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Notre Dame women’s basketball earns top-10 ranking in preseason AP Poll

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•10/18/22•

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notre dame women's basketball
Notre Dame women's basketball guards Olivia Miles (left) and Dara Mabrey (right) will both be back for head coach Niele Ivey. (Photo by Jeffrey Brown/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Notre Dame women’s basketball is back on the national stage. The Fighting Irish checked in at No. 9 in the 2022-23 preseason Associated Press Poll, the programs highest ranking since claiming the No. 1 spot in 2018-19 — the season after Notre Dame’s second ever national championship.

This year’s team might be a year or two away from competing for another national title. But as the No. 9 ranking suggests, the Irish could be in line for an Elite Eight appearance. Notre Dame fell a possession or two away from one last March with a 66-63 loss to NC State in the Sweet 16.

Irish head coach Niele Ivey enters her third season as Notre Dame’s head coach. The former Irish point guard and longtime assistant under Muffet McGraw has a career record of 34-19. The Irish went 24-9 overall and 13-5 in ACC play last season, a huge step forward from a 10-10 mark in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season.

“I’m so confident in this group,” Ivey said at ACC media days last week. “I’m so excited. I’m so excited where we’re trending. For me it’s really powerful to be in year three to see the progression since I had the opportunity to take over this program.”

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Notre Dame finished third in the regular season ACC standings last season. NC State won the conference with a 17-1 record. The Wolfpack are ranked No. 10 in the preseason poll. Louisville went 16-2 in conference play a year ago and is ranked No. 7 to start the upcoming campaign.

Other ACC teams in the AP Top 15 include No. 12 North Carolina and No. 13 Virginia Tech. Notre Dame has games against No. 6 UConn (Dec. 4) and No. 17 Maryland (Dec. 1) in the same week. Both games are at home inside Purcell Pavilion.

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The Irish’s season starts Nov. 7 against Northern Illinois in South Bend. That’s following an exhibition against Truman State on Oct. 31.

Here’s a look at the entire AP Top 25.

Preseason NCAA women’s basketball AP Poll

  1. South Carolina
  2. Stanford
  3. Texas
  4. Iowa
  5. Tennessee
  6. Connecticut
  7. Louisville
  8. Iowa State
  9. Notre Dame 
  10. NC State
  11. Indiana
  12. North Carolina
  13. Virginia Tech
  14. Ohio State
  15. Oklahoma
  16. LSU
  17. Maryland
  18. Baylor
  19. Arizona
  20. Oregon
  21. Creighton
  22. Nebraska
  23. South Dakota State
  24. Princeton
  25. Michigan

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