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Future is bright for Notre Dame Women’s Basketball

By Brad Weiss

Feb 1, 2018; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish associate head coach Niele Ivey talks to guard Arike Ogunbowale (24) in the first half against the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Purcell Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 1, 2018; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish associate head coach Niele Ivey talks to guard Arike Ogunbowale (24) in the first half against the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Purcell Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
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After finishing the 2019-20 season unranked, the Notre Dame Women’s Basketball team stockpiled talent in an outstanding recruiting class.

Muffet McGraw took over the Notre Dame Women’s Basketball program for the 1987-88 college basketball season, and then proceeded to go on a 30-plus year run that brought nearly 900 wins. During that time, the program won two national titles, including recently in 2017-18, before finishing as a runner up the next season.

In fact, starting with the 1995-96 season, McGraw led the program on an incredible run, appearing in the NCAA Tournament every season, a streak that ended last season. The 2019-20 season proved to be the final one for McGraw, as she handed the program off to long-time assistant Niele Ivey, an elite recruiter who is a former All-American with the program.

Notre Dame finishes with a top-5 recruiting class

All Ivey did was put together an elite recruiting class, one that was ranked inside the top-5 in the country, and one that will get this program back on track. The Fighting Irish landed one of the best players in the country in Olivia Miles, a five-star prospect out of Blair Academy in New Jersey, and a player considered top-10 in the entire country.

Miles was joined by Sonia Citron as the future backcourt for the program, and in Citron, they get a smooth shooting guard who can pull up from anywhere. Those two players will be a force in the ACC for years to come, giving Ivey what could end up being the best backcourt in the conference.

In addition, they already have a great relationship, as they were teammates on the U16 USA National Team in 2019, a team that went undefeated.

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Sophomore forward Sam Brunelle is already one of the better players in the conference, and fellow forward Maddy Westbeld, was recently named one of the newcomers to watch. Those are two young players the program will build around until their heralded class arrives next season, one that will be a problem for the rest of the conference for years to come.