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Notre Dame Basketball: WBB open ACC tournament vs. Clemson

By Brad Weiss

WINSTON-SALEM, NC - FEBRUARY 06: Sam Brunelle #33 of the University of Notre Dame holds the ball during a game between Notre Dame and Wake Forest at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on February 06, 2020 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
WINSTON-SALEM, NC - FEBRUARY 06: Sam Brunelle #33 of the University of Notre Dame holds the ball during a game between Notre Dame and Wake Forest at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on February 06, 2020 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images) /
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The Notre Dame Basketball program on the Women’s side has had an up-and-down year, which is to be expected when you have such a young roster. Also, head coach Niele Ivey is in her first year at the helm of the program, so you have to be excited about what they were able to accomplish on the positive side.

On Thursday, the Irish head into the 2020-21 ACC Tournament as the No. 6 seed overall, and will be taking on No. 11 Clemson. The Tigers got off to a fast start to the season, and were 8-1 after beating Notre Dame Basketball early on, but have been terrible since, and finished their season with a 10-12 record.

For Notre Dame Basketball, they have to take advantage of a Clemson team trending in the wrong direction, as the next few games are key to a team on the bubble in terms of the NCAA Tournament later on this month.

Notre Dame Basketball playing for NCAA Tourney hopes

The Irish have some exciting young players and have gotten contributions up and down this roster all season long. Sam Brunelle is starting to heat up after a slow start to a sophomore campaign that she went into as a preseason All-Conference player, and she is going to be crucial to this team making a run in the ACC, and possibly NCAA tournaments.

Maddy Westbeld has been outstanding as a true freshman this season, leading the Irish in both scoring, and rebounding. She has come in and dominated from the start and leads three members of the Notre Dame Basketball team in double-figures, a group that includes Destinee Walker and Dara Mabrey.

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Thursday, I like the Irish to come out and blow the doors off of Clemson, a team that has not looked right for the past few months and does not have the kind of star power the Irish have. Ivey has proven this year that she is definitely capable of leading this program, and with an incredible recruiting class coming in, the sky is the limit.