Print Edition of the Irish Insider for the 2018 Final Four

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The observer | THURSDAY, march 29, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com

Westbeld looks to guide team with experience

By ELIZABETH GREASON Assistant Managing Editor

Twenty-five minutes.

Six rebounds. Four points.

Three turnovers. Two games.

But she’s been there. She’s played. And just about no one else has.

Those 25 minutes then-freshman Kathryn Westbeld played over the course of Notre Dame’s two Final Four games against South Carolina and UConn in the 2015 Final Four are 22 minutes more than anyone else on the Notre Dame roster has played that deep in the NCAA tournament — current graduate student forward Kristina Nelson played just three minutes in the team’s 2014 Final Four run her freshman year, though she did not see the court in the 2015 Final Four.

This season, the senior forward has guided her team as it scaled a seemingly-insurmountable peak. And now, Westbeld and the Irish stand on the final ledge, where it all began for Westbeld — a final weekend matchup against Connecticut (36-0, 16-0 AAC), this time in her home state of Ohio, no less — eyeing the summit.

“Freshman year, we were on a run. We went to the Final Four the past few years, and it was just kind of me. I didn’t have a huge role on the team, but I was just kind of playing, doing what I can, so enjoying it there,” Westbeld said. “It’s definitely different senior year, me being a leader on this team and a captain, I think, and someone with a lot of experience who’s been there before. I definitely think that that’s going to help in the long run. I’m just really excited to be able to go home and do it.”

While Westbeld may not have been the kickstarter the Irish needed in the Final Four her freshman year, that reputation has certainly changed. When she took the court against Villanova after not starting the first half due to a sprained ankle, the Irish (33-3, 15-1 ACC) and the Wildcats (23-9, 12-6 Big East) were tied.

Westbeld played through pain for 16 minutes in the second half and the Irish won by 26 points, sending them on what would be an immensely successful trip to Spokane, Washington.

“Kat, last year, never practiced, and she was on the stretch for the last month-and-a-half of the season where she played late in the game. But to have her in a boot — she was a in a boot before the

game — and to be able to come out, I thought it was a really motivating and inspiring moment for the team,” Irish head coach Muffet McGraw said March 18 after the win.

As a leader of the squad, Westbeld is hoping to pass along the importance of remaining calm and focused on the goal throughout the hype and media attention that will lead up to Friday’s game.

“Going to the Final Four is a really exciting thing and not something that everyone gets to do in their lifetime, so I think we’re all going to be really excited,” she said. “But I think if I can keep us all level-headed and keep us calm, that will help a lot.”

After making an early exit from the tournament in the regional rounds for the past two years, Westbeld said her desire to cut down the nets in Spokane only grew, especially since this year was her final chance to do so.

“I wanted it so badly, there’s no words to describe it,” Westbeld said. “But I’m just really happy that we were able to accomplish that for our teammates, because I know the seven scholarship players we’ve had and our walk-ons, our injured reserve, everyone has done so much for all of us to get to this point, so I’m just really proud of everyone.”

The senior is well-aware of her status as the only active Notre

Dame player to have taken to the hardwood in meaningful minutes on such a large stage, and while Nelson and seniors Brianna Turner and Mychal Johnson made the trip to Tampa, Florida, in 2015, Turner is sitting out the year with a torn ACL and Nelson and Johnson did not see any action in either game that year.

“Just being a freshman, I was just kind of taking it all in. You just never know if it’s going to happen again, so really just taking it all in, having fun, just doing what I can to help the team win,” Westbeld said. “ … I’m the only experienced player to play in the Final Four, so just keeping a level head and making sure we’re all doing what we need to do to win.”

Westbeld — who, despite playing through yet another injury, will almost certainly see more than the five minutes she saw in the 2015 championship against UConn in this Final Four game against the Huskies on Friday — noted that the game will be particularly special because, no matter the result, the Kettering, Ohio, native will get to finish her collegiate career in front of a wide variety of friendly faces in Columbus, Ohio, something very few players get lucky enough to do.

