Notre Dame women’s basketball picked to win ACC, Hannah Hidalgo named ACC Preseason Player of the Year

If what the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Blue Ribbon Panel is predicting manifests, Notre Dame women’s basketball will have a super special season in 2024-25. The Fighting Irish are projected to win the league for the first time since 2018, receiving 70 of 79 first-place panel votes, and sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo has been named the ACC Preseason Player of the Year.

It doesn’t stop there.

Senior guards Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron join Hidalgo on the 10-player Preseason All-ACC Team. Graduate senior forward Liza Karlen and five-star freshman center Kate Koval make up 40 percent of the five-player Newcomer Watch List.

Hidalgo averaged 22.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 4.6 steals per game as a freshman. She set new Notre Dame records in scoring and steals. Her signature moment came in going for 34 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists in Notre Dame’s 82-67 victory at No. 8 UConn. She dropped a career-high 35 points in the Irish’s very next game for good measure.

Miles is coming back from a knee injury that held her out for the entirety of her junior season. The last time we saw the triple-double machine on the floor in competitive action, she averaged 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game as a sophomore.

Citron is Notre Dame’s “silent assassin,” as dubbed by head coach Niele Ivey. She put in a career-best 17.3 points per game as a junior. She’s the Irish’s sharpest all-round shooter when she’s on, recording clips of 46.0 percent from the field, 35.9 percent from three-point range and 91.2 percent from the free throw line, and she also gives Notre Dame plenty of defensive length at the wing position. Ivey’s other monikers for her senior stalwart are “efficient and disruptive.”

“Soni is the glue,” Ivey said. “She looks fantastic. Her experience, she’s gotten stronger and faster if you can believe that. In practices, she’s one of our best defenders, but she’s also the most efficient.”

Notre Dame has newfound length in the post, too, in the form of Karlen, a 6-2 transfer from Marquette, and Koval, a 6-5 true freshman. Karlen averaged 17.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game as a senior in Milwaukee. Koval comes in as the No. 5 recruit in her class according to ESPN.

Ivey’s team has already been hit by the injury bug — junior guard KK Bransford recently announced her decision to sit out the upcoming season to rehab an ailing foot. Graduate senior forward Maddy Westbeld is also tending to a foot issue; she had surgery in September to rectify it and is aiming for an early-winter return to play around the beginning of conference play in December. Graduate senior Kylee Watson likely has a longer timeline in coming back from knee surgery in the spring.

That leaves Ivey with nine healthy players to start the season. She’s never had a collection of nine this talented in her five years as Notre Dame’s head coach, though. Five of them appear on the Blue Ribbon Panel’s watch lists. A sixth, Pittsburgh transfer Liatu King, was an All-ACC First Team member for averaging 18.7 points and 10.3 rebounds in her senior season with the Panthers. She was snubbed from this season’s preseason list.

Graduate senior guard Sarah Cernugel and sophomore guards Emma Risch and Cassandre Prosper round out Ivey’s available players for the start of the season in an exhibition at home vs. Davenport on Oct. 30 and the regular season opener in South Bend against Mercyhurst on Nov. 4.

Notre Dame finished tied for second in the ACC last season with a record of 13-5. The Irish won the ACC Tournament championship for the first time since 2019. The team’s overall record has gotten better every year Ivey has been the head coach — 10-10 (8-7) in year one, 24-9 (13-5) in year two, 27-6 (15-3) in year three and 28-7 (13-5) in year four. The past three seasons have ended in the Sweet 16, though, largely due to injuries.

Year five has the makings of the best one yet if the Irish get Westbeld and Watson back and remain healthy otherwise.

2024-25 ACC Preseason Blue Ribbon Panel Voting

Preseason Player of the Year
Hannah Hidalgo, So., G, Notre Dame

Preseason All-ACC Team (First-place votes – 79 voters)
Hannah Hidalgo So., G, Notre Dame 921 (62 first-place votes)
Ta’Niya Latson, Jr., G, Florida State 734 (9 first-place votes)
Saniya Rivers, Sr., G, NC State 527 (2 first-place votes)
Aziaha James, Sr., G, NC State 473 (1 first-place vote)
Olivia Miles, Jr., G, Notre Dame 457 (4 first-place votes)
Sonia Citron, Jr., G, Notre Dame 331
Makayla Timpson, Sr., F, Florida State 315
Alyssa Ustby, Gr., G/F, North Carolina 308
Reigan Richardson, Sr., G, Duke 202
Kymora Johnson, So., G, Virginia 193 (1 first-place vote)

Newcomer Watch List
Toby Fournier, Fr., F, Duke 222
Imari Berry, Fr., G, Louisville 180
Kate Koval, Fr., F, Notre Dame 177
Zamareya Jones, Fr., G, NC State 116
Liza Karlen, Gr., F, Notre Dame 109

Predicted Order of Finish (79 voters)
1. Notre Dame (70), 1726
2. NC State (8), 1617
3. Duke, 1446
4. Louisville, 1370
5. Florida State, 1335
6. North Carolina, 1279
7. Stanford (1), 1214
8. Miami, 883
9. Virginia, 877
10. Georgia Tech, 855
11. Syracuse, 801
12. Virginia Tech, 786
13. Clemson, 553
14. California, 546
15. Boston College, 533
16. SMU, 274
17. Wake Forest, 259
18. Pitt, 233