Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Women’s college basketball power rankings: South Carolina returns to a familiar spot

22Nov

By adminNo Comments

Sports

Women’s college basketball power rankings: South Carolina returns to a familiar spot

If the hope was that two weeks of basketball would have given a clearer picture of the hierarchy in women’s college basketball this season, that has not been the case. In fact, most of my conversations since Nov. 6 have featured some variation of, “Wait, is Team X good?”Aside from South Carolina at the top — stop me if you’ve heard that before — every other projected contender has taken its lumps. While the Gamecocks roll through their opposition, most teams around the country need some time to figure out new rosters and systems. Growing pains were expected, like LSU and Virginia Tech integrating new transfers, or Maryland and Indiana dealing with the graduations of WNBA first-round picks.Nevertheless, on the whole, the quality of play around the country has been better than expected. But...

Women’s college basketball is having a moment. The NCAA needs to seize it

17Nov

By adminNo Comments

Sports

Women’s college basketball is having a moment. The NCAA needs to seize it

Shortly after the women’s NCAA Tournament set viewership and attendance records last year as LSU took down Iowa for the championship, the Charlotte Sports Foundation began making calls to see about hosting a major women’s basketball game to kick off the 2023-24 season.The first call? Iowa. If it could get Caitlin Clark into the building in Charlotte, it knew tickets would sell. But the group also wanted a second Final Four team, preferably a more local one, where fans could drive to the event. So the next call was made to Virginia Tech.Done. Coach Kenny Brooks and his Hokies would happily mark the start of the season with a high-caliber matchup.Danny Morrison, the foundation’s executive director, was excited how quickly two Final Four teams jumped at the chance to play a competitive early...

College football’s best day yet, Heisman contenders shine: Week 10 Saturday Superlatives

8Nov

By adminNo Comments

Sports

College football’s best day yet, Heisman contenders shine: Week 10 Saturday Superlatives

Sign up for the Until Saturday newsletter | Jayna Bardahl and The Athletic’s college football staff deliver expert analysis on the biggest CFB stories five days per week. Get it sent to your inbox.Welcome back to Saturday Superlatives, our review of the best players, plays, games, moments and more from Week 10 in college football. This was without a doubt the best Saturday of the season so far. When the biggest games on the slate all live to the hype, you’re going to have a good time.Game of the Week: Too close to call! You really could make a strong argument for many of the Top 25 showdowns we witnessed on Saturday. If you were sitting on the couch and trying to take them all in, you were treated to a phenomenal day from start to finish.No. 8 Alabama’s 42-28 win against No. 14 LSU was an...

A Notre Dame champion’s driving force: ‘It was a genuine love’

7Nov

By adminNo Comments

Sports

A Notre Dame champion’s driving force: ‘It was a genuine love’

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Niele Ivey looks back on those photos often — a younger version of herself, the newly crowned 2001 national champion, basking in confetti and the glow of a perfect moment.She had helped orchestrate Notre Dame’s comeback in front of a sold-out Savvis Center, 10 minutes away from where she first fell in love with a game. On a twisted ankle, no less. And when Purdue’s last-second shot rimmed out, she sprinted over halfcourt and leapt into the arms of assistant coach Kevin McGuff. He was the first person she saw then.She looks back at the photos and sees the joy radiating from her body. In her mind, there was no way to make it any better. It was one of the best moments of her life.But not for any of the reasons she thought.Now, in photos from that night, it’s Philippe she s...

College basketball coaching tiers 2023: Dan Hurley moves into Tier 1, John Calipari falls

26Oct

By adminNo Comments

Sports

College basketball coaching tiers 2023: Dan Hurley moves into Tier 1, John Calipari falls

In a sport with 362 teams, one would have to be a dummy to attempt any contextualization of the hierarchy of the coaches who lead the game.Fortunately, we’re not one, but three, such dummies.This is Year 2 of The Athletic’s Men’s Basketball Coaching Tiers. (See last year’s here.) This exercise is meant to go beyond the subjectivity of a numeric coaching ranking or the inherent callousness of the dreaded annual Hot Seat list.Instead, we break down coaches into tiers, trying to find lines of demarcation among groups of coaches, then take those tiers to multiple authorities throughout college hoops, glean their opinions, tweak the tiers as necessary and share our findings with you.Is it a perfect method? No.Will you probably be angry about your favorite coach? Probably.But we’re trying.Crite...

Which college football fan bases should be most disappointed? Can anyone challenge LSU?

13Oct

By adminNo Comments

Sports

Which college football fan bases should be most disappointed? Can anyone challenge LSU?

Every Saturday night, Ari Wasserman and David Ubben react to the weekend’s slate of games on “Until Saturday.” On Mondays, they revisit the biggest takeaway from Saturday night’s instant reaction. This week: Ari and David examine the 10 fan bases that should be most disappointed with the start of the 2023 season.College football Saturdays can be filled with happiness. But not for everyone. The beauty of the sport is that horror is waiting around the corner for more than a few teams every fall, too.No matter what Ted Lasso says, it truly is the hope that kills you. And for many fan bases, preseason hopes have given way to the crushing reality of the 2023 regular season. Which fan bases are most disappointed with what they’ve seen?We examined the top 10. Notre Dame coach Marcus...

Women’s college basketball top 25: LSU, UConn, UCLA lead 2023-24 rankings

29Sep

By adminNo Comments

Sports

Women’s college basketball top 25: LSU, UConn, UCLA lead 2023-24 rankings

The 2022-23 women’s college basketball season ended on a high note as nearly 10 million viewers tuned in to watch LSU and Iowa — two teams on seemingly fate-driven runs — collide in the national championship. The Tigers took home their first title under Kim Mulkey and then turned the offseason into more wins by signing the top two players out of the transfer portal and welcomed the No. 1 high school recruiting class to Baton Rouge.But now, it’s a new season. Every team is 0-0. And though the Tigers remain the top team in our preseason projections, several other programs — some perennial powers, some new faces and some programs with chips on their shoulders — look like they could be holding the trophy in Cleveland in April.As squads rebuilt, reloaded and re-tooled this offseason, The Athle...