Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 6, 2017 55 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL BY LOU SOMOGYI O ver the past eight years, no women's college basketball team has been blessed with more proficient and impactful point guard play than Notre Dame. Three-time All-American Skylar Diggins (2009-13) elevated the Fight- ing Irish to superpower status, and successor Lindsay Allen (2013-17) car- ried it on while never missing a prac- tice or start in her four years and help- ing Notre Dame to a 139-10 record. Diggins and Allen — the all-time assists leader in the ACC — are the only two players in the program's annals to score at least 1,200 points, grab at least 500 rebounds, dish out at least 500 assists and produce more than 200 steals in their careers. "Everything revolves around the point guard. It's the most important position on the floor," Irish head coach Muffet McGraw summarized. Such history has appealed to elite point guards nationally, including ver- bal commits such as 2018 recruit Jor- dan Nixon, who is ranked as the No. 16 overall player nationally by Pros- pects Nation, and 2019 recruit Anaya Peoples, the top-rated point guard and No. 4 overall player nationally accord- ing to Prospects Nation. That's for the future, but in 2017-18 the Irish will have the ultimate stop- gap figure in 5-8 Stanford graduate transfer Lili — pronounced Lee Lee — Thompson. The two-time All-Pac-12 guard sat out her senior season in 2016-17 to concentrate on her undergraduate degree, and this summer she began work on her master 's in business management at Notre Dame in an accelerated post-graduate program. It will be just as intense on the hardwood for her while she attempts to develop chemistry with her new teammates that need to adjust to playing without two-time All-Amer- ican forward Brianna Turner, who is rehabbing from ACL surgery. "I know the college terminology, the scheduling, time management … but it is a whole new program with a whole new coaching staff, so I'm learning that as well," said Thomp- son, who began practicing with the team in mid-October after recovering from an ankle injury this summer. "I feel relatively comfortable stepping in and just competing with these girls." As a freshman, Thompson started on a Stanford team that advanced to the Final Four. The next two seasons the Cardinal made it to the Elite Eight — the latter in 2016 when she scored 11 points, handed out nine assists and had no turnovers in the 90-84 upset of No. 1 seed Notre Dame. As a sophomore she tied for the team lead in scoring (13.3 points per game), highlighted by a 24-point effort in a win over eventual national champ Connecticut, earning her ESPN's Na- tional Player of the Week honor. As a junior, she averaged 14.7 points per contest (11th in the Pac-12) and con- verted 65 threes at a 37.5 percent clip. Unlike Allen, Thompson likely will be called on to score more in the guard-dominated lineup that packs firepower with juniors and preseason All-ACC picks Arike Ogunbowale and Marina Mabrey, plus sophomore Jackie Young, whom McGraw said is the team's most improved player. "I definitely have to be a scor- ing threat, and I've worked a lot on that, especially finishing at the rim," Thompson said. "But in my role, I have to be able to adjust and adapt to what the team needs. As we continue working together and practicing, I'm finding it. "I think right now it's being first and foremost vocal, being a leader on the defensive end — and then also us- ing my scoring ability as well as my passing ability on the offensive end." To McGraw, Thompson checks all the boxes necessary to continue the program's excellence at her position, but it's her experience that especially is cherished. "She can handle the ball against pressure … she's really smart, and she picks up stuff quickly. She'll get us into the offense and be able to di- rect," McGraw said. "She's really vo- cal, which is a good trait to have." ✦ Thompson, a two-time All-Pac-12 performer who started 96 games in three years at Stanford, has been tabbed to maintain Notre Dame's tradition of point guard excellence. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS Mychal Johnson Sidelined For Season With Knee Injury Lili Thompson's value to the 2017-18 Fighting Irish was highlighted again when senior reserve point guard Mychal Johnson suffered a season-ending ACL injury during practice Oct. 23. Although Johnson has been hampered during her career by knee and shoulder problems, she has played in 85 games and provided depth in the backcourt while tallying 208 points and 72 assists in her career. She averaged 15.3 minutes in her 26 game appearances last year. Without Johnson, the next option behind Thompson at point guard is junior Marina Mabrey, who practiced there when Thompson was temporarily sidelined with an ankle injury during the summer. Meanwhile, as of Oct. 27, Nebraska transfer and 6-4 junior forward Jessica Shepard still had not heard back from the NCAA regarding whether she will receive a waiver to play this season. — Lou Somogyi 'POINT' OF EMPHASIS Lili Thompson takes over as Notre Dame's floor general