Irish ladies will dominate and repeat

[OklahomaIrish 0]

Those who follow Muffet's warriors are well aware of the expectations in 2018. This team will be favored in every game and will threaten the 100 point mark on many occasions. The top 4 players of the national champions return, but just importantly is the return of Breanna Turner.

 

Add now a new starting point guard in Jordan Nixon and you will see a team that can run, dominate with defense and score at will. This team is far superior to the team that just won the title with a slow, plodding but methodical point guard. We only played 6 players in the Final 4, next year I expect that number to be 10.

 

Micayla Vaughn will return from an ACL tear and she was extremely efficient in her 13 minutes per game as she scored 8 points and rebounded 4 caroms. She is potentially a double/double when she becomes a starter. For now, she is superior depth. Throw in a 6' 4'' freshman by the name of Cosgrove. She can play. I read on a Louisville site that they compared her to Breanna Stewart. Maybe she isn't in that category but she has great moves around the basket with either hand and shot 37% from 3 point land.

 

For depth at guard throw in a 6 foot, 5 star playmaker guard and a 4 star guard that made the U18 National team.

 

I think Mabry goes to the bench to lead the second team and will be able to spot up and focus on making three's instead of running the ship. Look for a huge year from Jessica Shepherd. We would not have won this year if she hadn't been cleared by the NCAA. Jackie Young is becoming a great player with her tenacity in driving to the hoop and is becoming deadly with her jump shot. Arike will be even better as she now can take a better shot selection. Breanna Turner will be a sensation and has developed a jump shot.

 

Connecticut loses Kia Nurse, Azura Stevens and a third player that slips my mind at the moment. Stevens is a huge loss as she declared early for the WNBA draft. She is 6'6" and dominated us. UConn has great freshmen coming in but they aren't enough to catch us. Not this year. As far as the future we have secured the commitment of the number one player Samantha Brunnelle 6' 2'' scoring machine. We are also leading on several top players. Should be the number one class in the country. Stay tuned for future reports and don't be surprised if we run the table this next season.

Edited July 2, 2018 by OklahomaIrish

[irishrush 60]

Our depth next year will be insane. Chemistry will be key to hitting the lofty expectations...

[irishrb 0]

Pretty tough act to follow, but yea, next year is definitely the year I thought/think they should win it all. Would be pretty cool to see them repeat!

[jbrown_9999 1,009]

Pretty tough act to follow, but yea, next year is definitely the year I thought/think they should win it all. Would be pretty cool to see them repeat!

 

If they could win two in a row, it could swing the pendulum to ND and (perhaps) cause UConn to start to slip in terms of recruiting

[Jersey Irish 205]

Agree, they will win back-to-back NC's and poor Geno will have a frown on his puss the size of Connecticut for a long time.

[OklahomaIrish 0]

Last year, during the Final 4, our entire bench consisted of one player, 6' 4'' gal we call Coco. She didn't run the floor very swiftly, she lacked in stamina, never drove to the basket and was reluctant to shoot. Still, without her rebounding, defense and high percentage shooting, we would not have won the title.

 

This year we have a 6' 4'' freshman sub that runs better, shoots out to the 3 point line (37%) and can drive to the basket and finish with either hand. She has a great spin move going to either hand.

 

The second team also has Mabry (just my opinion), and she should be a 40+% shooter beyond the arc. Micayla Vaughn reminds me a lot of Breanna Turner and should make the second team dominate on the boards when teamed with Cosgrove. I envision that Muffet could bring in the entire second team on a few occasions to give them a chance to mature for the following year when we lose 4 stars.

 

Look for the double post to be devastating. Shepherd will be very effective in the high post as she can shoot, drive and feed Turner. Second team posts are Vaughn and Cosgrove and they will be fun to watch their development. Good times for Irish fans.

[OGianino 0]

I believe we start a dynasty this season at Notre Dame in women's basketball. Let's win three or four championships in succession!!

[OklahomaIrish 0]

A bit more good news. UConn guard, freshman Espinoza Hunter has transferred to Mississippi State. MSU still has the 6' 7'' monster in the middle and they are recruiting exceptionally well and this is the third transfer for them. However, they lost their top scorer, their point guard that hit the winning shot against UConn two years ago and another starter that was their best 3 point specialist.

 

We could again face them in the Final 4 but we match up much better as Turner, Shepherd, Vaughn and Cosgrove will be double teaming the big gal.

 

UConn lost 4 players off their roster and added 2 very good freshmen. Basically their roster took a small step down and ours took a big step up. Going to be a fun year.

[jbrown_9999 1,009]

A bit more good news. UConn guard, freshman Espinoza Hunter has transferred to Mississippi State. MSU still has the 6' 7'' monster in the middle and they are recruiting exceptionally well and this is the third transfer for them. However, they lost their top scorer, their point guard that hit the winning shot against UConn two years ago and another starter that was their best 3 point specialist.

 

We could again face them in the Final 4 but we match up much better as Turner, Shepherd, Vaughn and Cosgrove will be double teaming the big gal.

 

UConn lost 4 players off their roster and added 2 very good freshmen. Basically their roster took a small step down and ours took a big step up. Going to be a fun year.

 

Hopefully Hunter and the other Miss St transfers have to sit out a year so they are not a factor for the upcoming season

[Kelly Gruene 26]

Enormous game today!

Stomp the Huskies!

[jfschellcrna 11]

The usual December loss to UCONN.....

[Frankus 197]

I was at the game. Arike O didn't even bother playing defense and Mabrey is out of shape. They had an advantage with Turner and she only got 7 shots. Shepard looks weaker in her slimmed down state. She was better beefier. Good wake up call that last year is over. I expect them to play much harder in the spring when the two teams will probably play again.

[irishrush 60]

Good points. We didn’t play like we have a crap.

Hopefully the loss will knock them down a notch and they will come back with a chip.

[BrianKellyWasNotTheMan 12]

Watching this team in person at Toledo. Doubt, we repeat unless something crazy changes.

[Kelly Gruene 26]

#1 Irish 82, #2 Louisville 68.

Huskies may still be the team to beat, but these are glory years for ND Women’s basketball.

[97domer 74]

No kidding! Ogunbowale has ice in her veins. Whenever they need a big shot, she comes up big. That was a fun game to watch!

[Frankus 197]

It's hard to repeat. As we saw with the UNC game, with one of the starter's out, ND falls off considerably. They really have no bench and have played pretty sloppy all season. Their passing in particular has been reckless. They are one of 6-7 teams that could win it all, but they clearly are not the dominant team everybody hoped they'd be. The main reason is that, though Turner is good, she and Shepard have the same skill set. What Notre Dame needed was a premier point guard and they don't have one.

[irishrush 60]

They've been so good at coming back from big deficits all year - playing with fire. Came back to bite them.

 

Muffet really needed to get more time to some of the bench earlier in the year. That hurt yesterday, although I think the thing that hurt the worst was turnovers from the big 4 and Arike laying a turd.

 

Missing Young hurt as no one could guard Kea. She was on fire.

[BrianKellyWasNotTheMan 12]

They've been so good at coming back from big deficits all year - playing with fire. Came back to bite them.

 

Muffet really needed to get more time to some of the bench earlier in the year. That hurt yesterday, although I think the thing that hurt the worst was turnovers from the big 4 and Arike laying a turd.

 

Missing Young hurt as no one could guard Kea. She was on fire.

 

Not getting Patterson and Vaughn more playing time is hurting. But, the freshman are awful and this team will be horrendous next year.

[BrianKellyWasNotTheMan 12]

Another loss, another reason why they won’t even make the final 4.