Notre Dame women’s basketball inches toward Elite Eight with revenge on the line
Notre Dame women’s basketball will try on Saturday to get to a place it hasn’t been in six years. While Niele Ivey’s program has made the Sweet 16 in now four consecutive seasons it’s failed to get to the Elite Eight and/or Regional Final since the 2019 season when it went all the way to the national championship game.
Standing in the way of the Fighting Irish and a trip to the Elite Eight this weekend is a team that already beat the Blue and Gold once this season. That makes the tilt against the TCU Horned Frogs that much more interesting. History making win is one thing. Revenge is another.
Notre Dame women’s basketball eyes breakthrough under Niele Ivey
TCU enters Saturday’s game at 33-3 overall and with a neutral site 86-78 win over the Irish back in November. Can Hannah Hidalgo, Olivia Miles and the rest of the gang get a measure of revenge and get to the Elite Eight?
Despite Hailey Van Lith doing Hailey Van Lith things, ESPN’s BPI ratings have the Notre Dame women’s basketball team going on quite the roll on Saturday afternoon. In fact, those ratings currently give the South Bend denizens a whopping 79.7% chance of winning the game.
That’s a pretty massive gap between the two teams. It’s more than a little surprising considering both have been plenty dominant in their run to the Sweet 16.
Should this rating come through, it would be the first time that Niele Ivey has led the Notre Dame women’s basketball team to the Elite Eight. No better time like the present.
