The Notre Dame women’s basketball team’s season hasn’t been the dream they hoped it would be. Loaded with all kinds of talent, there was a lot of talk about the Fighting Irish not only getting a No. 1 seed in the tournament but making a run that would take Niele Ivey’s squad past the Sweet 16 for the first time in her tenure.
On Friday afternoon, the Irish will officially get a chance to restart their season. Put all the ups and downs behind them. They can win their first round game against Stephen F. Austin and do it at home. And then they can get off and running.
One former Notre Dame women’s basketball star certainly believes that’s going to be the case. Arike Ogunbowale recently put out her March Madness bracket and didn’t hold back on her picks. She made it clear she thinks her former program is going to go on a real run.
Arike is rooting for one team and one team only ☘️🤞#MarchMadness x 📸 @Arike_O x @ndwbb pic.twitter.com/XpX1EUmsng
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) March 20, 2025
Former Notre Dame women’s basketball legend knows who is winning the title
Ogunbowale took to social media to show people she had plenty of faith. She didn’t even need to fill out the rest of the bracket, she picked Notre Dame to win it all and after that, why even bother to care who they’re playing or how they get to the top of the mountain?
Ogunbowale is now one of the best players in the WNBA but before that, In her junior season, she helped the Fighting Irish win the 2018 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, making game-winning baskets in the semifinal against UConn and in the final against Mississippi State.
She also knows something about the pain of not getting it done. In her next and final season with the Notre Dame women’s basketball team, she again helped them to the finalsbut this time, despite scoring 31 points and averaging 22.8 points in the Big Dance run, she missed a key free throw in the final seconds against Baylor, with her miss providing the final 1-point margin.