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After receiving a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Notre Dame women's basketball head coach Niele Ivey is preparing the Irish for the tough road ahead of them by giving them a much-needed break.
“I think just having a little bit of time off, I feel like they kind of needed a mental break.”
Ivey detailed giving Notre Dame women's basketball three to four days off to rest and reset mentally and physically before getting back in the gym to work on the underperforming areas of their game, such as rebounding and defense.
“Not great performances toward the end of the season, the last couple weeks have been kind of difficult,” she said. “But learning from those challenges and adversity, (we're) going to utilize those as we prepare.”
Ivey has been attempting to tackle Notre Dame's lapses for a while, even resorting to an extended postgame team meeting following the Irish's loss to Florida State that lasted nearly as long as the game. The same delay occurred only a few games later after the squad fell to Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals, marking the formerly ranked No. 1's third loss in five contests.
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However, Ivey is prepared to face the postseason pressure, and she's seemingly excited to show off how much Notre Dame's turnaround will pay off once March Madness is officially underway for the women.
“The stakes are a lot higher (than the ACC Tournament),” Ivey started.
“This team, they know the standard, they know our personal standard, and they're ready to get after it. Sometimes as a coach, you have to assess what you feel like your team needs. I feel like they needed that little break, and (they) came back refreshed, and we've had some really great practices trying to prepare for what we'll see (when the tournament begins).”
The fifth-year head coach has led Notre Dame to an ACC regular season championship, an ACC Tournament championship, and three straight Sweet 16s so far while nabbing the Coach of the Year Award for herself in 2023. Now, Ivey's next challenge is to overcome the program's hurdles and guide her team back to a national championship appearance, which would be its first since 2019.
