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SOUTH BEND — She never looked up.
Cradling a basketball and shouting instructions that needed to be heard while supported by the basket stanchion on the west end of Purcell Pavilion, all she had to do was turn right and glance to the arena roof.
It was right there, hanging quietly above Section Three. A banner with her last name and jersey number and the years that she performed at an elite level for one of the elite women’s college basketball programs in the country.
Former Notre Dame women's basketball forward Natalie Achonwa never noticed that blue and gold and white No. 11 banner with ACHONWA between the banners of two other program greats — Skylar Diggins and Kayla McBride.
Noie: Can Notre Dame women's basketball reach Final Four in Madness bracket? Our prediction
Future Stars: WNBA draft prospects to watch in the March Madness tournament
That’s some select company. She’s select company.
Achonwa never paused in her role as assistant coach for player development for a University of Michigan, a program that if everything breaks right Friday will face her alma mater Sunday for a Sweet 16 berth.
On Thursday, the 32-year-old Achonwa’s previous basketball life as a Notre Dame standout and her present one as an assistant coach collided. It didn’t stir any added emotions. This time.
That wasn’t the case Sunday when the brackets were announced and something came true that Achonwa swears she spoke into existence. She didn’t know how, but she knew deep in her basketball soul the bracket would somehow send Michigan (22-10) to South Bend.
“I called it before it even happened,” said the 6-foot-4 Achonwa, known as “Ace” during her Notre Dame days that saw her score 1,546 points, grab 970 rebounds and tally 28 double doubles in four seasons. “The basketball Gods, they just like to play the narrative.”
They also play on emotions. Those certainly were in play Wednesday during a three-hour bus ride down from Ann Arbor. The thought of her returning to a place that helped her develop as a person and as a player was overwhelming.
How she arrived from Toronto as the program’s first international player and left a first-round WNBA draft pick. How she grew her game, and grew up, while playing for Hall of Fame head coach Muffet McGraw. How she grew to love the game more.
She had a look Thursday during Michigan’s media session that said she might need a minute.
“It’s very emotional,” Achonwa said. “It’s funny how two big portions of your life collide. To know what Notre Dame means to me, how instrumental it was for me to be where I am today and then this transition of wearing the Maize and Blue. I’m very happy to be here.”
A year ago, while working through everything that comes with being a mom (her son, Maverick was born in 2023), Achonwa remembers watching the NCAA Tournament and dreaming of her next move.
It would have to involve basketball. It’s always been about basketball.
“I said, ‘One day, I’m going to coach in the NCAA Tournament,’” Achonwa said. “For that dream to come true Friday (against Iowa State) is just magical.
“It shows what basketball can do for you. What growth can do for you. What believing in yourself can do for you and what putting in the work can do for you.”
If you told Michigan freshman guard Syla Swords six years ago where she would be today, she wouldn’t have believed you. The 6-foot Swords had an elite game at an early age, so she knew college would likely involve basketball at the highest level.
The disbelief would come from playing for the same program that employs Achonwa as an assistant coach. Like Achonwa, Swords is an Ontario native. In middle school, when it was time to do a presentation or write a paper on someone that she considered a role model, Swords would always draft it about one person.
She would speak and/or write about Natalie Achonwa. For English. For History. Forever.
“She was a legend,” Swords said. “I don’t even know where to start. She was a big-time Canadian basketball player. Her passion and leadership always stood out to me.”
That Achonwa ended up in Ann Arbor happened by chance. Having devoted so much time to playing the game – she spent eight seasons in the WNBA, played overseas for five and has been part of Canada’s national team since she was 16 in 2009, including participation in four Olympics – Achonwa knew after having Maverick what her post-playing career would entail.
Coaching. Even as far back as Notre Dame, she saw the game more as a coach.
“Even when I was playing, it was like, this is what I want to do,” she said. “It just feels like a natural fit. It's who I am.”
Word circulated around the 2024 Final Four that Achonwa was interested in coaching. An AAU coach that Achonwa knew also knew an agent who knew another agent when knew that Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico had a spot on her staff. Barnes Arico, who previously coached at St. John’s, knew of Achonwa from their Big East battles.
The first time the two talked, it was as if they’d known one another for years.
