Photo Illustration by Pat Coveney and Jaclyn Espinoza

The postseason is about tobegin for the No. 7 Irish, whoearned a No. 2 seed in theNCAA Tournament and are setto take on No. 15 seedCleveland State on their hometurf in the Purcell Pavilion.“We had a great season,”

Irish coach Muffet McGrawsaid. “But the second seasonstarts now, and we want tohave a great second season.”The invitation marks the 17th

time in school history thatNotre Dame (27-5, 12-4 BigEast) has been included in theNCAA tournament and is theteam’s 15th consecutiveappearance.The Irish were upset by

Minnesota in the first roundlast year, putting an early endto their tournament hopes.“I think after last year, we’re

going to really concentrate onCleveland State,” McGraw said.“I don’t think there’s any ques-tion that this team knows whatcan happen.“Hopefully we’ll play a little

better than we did last year ifwe make it to that secondround, because ClevelandState’s a prettygood team too.You know,e v e r y o n e ’ sgood. And atthis time ofyear, you’ve gotnothing to lose,you just go outand play.”The Irish

have theadvantage ofplaying in theirhome gym for the first twogames of the tournament, anadvantage not lost on freshmanguard Skylar Diggins.“It is always good to have the

crowd on your side, and thiscrowd is so electric,” Digginssaid. “They know that thecrowd is not going to be ontheir side, so they are going tocome in and we expect them tocome out with a chip on theirshoulders.”The Vikings (19-13, 11-7

Horizon) finished the regular

season fourth in the HorizonLeague, but managed to puttogether a run in the confer-ence tournament, defeatingfavored Butler 66-57 to earnthe automatic bid. McGraw saidthat the Cleveland State mightcome in with a lot of momen-

tum.“They are

coming off of awin,” McGrawsaid. “They arecoming in with alot of confi-dence.”C l e v e l a n d

State is led bysenior guardKailey Klein,who paces theteam in scoring

with 18.6 points and 7.3rebounds per game.“Klein is their best player;

she is a really good player,”McGraw said. “I think she shotabout 168 3s on the season.”Pairing with Klein is junior

guard Shawnita Garland, whoposts impressive numbersacross the board with 13points, five rebounds, 3.3assists and three steals pergame.“They are a much faster-

paced team, with those kinds of

screens and cuts that are goingto be really hard to guard,”McGraw said. McGraw said that the team

has really been focusing ondefense this week, finding waysto cover the Vikings’ fast-pacedmotion offense. Beyond working on defense,

Notre Dame plans to mix thingsup in the tournament, develop-ing both its offense and defenseto give teams something theyhave never seen before. “We’re putting a lot of new

wrinkles in, a lot of nuances tothe offense, a couple of differ-ent looks on defense,” McGrawsaid. “You can’t do the samething.”If the Irish advance, they will

play the winner of the matchbetween No. 7-seed Wisconsin(21-10, 10-8 Big East) and No.10-seed Vermont (26-6, 13-3America East). That matchupwould be Tuesday at the PurcellPavilion. Wisconsin and Vermont will

tip off at noon Sunday at thePurcell Pavilion, with NotreDame and Cleveland State slat-ed to follow a half an hour afterthe conclusion of that game.

Freshman guard Sky larDiggins and senior guardsAshley Barlow and LindsaySchrader each garnered all-region honors, which wereannounced Tuesday by theWomen’s Basketball CoachesAssociation. Forty playerswill be chosen from the 52al l -reg ion nominees tobecome members o f the2010 State Farm Coaches’All-America Team.This i s the f i rs t t ime in

team his tory that threeNotre Dame players havereceived this honor in thesame season. The Irish haveonly fielded multiple selec-t ions three t imes in theirhistory, and only ten differ-ent players have earned thehonor. Diggins is one of just three

freshman this year to earnthe honor, a long wi thDelaware forward Elena

Donne and Baylor centerBrittney Griner. “[Diggins] is doing it al l

every single night, she hasbeen incredibly consistentfor a freshman,” McGrawsaid. “She has really had afantastic year and wants toget better.”Bar low sa id

she is pleasedthat a l l thet ime she hasput into theteam workinghard has final-ly paid off.“ I fee l l ike

people arenoticing what Iam doing. It isa b ig accom-plishment for me,” Barlowsaid. “I have been workingreally hard, so I feel like Igot rewarded this year. It isa really big honor.”Schrader has been

