On April 15, 2018, Sam Brunelle announced her commitment

to ND. We were riding high on that day, exactly two weeks after Arike's national championship winning shot. It was also less than six months after the Nielefest recruiting weekend filled us with boundless optimism for the future. I'll admit to having some belief that Friends of Sam would follow her to ND with the possibility of Paige and Azzi choosing ND. (However, I never joined the crazy speculation that Paige and Caitlin would commit to ND in the 2020 recruiting class.) The future looked bright...

In April 2019, we had enjoyed an exciting season that included an "almost" in the championship game with plenty of "if onlys." It was sad to lose the five starters, but we still felt good about the possibilities for the longer-term future with the April commitment of Natalija Marshall (choosing ND over Stanford) and with Caitlin Clark looking like a good bet to choose ND.

In April 2020, our heads were spinning after a truly terrible season, the whirlwind retirement of Muffet and return of Niele, followed by the immediate commitments of Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron for 2021. In addition, it looked as if ND was recruiting some top 2022 forwards who had been teammates of Olivia and Sonia. The incoming 2020 freshmen seemed to be a promising group, so there was an air of optimism among us.

This April finds us shaking our heads after a disappointing season followed by the departure of three-fifths of the 2020 recruiting class, the withdrawal of our mystic guru, Baba the Baffler, and the disappearance of our greatest optimist, Hempfield. (I hope Hempfield is in good health and consulting with Baba at a Sufi basketball retreat.) The only good news so far this April has been yesterday's pictures of Natalija (without a knee brace), Sam, and Kaitlyn running a cone drill.

I am maintaining optimism for clear improvement next season, but would like to see a significant commitment from a 2022 prospect this month to build some momentum for the future. We still have half of April ahead of us!