The Irish legacy is expected to return to the court this season
The Notre Dame women’s basketball program hit a speed bump when graduate student forward Maddy Westbeld announced Monday that she will miss some time to begin the 2024-25 season. Westbeld explained that she’s been plagued by a lingering foot issue that needs time to rest, but that she intends to “return to the court this season.”
— Madeline Westbeld (@maddy_westbeld) September 16, 2024
What this injury means for the Irish
On a team loaded with talented backcourt players like Sonia Citron, Olivia Miles (also coming off an injury that sidelined her for all of last season) and first-team All-American Hannah Hidalgo, Westbeld is the only frontcourt player on the roster to have produced significantly in an Irish uniform.
Westbeld has averaged 12.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game for her career. She’s 450 points away from joining the 2,000-point club and 119 rebounds from grabbing 1,000 boards. What’s more, her ability to stretch defenses from the outside (she shoots 35.6% from beyond the arc for her career) opens driving lanes for slashing guards like Miles and Hidalgo. And, on the defensive end, she’s averaged 1.4 steals and 1.0 block per game over the past four years.
The silver lining is that Notre Dame brought in a pair of graduate transfer forwards this offseason in Liatu King from Pittsburgh and Liza Karlen from Marquette. Both King and Karlen took leaps in production during their senior years at their respective prior programs, averaging 18.7 and 17.7 points per game, respectively. King also averaged a double-double last year by recording 10.3 rebounds per contest while Karlen improved her three-point percentage to 35.7% as a senior. Additionally, the Irish add Kate Koval, a 6-foot-5 five-star recruit and the lone member of Notre Dame’s incoming freshman class.
While graduate student forward Kylee Watson is also out for some time following an ACL tear in last season’s ACC Tournament, Notre Dame’s additions to the front court appear sufficient to stabilize them until Westbeld can return. But for a program with national championship aspirations, it’s imperative to get Westbeld comfortable in the system well in advance of a post-season run.
Matt Cashore-Imagn Images
Outlook
Notre Dame opens the year with a home matchup against Mercyhurst followed by a trip to Purdue. That’s followed by a home tilt against James Madison and a trip to Easton, Pennsylvania to take on Lafayette.
Then the non-conference schedule heats up with a Nov. 23 game against USC, which is led by First-Team All-American and last year’s national Freshman of the Year Juju Watkins. The Irish will then participate in the Cayman Islands Classic with matchups against some sampling of Mississippi State, Utah, TCU and USF. Five days later Notre Dame hosts Texas in the ACC/SEC Challenge, and then comes the annual showdown with UConn (at Purcell Pavilion this year).
If Notre Dame learned anything from finding itself a 2-seed in juggernaut South Carolina’s region of last season’s NCAA Tournament, it’s that the clearest path to a Final Four is by securing a No. 1 seed. To do that requires a stellar non-conference resume.
All of that is to say that the Irish can certainly win every non-conference game without Westbeld, but odds would be better with her healthy. Any timetable on her injury is speculative, but it goes without saying that the sooner she gets healthy, the better.