SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Early in the season, Notre Dame built a sparkling resume with victories against two eventual No. 1 seeds, USC and Texas, and a pair of No. 2 seeds in Connecticut and Duke.
The end of the season was a different story.
After losing three of their last five games, the Irish enter the NCAA Tournament with a No. 3 seed. Notre Dame (26-5) takes on No. 14 seed Stephen F. Austin (29-5) in the first round Friday in South Bend.
If Notre Dame is to regain its magic and make a run to the Final Four, it will start with a dynamic backcourt regarded as one of the best in the nation: Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles, the pair who combined for 45 points in a 79-68 victory against UConn on Dec. 12.
That display by the Irish backcourt impressed Huskies coach Geno Auriemma.
“I don’t know if there’s a better combination of guards than those two with how many different things they can hurt you with,” Auriemma said after the game. “Those guys are attacking you for the entire 40 minutes. And I don’t know that I’ve seen anybody up close yet that can do that.”
Hidalgo, a 5-foot-6 sophomore, leads Notre Dame in points (24.2) and steals (3.7) per game, ranking fourth in the nation in each category. She also deals out 3.7 assists a game.
Miles, a 5-10 graduate student, leads the nation with three triple-doubles. She averages 16.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.8 assists, leading the ACC and ranking 14th nationally in assists. The two New Jersey natives each shoot nearly 41% from 3-point range.
Teams powered by dominant bigs — not guards — have ruled the national championship scene the past two decades.
Since 2005, only two guards shorter than 6 feet have earned Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four: Baylor’s Chloe Jackson in 2019 and Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale in 2018. Stanford’s 6-1 Haley Jones in 2021 is the only other guard to be named MOP in that span.
Notre Dame is a rare exception to the rule. The Irish were guard-driven in their run to the 2018 championship.
“Fortunately I’ve seen that with our 2018 team,” coach Niele Ivey said of coming up with a blueprint for a guard-driven title run. “We had a rock star backcourt: Arike Ogunbowale, Marina Mabrey, Jackie Young.”
Hidalgo said the New Jersey swagger she and Miles share will fuel a Notre Dame team stung by its recent skid and No. 3 seeding.
“It could definitely be a Jersey thing,” Hidalgo said. “We play with this grit and this chip on our shoulders, and that’s important. I know for me, coming from Jersey, playing with boys, I know it definitely gave me that chip on my shoulder. But (our toughness) is different. Jersey girls are just different.”
Ivey said Hidalgo and Miles forged a special bond in the summer after Miles returned from a season off due to a knee injury.
“They both are willing participants in this,” Ivey said. “They built chemistry in the summertime. They built chemistry this season. And they both want to win. You’ve got Liv coming back from an injury. She was really self-motivated to come and make an impact.
“Both of them are just playing unselfish basketball and learning to play with each other. There was always a lot of individual sacrifice, and then they just built that chemistry together throughout the season.”