“I was like, ‘Like minds,’” Achonwa said. “The way we approached the game, the way we push our players, all the worlds collided.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, this is definitely somewhere that would feel complete for me.’”
And for Achonwa’s son. She wanted to work for a program that would help her grow as a coach and mother. A mother of three herself, Barnes Arico basically told Achonwa whatever she needed to be a mom, to be a coach, she could be all that in Ann Arbor.
“I wouldn’t be where I’m at without people who believed in me,” Achonwa said. “Coach Arico was one of those.”
On the court, Achonwa is Coach Nat, but off it, she’s known more for being Maverick’s mother than anything she’s ever done on the basketball court, and she’s done a ton. All those honors at Notre Dame? With the Canadian National Team? In the WNBA? Nobody wants to know any of that. They have only one question.
Where’s Maverick?
“I’m chopped liver now,” Achonwa joked. “I’m just here.”
Here is back in South Bend, back in Purcell Pavilion, back around a program where she was among the best to ever do it. Some Michigan players may not even know it.
On Wednesday, Swords was seated in the arena stands for the play-in game between Iowa State and Princeton. She looked up and noticed that No. 11 banner with that familiar last name. Swords knew that Achonwa played at Notre Dame, but didn’t know that she played well enough to have that hanging up there.
“I was like, ‘Coach Nat, you weren’t going to mention this?’” Swords said. “She’s just so humble and that’s what makes her so personable.”
Achonwa has been all about being in the moment this week. She doesn’t want to think about what a potential second-round matchup against Notre Dame might be like. Her full attention is Iowa State.
She also doesn’t want to look too far down the coaching road. Wondering where she might be five years from now is too big of a step. For now, she’s a coach. She’s a mother. That’s a lot. That’s enough.
“We’ll see where this goes,” Achonwa said. “Come back in a couple years and see if I’ve ironed out a five-year plan. I’m not there yet.
“I wanted to be a part of a program changing lives and I’m doing that.”
All while never looking up. Only straight head. One day, one game, one moment at a time. Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame women's basketball will always hold special place in former player's heart
Continue reading...
Cradling a basketball and shouting instructions that needed to be heard while supported by the basket stanchion on the west end of Purcell Pavilion, all she had to do was turn right and glance to the arena roof.
It was right there, hanging quietly above Section Three. A banner with her last name and jersey number and the years that she performed at an elite level for one of the elite women’s college basketball programs in the country.
Former Notre Dame women's basketball forward Natalie Achonwa never noticed that blue and gold and white No. 11 banner with ACHONWA between the banners of two other program greats — Skylar Diggins and Kayla McBride.
Noie: Can Notre Dame women's basketball reach Final Four in Madness bracket? Our prediction
Future Stars: WNBA draft prospects to watch in the March Madness tournament
That’s some select company. She’s select company.
Achonwa never paused in her role as assistant coach for player development for a University of Michigan, a program that if everything breaks right Friday will face her alma mater Sunday for a Sweet 16 berth.
On Thursday, the 32-year-old Achonwa’s previous basketball life as a Notre Dame standout and her present one as an assistant coach collided. It didn’t stir any added emotions. This time.
That wasn’t the case Sunday when the brackets were announced and something came true that Achonwa swears she spoke into existence. She didn’t know how, but she knew deep in her basketball soul the bracket would somehow send Michigan (22-10) to South Bend.
“I called it before it even happened,” said the 6-foot-4 Achonwa, known as “Ace” during her Notre Dame days that saw her score 1,546 points, grab 970 rebounds and tally 28 double doubles in four seasons. “The basketball Gods, they just like to play the narrative.”
They also play on emotions. Those certainly were in play Wednesday during a three-hour bus ride down from Ann Arbor. The thought of her returning to a place that helped her develop as a person and as a player was overwhelming.
How she arrived from Toronto as the program’s first international player and left a first-round WNBA draft pick. How she grew her game, and grew up, while playing for Hall of Fame head coach Muffet McGraw. How she grew to love the game more.
She had a look Thursday during Michigan’s media session that said she might need a minute.
“It’s very emotional,” Achonwa said. “It’s funny how two big portions of your life collide. To know what Notre Dame means to me, how instrumental it was for me to be where I am today and then this transition of wearing the Maize and Blue. I’m very happy to be here.”
