eligibility, citing only play- ing nine games for Stanford during the 2019-20 season. The NCAA denied her request. Days after announcing her departure from Notre Dame and college basket- ball as a whole, she was drafted No. 26 overall by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2022 WNBA Draft. She'll team up with former Notre Dame players Skylar Dig- gins-Smith and Brianna Turner. When healthy, Brunelle, Peoples, Prohaska and Dodson all played integral roles for the Irish last season — none more than Dodson, who started all 33 games and averaged 12.6 points and 7.3 rebounds. She also blocked 91 shots, which ranked tied for sixth nationally. Brunelle, Peoples and Prohaska com- bined to average 14.2 points per game. The Brunelle, Peoples and Prohaska exits mean Ivey no longer has a bench. That trio made up the extent of Ivey's healthy, scholarship reserves. The Dod- son exit means Ivey doesn't have a post presence unless junior forward Maddy Westbeld is considered in that regard, but she's much better suited as a stretch four. Westbeld is one of five returning scholarship players. She's joined by sophomore guards Olivia Miles and So- nia Citron, junior forward Nat Marshall and senior guard Dara Mabrey. West- beld, Miles, Citron and Mabrey were all regular starters. Returning four of five starters is gen- erally a good thing. But in the context of all Notre Dame has lost, it's not nearly enough. Marshall only played in 13 games with zero starts before un- dergoing yet another surgery on her knee. She missed her entire freshman season with an ACL in- jury. She often sat next to senior guard Katlyn Gilbert spectating from the bench. Gilbert did not play after Christmas last season because of personal matters, so it's not expected she'll return to action next season. The addition of McDonald's A l l -A m e r i ca n c l a ss o f 2 02 2 freshman KK Bransford gives Ivey six scholarship players. That's it. Many of them have immense talent. Miles might be the best pure point guard in the coun- try. Citron is the reigning ACC Freshman of the Year. Mabrey had one of the best sharpshooting stretches of her career when it mattered most in the NCAA Tournament. Westbeld scored at least 13 points in all five of Notre Dame's postseason games. Marshall is a former five-star recruit. Bransford is a two- time Ms. Ohio Basketball winner. The building blocks are there. Barring transfers, which are obviously always on the table, five of those six players should be around for multiple years. All of that talent goes to waste with- out supplemental help, though. Notre Dame lost a significant amount of its roster to the transfer portal, and now the Irish are going to have to go to the same well for returns of their own. Ivey and company really don't have any other options. It doesn't matter why Brunelle, Peo- ples and Prohaska left. All that matters now is whether Ivey can replace them. If she can, Notre Dame has legit post- season hopes. If she can't, the Irish have severe concerns. It remains to be seen how this off- season plays out. The answer will be revealed one way or the other in the coming months — a critical period in the future of Notre Dame women's basketball. ✦ Niele Ivey's Main Focus This Offseason Is Restructuring Her Roster Quickly Ivey, whose team was down to six scholarship players as of late April, is expected to turn to the transfer portal to help rebuild the roster. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS