LOS ANGELES — After just 13 games of what is sure to be a long and successful collegiate career, Hannah Hidalgo is already being spoken about as a star player in women’s college basketball. On Wednesday, the freshman guard was named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List. She is one of 25 student-athletes who are now considered frontrunners for women’s basketball’s most prestigious honor.
The Haddonfield, N.J., native has already made her mark on Notre Dame, the ACC and college basketball as a whole. Hidalgo is leading the ACC averaging 23.9 points per game, and she leads the nation with 5.7 swipes per contest. She is also pacing all ACC freshmen with 5.9 assists per game and a field goal percentage of 49.4.
Karen and Kevin Keyes Family Head Coach Niele Ivey has compared Hidalgo to Notre Dame legend Skylar Diggins, and Hidalgo’s defensive prowess sure resembles that of Diggins, who holds the program’s freshman record for total steals (90). Hidalgo has notched 74 swipes this season through just 13 games.
The conference has definitely recognized Hidalgo’s talent and impact on ACC basketball, naming her the ACC Rookie of the Week seven times. That is a program record and three shy of the ACC record (Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State). Hidalgo has also won two Player of the Week honors, joining Brianna Turner as the only Notre Dame player to ever win both Player and Rookie of the Week in the ACC or Big East.
Hidalgo is one of four players to make their debut on the list along with TCU’s Sedona Prince, USC’s JuJu Watkins and LSU’s Mikaylah Williams. Watkins and Williams are also freshmen.
The Pac-12 leads all conferences with six selections, while the ACC and SEC are just behind with five each.
The Wooden Award Men’s and Women’s Player of the Year will be announced and awarded on April 12, 2024. Active players who have won the award include UConn’s Paige Bueckers (2020-21) and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark (2022-23). No Notre Dame player has ever earned the honor.
Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to the universities’ general scholarship fund in the names of the Wooden Award All American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend.