From Mt. Lebanon to Notre Dame, Madison Cable's career marked by title gamesApril 7, 2015 12:00 AM
Brian Blanco/Getty Images
Madison Cable has played in the Final Four three times, with tonight's tilt against Connecticut being her second NCAA title game.
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Duke defeats Wisconsin, 68-63, for men's national championship
By Mike White / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It was Maddie's Midas touch yet again.
Madison Cable sank the winning shot Sunday that put the University of Notre Dame women's basketball team into tonight's NCAA championship game. But it's springtime. So where else would Ms. Cable to be at this time of year, other than a colossal game?
There have been ultra-successful basketball players over the years. But then there is Ms. Cable, a graduate of Mt. Lebanon High School who is in her third season playing at Notre Dame. The 5-foot-11-inch guard from Pittsburgh who used to play Little League baseball with boys is one big-league winner.
Go ahead and call Ms. Cable one of the most successful players in the history of basketball - male or female - on the high school and college level. It wouldn't be an overstatement, at least in terms of winning. One shining moment? She has had dozens. Consider:
All four years when Ms. Cable was on the varsity team at Mt. Lebanon, she played in a state championship game and was a starter in three of them. All three years when Ms. Cable has played for Notre Dame, she has played in the Final Four, and this is her second NCAA title game. Even when she took a medical redshirt (foot injury) her first year at Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish made the championship game.
Her winning is almost surreal. There are no records to prove it, but go back in basketball history and you will have a hard time finding any player who played in four state championships in high school and in the Final Four every year in college. The great Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) didn't do it. Christian Laettner came close, playing in two high school state championships in New York before playing in four Final Fours at Duke University.
Maya Moore is one who can match Ms. Cable. Ms. Moore was one of the best college women's players in recent history. Like Ms. Cable, she played in four state championship games at Collins High School in Georgia. Like Ms. Cable, she won three state titles. Then while a player for the University of Connecticut, she played in four Final Fours.
Ms. Cable has cherished Notre Dame's run to the title game and certainly doesn't take it for granted. But forgive her for not being in awe.
"I think about how awesome high school was," she said in a telephone interview Monday from Tampa, Fla., site of tonight's title game against Connecticut. "Now I'm here. It's like all I know. Every year, this is just what happens.
"I just don't know if I can appreciate it yet. I think it's something down the road maybe I'll look back at."
But this winning started even way before high school. Ms. Cable, who was the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette High School Athlete of the Year in 2011 and a former PG basketball Player of the Year, always seemed to be on successful teams, even before high school. There are no playoffs for public elementary school or junior high teams, but Ms. Cable was on teams that won loads of youth tournaments.
Does the winning define her?
"I hope so," Ms. Cable said. "I want to be known as a winner. I've been lucky to be on these great teams."
Dale Cable, her father, coached her on some basketball teams before high school.
"She might have been an even better soccer player when she was younger," Dale Cable said. "But really, she's always been about just winning."
Madison Cable has never been a starter at Notre Dame, but is regarded as one of the best "sixth men" in the country. She averages 6.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. She is second on Notre Dame's team in 3-pointers and shoots 83 percent from the free-throw line.
On her basket that beat the University of South Carolina in the semifinals Sunday, she rebounded a missed shot and made a 10-footer with 19 seconds left.
The shot happened so fast, but it seemed to take about 10 seconds in her proud father's mind.
"When she was turning and the ball was in the air, I literally started thinking about all the work she put in this summer and maybe it paid off. Those 500 shots a day, five days a week and I would rebound for her," Dale Cable said. "What's funny is some of those shots were fadeaways, just like she shot this time."
Now it's on to the title game. Few give Notre Dame (36-2) a chance against mighty Connecticut (37-1), which is going for its fifth title in seven years. Connecticut beat Notre Dame in last year's title game.
"Every time you play Connecticut, you learn something," Madison. Cable said. "I think we really just can't be afraid and can't be intimidated by them. We just have to go out and play our game."
For Madison Cable, that means winning.
