Notre Dame women's basketball: Irish land a gem in guard Jewell Loyd

[Larkspur]

Notre Dame women's basketball: Irish land a gem in guard Jewell Loyd
Score another victory for Notre Dame women's basketball coach Muffet McGraw over Connecticut and Tennessee.

Jewell Loyd, a 5-foot-10 junior guard from Niles (Ill.) West High School who is ranked the No. 6 prospect in the nation by ESPN, chose the Irish over Connecticut, Tennessee and DePaul on Tuesday. Loyd announced her decision in a press conference at Niles West.

Loyd won't be able to sign her letter-of-intent until Nov. 9, the first day of the early signing period for high school seniors. NCAA rules don't allow comment by McGraw until the letter-of-intent is signed, but that doesn't mean the Irish coach isn't sporting a wide smile after snagging Loyd from Connecticut and Tennessee, No. 1 seeds that her team knocked off in their incredible run to the NCAA championship game.

Niles West finished its season 22-9, with Loyd averaging 28.8 points, 15.2 rebounds, 4.5 steals, 4.1 assists and 3.1 blocks. She reeled off 24 double-doubles and even tallied one triple-double.

Her brother, Jarryd Loyd, played for Valparaiso University from 2004-08 and is now playing professionally in Europe.

Loyd visited Notre Dame on Monday and knew that the South Bend campus was for her.

"I walked into the basketball office and right away saw coach McGraw, and saw pictures of the Final Four," Loyd said. "I really felt at home. I really felt like this is going to be my family away from home."

Loyd saw Notre Dame knock off Connecticut in the national semifinal game before losing to Texas A&M in the championship. She left with a desire to play in the up-tempo Irish system that the Hall of Fame coach McGraw has crafted. She also developed an appreciation for Irish point guard Skylar Diggins' artistry on the court.

SNIP

Congrats to my alma mater and good luck to Jewell Loyd.

[joeybee12]

1. Nice snag for the Irish...seems like the women tend to pick their schools

closer to their home, more so than the men these days. Being from IL, Jewell probably grew up rooting for the Irish.

[Larkspur]

2. Players like Jewell would go to the UCONNs and TENNs in the past

because schools, like Notre Dame, weren't up to par with them, but this year showed how much the ND program has grown. While I don't think ND is in the same league as UCONN and TENN yet, they are not far behind. ND needs to garner more high caliber players on a consistent basis, like UCONN does. When UCONN started out, they were chasing TENN and now they have passed the Volunteers and are the Dynasty to chase.

[bigwillq]

3. ND is going to be nasty next year.

Diggins and Novosel both return. LOOK OUT