ND Notebook: Tourney schedules force Prosper family to make tough choices
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The geography gods were with Gaetan and Guylaine Prosper when they found out on Selection Sunday that their two college basketball-playing offspring would be experiencing March Madness roughly a four-hour drive from each other.
The TV scheduling powers-that-be weren’t quite so kind.
The NCAA Men’s Tournament games in Columbus, Ohio, and son Olivier-Maxence Prosper and Marquette and those involving daughter Cass Prosper and Notre Dame in the NCAA Women’s Tournament in South Bend were too close in tip time for the Prosper parents to see both in person.
Twice.
So Friday, the couple from Blainville, Quebec, watched second-seeded Marquette beat Vermont, 78-61, in person while third-seeded ND was dispatching of Southern Utah, 82-56. On Sunday, the Irish (26-5) take on 11 seed Mississippi State (22-10) at 3:30 p.m. EDT in a second-round game, while Marquette plays seventh seed Michigan State at 5:15.
“So, my brother and I are very close,” Cass said Saturday after practice. “He watches my games. I watch his games. Since we've been young, been playing one-on-one, just always being close.
“My parents actually went to see him Friday, and they're driving to come see me. They're kind of in between. They were so bummed that they couldn't make both. But they're in between both kids. They love basketball. They played basketball (at Concordia University), so they're just enjoying the journey with us. It's really fun.”
Olivier-Maxence is a 6-foot-8 junior forward for Marquette, having started his college career at Clemson. He’s averaging 12.4 points and 4.7 rebounds for the Golden Eagles.
Cass, 17, wasn’t supposed to start her college career until next season. But she left her high school team in Ottawa in December to enroll early at ND for the second semester. The 6-2 guard is averaging more than 20 minutes a game in the 20 games she’s been with the Irish.
Shooting has been streaky and sometimes cold, but she’s still managing 5.0 point a game to go along with her 3.9 rebounds. With her length, it’s been her defense that’s been a game-changer so far.
“I actually just told her I'm so proud of her,” Irish head coach Niele Ivey said of Prosper’s presence in her first NCAA Tourney. “I thought she came out with such great energy. She was ready. She's excited. She's the type of player that is born for these moments.
“No matter what, she can go from a play — she doesn't carry on if (there’s a) mistake or a missed shot. She goes to the next play, and the next play she's going to play harder than the one before.
“I couldn't ask for a better person on my team. She's incredible on and off the court. It's a perfect addition for what I'm building, and I'm just super grateful that she chose to come here and gift us with her talents.”
No Hayes
Former Notre Dame guard Alasia Hayes is technically on the Mississippi State roster, but hasn’t played in a game since Dec. 29 for the Bulldogs and didn’t make the trip to South Bend.
First-year Mississippi State coach Sam Purcell was cryptic as to why.
“Yeah, she's just — the thing with school, she's on the team and everything, but she just didn't make the road trip.”
Hayes averaged 1.6 points a game in the 10 games in which she did play this season. She played one season at Notre Dame, in 2020-21, then transferred. She missed the entire season in 2021-22 at MSU with an injury. In her season with the Irish, Hayes averaged 2.0 points and roughly 8 minutes of playing time in the 13 games she saw action.
She does have two sisters on the team, both of whom transferred from Middle Tennessee State after the 2021-22 season to all be together in Starkville. Together they make up three of the team’s nine transfers.
Aislynn is a 5-6 senior, who will miss the entire season with an injury. Anastasia is a 5-7 grad senior, a two-time transfer (began career at Tennessee), a national scoring runner-up two years ago and currently a starter who’s not afraid to speak her mind.
“They may be a little bit bigger,” Anastasia said of the Irish, “but we're a lot faster. We'll have to pressure them up a little bit more.”
History lesson
Notre Dame and Mississippi State have met just once in women’s basketball, and it couldn’t have been on a bigger stage. On April 1, 2018, in Columbus, Ohio, the Irish pulled off the biggest comeback in title-game history, erasing a 15-point, third-quarter deficit, including a five-point disadvantage in the final 1:58.
Arike Ogunbowale hit the game winning 3-pointer with a tenth of a second left in regulation to give the Irish the national championship.
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