Niele Ivey reacts to No. 1 ranking in NCAA Tournament committee Top 16 reveal

Sunday saw the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee release their top 16 teams. Notre Dame was one of the one-seeds, sneaking in at No. 4 overall. A huge moment from Niele Ivey and her program, the Fighting Irish instantly backed the ranking up by beating a ranked Duke team in South Bend.

Notre Dame actually got to experience a live reaction from the crowd when their team was shown as a one-seed. Ivey described the emotion during her postgame press conference, sharing how special it was for the entire team.

“My heart was beating fast on that one because it’s never happened for us,” Ivey said. “The embrace and the cheers, that was different. This group, we’ve never experienced that. So, I thought that was a special moment.”

Ivey’s bunch is certainly worthy of receiving some praise. Just two losses are currently on the resume, sporting a 22-2 overall record. Nobody in the ACC has been able to beat them either as Sunday’s win over Duke improved the Irish to 13-0.

The most recent AP poll moved Notre Dame up to the top overall spot, just edging out Texas. What might be different between the poll and the selection committee is the amount of elite wins currently for Notre Dame. Just five Quad 1 victories are currently there, along with the two losses.

But the reveal was before Notre Dame got the fifth Quad 1 victory. Beating Duke has improved the resume in a big way. Seeing the reveal certainly could have distracted them ahead of the game but Ivey made sure to reset not only herself but the players too.

“Then, I was like ‘Okay, game.’ You can feel it for a second and then realize there’s a big task ahead of you. But that’s a special moment I’ll always have with this team,” Ivey said.

Notre Dame has just four games remaining in the regular season. The next two are away from home before rounding out the year in front of the Irish faithful. Miami and No. 13 NC State will play host before Florida State and Louisville travel to Notre Dame.

Finding a way to close out strong could mean a one-seed for Notre Dame, something the program has not done under her leadership yet. Still a lot of work to be done but Ivey made sure to embrace the moment when seeing the big reveal.