McGraw’s go-to player allyear when she has needed abig shot , but Schrader i s

focused on just doing the lit-tle things every game thatgive her team a better shotat winning the game. “ I was pret ty shocked

[about earning al l -regionhonors],” Schrader said. “Ia lways cons ider mysel f a

real ly b lue-collar kind ofp layer. I amnot go ing toscore twentypoints for you,but I wi l l doal l the l i t t lethings for you:rebound, set agood screen,and all the lit-tle things foryou.”

Notre Dame is among justthree teams in the countrywith three all-region selec-tions. The other two are top-seeded squads Connecticutand Tennessee.

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERFriday, March 19, 2010 page 2

Contact Jared Jedick at jjedick@nd.edu

Contact Jared Jedick atjjedick@nd.edu

A few weeks ago, a cookiecake at the Mishawaka Meijercaught my eye. It was situatedon a shelf with the othergeneric decorated cakes thatsaid “HappyBirthday,” orjust con-tained a fewflowers.This one,right in themiddle ofthe display,was deco-rated withan orange-frostingbasketball.In blue let-ters, itread: “Go Irish women!”It was a little surprising to

see that the bakery hadthought of that particularmessage to sell a giganticcookie. But it probably wentquickly in this town. A few days ago, two stories

in the South Bend Tribunecaught my eye. Both wereshort staff reports containingnews about the women’steam. The stories werelabeled as “Notre Dame bas-ketball.” A little searching found a

recent story about the men’steam; it was labeled “NotreDame men’s basketball.” That one might have just

been an oversight, but cer-tainly one indicative of thecity-wide relationship withthe women’s basketball team. The Irish are South Bend’s

hometown heroes; a team thecity has supported all yearlong, through good times and,well, Connecticut. It’s only fitting that Notre

Dame begins its tournamentroad at home, as a reward tofans who packed the PurcellPavilion for every game andsold it out six times. Prior to this season, the

women’s basketball team hadsix sellouts in its entire histo-ry. Now it has 12 and looks toadd a 13th Sunday for itsfirst-round game againstCleveland State. “They’re our sixth man,

they’re the fuel to our car toget us going,” said freshmanguard Skylar Diggins, a SouthBend native responsible in nosmall part for the city’s love ofthe team. Many fans have fol-lowed her career for years.Senior guard Melissa

Lechlitner, another areanative, said the communitysupport has always beenstrong but was even betterthis season.“They are just excited and

enthusiastic about every-thing,” she said. It’s fair to say that the Irish

football team belongs to alum-ni, as well as to “subwayalumni” and fans all acrossthe country, who are as dedi-cated as they come. It’s also fair to say that the

men’s basketball teambelongs to the students, whoproudly wear theirLeprechaun Legion t-shirtsand pack the arena, chantingcheers specific to each oppos-ing team. But the women’s basketball

team truly belongs to SouthBend and the surroundingarea. It belongs to grown menand women in neon-green t-shirts who dye their hair,wear funny hats and painttheir faces green for gameday. They stand up and dancewhen the band plays the fightsong. And after the game,they take their children toHeritage Hall, where they getautographs on anything flatenough for the players to sign. “Even the last game we

played against UConn here[on March 1], we were downwhat, 15, 20 and they werescreaming and cheering like itwas a one-point game,”Lechlitner said.In fact, there was just one

moment at that Connecticutgame when the crowd wassilent: when the announcerswere declaring the winner ofthe “Most Spirited Section”award for the section that hadcheered hardest all seasonlong. The crowd was also quiet

for a moment during the Feb.14 Pink Zone game when theannouncer declared thatNotre Dame had raised morethan $70,000 for breast can-cer research and awareness.The community didn’t stopthere, though; the Irish havenow toppled $100,000. With the exception of those

two times, fans have madesure to keep the PurcellPavilion loud and provided agreat atmosphere, creating ahome-court advantage thatled to a 14-1 home record. And if the Irish add two

more wins to that total thisweek, South Bend will cer-tainly celebrate — perhapswith some giant cookies —knowing that it helped itsfavorite team on the marchtoward the championships.