“That never happens, so honestly it means the world to me,” Westbeld said. “My family is just

MICHELLE MEHELAS | The Observer

Irish senior forward Kathryn Westbeld drives upcourt during Notre Dame’s 84-74 win over Oregon on Monday at Spokane Arena.

blowing up my phone trying to get tickets, and I’m just trying to figure out all the situations with that, so it definitely means a lot just to be able to go home for that last few games here. It just really means the world to me.”

And when she walks off the court for the final time, whether that be Friday or Sunday, Westbeld will finish her career with nearly 3,000 minutes of career playing time, over 1,000

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points and roughly 700 rebounds.

But, as her coach will tell you, as impressive as her stat sheet may be on a given day, it’s off the court that Westbeld really sets herself apart — as a leader and a role model. And this weekend, she will show that. Because she’s got some unfinished business to take care of.

Contact Elizabeth Greason at egreason@nd.edu

Insider

ndsmcobserver.com | thursday, march 29, 2018 | The Observer

Matchup could serve as springboard for Irish Daniel O’Boyle Sports Writer

You never count UConn out.

They’re considered among the greatest teams in the history of any sport for a reason.

But with a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter and both of the Huskies’ best players leaving the game, the Irish were, for just a brief moment of Dec. 3’s regular-season meeting between Notre Dame and Connecticut, unequivocally favorites to close it out.

And they still couldn’t do it. A team without Gabby Williams and essentially without Katie Lou Samuelson — the final 14 seconds didn’t really make a difference — closed the game on a 26-6 run to beat the Irish.

Yes, most teams can’t pull the top high school recruit in the nation and a 6-foot-6 forward who averages 14.6 points per game off the bench; yes, the migraine that took Williams out also led to her playing one of the worst games of her career while she was on the court; and yes, the Huskies played phenomenally during that run. But the Irish were still in a position where they looked more likely than not to defeat a team that may end up going down as the greatest of all time.

And they didn’t.

Coming off an extended road trip that took them to Kentucky, all the way across the nation to Oregon, then all the way to Florida and then to Michigan without a home game in between before they played the

Huskies and while still adjusting to life without Brianna Turner, Notre Dame probably shouldn’t have been in such a good position, but there they were.

Until they weren’t.

Now, the two teams meet again, and the Irish probably won’t have the same opportunity to win. Maybe Notre Dame will keep the game close most of the way, and maybe the Irish will find themselves in a big hole that they almost pull themselves out of before falling short, but the chances are slim they see a situation like the one they had in the regular season. And with the injuries they’ve suffered and the quality of opposition they’re facing, that’s completely okay. Nobody expects this team to win. Many didn’t expect them to make it this far, so an upset would be a huge bonus at the end of a season that’s already a success.

But as fans of the Irish football team have become prone to saying every single November, next year will be different.

Returning four starters plus getting Turner back should give Notre Dame one of its best-ever teams on paper.

Or it could be, if the Irish don’t let their biggest rival become a mental roadblock.

Earlier in the season, I said the regular-season matchup could be the learning moment for the Irish and this tournament one could be where they spring an upset. A couple more injuries later and that seems unlikely, but it’s clear the Irish still need the experience of playing

MICHELLE MEHELAS | The Observer

Irish junior guard Marina Mabrey dribbles around a defender during Notre Dame’s 84-74 win over Oregon in Monday’s Elite Eight.

Geno Auriemma’s team. The Irish used to be UConn’s achilles heel, but that feels like ages ago. Getting that reputation back could start now with some evidence the Irish players still have the confidence the likes of Skylar Diggins, Natalie Achonwa and Kayla McBride had. Yes, they’re underdogs, but Notre Dame needs to play this game with the attitude it has against any other team.

This year will always be a great triumph for the Irish, but blowing a chance to beat this iteration of this dynasty is the one huge disappointment, overshadowing even the blowout loss to Louisville or the failure to win the ACC tournament.

The Irish played superbly without much pressure, then lost it when the pressure was on. After the game, head coach Muffet McGraw was quick to note that tiredness wasn’t the problem, they just missed shots they shouldn’t have.

That’s what happens when nerves get the best of you.

