Sept. 22, 2004
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – With its first practice of the 2004-05 season still nearly a month away, the Notre Dame women’s basketball team has earned numerous accolades in three preseason magazines that are now on newsstands around the country. The Irish are ranked in the top 15 according to polls published by all three publications — SLAM Magazine has tabbed Notre Dame at No. 10, while Lindy’s College Basketball Annual has the Irish at No. 14 and Athlon Sports has placed Notre Dame at No. 15. Still to come are preseason rankings from Street & Smith’s and Sports Illustrated, as well as the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today coaches’ polls.
Led by 18th-year head coach Muffet McGraw, the Irish return four starters and seven monogram winners from last year’s club that posted a 21-11 record — its 11th consecutive 20-win season — and advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen for the fourth time in the last five years (and second in a row). Notre Dame also was ranked 20th in the final ’03-04 ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll, thanks in part to a school-record seven wins over top-25 opponents during the regular season.
In addition, senior forward Jacqueline Batteast (South Bend, Ind./Washington HS) was named a preseason first-team All-American by Lindy’s, marking the third time in the last month she has received national recognition. In August, she was selected to the Wooden Women’s Award Preseason All-America Team, putting her among a group of the top 30 candidates for the Wooden Women’s Award that is presented to the nation’s top women’s college basketball player. A week later, she was one of 31 players named to the preseason watch list for the State Farm Wade Trophy that also goes to the country’s top female cager.
Batteast is considered a prime candidate for numerous national honors this year, having earned fifth-team All-America laurels from Basketball Times and honorable mention All-America accolades from the Associated Press last season. She is coming off the finest campaign of her Notre Dame career, averaging personal bests of 16.0 points and 8.6 rebounds per game while garnering first-team all-BIG EAST Conference honors, her third consecutive all-league selection. In addition, Batteast was dominating in the 2004 NCAA Tournament, averaging 22.0 points and 11.7 rebounds per game with a .483 field goal percentage and three double-doubles as the Irish advanced to the Sweet Sixteen and came within a minute of ousting top-seeded Penn State in the regional semifinals before falling, 55-49. Her performances against Top 25 opponents last season also were sharp, as she registered 16.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks with five double-doubles and three near double-doubles in 11 games.
Entering her final season at Notre Dame, Batteast ranks 11th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,315 points and stands in the top 10 on 11 other Irish career statistical categories, including rebounds (7th – 747), blocks (tie-5th – 124), scoring average (4th – 14.6 ppg.) and double-doubles (tie-3rd – 32). She also has been the picture of consistency for the Irish, having started 64 consecutive games and 86 of a possible 90 contests in her three-year tenure (she missed four games with a knee injury late in her freshman season).
The preseason polls for each of the three magazines are as follows:
SLAM Magazine 1. LSU 2. Tennessee 3. Baylor 4. Georgia 5. Texas 6. Connecticut 7. Duke 8. Stanford 9. Rutgers 10. NOTRE DAME
Lindy's College Basketball Annual 1. Tennessee 2. LSU 3. Texas 4. Georgia 5. Connecticut 6. Minnesota 7. Duke 8. Baylor 9. Stanford 10. Vanderbilt 11. Rutgers 12. Texas Tech 13. Ohio State 14. NOTRE DAME 15. Boston College 16. Louisiana Tech 17. Oklahoma 18. North Carolina 19. Kansas State 20. Arizona 21. Michigan State 22. UCLA 23. Purdue 24. DePaul 25. Utah
Athlon Sports 1. Texas 2. Connecticut 3. LSU 4. Tennessee 5. Georgia 6. Stanford 7. North Carolina 8. Ohio State 9. Duke 10. Baylor 11. Michigan State 12. Maryland 13. Vanderbilt 14. Texas Tech 15. NOTRE DAME 16. Purdue 17. Kansas State 18. Minnesota 19. Rutgers 20. DePaul 21. Penn State 22. Boston College 23. Chattanooga 24. Southwest Missouri State 25. Middle Tennessee
— ND —