A year ago, while working through everything that comes with being a mom (her son, Maverick was born in 2023), Achonwa remembers watching the NCAA Tournament and dreaming of her next move.
It would have to involve basketball. It’s always been about basketball.
“I said, ‘One day, I’m going to coach in the NCAA Tournament,’” Achonwa said. “For that dream to come true Friday (against Iowa State) is just magical.
“It shows what basketball can do for you. What growth can do for you. What believing in yourself can do for you and what putting in the work can do for you.”
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Natalie Achonwa a legend in her native Canada
If you told Michigan freshman guard Syla Swords six years ago where she would be today, she wouldn’t have believed you. The 6-foot Swords had an elite game at an early age, so she knew college would likely involve basketball at the highest level.
The disbelief would come from playing for the same program that employs Achonwa as an assistant coach. Like Achonwa, Swords is an Ontario native. In middle school, when it was time to do a presentation or write a paper on someone that she considered a role model, Swords would always draft it about one person.
She would speak and/or write about Natalie Achonwa. For English. For History. Forever.
“She was a legend,” Swords said. “I don’t even know where to start. She was a big-time Canadian basketball player. Her passion and leadership always stood out to me.”
That Achonwa ended up in Ann Arbor happened by chance. Having devoted so much time to playing the game – she spent eight seasons in the WNBA, played overseas for five and has been part of Canada’s national team since she was 16 in 2009, including participation in four Olympics – Achonwa knew after having Maverick what her post-playing career would entail.
Coaching. Even as far back as Notre Dame, she saw the game more as a coach.
“Even when I was playing, it was like, this is what I want to do,” she said. “It just feels like a natural fit. It's who I am.”
Word circulated around the 2024 Final Four that Achonwa was interested in coaching. An AAU coach that Achonwa knew also knew an agent who knew another agent when knew that Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico had a spot on her staff. Barnes Arico, who previously coached at St. John’s, knew of Achonwa from their Big East battles.
The first time the two talked, it was as if they’d known one another for years.
“I was like, ‘Like minds,’” Achonwa said. “The way we approached the game, the way we push our players, all the worlds collided.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, this is definitely somewhere that would feel complete for me.’”
And for Achonwa’s son. She wanted to work for a program that would help her grow as a coach and mother. A mother of three herself, Barnes Arico basically told Achonwa whatever she needed to be a mom, to be a coach, she could be all that in Ann Arbor.
“I wouldn’t be where I’m at without people who believed in me,” Achonwa said. “Coach Arico was one of those.”
On the court, Achonwa is Coach Nat, but off it, she’s known more for being Maverick’s mother than anything she’s ever done on the basketball court, and she’s done a ton. All those honors at Notre Dame? With the Canadian National Team? In the WNBA? Nobody wants to know any of that. They have only one question.
Where’s Maverick?
“I’m chopped liver now,” Achonwa joked. “I’m just here.”
You must be registered for see images attach
Where might this whole coaching gig one day go?
Here is back in South Bend, back in Purcell Pavilion, back around a program where she was among the best to ever do it. Some Michigan players may not even know it.
On Wednesday, Swords was seated in the arena stands for the play-in game between Iowa State and Princeton. She looked up and noticed that No. 11 banner with that familiar last name. Swords knew that Achonwa played at Notre Dame, but didn’t know that she played well enough to have that hanging up there.
“I was like, ‘Coach Nat, you weren’t going to mention this?’” Swords said. “She’s just so humble and that’s what makes her so personable.”
Achonwa has been all about being in the moment this week. She doesn’t want to think about what a potential second-round matchup against Notre Dame might be like. Her full attention is Iowa State.
She also doesn’t want to look too far down the coaching road. Wondering where she might be five years from now is too big of a step. For now, she’s a coach. She’s a mother. That’s a lot. That’s enough.
“We’ll see where this goes,” Achonwa said. “Come back in a couple years and see if I’ve ironed out a five-year plan. I’m not there yet.
“I wanted to be a part of a program changing lives and I’m doing that.”
All while never looking up. Only straight head. One day, one game, one moment at a time. Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame women's basketball will always hold special place in former player's heart
Continue reading...