This post was edited on 4/7 3:14 PM by sairish1
Maddie
Brian Blanco/Getty Images
Madison Cable has played in the Final Four three times, with tonight's tilt against Connecticut being her second NCAA title game.
Share with others:
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inShare[/URL]
Related Media:
By Mike White / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It was Maddie's Midas touch yet again.
Madison Cable sank the winning shot Sunday that put the University of Notre Dame women's basketball team into tonight's NCAA championship game. But it's springtime. So where else would Ms. Cable to be at this time of year, other than a colossal game?
There have been ultra-successful basketball players over the years. But then there is Ms. Cable, a graduate of Mt. Lebanon High School who is in her third season playing at Notre Dame. The 5-foot-11-inch guard from Pittsburgh who used to play Little League baseball with boys is one big-league winner.
Go ahead and call Ms. Cable one of the most successful players in the history of basketball - male or female - on the high school and college level. It wouldn't be an overstatement, at least in terms of winning. One shining moment? She has had dozens. Consider:
All four years when Ms. Cable was on the varsity team at Mt. Lebanon, she played in a state championship game and was a starter in three of them. All three years when Ms. Cable has played for Notre Dame, she has played in the Final Four, and this is her second NCAA title game. Even when she took a medical redshirt (foot injury) her first year at Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish made the championship game.
Her winning is almost surreal. There are no records to prove it, but go back in basketball history and you will have a hard time finding any player who played in four state championships in high school and in the Final Four every year in college. The great Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) didn't do it. Christian Laettner came close, playing in two high school state championships in New York before playing in four Final Fours at Duke University.
Maya Moore is one who can match Ms. Cable. Ms. Moore was one of the best college women's players in recent history. Like Ms. Cable, she played in four state championship games at Collins High School in Georgia. Like Ms. Cable, she won three state titles. Then while a player for the University of Connecticut, she played in four Final Fours.
Ms. Cable has cherished Notre Dame's run to the title game and certainly doesn't take it for granted. But forgive her for not being in awe.
"I think about how awesome high school was," she said in a telephone interview Monday from Tampa, Fla., site of tonight's title game against Connecticut. "Now I'm here. It's like all I know. Every year, this is just what happens.
"I just don't know if I can appreciate it yet. I think it's something down the road maybe I'll look back at."
But this winning started even way before high school. Ms. Cable, who was the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette High School Athlete of the Year in 2011 and a former PG basketball Player of the Year, always seemed to be on successful teams, even before high school. There are no playoffs for public elementary school or junior high teams, but Ms. Cable was on teams that won loads of youth tournaments.
Does the winning define her?
"I hope so," Ms. Cable said. "I want to be known as a winner. I've been lucky to be on these great teams."
Dale Cable, her father, coached her on some basketball teams before high school.
"She might have been an even better soccer player when she was younger," Dale Cable said. "But really, she's always been about just winning."
Madison Cable has never been a starter at Notre Dame, but is regarded as one of the best "sixth men" in the country. She averages 6.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. She is second on Notre Dame's team in 3-pointers and shoots 83 percent from the free-throw line.
On her basket that beat the University of South Carolina in the semifinals Sunday, she rebounded a missed shot and made a 10-footer with 19 seconds left.
The shot happened so fast, but it seemed to take about 10 seconds in her proud father's mind.
"When she was turning and the ball was in the air, I literally started thinking about all the work she put in this summer and maybe it paid off. Those 500 shots a day, five days a week and I would rebound for her," Dale Cable said. "What's funny is some of those shots were fadeaways, just like she shot this time."
Now it's on to the title game. Few give Notre Dame (36-2) a chance against mighty Connecticut (37-1), which is going for its fifth title in seven years. Connecticut beat Notre Dame in last year's title game.
"Every time you play Connecticut, you learn something," Madison. Cable said. "I think we really just can't be afraid and can't be intimidated by them. We just have to go out and play our game."
For Madison Cable, that means winning.
This post was edited on 4/7 3:14 PM by sairish1
Maddie
