Notre Dame women's basketball connected with its history during NCAA March Madness run

The names of greats in Notre Dame women’s basketball history aren’t merely on Ring of Honor banners in the Purcell Pavilion rafters back in South Bend, or occupying more than 20 lines on a list of All-Americans, but also typically on the list of contacts in current players’ phones.

To be clear, it matters to them, too.

As the Irish prepared Thursday to attempt to add another win to the program’s rich heritage come Friday, at least a couple players from the present were reflective about those from the past.

More:How Olivia Miles is helping Notre Dame women's basketball even without suiting up for NCAAs

“It’s amazing just to see how (often) alumni come back,” said junior guard Sonia Citron, “They’re always hyping us, always talking to us, and it just shows how close and tight-knit the Notre Dame network is. It’s cool to see because we know how good of a program Notre Dame is, but when you really see those alumni, you just see how special it is.”

On Wednesday, Devereaux Peters, a two-time WNBA champion and one of 10 ND players who have been named to All-Final Four teams, was on hand for the send-off as this season’s group departed for Albany, N.Y., where the No. 9-ranked Irish (28-6) face No. 12 Oregon State (26-7) in a regional semifinal at 2:30 p.m. Friday.

“We have their numbers in our phones, they text us after games, they really let us know when we need to do something,” senior forward Maddy Westbeld said of past ND standouts. “It’s really like our big sisters, figuratively or not.”

Westbeld throws in that last part because she also has a literal big sister who went through the program in Kat Westbeld, a starter on the 2018 national national title club.

Maddy’s love of the Irish once her sibling joined the program became more personal and more accessible — she recalls “sneaking away” to shoot in an auxiliary gym after games at Purcell — but her fondness for ND precedes Kat’s arrival.

“Skylar Diggins was like everything to me as a kid,” Westbeld recollected of the ex-Notre Dame star and South Bend native who closed her collegiate career in 2013. “She was the best basketball player in the world to me. So I was always watching her on TV growing up.”

Diggins-Smith is one of those many ex-Irish still maintaining close ties to the program.

“Skylar Diggins-Smith, she’s a legend in our game, a legend in our school,” ND coach Niele Ivey said Thursday, “so to have access to her is huge for our players, especially our point guards. Olivia (Miles) has an amazing relationship with Skylar, and now Hannah (Hidalgo).”

Ivey, as both the head coach and a former Irish star herself, is always stoked to marry past and present within the program. She regularly arranges visits by ex-players. Some of her assistants are fellow alumni.

“(It’s) all about honoring our alum and continuing the legacy that was laid before us,” Ivey said. “That’s just what we do at Notre Dame. Luckily, we’ve had so much tradition, so much excellence that has gone through this program. I think it’s important to highlight those players, (and) for those players to come back to mentor our players.”

The ties often inspire further thirst, too.

Citron was asked at one point during a press conference Thursday what players from the past she would most want to see among any in the country.

She pondered for an extended moment.

“I have a couple people in mind,” Citron finally said, “but I would have loved to see Coach Ivey play just because I haven’t really seen her play, but I would have loved to see what kind of point guard she was.”

Hannah Hidalgo handling all that comes her way

It may already be obvious to those who have watched the Irish on a regular basis this season, but Citron and Westbeld left no doubt Thursday for a wider media audience that there’s no problem deferring to a freshman when that freshman is Hidalgo.

“We don’t really see her as a freshman,” Citron said of her All-American teammate. “She’s just our point guard. Especially when someone is as talented as Hannah is, it’s not really something where we have to be on her because she’s young and inexperienced or anything like that. She’s come in and done everything she’s needed to.”

“She’s the floor general when she steps on the court,” Westbeld concurred. “We listen to what she says at all times during the game. She’s incredible, because she leads us on the defensive end, too.”

Hidalgo’s fifth in the nation in scoring at 22.9 points per game and first in steals at 4.6.

“You don’t see a lot of people do what she does on the offensive end and defensive end,” Citron said, “and the way she picks up (opponents) and terrorizes them.”

For all that Hidalgo’s already achieved and the key to the engine she already possesses, she still accepts experience-based guidance, per her teammates.

More:There shouldn't be any doubts about Hannah Hidalgo and the Notre Dame women's basketball team

“We’re gonna lead her, she’s gonna lead us, and it just goes both ways,” Citron said.

The blend’s working.

“Me and Sonia are kind of quieter players, a little bit more calm, and (Hidalgo) brings out the fire in us,” Westbeld said. “I think it’s an amazing addition to this team. I think it’s what we needed in the past.”

More:Notre Dame's Hidalgo named to Wooden Award finalist list

About the Oregon State Beavers

Westbeld described Oregon State as “a really intelligent team” Thursday while Ivey called the Beavers “an incredible team.”

Of OSU’s seven losses, six have come against a trio of clubs that were ranked among the nation’s top six in the final AP poll in Pac-12 brethren Stanford, USC and UCLA — five of those losses by single digits to go with a win over the Bruins — and the other defeat came while since-returned third-team All-American center Raegan Beers was out due to injury.

“They have a lot of balance, a lot of depth, a lot of height,” Ivey said. “They’re averaging almost eight 3s a game (and have) great size. Their two best players are their post players (in Beers and Timea Gardiner). Just amazing.”

ND’s top challenge, per Ivey, will be “managing their physicality, their size, but also their ability to shoot from the 3-point line.”

More:Scouting Notre Dame women's basketball NCAA Sweet 16 opponent Oregon State, prediction

Irish items from Albany

Friday’s contest will be Notre Dame’s 100th all-time in NCAA Tournament play. The Irish are 73-26.

It’ll also be ND’s third straight game this postseason with a starting time between 2 and 2:30 p.m., and should the Irish advance, they’ll have a similar time, 1 p.m., for Sunday’s regional final against No. 1-ranked South Carolina (34-0) or No. 14 Indiana (26-5).

Oregon State, after Kent State and Ole Miss last week, marks the third straight opponent that the Irish are facing for the first time in NCAA Tourney action.

That streak ends if they advance. ND is 1-0 in the tournament against both the Gamecocks and IU.