and was tied at the half vs. Villanova in the second round on ND's home floor. From where I sat at home games opposite the ND bench during the regular season, this year's team seemed to be having more fun than they did during the previous season when they were coping with all those injuries and seemingly worried about who would be next to fall.

wait, back up. I would've attacked for the entire fourth quarter the Baylor guard who had four fouls and was killing us offensively. Now, the last few seconds:

When she (sorry, Baylor guard, I don't recall her name) started to drive for what would be the winning layup, we should've fouled. We had one to give. They would've had to inbounds and start from scratch on a plan. This should've been communicated from the bench.

When Arike missed the first, did we ever hear...did she make the 2nd by mistake? If not, again, had to come from the bench. MISS it and do your best to cause a "big rebound" off the rim. Not saying it would've been easy or worked, but making free throw #2 guaranteed defeat because, well, we still had that foul to give!

MM told her to miss and her reaction at making it showed she didn't want to make it.

The big thing I don't think we have a clue on is whether or not they were instructed to use the foul to give on Baylor's last possession.

If Arike makes two free throws and ND goes on to win in overtime, you are not writing this post.

There's no doubt that defending a championship is difficult and that the feeling of being an underdog and having nothing to lose worked to ND's advantage in 2018.

And I would agree that the losses to UConn, UNC, and Miami were in part caused by the weight of expectations (as well as by overconfidence).

However, the team played great from the Miami game to the end of the season.

I disagree that Muffet's comments at the Final Four had a negative effect. To me, that is purely results-oriented thinking. ND beat a really good UConn team in the semifinals and came up just short against the #1 overall seed in the tournament.

The Irish lost by 1 point to a really, really good Baylor team. There is no need to find a scapegoat. Sometimes you just get beat by a better team.

ND didn't go down with poor effort or bad body language or anything that would be symptomatic of a team in disarray. They went down making a furious rally and coming up just short.

Except for the part where ND briefly held the lead, I would compare it to Zenyatta's loss to Blame in the 2010 Breeder's Cup Classic. ND was in too deep of a hole and just ran out of track (and Baylor dug in at the wire like a champion should).

were timeless, regardless of the timing.

affected the team.

What am I missing?

...or necessary only because she had the biggest stage. Personally, I would've kept all comments at that point related to basketball. I think Nick Saban would've, too. (OK, you got me, to football in his case).

What Muffet said was the truth, and its ridiculous to think it cased us to lose to Baylor.

of your post. I have thought that this team never fit completely together. I have always thought the MM wanted Nixon to develop into the starting point. We made it to the final game based on "pure talent" not cohesiveness. Might be the most talented womens team ever from 1-5.

As for Dani, she seems like a sweet girl but had trouble getting her head wrapped around where she should be on the court. Might be the coaches couldn't figure that our either. I felt the same way about Patburg, just couldn't get off the starting line with MM. Always got pulled for every mistake.... and she left.

With that said, I don't think mm had an easy job last year. Team was very top heavy and maybe it was hard to mold everyone together. Like you said, these girls will have a chance to grow together. This year will be very tough, but this fan base will stay with them

veteran team, only chemistry issue was working two bigs/Bri into a cohesive five. Perhaps an NBA-like approach of working the subs in a lot while the grizzled (that's a good thing) vets wait for the playoffs. Saved the vets' legs.

Of course I'm not talking 12 minutes a game for the starters. But a lot more subs than we saw. A ton in the preseason games, a little less in conference games, and less still in NCAA's.

I do feel it was the best starting 5 ND WBB has ever had or will likely ever have.

season but she didn't, she bailed. I'm sure she had her reasons but give me a break, she bailed when it would have been a time for her to step up and PROVE she could do it. End of Story

Maybe it is the otherside of the coin that failed.

Unless you were in the locker room or coaches office. You have no clue
what drove her to transfer. I keep bringing up the mental part of playing
sports, or anything in live. Everyone has a breaking point or point
where enough is enough.You do not know Dani personally, so you, me and
everyone else on this board does not know her enough is enough.

...Obviously the coaches to catch either. So if the coaches did not catch
it. How can you say such negative things to a young college student trying
to make a difference.

