Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/864798
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com PRESEASON 2017 91 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL "I don't think that's fair to her," McGraw said of Turner playing only part of the season. Notre Dame has 11 scholarship players this year, but the injury bug that hit the team last season and this summer has McGraw looking at many contingency plans. "We're probably taking a walk-on this year, which we haven't had in a while," she said. GUARDED OPTIMISM If Turner is unable to play, the Fighting Irish probably would be deemed top-10 timber, but likely not as viable a Final Four contender as they have been throughout this de- cade — unless 6-4 Nebraska transfer Jessica Shepard is granted an NCAA waiver to play this season. A top-five recruit in 2015, Shepard averaged 18.6 points and 9.2 re- bounds per game the past two years with the Cornhuskers before enroll- ing at Notre Dame this summer. Paperwork still needs to be filed and an answer might not be forth- coming for another month. Possibly, both Shepard and Turner could be on the 2018-19 roster, if not 2017-18. Just having one available this year would make the Irish the favorite for a sixth straight ACC crown, if not a sixth Final Four berth in eight years. If neither is available, then the guard heavy lineup around Westbeld would feature Mabrey, 2016-17 lead- ing scorer Arike Ogunbowale (15.9 points per game), sophomore Jackie Young and Stanford graduate trans- fer Lili Thompson, all of whom have double-digit scoring ability. In mid-August, Ogunbowale won her fifth international gold medal by helping the United States capture the Four Nations Tournament in Japan. Most notably, she tallied a team-high 17 points in a 107-61 rout of Canada. Thompson started 96 games at Stan- ford, was named All-Pac-12 twice and was vital to the Cardinal upsetting the Irish in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Finally, McGraw believes Young's athletic skills could match any she's coached in her three-plus decades that has landed her in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. While bat- tling some of her own health issues, Young — the 2016 Naismith Player of the Year in high school — still aver- aged 7.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game as a freshman. "She is ready to make the jump be- cause she's capable," McGraw said. "As a freshman, she just deferred too much to the upperclassmen. We need her to play a much bigger role." Thompson takes over for four-year starter Lindsay Allen at point guard, and then it will be "by committee" after her. "Right now, Marina, Mychal and Lili all have time at point guard," McGraw said. "Marina did some last year, so she is the most ready. Mychal mentally is great. She has the head of a point guard." The huge question mark is at the low post if neither Turner nor Shepard can play. The two options there when the Irish aren't playing four guards, with Westbeld in the high post, would be 6-4 graduate student Kristina Nelson and 6-3 freshman Mikayla Vaughn. Nelson averaged 3.5 points and 2.9 rebounds per game last year in a spot role. Vaughn arrived relatively under the recruiting radar, but has made an impression this summer with her work ethic. "She's like the Energizer Bunny," McGraw said. "She moves constantly … everybody likes being on her team because she works so hard. She needs some work skill wise. She can rebound, she can block shots, she's smart and pick things up pretty quickly. "She's built like 'Bri' and can run the floor, but not in her ability to catch and score in the air. That's something we'll work on. She's a good athlete who I hope can help us defensively and be a presence there." The other freshmen, 6-2 Danielle Patterson, is more of a "stretch four' player not a low post, although she does not possess the shooting prow- ess of 2016-17 freshman Erin Boley, who transferred to Oregon. McGraw has compared Patterson's skill set to Erica Haney, who aver- aged 11.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while relatively overshadowed on the 2001 national champions unit. "We're hoping she can defend on the perimeter because we have to get better defensively," McGraw said. ✦ Jackie Young averaged 7.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game as a fresh- man despite dealing with some health issues, and could be poised for a big jump in production in 2017-18. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND Recruiting Update Muffet McGraw and her staff have three players verbally committed for 2018: 5-11 combination guard Katlyn Gilbert from Indianapolis, 5-10 guard Abby Prohaska from Indianapolis, and 6-3 post Danielle Cosgrove from New York. Gilbert is ranked the nation's No. 16 overall player by Prospects Nation and No. 24 overall recruit by ESPN HoopGurlz. Cosgrove is the No. 52 overall prospect according to ESPN HoopGurlz. Although Notre Dame has a verbal from the nation's No. 1 point guard in 2019, Anaya Peoples, McGraw is seeking to add a "true" point to the 2018 class, although Gilbert does play the position for her AAU team. Slated to visit for the Sept. 2 Temple opener in football is 5-8 Jordan Nixon, who plays at Mary Louis Academy in New York — where the freshman Patterson was recruited. Nixon currently is rated as the No. 16 overall player nationally by Prospects Nation and No. 38 by ESPN HoopGurlz. With Thompson and Johnson graduating after this year, and sophomore Ali Patberg transferring to Indiana, Mabrey would be the top option at point guard in 2018 as a senior, unless a freshman such as Gilbert or possibly Nixon could help right away. Scheduled to be on campus Sept. 30 is 5-11 Arkansas guard Christyn Williams, ranked the No. 1 prospect in the country by ESPN HoopGurlz and No. 3 by Prospects Nation. — Lou Somogyi