Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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56 NOV. 9, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED "It definitely was hard at first to grasp," she said. "To practice that level of acceptance was pretty difficult in the beginning. But now I see it more so as a gift. I like to say I'm in 'divine timing' right now. I truly feel like I'm not miss- ing out on anything. This is my journey." TRANSFERS BRIDGING THE GAP No Westbeld, no missed beats in the post. Potentially. Transfers Liatu King of Pitt and Liza Karlen of Marquette are two forwards who Notre Dame will lean on signifi- cantly with Westbeld on the mend, and Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey has every reason to believe in them both. King and Karlen were all-conference players at their former institutions. They combined for 155 starts at them. They were both double-double ma- chines, Karlen averaging 17.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game at Marquette last year and King putting up 18.7 points and 10.3 rebounds at Pitt. "She brings toughness," Ivey said of Karlen. "She has the experience. She's a great locker room young woman as far as culture. She's such a great, great leader. I feel like her experience is ex- actly what we needed especially with Maddy out right now." "She is so versatile," Ivey said of King. "She's so smooth. She's never too high or too low. She plays really hard. She plays a lot bigger than her size. Playing against her, I always thought she was a lot bigger. Then when she got here I was like, 'Wow, she plays a lot bigger than her size.' "I love her experience. She gives a lot of poise within our post position. She's really smart and can score at will." KOVAL IS COLLEGE-READY Karlen was asked if she matches up with five-star freshman center Kate Koval in practice reps. She said no. She seemed happy to avoid the 6-foot-5 towering presence in the paint. "Thankfully," she said with a laugh. "But she's a great player. She has a ton of confidence for a freshman, which is really, really rare. She comes in and makes great moves. She has great foot- work, especially for a freshman. "She brings size to our team which is something that's really, really valuable to us. I'm so excited to see what she does this year." Karlen and everyone else. "She's not a freshman," Westbeld said of Koval's maturity and skills. "She is so special. You can definitely see that Eu- ropean play and European style where she can do a lot. She is very mature. Her IQ is unbelievable. In the summer work- outs, everybody was in awe being able to watch her play. "The decision-making she has, she's incredibly smart and incredibly gifted at basketball. I'm really excited for her career." The media got to watch 30 to 45 min- utes of a Thursday practice Oct. 10 and then the entirety of a Friday practice Oct. 11. Most of the former was warming up and stretching. But at the end of the viewing period, when the male practice squad players went onto the court for five-on-five play for the first time in the media's gaze, Koval took on two of them under the basket and scored with ease on the very first competitive rep. She's going to be a factor for Notre Dame from the very start this season. HIDALGO AND MILES — OH, MY All four local media day participants spoke on the backcourt duo of Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles. We're about to get into a little of what they said. Spoiler alert: all good things because they're talking about two All-Ameri- cans teaming up. Rare. "Electric, is one word," Niele Ivey said. "It's really fast-paced. It's a lot of energy. They do a great job of sharing the ball. I couldn't have ever expected the pace to be even faster, but it is. Liv looks amazing. She's strong, confident. She's ready. Just seeing their chemistry growing has been a lot of fun." "It's incredible," Karlen said. "That's something I'm reminded of daily; I'm taking the court with two of the best point guards to ever see the court at Notre Dame. Two of the best — there's obviously a big group there. "It's so easy to play with them. They're incredible leaders. They're very vocal, which is great. They're just so competitive and that's all you can ask for from your point guards, to compete and lead at the highest level. They do that really well." "It's going to be awesome," Maddy Westbeld said. "I'm just as excited as you guys are. They're the two best point guards, the best 1-2 guards, in the coun- try. And to have them on the same team, it can only be a good thing. Just to see them compete in practice every day, it's really remarkable." "They've been meshing amazingly," Citron said. "It's kind of crazy we have two of the best point guards on the same team. To see them work together, it's incredible. I can say it's every wing's dream to play with two guards like that. I'm incredibly lucky and looking forward to actually playing a game with them." Notice the multiple mentions of call- ing both of them point guards. They're both ones, playing together in unison. T h a t's so m e t h i n g Ivey sa i d s h e learned can work by studying Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics and Luka Dončić and Kyrie Ir- ving of the Dallas Mavericks. If the two teams that played for the NBA title have two ball-dominant guards that take turns bringing the ball up the floor, then Notre Dame can do it, too. ✦ 2024-25 NOTRE DAME WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Time (ET) Oct. 30 Davenport# 7 p.m. Nov. 4 Mercyhurst (ACCN) 5 p.m. Nov. 10 at Purdue (FS1) 7 p.m. Nov. 13 James Madison (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Nov. 17 at Lafayette 2 p.m. Nov. 23 at Southern Cal (NBC) 4 p.m. Nov. 29 vs. TCU^ (FloHoops) 5 p.m. Nov. 30 vs. Utah^ (FloHoops) 5 p.m. Dec. 5 Texas% (ESPN) 7 p.m. Dec. 8 at Syracuse* (ACCN) 12 p.m. Dec. 12 Connecticut (ESPN) 7 p.m. Dec. 15 Eastern Michigan (ACCNX) 2 p.m. Dec. 22 Loyola Maryland (ACCNX) 12 p.m. Dec. 29 Virginia* (ACCN) 12 p.m. Jan. 5 at North Carolina* (ESPN) 1 p.m. Jan. 9 Wake Forest* (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Jan. 12 at Clemson* (CW) 2 p.m. Jan. 16 Georgia Tech* (ACCN) 6 p.m. Jan. 19 SMU* (ACCN) 6 p.m. Jan. 23 at Boston College* (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Jan. 30 at Virginia Tech* (ACCNX) 6 p.m. Feb. 2 at Louisville* (ESPN2) 12 p.m. Feb. 6 Stanford* (ESPN) 8:30 p.m. Feb. 9 California* (ACCN) 2 p.m. Feb. 13 at Pittsburgh* (ACCN) 8 p.m. Feb. 17 Duke* (ESPN/2) TBA Feb. 20 at Miami* (ACCNX) 7 p.m. Feb. 23 at NC State* (ESPN) 12 p.m. Feb. 27 Florida State* (ACCN) 8 p.m. Mar. 2 Louisville* (ESPN) TBA Mar. 5-9 ACC Tournament$ TBA # Exhibition; ^ Cayman Islands Classic at George Town, Cayman Islands; % SEC/ACC Challenge; * ACC game; $ at Greensboro, N.C.