Something similar happened during last year’s regular season, when the Irish couldn’t make their shots against the most beatable Huskies team in half a decade. And if the Irish get too caught up in the occasion this year, it could happen again. The tournament may be “win or go home,” but playing hard and losing to an exceptional team isn’t the same as ending the season with the feeling a monumental victory got away from you had you just played your normal game.

Obviously, McGraw won’t have her team thinking about this. She’ll just be doing whatever she can to help her team beat the Huskies. But if Notre Dame does go home, let’s hope it’s because an all-time great squad beat a vastly-depleted underdog, not because the Irish beat themselves.

And hey, if they really can get back to playing their best game for 40 minutes against the Huskies, maybe that’ll be enough for an Irish win. You can’t count this team out, either.

Contact Daniel O’Boyle at doboyle1@nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

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Notre Dame preps for rematch

By ALEX BENDER Sports Writer

For the fourth time in tournament history and the first time since 2015, all four No. 1 seeds have made it to the Final Four in this year’s NCAA tournament.

And that group includes the Irish, as they were able to get through their region after a twoyear dry spell to return once again to the Final Four, this time with a matchup against No. 1 overall seed UConn awaiting them Friday night.

The road to Columbus, Ohio, was not easy for the Irish (33-3, 15-1). They had to overcome two halftime deficits in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight to advance out of the Spokane region. This past Saturday, Notre Dame found itself down by as many as 13 in the second quarter to fourthseeded Texas A&M, but a surge from that point on propelled the Irish past the Aggies (2610, 11-5 SEC) for a 90-84 win.

On Monday, the Irish drew a tough matchup against secondseeded Oregon, a contest made even tougher given the de facto home-court advantage the Ducks (33-5, 16-2 Pac-12) had playing the Elite Eight contest in the Pacific Northwest. But Notre Dame battled through another second-quarter deficit — this time trailing by as many as nine — to come out on top, 84-74. Irish head coach Muffet McGraw said she has been proud of her team’s resilience all year and the effort her players have given to get back to the Final Four.

“We keep shaking our heads.

I think I’m kind of torn between crying and laughing,” McGraw said. “It means so much. There’s so much emotion because of what we’ve been through. The resilience of this team, how they just are relentless in pursuit of their goal — they didn’t ever quit or question whether or not we could do it. Just to have that experience of getting to the Final Four, you need to have those experienced players to keep your program going. Now, we have freshmen who have been to the Final Four. That’s going to help us in the long run.”

The road ahead does not get easier for the Irish, as they now have a run-in with the tournament’s top overall seed in UConn. After falling in an upset

to Mississippi State in last year’s Final Four, the Huskies (36-0, 16-0 American) have come back with a vengeance this season.

They are undefeated on the year and enter the national-semifinal contest having just defeated second-seeded South Carolina by 29 points, 94-65. The Huskies have won the last seven matchups between the two programs, including one Dec. 3 of this year in which the Irish saw a doubledigit lead in the fourth quarter slip away in an 80-71 loss.

McGraw said she believes the strong rivalry between these two teams stems from their days in the Big East as well as the recent position as underdog her team has been put in.

“Yeah, that was definitely a lot of fun being in the Big East, playing them,” she said.

“I know two years in a row, we played them four times. Just really created a great rivalry. We had some good games during that rivalry. Lately, we have not played as well, and they’ve definitely been the ones that have dominated the series. For us, I think it’s always been an exciting game. I think we are a team that wants to compete, and we are going to go in and play the underdog role this time.”

Should Notre Dame advance, it will play the winner of the other national semifinal between No. 1 seed Louisville, a team that has beaten the Irish twice this season, and No. 1 seed Mississippi State, who sits at 36-1 on the season. With nothing but elite teams remaining, McGraw said she knows her team will need to continue to play together if it is going to give itself a shot this weekend in Columbus.

“I would say that our building blocks now are about our culture. It’s about having highcharacter kids who care about each other and care about winning more than themselves,” McGraw said. “I think it’s an unselfish attitude that this team has. They’re a team of workers. They love being in the gym. They love being together.

I think that kind of team-first attitude and the chemistry of our team has definitely been the most successful team that we’ve had.”

Contact Alex Bender at abender1@nd.edu

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