On Tuesday night in front of 700 in attendance to celebrate Notre Dame's fifth straight Final Four appearance, No. 2 finish and ACC Championship both in the regular season and in the post-season tournament, junior guard Jewell Loyd was chosen as the recipient of both the Notre Dame Monogram Club Most Valuable Player and Woody Miller Player of the Year awards. Loyd was not in attendance because she was at the WNBA Rookie Orientation (the WNBA Draft is Thursday).
Other honorees at Tuesday night's banquet (as chosen by a vote of their teammates) included:
Defensive Player of the Year - Freshman forward Brianna Turner
Most Improved - Sophomore forward Taya Reimer
Rockne Student-Athlete Award - Junior guard Hannah Huffman (3.288 cumulative as finance major in Mendoza College of Business)
When coupled with the Fighting Irish men's basketball team winning its first ACC tournament title this year, it marked the 13th time one ACC school swept both basketball postseason championships in the same season, and the first time ever by a school not located on Tobacco Road. Duke was the last to do so in 2011, while North Carolina and N.C. State are the only other ACC schools that can lay claim to this feat.
This season, the Fighting Irish set single-season school records for games played (39), most wins at home (19) and most wins over top-10 opponents (8), while narrowly missing additional marks for total wins (36; record is 37 in 2013-14), total points (3,114; record is 3,271 in 2013-14), and three-pointers made (186; record is 190 in 2013-14).
Notre Dame placed fifth in the final NCAA attendance rankings by averaging 8,544 fans per game, while registering four sellouts this season. It marks the sixth consecutive year the Fighting Irish have been ranked in the top five in the nation in attendance.
Next season, Notre Dame is expected to return four starters and as many as 10 monogram recipients from this year's squad, led by a pair of 2014-15 Associated Press honorable mention All-America selections in Turner and current sophomore guard Lindsay Allen, who also was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Oklahoma City Regional and was one of five finalists for the Nancy Lieberman Award, presented annually to the nation's top point guard.
The Fighting Irish also will welcome a three-player incoming class that has been ranked as high as third in the nation by several national recruiting services, and includes the 2014-15 MaxPreps National High School Player of the Year, McDonald's High School All-American and reigning Indiana Miss Basketball, guard Ali Patberg (Columbus, Ind./Columbus North). She will be joined by two other McDonald's High School All-America and Gatorade state high school player-of-the-year guards in Marina Mabrey (Belmar, N.J./Manasquan), who shared Most Valuable Player honors at this year's McDonald's High School All-America Game, and Arike Ogunbowale (Milwaukee, Wis./Divine Savior Holy Angels), the three-time reigning Wisconsin High School Player of the Year.
This post was edited on 4/15 7:19 AM by Lou Somogyi
Other honorees at Tuesday night's banquet (as chosen by a vote of their teammates) included:
Defensive Player of the Year - Freshman forward Brianna Turner
Most Improved - Sophomore forward Taya Reimer
Rockne Student-Athlete Award - Junior guard Hannah Huffman (3.288 cumulative as finance major in Mendoza College of Business)
When coupled with the Fighting Irish men's basketball team winning its first ACC tournament title this year, it marked the 13th time one ACC school swept both basketball postseason championships in the same season, and the first time ever by a school not located on Tobacco Road. Duke was the last to do so in 2011, while North Carolina and N.C. State are the only other ACC schools that can lay claim to this feat.
This season, the Fighting Irish set single-season school records for games played (39), most wins at home (19) and most wins over top-10 opponents (8), while narrowly missing additional marks for total wins (36; record is 37 in 2013-14), total points (3,114; record is 3,271 in 2013-14), and three-pointers made (186; record is 190 in 2013-14).
Notre Dame placed fifth in the final NCAA attendance rankings by averaging 8,544 fans per game, while registering four sellouts this season. It marks the sixth consecutive year the Fighting Irish have been ranked in the top five in the nation in attendance.
Next season, Notre Dame is expected to return four starters and as many as 10 monogram recipients from this year's squad, led by a pair of 2014-15 Associated Press honorable mention All-America selections in Turner and current sophomore guard Lindsay Allen, who also was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Oklahoma City Regional and was one of five finalists for the Nancy Lieberman Award, presented annually to the nation's top point guard.
The Fighting Irish also will welcome a three-player incoming class that has been ranked as high as third in the nation by several national recruiting services, and includes the 2014-15 MaxPreps National High School Player of the Year, McDonald's High School All-American and reigning Indiana Miss Basketball, guard Ali Patberg (Columbus, Ind./Columbus North). She will be joined by two other McDonald's High School All-America and Gatorade state high school player-of-the-year guards in Marina Mabrey (Belmar, N.J./Manasquan), who shared Most Valuable Player honors at this year's McDonald's High School All-America Game, and Arike Ogunbowale (Milwaukee, Wis./Divine Savior Holy Angels), the three-time reigning Wisconsin High School Player of the Year.
This post was edited on 4/15 7:19 AM by Lou Somogyi
