What Notre Dame women’s basketball transfers mean for Niele Ivey, Irish

When it rains, it pours.

Notre Dame didn’t just have to deal with the sting of a crushing defeat in the Sweet 16 last week. It had to deal with three important players announcing their decisions to enter the NCAA transfer portal with intent to finish their college careers somewhere other than South Bend, Ind.

Head coach Niele Ivey needed every ounce of effort from every available player on the roster during the Irish’s NCAA Tournament run. It was an important couple of weeks for a group of girls who didn’t have much experience in the big dance. Now a trio of them — forward Sam Brunelle and guards Abby Prohaska and Anaya Peoples — plan to utilize that experience elsewhere.

This season was supposed to be a precursor for the next. It was supposed to set a foundation for a team that could largely have an almost identical roster in 2022-23. Now, Ivey has work to do — more than she probably originally planned for, which was already a lot. The roster can’t mirror last season’s. How can it when three of those rotation players won’t be around?

The key cogs from 2021-22’s successful season will be back. They include All-ACC First Team selection Olivia Miles, reigning ACC Freshman of the Year Sonia Citron, 2020-21 ACC Freshman of the Year Maddy Westbeld, sharpshooter Dara Mabrey and possibly even graduate student center Maya Dodson, who’s still waiting to hear back from the NCAA about the approval or denial of an eligibility waiver for the upcoming season.

If Dodson’s waiver is approved, Notre Dame will have all five of its starters returning. But it will also see all three of its regular bench players departing. The only other bench left will be rising junior Nat Marshall coming off another knee surgery. Senior guard Katlyn Gilbert played in just five games last season and likely will not return. Marshall, Gilbert, the three portal players and the five starters made up all 10 of Ivey’s scholarship players. She didn’t have any more.

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Ivey will welcome McDonald’s All-American KK Bransford to campus this summer. She’ll instantly be one of the most talented players on the roster, but she doesn’t make up for the loss of three useful bodies. The complexion of Ivey’s summer drastically changed when Brunelle, Prohaska and Peoples went into the portal. Ivey is going to have to scour the portal for herself. She isn’t left with any other option.

Dodson arrived at Notre Dame from Stanford via the portal. Clearly, snagging transfers is possible. But Dodson was a graduate from another top-tier institution. The narrative is out there that Notre Dame can’t just welcome any Marie, Susie or Betty Ann from A, B or C. Ivey is forced to check options E, F, G and so on. Players are at a premium, though. Notre Dame needs them. The Irish can’t be picky.

Before last week’s news from the transfer trio, Ivey mainly had to focus on bringing in a post player — especially if Dodson’s waiver isn’t approved. Now, who’s going to spell the three starting guards without Prohaska and Peoples in the picture? Suddenly, Notre Dame needs a bit of everything.

The Irish can’t go into the season with seven scholarship players. Look what happened when they went in with 10. Prohaska and Marshall missed prolonged time with injuries. Gilbert stepped away from the team. Ten went down to seven. Seven can’t go down to five. That’d be a debilitating situation.

Can Ivey land three transfers? That could be too much to ask for, but it happens in the men’s game all the time these days — just not as often at institutions like Notre Dame.

The overall roster situation is in distress, but the players mostly responsible for getting Notre Dame back in the NCAA Tournament and winning two games in it will be back. This should be more of a weathering the storm type of deal as opposed to completely crumbling. Transfers. A healthy class of three or four players in 2023. Notre Dame can get through this, but it’s going to take some effort.