The opinions expressed inthis column are those of theauthor and not necessarilythose of The Observer.

Contact Laura Myers atlmyers2@nd.edu

South Bend takes onvital role of sixth man

COMMENTARY

Laura Myers

Sports Writer

Follow TheObserver’s coverageof the Irish women atndsmcobserver.com

Irish focused on VikingsBy JARED JEDICKSenior Staff Writer

PAT COVENEY/The Observer

Freshman guard Skylar Diggins sends a behind-the-back pass tojunior forward Devereaux Peters March 1 against Connecticut.

Three players named All-RegionBy JARED JEDICKSenior Staff Writer

“I feel like people arenoticing what I amdoing. It is a big

accomplishment forme.”

Ashley Barlowsenior guard

“You know, everyone’sgood. And at this timeof year, you’ve gotnothing to lose, youjust go out and play.”

Muffet McGrawIrish coach

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERFriday, March 19, 2010 page 3

Despite the buzz traditional-ly assoc iated wi th MarchMadness, Notre Dame’s NCAATournament run last yearcould not have been moreanticlimactic. There was noconfetti pouring from the ceil-ing, no unruly fans rushingthe home court — just a first-round defeat at the hands ofNo. 10-seed Minnesota infront o f a s tunned homecrowd.Whi le that scene never

made the Ir ish postseasonhighlight film, the defeat hasbecome ingrained in thememory of those on the court.“I don’t think it’s ever been

fully behind us,” senior guardLindsay Schrader said. “It’salways been in the back ofour minds because that ’swhere our motivation camefrom, that’s why we workedso hard this summer becauseof that and how we felt. Wenever want to feel like thatagain.”Yet with no seniors on the

2009 team, no tears of disap-pointment wereshed. Watchingthe Sweet 16bid be decidedon their homecourt couldhave been ad emo r a l i z i n gexperience, butthe des ire tomake a returnwas fueled thatday.“ I f I was a

senior last yearI would havebeen very, verydisappointed with the way wewent out ,” Schrader sa id .“And good thing we didn’thave any seniors because Iwould have felt bad for them.This year, I just want to endmy career on a win.”To do that the Ir ish wi l l

have to make i t to SanAntonio, the site of this year’s

Final Four, as the No. 2 seedin the Kansas City Region. Butunlike the team from a yearago, this year’s squad fea-tures five seniors not willingto f in ish the ir co l leg iatecareers just yet.“Last year we lacked that

sense of urgency in terms of‘This i s our last game, ’because we had no one grad-uating,” seniorforward Er icaW i l l i a m s o nsaid. “With fivepeople who aresaying ‘This ismy last chanceto wear a NotreDame uniform,’we’re going togo out and playto the best o four ability.”They are a

unit of five sen-iors. Or maybethree guards, a forward, anda hybrid that can play anypos i t ion on the f loor. Ormaybe two fierce competitors,two unself ish distributors,and a motivator that bringsout the team’s best. Whateverclassifications are thrown on

this year ’sg r a d u a t i n gclass, one unify-ing thread canbe used todescr ibe themall.“Firs t and

foremost , Ithink al l of usbr ing leader-ship ,” seniorguard AshleyBarlow said .“We’ve beenhere four years,some of us even

five. We just get along witheach other, we know how towork well with each other.”Barlow’s leadership was put

to the test in one of the tough-est stretches of the season, atwo-game road trip beginningwith a matchup againstSyracuse in the host i leCarrier Dome. Down by two

with less than a minute toplay, Barlow hit the game-winning 3 after missing herprevious four attempts.“She’s got such a great per-

