Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/476884
BY LOU SOMOGYI F or the first couple months of the 2014-15 season, 6-2 sophomore forward Taya Reimer seemed to suffer from classic middle- child syndrome. The one ahead of her receives all the awards, and the one behind gets the attention. Like junior All-American guard Jew- ell Loyd, the ACC Player of the Year, and freshman cen- ter Brianna Turner, the ACC Freshman of the Year, Reimer arrived as a na- tional top-five re- cruit. However, she possessed neither the perimeter skills of Loyd nor the down-in-the-blocks presence of Turner. She was caught in the middle, re- sulting in a basketball identity crisis of not knowing where she could best help the collective operation while also excelling individually. "I started the season off a little in- consistent and just not playing as well as I know I can be playing," Reimer summarized. That came to a boil in early Janu- ary with a well-publicized temporary leave of absence from the team. It helped result in Notre Dame's lone defeat in two seasons in the ACC, 78- 63 at Miami Jan. 8. Reimer returned a couple of days later, and the topic of her departure remains taboo. T h e b e s t w a y to summarize it is Reimer and the Notre Dame coach- ing staff, headed by Muffet McGraw, found a way to meet in the middle, literally and figu- ratively. It began with a greater concentra- tion on rebounds and doing the grunt work. After the lackadaisical defensive effort in an 89-76 victory versus Geor- gia Tech Jan. 22, an angry McGraw MEETING IN THE MIDDLE Taya Reimer's progress helps lift Irish to No. 2 ranking again "IT'S A TEAM SPORT, BOTTOM LINE. I'M JUST TRYING TO BE PRODUCTIVE WITH EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING THE TEAM NEEDS." REIMER