The Notre Dame women’s basketball team is entering their sixth season with head coach Niele Ivey. As one of the most experienced coaches in the game, with five years of experience playing for the Irish from 1996-2001 and four years with the Indiana Fever, Ivey is the fourth coach in Notre Dame women’s basketball history, and has found a relative amount of success with the Irish.
For the past five years, Notre Dame has earned a 117-38 record, going 28-6 (16-2) last season, when they lost against Texas Christian University, Utah, North Carolina State, Florida State, Duke and TCU later in the season in the Sweet Sixteen. The Irish will face NC State, Florida State and Duke during regular season play, but could potentially play the rest in the NCAA tournament or post-season. Last year, the Irish had a large win streak of 19 games between Dec. 5, 2024 and Feb. 20, 2025 and they are looking to find similar success this season. In the last four years, Notre Dame has successfully made it to the Sweet Sixteen, losing to No. 1 NC State, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Oregon State and No. 2 TCU.
In the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) preseason poll, the Irish were picked to finish fifth out of 18 teams. Out of 70 votes, Duke had 40, NC State had 25, North Carolina had one, Louisville had two and Notre Dame had two. The ACC sent eight teams last year to the NCAA tournament, making competition this year more competitive than we’ve seen in prior years. Last year’s preseason poll predicted Notre Dame to finish sixth in ACC, showing how Irish’ skill last year will carry over into their season this year.
The coaches also released the All-ACC Preseason Team, which only had seven of the 18 teams in the ACC represented; however, Notre Dame's very own junior guard Hannah Hidalgo was named Preseason Player of the Year. Hidalgo, a two-time AP First Team All-American, Wooden Finalist and last year’s ACC Player of the Year, is looking to put up big numbers on the season. She became the only player to average at least 20.0 points per game, 5.0 rebounds per game and 3.0 steals per game while shooting at least .400 from three-point range and .850 from the free throw line since 2000. More specifically, during her sophomore season, Hidalgo averaged 23.8 points per game, breaking the Notre Dame record that she set the year prior at 22.6. Hidalgo has also been named to the Naismith Watchlist, Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Preseason Top 20 Watchlist and collected an AP Preseason All-American honor. Notre Dame also had freshman forward Leah Macy named to the Preseason All-Freshman Team. Macy, five-star forward who was ranked number 19 overall in the class of 2025, averaged 27 points, 13.4 rebounds, eight assists and a field gain percent of 64.6 during her senior year.
Notre Dame’s roster has seen significant losses after last season, as several seniors graduated to play professionally and multiple players transferred out. Olivia Miles, who was a senior guard, shocked the basketball world when she announced that she’d be continuing collegiate basketball instead of being drafted as the number two pick. Miles announced that she’d be entering the transfer portal, disappointing Irish fans even more, as she had put up big numbers in her senior year, having a free-throw percentage of 79% and averaging 15.4 points per game. Miles is now committed to play for TCU in her potential final year of collegiate play. Aside from Miles, Notre Dame lost Kate Koval who led the team in blocks with 1.7 per game and averaged 5.3 points per game. Koval is now playing for the Louisiana State Tigers. Emma Risch, who spent two years at Notre Dame averaging 5.7 points per game while suffering injuries to her hip, decided to enter the transfer portal and now plays for Florida State.
Although Notre Dame is not the only program who dealt with loss like this, it seems like not all the talents they possessed last year have been adequately replaced, leaving fans questioning who will step in and fill the void. Ivey brought in transfers from Loyola Marymount in Maryland, Holy Cross, Vanderbilt, Kansas State and even Duke, but it’s unsure if these players will rise to the same level.
The Irish have their exhibition game on Oct. 30 where they will play Purdue Northwest in Purcell Pavilion, before welcoming Fairleigh Dickinson on Nov. 5 and playing their “The Bend” game against Chicago State on Nov. 9. ACC play will open for the Irish on Dec. 7, when they travel to Tallahassee to play Florida State.
