SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame’s re-entry into the NCAA women’s basketball tournament after a three-year absence didn’t unfold exactly how Irish second-year coach Niele Ivey had planned.
Initially thwarted by a traffic snarl in an Indianapolis parking garage and unable to make up the delay on the drive home from watching son Jaden Ivey play for Purdue in the Big Ten’s men’s tourney title game Sunday, Ivey took in the bracket reveal on Zoom.
While driving.
She was six minutes from Club Naimoli at Purcell Pavilion, where and when her team celebrated its No. 5 seeding, Saturday night’s first-round matchup with 12 seed UMass (26-6) in Norman, Okla., and being placed in a Bridgeport Regional with a No. 1 seed — NC State — that the Irish had taken down in the regular season.
“(The Zoom) was on the side (in the passenger seat),” Ivey said with a smile. “I wasn’t watching, just listening. And I heard the shouting.”
Ivey was shouting too, probably loud enough for people in the next lane to hear. As a player or coach she was part of 18 of Notre Dame’s 24 consecutive NCAA appearances. COVID-19 canceled the 2020 tourney for everyone, though Hall of Fame coach Muffet McGraw’s 13-18 team wouldn’t have made it anyway.
A record-tying eight ACC seeds in all made the tourney, including two No. 1 seeds in NC State and Louisvlle. A 10-10 record in 2021 under Ivey meant ND officially being excluded on selection day for the first time since 1995.
“The feeling that I had last year, it obviously didn’t sit well,” said Ivey, who brings a 22-8 squad into the first-ever 68-team tourney for the women. “And then just my whole goal the whole summer and everything I’ve been working toward this year with the staff has been to get us back.
“So this is history for me. … And my team’s hungry. Not going last year really made me grow as a person, as a coach. It was crazy motivation for this group and for myself. And so I’m going to take advantage of every minute.”
The first 40 minutes starts Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EDT (ESPN2) with a UMass team that upset top-seeded Dayton in the Atlantic 10 Tournament final. Led by A10 Player of the Year Sam Breen, the Minutewomen are dancing for the first time since 1998.
Saturday’s winner gets the survivor between fourth seed and pod host Oklahoma (24-8) and 13th seed IUPUI (24-4) on Monday, March 21. Monday’s winner advances to a Sweet 16 game at the Bridgeport (Conn.) Regional on March 26.
“Every day is going to be a lot of education of this process and how it works,” Ivey said. “I had (former player) Molly Peirick (Busam) up to talk to my team on Friday. Talked to my team about the green nails, so they understood the importance of that.
“Gave them perspective. It was really amazing for her to tell her story. And she really motivated the team. A lot of communication, education about what this really means.”
Notre Dame’s 57-54 upset loss to Miami in the semifinals of the ACC tournament and two non-competitive losses to Louisville in the final two weeks of the regular season probably cost the Irish a chance to host in the tourney’s first and second rounds.
The top four seeds in each regional had the opportunity to host the early-round games.
“The takeaway is we can never take anybody lightly, no matter what the circumstances are,” junior forward Sam Brunelle said. “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, what seed they are, you just have to play your hardest and you have to be constant with that. So as long as we do that, we’ll make it pretty far.
“No matter where we ended up, we’re excited to take care of business.”
Brunelle said she’s feeling much closer to 100 percent from recent shoulder and foot injuries, and senior guard Abby Prohaska was able to practice full go this past week for the first time since suffering an eye socket injury Feb. 1 against NC State that required surgery.
Prohaska is one of the few players on the Irish roster with NCAA Tournament experience.
“She looks great,” Ivey said. “I think it’s going to be really helpful for us to get the rest that we had, but also we had a chance to get in some good work.
“I think our chemistry is amazing. And so I’m going to lean on the chemistry that we’ve built. They trust each other, they love each other. And I’m hoping that that shows on Saturday.”
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