SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The road to Cleveland felt so improbable at several different junctures this season for the Notre Dame women’s basketball team, the default to next year’s dream seemed like the pragmatic thing to do.
Then, suddenly, a team with a steady hemorrhaging of key pieces, and the identity crises and chemistry setbacks that came with them, congealed into something special.
Special enough to reach the women’s NCAA Tourney Final Four, roughly four hours down the Indiana Toll Road/Ohio Turnpike at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse?
Well, certainly special enough to start that journey at home, Purcell Pavilion, as the NCAA Tournament bracket was revealed Sunday night on ESPN.
With the ninth-ranked Irish (26-6) — healthy and recovering alike — watching from Club Namoli at Purcell, they learned they’ll open the 68-team tourney at this very facility as a surprise No. 2 seed in the Albany 1 Regional on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. EDT (ESPN) against 15th-seeded Kent State (21-10).
The Irish earned home-court advantage for the first two rounds of the tourney by virtue of being a No. 4 regional seeding or higher, a status they commandeered with five straight wins to end the regular season, then three more to capture the ACC Tournament.
The last five victims in that eight-game win surge were all ranked.
No. 7 regional seed, Ole Miss (23-8) meets 10th-seeded Marquette (23-8) in the other game on Saturday (4:45 p.m., ESPNU) at Purcell Pavilion. Winners return to face each other Monday for a spot in the Sweet 16 next week (March 29 and 31) in Albany, N.Y.
Marquette is coached by former Notre Dame point guard Megan Duffy.
"It just speaks to the progression every year, getting better and better," ND coach Nele Ivey said Sunday night after learning her Irish were awarded a 2 seed. "It’s a dream to play in the NCAA Tournament. In my first year not being able to dance, I don’t take any of this for granted.
"So, being a 2 seed, to be back at home, to feed off the energy of the crowd — the last game was a sold-out arena. And I know South Bend is going to come out to support. I’m super excited and I love the trajectory of our program."
The Irish have reached that NCAA Tourney plateau each of the past two seasons, bowing out both times at that point. The last time Notre Dame advanced beyond the Sweet 16 was a national runner-up finish in 2019, a year after they captured the national title in Ohio — Columbus to be precise.
If Notre Dame wants to make a trip to the Final Four, it will have do so through overall No. 1 seed South Carolina (32-0). The Irish were placed in the same regional as the team that's lost one game in the past two seasons.
With freshman point guard and likely All-American Hannah Hidalgo leading the way, Notre Dame this season finished in a tie for second in the ACC regular-season standings but was seeded fourth in the 15-team ACC Tourney due to tiebreakers. They then became the first team in 25 years seeded fourth or lower to win the ACC Tournament title, sweeping 5 seed Louisville, top seed Virginia Tech and 2 seed NC State March 8-10.
“This is a blessing,” Ivey said after last Sunday’s 55-51 ACC title game victory over a Wolfpack team that smoked them by 16 in South Bend in mid-February. “This is what we've all prayed for. For myself personally, I've prayed to be in this moment, to win a championship.
“Also just obviously winning a championship with this team. This was the vision coming in, taking over this program, and to see it manifest in four years has just been unbelievable.
“I'm so grateful for this team, their commitment, their buy-in, their loyalty. I love how much we are together, our culture. And the success, obviously, comes with great people and people that work hard.”
And persevere.
The Irish lost All-America guard Olivia Miles in late February of last season to a knee injury and didn’t know throughout the offseason when or if they’d get her back this season. Eventually, this Feb. 19, she announced she would not return this season, but a few weeks later Miles confirmed her intent to play next season at ND.
Sophomore guard Cass Prosper went down with a leg injury on Nov. 24 and has not played since game 5 of the season, at Ball State. Freshman 3-point-shooting specialist Emma Risch had season-ending hip surgery in December, with her last game being ND’s Nov. 29 road win at Tennessee.
Ivey shared the bad news for starting post Kylee Watson (6.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, team-high 44 blocks) on Sunday as well. She suffered a torn ACL in the March 9 ACC semifinal romp over top seed Virginia Tech and will miss the rest of the season.
"She’s going to have surgery in a couple of weeks," Ivey said, "and looking forward to her coming back stronger."
Junior guard Sonia Citron missed 7 ½ weeks with a knee sprain suffered in game 3 of the season, against Northwestern, while senior forward Maddy Westbeld suffered a broken nose and a concussion against Pitt on Jan. 4.
ND’s leading rebounder missed the next game, a home loss to North Carolina on Jan. 7, in concussion protocol and played with a protective mask after her return for about a month.
Grad senior guard Jenna Brown hasn’t played yet this season. And reserve forward Becky Obinma wasn’t available for the ACC Tournament, after suffering a concussion.
“It's almost like I'm speechless but I am talking,” Ivey said last Sunday. “It's so incredible to be in this moment and to say we're ACC champs when this league is so tough and it was such a hard fought week, three games in a row,.
“The resilience of our team, the adversity we faced yesterday, and for everyone to step up was fantastic, and I'm so proud of them and so grateful to be their coach.”
The ACC placed eight team in the 68-team NCAA Tourney field.
Notre Dame is making its 29th NCAA Tournament appearance. The Irish are 24-4 all-time in first-round games, have been to nine Final Fours and have won two national titles. Ivey was the starting point guard for the first (2001) and an assistant coach under Hall-of-Famer Muffet McGraw for the second (2018).
"Their energy is through the roof right now, and you can’t take these moments for granted," Ivey said Sunday of her message to her team. "Just really appreciating these moments. The job’s not finished.
"ACC champs, but now it’s back to 0-0. You’ve got six games to win a championship and you’ve got to take it 40 minutes at a time. So, the job’s not done, and we’re excited for the opportunity."
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