sonality, and obviously every-one sees what she does on thecourt,” senior guard MelissaLechlitner said. “She bringsso much to us o f fens ive ly,grabbing that huge rebound

or making thatc lutch shot .Just the epito-me of what asenior shoulddo.”Each brings a

unique set o fsk i l l s to thefloor that givesIr ish coachMuffet McGrawan arsenal o fplays and stylesto keep theoppos i t ion on

i ts heels . Perhaps just asimportant , pract ic ing andplaying in the Big East togeth-er for four years has giventhem the opportunity to feedoff each other’s talent.But their greatest asset to

the team may be the seniors’ability to develop the fresh-men and sophomores intoleg i t imate compet i tors onboth ends of the court. Guard Skylar Diggins has

turned one of the best fresh-man campaigns in programhistory, and i t ’s not over.McGraw credits Diggins’ rapiddevelopment into an All-BigEast Second Team honoree tothe experience and maturityof her veterans.“I think that’s so important

because she’s learning shotsfrom the upperc lassmen,”McGraw said. “They’re help-ing her, they let her be cre-ative and play her game, andstill they communicate wellwith her. She just fits in sowel l wi th everything andeveryone.”Lechlitner believes the abili-

ty of the seniors to maintaintheir composure and poise inthe midst of a difficult situa-tion has been especially help-ful to their teammates, wholook to follow in their exam-ple.“We’re just a steady force,”

Lechlitner said. “When adver-sity’s thrown or a game mightbe getting tight or we’re downa little bit, I think the steadyhand that weof fer for themallows them toplay wi th inthemselves andexcel from thatpoint.”Every season

has its ups anddown and everyteam must dealwith the possi-bility of injury.When Schradersprained herankle in thef irst half of a victory overDePaul , that poss ib i l i tybecame a reality.Notre Dame became a

noticeably different team onboth ends of the floor withoutthe fifth-year senior at thehelm. The Irish dropped con-secutive road games to No. 18St . John’s and No. 13Georgetown, averaging 10points fewer on offense whilegiving up 14 more points than

the season average.“ I fe l t so help less ,”

Schrader said. “I’m not thesitting on the sidelines kind ofperson, I have to be doingsomething. When I saw myteammates out there needinghelp and I couldn’t do any-thing, I felt sobad, sick to mys t o m a c hbecause I felt sohelpless.”A l t h o u g h

tempted toblame herse l ffor the only lossof the season,Schrader sa idshe had toremind herselfto take a posi-tive approach tothe setback, the sameapproach she took when shetore her ACL her sophomoreseason. Gratefu l for theopportuni ty to p lay in thetournament, Schrader nowlooks forward to a secondchance at defending the homefloor.

“It wasn’t my fault that Igot hurt,” Schrader said. “Ijust had to keep telling myself

that any givennight anybodycan go down.You just haveto put the bestof your abilitiesto the time thatyou have it andtake nothingfor granted.”But Schrader

is just one linkin McGraw’sf o u r - g u a r doffense. A nat-ural po int

guard and the unanimousleader on offense, Lechlitner’sbal l -handl ing sk i l l s are acomplement to her drive andoutstanding work ethic.“She’s the leader o f th is

team,” Wi l l iamson sa id .“She’s the heart and soul .When she’s on the court youcan tell that everything elsehas calmed down. When she’splaying you can tell that weplay so much better because

she’s there.”A starter for the majority of

her career, Williamson hasseen a steady reduction inplaying time this season dueto the emergence of juniorforwards Becca Bruszewskiand Devereaux Peters into

playmakers inthe post .Despi te theobvious temp-tation to throwin the towel ,Williamson hastaken the highroad.“She’s really

stepped up andis always doingeverything shecan for thet e a m , ”

Lechlitner said. “She’s proba-bly one of the most unselfishplayers on this team and willput her body on the line anddo absolutely everything sheneeds to do to help us be suc-cessful.”Walk-ons seldom get playing

time at the collegiate level.Senior guard AlenaChristiansen is no exception,yet she has managed to posi-tively impact her team in ararely appreciated position.“She’s found a great role for

herself,” McGraw said. “She’sthe f irst one off the benchcheering, giving everyone apat on the back and encour-agement if they’re not playingwell.”The seniors will leave quite

a legacy on the women’s bas-ketbal l program, one thatinc ludes four tournamentappearances and a trip to theSweet 16 in 2008. However,they stil l have some unfin-ished business. “I just want to make it to

San Antonio, that’s my breadand but ter r ight now,”Schrader said. “If I can dothat, I would say I had a verysuccessful year hands down.Actually that’s all the girls.Everybody wants to go to SanAntonio.”

