Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM JUNE/JULY 2024 13 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. 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." — ESPN's Charlie Creme on ranking the Irish No. 3 in ESPN's way-too-early top 25 for the 2024-25 season IRISH ON SOCIAL MEDIA UNDER THE DOME No. 9 Is where ESPN slotted N o t re D a m e 's M a r- cus Freeman on its list of "30 coaches who could rule college football through the 2020s and beyond." Freeman was third under the category "most exciting younger head coaches," just behind Oregon's Dan Lanning and Florida State's Mike Norvell. Irish defensive line coach Al Washington came in at No. 25, seventh under the category "rising young assistants." ESPN noted that the 39-year-old former Boston College defensive tackle "nearly landed the head-coaching job at his alma mater this offseason, and his influences suggest that when he does get a top job, he'll know what to do with it." He has dealt with some bumps (among other things, he's on his third offensive coordinator in three seasons) but has still won 19 games in two seasons, and his Fighting Irish finished 2023 smoking hot. Throw in heavy recruit- ing prowess — an average signing class ranking of 9.3 and two straight huge quarterback transfer signings (first Sam Hartman, then Riley Leonard) — and you have a coach with massive potential." — ESPN's Bill Connelly on ranking Marcus Freeman No. 9 on his list of 30 coaches who could rule college football through the 2020s and beyond" 5 Notre Dame players appeared on CBS Sports' list of the top 100 players en- tering the 2024 college football sea- son: junior cornerback Benjamin Morrison at No. 25, graduate student safety Xavier Watts at No. 45, graduate student defensive end RJ Oben at No. 90, graduate student defensive tackle Howard Cross III at No. 95 and senior quarterback Riley Leonard at No. 99. Notre Dame was one of seven schools to place at least five players on the list. Ohio State led the way with seven, followed by Oregon with six, and Notre Dame, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Ole Miss with five each. Freeman said this is probably his best ros- ter since being at Notre Dame. And he's right about that. Now it's on him and his staff to take advantage of the opportunity that's coming. He probably won't get one set up this well again." — Pete Sampson of The Athletic 200+ Career goals for Notre Dame women's lacrosse graduate stu- dents Madison Ahern and KASEY CHOMA, making them just the third and fourth individuals to ever accomplish the feat and the first duo to do it in the same sea- son in program history. Jillian Byers (262, 2006-09) and Cortney For- tunato (225, 2014-17) are the other two Irish to eclipse the 200-goal mark. Choma, a midfielder, had 242 career goals through 17 matches this season while Ahern, an attacker, had 226. 50-40-90 Club in men's college basketball — for which a player must have played a minimum of 25 games, and averaged at least 25 minutes and at least 10 points per contest — includes 12 players since individual shooting percentages began being re - corded by Sports Reference in 1992-93. The most recent addition to the club is Notre Dame gradu- ate transfer guard Matt Allocco. During the 2023-24 campaign at Princeton, the 6-foot-4, 197-pound Allocco averaged 12.7 points, 3.3 assists and 2.9 rebounds in 33.7 minutes per game while shooting 50.8 percent from the field, 42.7 percent from three-point range and 90.9 percent from the line. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS