knocked out in the NCAA Sweet 16 as a No. 3 seed<\/a> by TCU.<\/p>\nThe 5-foot-6 guard views this season as a \u201cblank canvas\u201d and vowed not to allow last year\u2019s letdowns resurface. She pointed to lessons from last year about how to be a better leader, which include helping develop team chemistry. It\u2019s the latest step in a journey that began with her finding immediate stardom as a freshman while Miles was sidelined by a knee injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know how to get the best out of my teammates,\u201d Hidalgo said. \u201cI know the steps that I need to take and the things that I need to do. One of the most important things is building that relationship and that connection with my teammates off the court. It\u2019s bigger than basketball and when you\u2019re surrounded by people who truly care about you and who want the best for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hidalgo downplayed any rift between her and Miles, including one social-media post by a fan where the two appeared to be in a heated discussion in the tunnel of a WNBA preseason game in May. She said she was surprised when Miles decided to leave South Bend, Indiana.<\/p>\n
When asked about potential tension between the two Irish stars, Hidalgo said, \u201cNo, there\u2019s nothing. She went her separate way and I\u2019m still here at Notre Dame, so I wish her all the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s the clear headliner in a changing ACC, where 11 of 15 players who earned first-team all-ACC honors last year didn\u2019t return either to transfers, graduations or departures to play professionally. She\u2019s also become a big draw \u2014 and at times a subject of public criticism \u2014 on social media as she looks to build her personal brand.<\/p>\n
Notre Dame sixth-year head coach Niele Ivey said it\u2019s her job to make sure Hidalgo\u2019s focus is where it should be amid her time in the spotlight.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve spoken about it, and feels like her point guard is in the right headspace.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know the weight of that is heavy, the crown is super heavy,\u201d Ivey said. \u201cBut I feel like she has done a great job of surrounding herself with the right network, the Notre Dame network, but also her family. She is very grounded with her family and her faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hidalgo averaged 23.8 points, 3.6 assists, 3.7 steals and 5 rebounds per game last season while shooting 40% from 3-point range. And while it\u2019s hard for Ivey and the Irish to ask for more than that, they almost certainly will need to. Notre Dame has seven new players and only five returners.<\/p>\n
But with Miles gone, there will come additional challenges with Hidalgo expected to be the primary focal point of opposing defenses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this will really help grow my game,\u201d Hidalgo said. \u201cI can\u2019t win a game by myself, so figuring out how to get all my teammates involved, when we haven\u2019t scored a couple possessions, being able to take the ball, take control, and whether that\u2019s me scoring a bucket or getting somebody open to score a bucket.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019ll really help extend my game and get me prepared for the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 Notre Dame point guard Hannah Hidalgo has spent the better part of the last seven…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,15113,398,400,3789,401,8393,121659,37753,15114,99],"class_list":["post-214118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-hannah-hidalgo","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-notre-dame","tag-notre-dame-basketball","tag-notre-dame-womens-basketball","tag-olivia-miles","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}