This is not a vent board or any other kind of therapy. Before you hit the POST button, ask yourself if your contribution will add to the level of discussion going on.

Important notes on articles:

• Please do not copy entire articles into your post; rather, provide links to them.. We are now links-only for ALL Internet publications. If only a small portion of the article pertains to your post, Fair Use allows you to copy those one or two paragraphs, provided you cite the author's name and the publication for which he writes. Otherwise, put a link in the HTTP Link box.
• Even if you're copying a reference to an article, provide a link to the page from which the article came. We're trying to cut down on duplicate topics, and the posting process will check the link to your article to see if it's already being discussed on this board. At the very least, you'll save yourself some grief on the boards.
• If your first reaction after reading the article you're going to share is the author is uninformed / stupid / a jerk / all of the above, it's not worth sharing with anyone. Not every article needs to be discussed. The more the hair-pulling articles are discussed (e.g. ESPN Page 2), the more the authors will write hair-pulling articles.

Post being replied to

I remember early 80s very well, but I don't remember hearing by domer4

of her name. But then again, you didn't hear much about prospects in women's basketball coming out of high school, before they committed - unless they were super spectacular (look up the Mc Gee twins of USC for example).

Mostly in that era, the women at ND would be all state - but not truly elite on a national level. But that was still a huge step up quickly from the late 1970s.

The class of 1980 at ND was the first "Title IX" group - a couple of women.

The class of 1981 was a big one - 5 or 6 women who were so much better than the prior team that the senior captain of that team (Missy Conboy - our long time AD) rarely played.

Class of 1982 was also a relatively big one - at least 3 I can remember. At that point, most of the recruits were all-state - but that's a long way from All-American. We played Louisiana Tech that year at home and got absolutely trounced - probably lost by 40 plus - but our record wasn't bad - it was just the difference between an all stater and a team with some of the best players in the country was huge.

The best player at that point was Trena Keys (see link).

And it pretty much lasted that way until the early 1990s - when Muffet recruited Michelle Marciniak - who was a top 5 in the country player who lasted one year and then went on to Tennessee.

It wasn't until 1993 and 1994 when the breakthrough was really made and recruiting - then recruiting went to top 5 or top 10 in the country - Beth Morgan, Kaitryna Gaitner - even then making the final four in 1997 was as surprise.