Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/216396
Pearland (Texas) Manvel star Brianna Turner, who is rated as the nation's No. 1 player by Blue Star Basketball and No. 2 by ESPN HoopGurlz, headlines Notre Dame top-five 2014 recruiting class. photo courtesy USA Basketball see and Connecticut — both eight-time national title winners, including the Huskies again last April. McGraw has always been able to reel in quality talent. However, starting with the Skylar Diggins signing five years ago, the program has been more routinely reeling in the elite, top-five level players. The South Bend native Diggins was a program changer in how the Fighting Irish recruited. She became one of the best advertisements, or magnets, of how the school was "hip" for premier female basketball players. • Diggins was the nation's No. 3 player according to HoopGurlz in 2009, and the best at her position. • The following year, McBride and Achonwa came aboard. A McDonald's All-American, McBride was rated the nation's fourth-best shooting guard by HoopGurlz. The Canadian Achonwa didn't receive any high school rating, mainly because she was working with the National Elite Development Academy that would put her in the 2012 London Olympics. • In 2011, guard Jewell Loyd was ranked as the No. 4 player nationally by HoopsGurlz — and like Diggins, No. 1 at her position. She went on to be named the National Freshman of the Year in 2013. • In 2012, forward Taya Reimer also was ranked No. 4 overall by HoopsGurlz — and again No. 1 at her position. She joined Duke men's basketball recruit Jabari Parker as the Morgan Wootten Player of the Year by McDonald's for the men's and women's categories. Replacing the injured Achonwa, Reimer, in her first game against a ranked