National Championship Scouting Report: No. 2 Notre Dame

Record: 36-2, 15-1 ACC

Road to the National Championship: No. 1 Seed - Oklahoma City Region

Notable wins: No. 16 Montana, No. 8 DePaul, No. 4 Stanford, No. 2 Baylor, No. 1 South Carolina

Head Coach: Muffet McGraw (28th Season; 787-261 in 33 years)

Sagarin Ratings: 2

RPI: 1

Series: UConn leads 32-11, 2-3 in NCAA Tournament

Notre Dame comes into tonight's championship game winners of 22 straight games, taking the ACC regular season and tournament championship along the way. The Fighting Irish needed a late basket by Madison Cable in the final seconds to beat South Carolina and make it to their second straight final. The Irish have one national championship to their name, back in 2001, and have finished as runners-up three of the past four years.

Muffet McGraw has had Geno Auriemma's number recently, winning seven of the last 14 meetings.  However, they have lost the last three match-ups including last year's national championship game.

The Irish, like UConn, are a prolific scoring team. Nationally they are second to the Huskies in field goal percentage offense and average over 80 points per game. They shoot almost 39% from three point range and are winning games by an average margin of 21.4 points.

Key Players/Starters:

Brianna Turner (6-3 Freshman Forward): Turner did not play against UConn back in December. She had 17 points against South Carolina in the national semifinals on Sunday night, but also fouled out during the game trying to defend the Gamecocks post players. She averages 13.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks.

Taya Reimer (6-3 Sophomore Forward): Reimer scored 16 points against South Carolina. She had only eight points and six rebounds against the Huskies earlier this year. She averages 10.3 points and 6.0 rebounds.

Lindsay Allen (5-7 Sophomore Guard): Allen has a career game in the Sweet 16 against Stanford scoring 28 points. She scored 11 points against UConn this season. Allen averages 10.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game.

Michaela Mabrey (5-10 Junior Guard): Mabrey is a three-point specialist. She was held scoreless against the Huskies. She only averages 7.1 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists.

Jewell Loyd (5-10 Junior Guard): Loyd is an All-American player. She is a prolific scorer averaging 20 points.  She scored 22 points against South Carolina and had 31 points against the Huskies back in December on 10 of 27 shooting.