...She tried. She came back for a second year but things did not seem to
change for her. Do not compare her to the other transfers, apples and
oranges.

...She made a lot of sacrifices to make something of her career at Notre
Dame. We also have failed her. In the 2 years at Notre Dame alot of
negative comments came out against her. Even though 2 other players had
more glaring turnovers and mistakes. They we swept under the carpet and
thrown at Dani.

...Dani huseled, worked hard, and tried on very limited minutes. That is
one of the problems. Expectations from us were to high for the limited
playing time she received. If she got limited playing time. There is a
good chance her receiving meaningful practice time with the number 1 unit.
Coaches are limited on practice time and it all needs to be focused on
the up coming game.

...A poster made a very good and accurate comment earlier today. The
comment mentioned how Dani would always turn and look at the coaches
after she made a mistake. I also noticed she would do that. She was
constantly looking over her shoulder. How can you play at the degree or
level needed. When they could not totally focus on the play. That goes
past a player problem that should have been dealt with.

...Again, none of us are behind close doors. So we do not know how her
problems were handled. I will leave it at that.

...Not every player is like Arike who can turn problems off in a heart
beat. We can not judge all players to the 5 starters. They are all
different and handle things differently

...Unfortunately, we will not see the talent that has been locked up
for 2 years. I hope she finds the right program for her that will be
able to bring out that is locked away. It is there. We have seen
some of what she has. The next team will see all of it.

SEG/Chief

She’s leaving. Good bye. Doesn’t matter where she goes, she’s not here and ND needs to move on just like they did with Reimer, Boley, Patberg, etc. Celebrate the ones who stay, forget the ones who left.

I believe in remembering to think of while they were here and lets correct
our mistakes so it does not happen again. She still may not leave. Could
be valuable part of our team next year. She is not Boley. She did not
burn any bridges. A good player and good person. That is what we should
remember.

SEG/Chief

By what you read on internet sports boards?

You are right on th e money

nor do I know what goes on in the locker rooms but for people to canonize her is a little excessive too. She's gone & I hope she does well and none of us have any right to pry into her reasons but the way you frame it is to insinuate that Coaches and fans failed her which in itself is ridiculous too without knowing both sides of the story. In the end it doesn't matter, she is gone, end of story. It really doesn't matter why

Nobody's perfect...but they were close.

I can't wait to see the posts next year if we arent undefeated.

We only lost by 2 points. However, if Cox didn’t leave the game the loss would have been double digits.

Muffet have put on the bench to give Patterson more playing time? In which game should she have done it? Baylor? Stanford? Which?

Was Dani a better player than Arike? Jackie? Bri, Jess, Marina?

Was the goal to win the National Champtinship or play second-team players? It has been argued
that Dani paid her dues. Had not all the first-team players paid more?

As Domer65 has aptly said, we were being beaten by a better (and hotter) team until Cox went down. We rallied and lost by a point. Sure I would have been delighted with the win. But it can be fairly said that Baylor deserved it. I was darn proud of our team.

I was not going to comment but the other half said to do it.

I disagree with what your post. I am not going to get into what I think was
wrong in the game. Who am I to question MM. She has been doing this for over
30 years. Me, no where near that.

...I will make comments about some of your points but not MM. Coaching is not
about just managing a game to win. You are making adjustments, counter
adjustments, making changes, rotation, keeping fresh players on the court
as much as you can. Timing, the right time to change plays, players, speed
of game, timeouts. It is also about developing. During the season practice
is not used for development per say. You are limited on practice time. So
that is what you are doing. Preparing for next game.

...You can always make adjustments of playing time without severely causing
in game difficulties. Been there done that. Both as a coach and player.

...When you get down by a large amount. A change of some sort is needed.
Not talking about the NC game. I was in plenty of games of the blowout
side. Either style of play, personnel, speed of game, types of play or
just flat out attitude. But something has to change. Or you have to do
something that will force the other team to change.

Again my comments were not to attack MM I would never do that. That would
be disrespectful on my part. Just making comments to your comments on
why you can not do things. But you can. Especially early in the game. You
have time to recover. Besides, coaches are not thinking at the moment but
a few plays are more down the road.

There done have fun.

SEG/Chief