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Where Notre Dame women’s basketball ranks in final 2023-24 AP Top 25

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•04/08/24•

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ivey hidalgo
Notre Dame women's basketball coach Niele Ivey watches freshman Hannah Hidalgo carry the ball up the floor. (Photo by Matt Cashore/USA Today)

For the second consecutive season, Notre Dame finished No. 11 in the final NCAA women’s basketball Associated Press Poll of the year. The Fighting Irish went 28-7 and lost in the Sweet 16 for the third season in a row.

Notre Dame has improved its overall win total in all four years under head coach Niele Ivey, from 10 in year one to 24 in year two to 27 in year three and finally 28 this past season. Ivey’s first season was abbreviated because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ivey’s overall record of 89-32 in four years is quite impressive considering she took over a program that went 13-18, and the Irish have been as ravaged by injuries in the last two seasons as any program in the country. Two starters went down with season-ending knee injuries prior to the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Starting center Kylee Watson suffered the same fate this spring.

With All-American guard Olivia Miles expected to be at full health from start to finish this upcoming season, Notre Dame is primed for a top 10 finish at this time next year. Perhaps even a berth in the Final Four with a chance to compete for the program’s third national championship.

ESPN put Notre Dame at No. 3 in its way-too-early top 25. The Irish have three of the best guards in the country in Miles, rising sophomore Hannah Hidalgo — an AP First Team All-American as a true freshman — and rising senior Sonia Citron. Look at what South Carolina just did in the national title game with its collection of dominant guards. That’s the blueprint.

Of course, the Gamecocks had some of the best post play in the country as well led by All-American Kamilla Cardoso. Notre Dame hopes to have an elite paint presence of its own with five-star center Kate Koval arriving in South Bend this summer.

If Maddy Westbeld elects to stay for a fifth season, Notre Dame will be a popular Final Four pick. Ivey will have all the tools, if healthy, to go further than she’s ever taken the Irish in the tournament as its head coach.

Here’s the full final AP Top 25.

Final NCAA Women’s Basketball Associated Press Poll of 2023-24

  1. South Carolina (38-0)
  2. Iowa (34-5)
  3. UConn (33-6)
  4. NC State (31-7)
  5. USC (29-6)
  6. LSU (31-6)
  7. Texas (33-5)
  8. Oregon State (27-8)
  9. Stanford (30-6)
  10. UCLA (27-7)
  11. Notre Dame (28-7)
  12. Indiana (26-6)
  13. Baylor (26-8)
  14. Gonzaga (32-4)
  15. Colorado (24-10)
  16. Ohio State (26-6)
  17. Duke (22-12)
  18. Virginia Tech (25-8)
  19. Kansas State (26-8)
  20. Syracuse (24-8)
  21. Oklahoma (23-10)
  22. Utah (23-11)
  23. Creighton (26-6)
  24. West Virginia (25-8)
  25. Iowa State (21-12)

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