While Notre Dame plays the waiting game with its two remaining uncommitted 2023 women’s basketball recruiting targets, coach Niele Ivey and the Irish are also forging ahead into the future this weekend, when a pair of elite underclassmen are scheduled to visit campus.
The nation’s top center and the No. 9 prospect overall in the 2024 class per ESPNw’s rankings, 6-foot-5 Blanca Thomas, will take an unofficial visit this weekend. So will the No. 13 player overall in the 2025 class, 6-1 sophomore guard Aaliyah Crump.
Thomas is a junior and led Charlotte (N.C.) Catholic to a 28-3 record last season — best in school history. She hails from the same school as Notre Dame football 2024 tight end commit Jack Larsen.
Thomas released a top 10 in August of Notre Dame, North Carolina, NC State, Duke, Virginia Tech, Louisville, South Carolina, Michigan, Tennessee and Stanford.
“She reinvented her body,” said Dan Olson, owner and director of Collegiate Girls Basketball Report. “She’s in great physical condition. She can run the floor exceptionally well. Watching her play in high school, though — at least earlier in her career — was painful, because her team didn’t know how to get her the ball.
“Then you watched her with her travel team, and it’s like a whole different player. She’s a pretty skilled interior player with decent hands. Her mobility is exceptional. She’s really developed her game nicely.”
Crump, meanwhile, plays for Minnetonka (Minn.) High. She received her first college scholarship offer as an eighth-grader, from Wisconsin.
As far as the current recruiting cycle, the Irish have one verbal commitment so far from the 2023 class, 6-2 guard Emma Risch from Palm Bay High School in Melbourne, Fla. One of the top 3-point shooters in the nation (45 percent as a junior), Risch recently received a ratings bump up to five-star status and a No. 20 overall ranking nationally in her class from ESPNw.
She is scheduled to take her official visit to Notre Dame the weekend of Nov. 5, when the Irish football team hosts Clemson. Risch is expected to then sign with ND the following Wednesday, Nov. 9, the first day of the eight-day, early signing window.
Ivey, for one, is hoping she’ll have company in doing so.
The Irish are still pursuing point guard Hannah Hidalgo and forward Cassandre Prosper, both five-star prospects and two of the top uncommitted recruits in their class.
Hidalgo is the No. 5 player overall, per ESPNw, and visited Notre Dame last month. The 5-6 senior at Paul VI High in Haddonfield, N.J., recently signed a one-year contract with Seven1 Sports Agency for name, image and likeness (NIL) representation.
New Jersey is one of 16 states that allow high school athletes to pursue NIL deals.
The Irish have three New Jersey products on their roster in sophomore guard Olivia Miles, junior forward Kylee Watson and grad senior guard Dara Mabrey.
Hidalgo’s six finalists are ND, Michigan, Duke, Ohio State, Stanford and UCF.
“What a backcourt that would be if Notre Dame could pair Miles and Hidalgo," Olson said.
Prosper is a 6-2 forward from Quebec, Canada, who plays her high school ball at Cairine Wilson Secondary School near Ottawa, Ontario. She’s the top-ranked prospect in Canada and No. 16 in North America per ESPNw.
The high school season has already started in Canada, and Ivey recently went north of the border to take in one of Prosper’s games.
“She’s got a small forward game,” Olson said. “She can shoot the 3. She can beat you off the dribble into the lane. She can jump over you. She’s a special player.
“If she were in the United States, I don’t think she’d be out of the top 5 in that class. She’s not as aggressive in going to the basket or on the glass, but she’s still pretty impressive. She may be 6-2, 6-3, but she plays like she’s 6-4, 6-5."
Notre Dame will open its season Nov. 7 at home against Northern Illinois. The Irish, 24-9 last season, will start this season ranked No. 9 in the AP poll.
In the interim, ND has an open practice Friday from from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT at Purcell Pavilion. Admission is free, and an autograph session will follow the practice.
The Irish have an Oct. 31 exhibition date at Purcell with Truman State at 7 p.m. EDT.
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