Hannah Hidalgo Named All-American — Notre Dame Needs Her More Than Ever

Hidalgo has been named an AP All-American in each of her first two seasons of college basketball and could very well be in the mix for the AP Player of the Year award after tearing it up for Team USA in the FIBA AmeriCup back in August.

Not only did the junior help Team USA win the Gold Medal, she did it in style, too. Hidalgo was named an AmeriCup All-Star and was arguably the best defensive player in the tournament. The ND star led the entire field in steals per game (3.1), was third in assists per game (4.6), and ninth in points per game (12.4).

Hidalgo was named the ACC Preseason Player of the Year last week and is one of just four players in NCAA Women's Basketball history to be named a First Team AP All-American in each of her first two seaosns.

But as good as Hidalgo has been individually, Notre Dame has yet to advance past the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament each of the last four seasons. So, will this year be any different?

Probably not. Star point guard Olivia Miles left for TCU and Sonia Citron was arguably the second-best rookie in the WNBA behind Paige Bueckers after going third overall to the Washington Mystics in the WNBA Draft.

So, not only did Notre Dame lose its best scorer from last year in Citron, but the Irish also lost their best passer and ball handler in Miles to a different school -- one they could very well meet come tournament time. Not to add fuel to the fire, but Miles was a projected first-round pick in this year's WNBA Draft before electing to transfer for her senior season, which means Hidalgo will have to carry even more of the load this year.

Don't get me wrong, Notre Dame will be good and will be one of the best teams in the ACC, but ND's ceiling is probably the Sweet 16 yet again without a truly special season from Hidalgo.

Notre Dame was busy this offseason in the transfer portal after landing five transfers in Gisela Sanchez (Kansas State), Malaya Cowles (Wake Forest), Iyana Moore (Vanderbilt), Kelly Rattigan (Loyola Maryland), and Vanessa de Jesus (Duke), but none are impact players like Miles and Citron were.

At the end of the day, expect the Fighting Irish to have some exciting moments this season, just don't get your hopes too high on ND making a deep NCAA tournament run.