If Loyd stayed another year and played as well as she did her sophomore season, she could have been the best all time. As of now, she qualifies for third.
Fourth is a tie between KMac, Gaither and Cunningham. I'll give the edge to KMac based on her pro career.
if we are looking at talent and production. They have also had the best WNBA careers. I'll be interested to see how Arike and Brianna play during their final season at ND.
I cannot get past Jewel, who should be on this list. Can't do it. Beth, Arike, Batteast and Gaither are all possibilities. Will wait til Arike finishes her fourth year, so she is out for now. I think I will go with Gaither slightly ahead of Beth. So close. Could change my mind tomorrow, though.
Interesting. Clearly Ruth and Skylar. Arike is up there. I also thought Kayla and Jewel were amazing. Kayla missed a year, I think, and Jewel left early. Gaither, Brianna Turner and Morgan deserve strong inclusion consideration. As does Batteast. I have not seen her mentioned, but what do folks think of Charelle Allen? I remember (at least I think I do) her going for 35(?) against Oklahoma and the two big (Paris?) sisters. Not in the top 4, but great to watch, were Duffy, Becca, Cable, Barlow, Ivey, the Mabreys, Ratay, Ace... There is a long list of really good and fun players.
Whenever possible I feel that the candidates for BEST players should have been on one of the NCAA Championship teams.
Ruth
Niele
Arike
Kmac
ACE!
If ACE wasn't hurt I feel that we would have won that year.
This is a difficult task, just as difficult as picking the MVP from this years team.
Not just ND's best player. The whole tournament's best player.
I liked our chances with her playing.
Stephanie Dolson wouldn't have scored 17 points and grabbed 16 rebounds against Natalie. Breanna Stewart probably would have played just as well (10-15, 21 points, 9 rebounds), and that might have been enough to carry UConn; but there was no chance when Dolson's physical play allowed her to have her way with not-so-physical freshman Taya Reimer (who became not-so-physical senior Taya Reimer at MSU).
But K-Mac would be in my starting five no matter what. Her ability to score was incredibly impressive. Sky Diggs and Ruth also are gimmes (I did follow the first championship team a bit).
...history than me to make better judgments.
Arike has been incredibly clutch and fun to watch. Everyone knows her name now. What a great PR person for the university. Barring injury she will be the leading scorer all time at ND. Ruth won the first national championship for us and that is enough. Sky brought ND back into the national spotlight again and Mcbide helped keep it going. Jewell would be on this list if she had stayed 4 years but she did not and Beth might be on this list if I had seen her play. Turner might yet deserve to be on the list but she has not played enough.
K-Mac, Gaither and Batteast were all close, but what I remember more clearly (because I got to see more of the games via internet) is K-Mac banging down clutch shot after clutch shot (which I'm sure the other two did, too).
I revert back to our "who should have their jersey retired next?" discussion and my first and strongest thought was for Ms. Gaither, so she'd be the fifth member of this group.
Wish Jewell had played the fourth year; otherwise, she'd undoubtedly be on the first team (and maybe even the four).
As for current players, agree that some of them may still appear.
And I'll suggest that if Jessica Shepard had spent all her career here, she'd be in this mix, too.
As for the "four": I just read an article on Olympic 3 x 3 and we discuss 5 on 5 all the time. How did the author come up with 4?
And this "ignore" thing is weird...how do you ignore someone on the board? Does it wipe out your posts into the ether-world? To quote someone from the past, How Ruuude!!!
I remember Kayla being more consistent than Skylar her junior year and continued with that kind of performance her senior year. I didn't really see Morgan, Gaither, or Batteast, so that's why I can't judge. On the other hand, Kayla apparently does not quite have the stats some of the others do.
The first three were easy calls. Batteast vs several others was a tough call; but she was All Big East first team twice and All Big East second team twice. She is tied with Gaither for fourth in double figure scoring games (101). She is fifth on the career rebounding list and fifth in blocked shots but isn't in the top 10 in games or minutes played... i.e. her production wasn't padded with extra games. Also, she's second to Gaither (and ahead of Riley) in double-doubles. The #7 scorer in program history was an outstanding player.
Five and six probably would be Gaither and McBride, and I could make a great case for either one in the top four.
Current players have some work to do to crack the top four or five... and probably will do so.
Ruth Riley is the best player in program history.
I have no idea who the 4 best McGraw era players are, or why they picked the number 4 or why this article is the most frustrating to navigate (partially because you linked to the last entry—number 1. I might just ignore you for creating all that confusion.) Certainly Skylar Diggins and Ruth Riley. I’m not sure how you can not include WNBA All-Star Kayla McBride, if you combine what she did at Notre Dame with what she has done in the pros. Jewell Loyd, if she had played all 4 years. Natalie Achonwa, perhaps, if she didn’t tear her ACL. I’ll have to think about number 4.
which is why I linked it there. I figured people could figure out the "PREV" button which allows you to see the four players in order 1-4. Still I should of understood your potential limitations, i.e.the Baba factor.
For those that want to start the article from the beginning this link works.
Also please don't ignore me. I already have 5 posters ignoring me so I feel self-conscience.
Some things are unfathomable. How could anyone ignore you—let alone 5?! Do they know you are from Oregon?
Number 3 (see link) alone should remedy all the ignorant ignoring.
PS. I have no affiliation to Oregon. In fact I've never been there, but it sounds really cool!
Ruth and Skylar are pretty much givens
I don't know how you leave off:
Jewell Loyd (and if she had played one more year - no brainer, too)
Kayla McBride
Beth Morgan
(I appear to lean towards the scorers ....)
So I guess I would hedge a bit and go with 5
My reasoning for leaving Arike off - she's not finished yet (that's my way to rationalize)
And my reason for not picking Niele is based on play at Notre Dame only - if you add what you has done as an assistant, too, then I couldn't leave her off
Brianna Turner is close, too, but she's not finished yet either!!!