Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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92 MARCH 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED WOMEN'S BASKETBALL BY LOU SOMOGYI F ollowing Notre Dame's impres- sive 85-66 victory versus No. 12 Louisville on Feb. 6, head coach Muffet McGraw and her No. 7-ranked Fighting Irish had a "waiting to exhale" moment. Not scheduled to play again for six days, McGraw gave her squad two days off after the 22-3 start that was highlighted by 10 straight ACC wins after losing the opener to North Caro- lina State. "We need a break," McGraw said. "That road stretch (10 of 12 away from Dec. 10-Jan. 22) about killed us. You kind of don't want to break when you're playing this well, but it's a great time for it." A showdown in the regular-season finale on Feb. 26 versus conference co- leader Florida State awaits the Irish, who are shooting for their fourth con- secutive ACC title in as many years in the league. Since the 72-61 loss at home Dec. 7 to reigning dynasty Connecticut, the preseason No. 1 pick Irish endured some crisis in confidence. It began with losing only their sec- ond ACC game in four years (at NC State on Dec. 29). The peak of discon- tent then occurred Jan. 16 at Tennessee when the Irish squandered a 14-point lead in the second half and were out- scored 19-7 in the fourth quarter in a 71-69 defeat, one that McGraw referred to as an "unprecedented collapse" in her 30 seasons at Notre Dame. "For the last six years we've always been the team that's supposed to win every single game — until we play UConn," said McGraw, who led the Irish to five straight Final Four appear- ances from 2011-15 and only two losses last season. "This year we're supposed to win every single game. It is a little bit different. "When you're struggling a little bit, the expectation really creates so much more stress, and it makes you tight. It's 'We're supposed to win this game' instead of having the joy of victory and playing with passion and fun. We were starting to get tight." Since that loss in Knoxville, the more youthful lineup — five of the top eight players of late have been sophomores or freshmen — has begun to jell, not just with on-court performance but consistency in their attitude toward competition and urgency. This in- cluded guarding the ball screen better instead of running into it, better on- court communication and box outs, being in the right spots on offense, cut- ting hard, meeting the pass … Graduated seniors Madison Cable, Michaela Mabrey and Hannah Huff- man were not top WNBA prospects, but they provided a template on play- ing with passion, smarts and together- ness. "The current players weren't here when we were working to get to this elite level," McGraw reflected in the days after the loss to Tennessee. "We have to refocus on little things. … We're just sort of used to winning, and we just go in and expect to win — but we don't understand how hard we have to work to make that happen. "We need to have a little bit more toughness, a little bit more grit. We can play a lot better, but individually it's getting that toughness back." McGraw also took responsibility on maybe taking for granted earlier this year the team's collective basketball IQ and attention to detail. "We've been so smart, and I've been so spoiled," McGraw said. "It started with Skylar [Diggins] in 2011. We have just been the smartest team every sin- gle game. We found a way to win be- cause we would do the right thing. We knew when to take the shot and when not to … we didn't need a lot of time- outs, we didn't need to walk through it three or four times. We could just say it, write it down in the huddle, and Making The CLIMB BACK The Irish begin hitting their stride and moving up in the rankings again after setbacks Through 25 games, sophomore guard Arike Ogunbowale paced the Irish in scoring with an average of 15.0 points per game. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND