The Notre Dame women’s basketball team gathered to view the selection show on Sunday evening at Purcell Pavilion and must be feeling somewhat stunned.
Notre Dame, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation as recently as mid-February, lost three games towards the end, finishing the season with a record of 26-5. It understandably missed out on a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, yet whether they acknowledge it or not, the team must be quite surprised about the seed it received Sunday night.
Notre Dame received the No. 3 seed in the Birmingham Regional 3. It will face Stephen F. Austin in the opening round, with the victor moving on to compete against No. 6 Michigan or No. 11 Iowa State/Princeton in the following round.
Notre Dame is set to hold the first and second round matches at its home venue, aiming to reach the Sweet 16 in Birmingham. There, the probable No. 2 seed ready for the Irish would be TCU, which defeated Notre Dame in the Cayman Islands Classic.
If Notre Dame is to make it back to the Final Four for the first time since 2019 it’ll likely have to pull off a Texas Two Step in Birmingham to do it.
With TCU being the most likely team Notre Dame will face in the Sweet 16, No. 1 seed Texas would then likely await in the Elite Eight.
Notre Dame had been projected by most to be a No. 2 seed in the tournament the last few weeks, but obviously that didn’t come to pass. The difference between a two and three isn’t massive, but considering the Irish had wins over USC, Texas, Duke, and UConn (all No. 1 or No. 2 seeds) this year, I would have thought that’d be enough good on the resume to make up for the tough close to the year.
It wasn’t and now Notre Dame’s path to the Final Four gets a hair harder. Hopefully the two week break can get the Irish rested and able to find some of that spark that helped them fire out of the gate to start the season.
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