Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: Fighting Irish Miss NCAA Tournament, Land in First Four Out

The season is now officially over for NDWBB

The 2020-21 Season Comes to a Close

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish Women’s Basketball team now knows that the season is complete for them. Niele Ivey’s squad ended the season with a 10-10 record overall, and an ACC record of 8-7. On Monday night, the NCAA revealed the Women’s Tournament bracket. The Fighting Irish did not make the field of 64. In fact, the Irish were actually listed in the First Four Out, solidifying that they were probably a couple wins away from making the tournament.

Technically, the Irish are not 100% out of the tournament, just about 99% out of it. Because of Covid protocols, the First Four Out for both the men’s and women’s tournaments are labeled as replacement teams. If a team could not play due to Covid testing and a need to quarantine/isolate, then these teams would fill in for the teams that could not play. However, they go in order of seed. So, for the Irish to make the tournament, 3 teams would have to drop out of the tournament due to Covid protocols between now and Monday. That seems highly unlikely.

After not making the field and after playing in just one ACC Tournament game almost two weeks ago (a loss to Clemson), head coach Niele Ivey released this statement. This all but shows the season is complete. In the many ups and downs on and off the basketball court, I would say Ivey and her staff did a great job weathering a lot of storms. There is obviously much improvement needed, but I think there will be some growth and skill development in a much-needed offseason.