In the nine years from 2011-19, the Notre Dame women’s basketball program advanced to the Final Four seven times, reaching the title game in six of them and winning it all in 2018.
Then all of a sudden, the superpower operation this year plummeted to 13-18, possibly hastening the departure of Naismith Hall of Fame inductee and Notre Dame legend Muffet McGraw after 33 years on the sidelines.
This precipitous decline was in part a confluence of:
• Graduating four WNBA Draft picks among the top 19 selections in 2019.
• A fifth player, junior Jackie Young, turning pro early to become the No. 1 overall pick.
• Four former McDonald’s All-Americans having transferred elsewhere: Ali Patberg (Indiana), Erin Boley (Oregon), Danielle Patterson (Indiana) and Jordan Nixon (Texas A&M).
• Health setbacks this past year that sidelined three Fighting Irish players anywhere from two months to the entire season.
It resulted in a vastly inexperienced and often cobbled lineup that had never played together, with a barren bench.
Furthermore, the gravy train that had been the recruiting trail slowed down, in relative terms, during the 2017-19 cycles.