A ‘sense of urgency’

Contact Chris Masoud atcmasoud@nd.edu

Leading Notre Dame’s attack, five seniors get their final crack at the NCAA Tournament

By CHRIS MASOUDSports Writer

PAT COVENEY/The Observer

Irish senior Lindsay Schrader lines up her shot during NotreDame’s 97-53 victory over Indianapolis in a preseason game.

SARAH O’CONNOR/The Observer

Senior guard Ashley Barlow dribbles the ball during NotreDame’s 90-66 victory over DePaul on Feb. 14.

“We just get alongwith each other, weknow how to work

well with each other.”

Ashley Barlowsenior guard

“Last year we lackedthat sense of urgencyin terms of ‘This isour last game,’

because we had noone graduating.”

Erica Williamsonsenior forward

“I just want to makeit to San Antonio,

that’s my bread andbutter right now.”

Lindsay Schradersenior guard

“I think the steadyhand that we offer forthem allows them to

play withinthemselves and excelfrom that point.”

Melissa Lechlitnersenior guard

Laura Myers

Prediction: NotreDame loses toStanford in semifinals

Chris Masoud

Prediction: NotreDame loses toStanford in semifinals

Jared Jedick

Prediction: NotreDame loses toConnecticut in championship game

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERFriday, March 19, 2010 page 4

When asked if she could have drawn a better brack-et for her team, Irish coach Muffet McGraw said: “Iwould’ve put us in a bracket with all 15- and 16-seeds.” That means no. While the team will not look past its opening-round

opponents, the two home games should be a breeze.This year’s Irish have two things they didn’t have

when they were shocked in the 2009 first round: anincreased focus drawn from that early exit, and SkylarDiggins. Combine those with a bracket whose other top teams

are No.3-seed Oklahoma, which the Irish have beat,and No. 1-seed Nebraska, the best possible draw forthe Irish, and the road to San Antonio looks prettyclear.

Predicting the NCAA run

Notre Dame’s fast-paced offense and aggressive styleon defense will be too much to handle for its early-roundopponents. Beginning with the statement win overCleveland State, the Irish break in Purcell Pavilion’s post-season debut in style. Freshman phenom Skylar Digginswill give the home fans what they want to see, as sheshould have no trouble tearing up opposing defenses.Don’t be surprised if she averages over 20 points a game.The highlight of the NCAA tournament comes in the

Sweet 16, when the Irish beat Nebraska in a matchup ofthe top two seeds in the region. Nothing the Cornhuskershave seen in the Big 12 will prepare them for McGraw’sfour-guard offense.The Irish run ends in the Final Four. Notre Dame lacks

depth in the post. An almost certain meeting withStanford should exploit that weakness.

Notre Dame’s depth will help them easily roll past theirearly opponents, Cleveland State and likely Wisconsin, butonce they meet a team that can match their bench, thingswill get a lot more difficult. It all comes down to how wellfreshman Sklylar Diggins can play in her first ever NCAAtournament. If she turns it on and consistently produces 20points a game the Irish could challenge to reach the cham-pionship game, where juggernaut Connecticut will awaitfor a fourth time. If she cannot, it will be an early exit forNotre Dame. I see a Skylar Diggins ready to take that next step and

begin to build her legend. Expect Notre Dame to gain earlymomentum at home and carry that all the way to thechampionship game, topping Big 12 sweetheart Nebraskaand powerful Stanford along the way. The championshipgame is another story.

JACLYN ESPINOZA | Observer Graphic