The Big Ten Conference is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1896, it predates the founding of its regulating organization, the NCAA. It is based in the Chicago area in Rosemont, Illinois. For many decades the conference consisted of 10 prominent universities, which accounts for its name. As of 2014, it consists of 14 member institutions and 2 affiliate institutions, with 4 new member institutions scheduled to join in 2024. The conference competes in the NCAA Division I and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, the highest level of NCAA competition in that sport.
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football Bowl Subdivision independent schools are four-year institutions whose football programs are not part of an NCAA-affiliated conference. This means that FBS independents are not required to schedule each other for competition like conference schools do.
The Horizon League is a collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the league's eleven member schools are located in and near the Great Lakes region.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division I in all sports, with many teams competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Notre Dame is one of only 16 universities in the United States that play Division I FBS football and Division I men's ice hockey. The school colors are gold and blue and the mascot is the Leprechaun. It was founded on November 23, 1887, with football in Notre Dame, Indiana.
Kimberly Duane Mulkey is an American college basketball coach and former player. She is the head coach for Louisiana State University's women's basketball team. A Pan-American gold medalist in 1983 and Olympic gold medalist in 1984, she became the first person in NCAA women's basketball history to win a national championship as a player, assistant coach, and head coach. She has won NCAA championships as the coach of Baylor in 2005, 2012, and 2019 and of LSU in 2023. Mulkey was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000 and into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020.
Matthew Francis Doherty is an American former college basketball coach best known for his time as head coach of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team. Prior to accepting the head coaching position at UNC he spent one season as head coach of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball program.
Michael Paul Brey is an American basketball assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association. He was previously the men's head basketball coach at the University of Notre Dame. Brey served as the coach for 23 seasons from his hiring in 2000 until his resignation at the end of the 2022–23 season.
Megan Duffy is an American women's basketball coach, currently the head coach at Marquette University. Previously, she had been the head coach with the Miami RedHawks women's basketball team, an associate head coach with the Michigan Wolverines women's basketball team, George Washington Colonials women's basketball team, an assistant coach with St. John's Red Storm women's basketball team, and a professional basketball player in the WNBA, most recently playing for the New York Liberty.
Beth Cunningham, is the head coach of the Missouri State women's basketball team.
Coquese Makebra Washington is a basketball coach and former player who is currently the head women's basketball coach for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Washington holds a law degree and was the first president of the WNBA Players Association, holding that position from 1999 to 2001. She played high school basketball at Flint Central High School and collegiate basketball at the University of Notre Dame.
The North Star Conference or NSC was a women's conference in the NCAA. The conference existed from the 1983–84 school year through the 1991–92 school year. Originally announced in 1983, the conference was formed by charter members Butler, Dayton, DePaul, Detroit, Evansville, Loyola (Chicago), Notre Dame, and Xavier. Although the conference was to offer competition in cross country, softball, swimming, tennis, and volleyball, the conference was created primarily as a basketball conference. With the exception of Butler and Dayton, all charter members' women's basketball teams were already competing at the NCAA Division I level; Butler and Dayton upgraded their teams from NCAA Division II and commenced competition in the conference's second season. The conference was effectively absorbed by the Mid-Continent Conference, as six of its final seven members moved their women's sports to that organization.
Ann "Muffet" McGraw is an American former college basketball coach, who served as the head women's basketball coach at Notre Dame from 1987 to 2020, compiling a 848–252 (.771) record over 33 seasons.
The UConn Huskies women's basketball team is the college basketball program representing the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut, in NCAA Division I women's basketball competition. They completed a seven-season tenure in the American Athletic Conference in 2019–20, and came back to the Big East Conference for the 2020–21 season.
The 2009–10 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began in November 2009 and ended with the 2010 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament's championship game on April 6, 2010 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The tournament opened with the first and second rounds on Thursday through Sunday, March 18–21, 2010. Regional games were played on Thursday through Sunday, March 28–31, 2010, with the Final Four played on Sunday and Tuesday, April 4 and 6, 2010.
Lindsay Catherine Gottlieb is an American basketball coach who is the women's head coach for the USC Trojans of the Pac-12 Conference. She was previously the head coach of the California Golden Bears women's team before becoming an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The 2014–15 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began in November and ended with the Final Four in Tampa, Florida, April 5–7. Practices officially began on October 3.
The 2016–17 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began on November 11, 2016 and ended with the Final Four title game in Dallas on April 2, 2017, won by South Carolina. Practices officially began on September 30, 2016.
Heather Oesterle is the strategic program director the Notre Dame women's basketball team. Previously, she was the head coach of the Central Michigan women's basketball team. Oesterle was named CMU's head women's basketball coach in July, 2019, succeeding her long-time mentor Sue Guevara. Oesterle served for nine seasons on Guevara's staff at CMU, helping lead the program to unprecedented heights including three Mid-American Conference championships, two MAC Tournament titles, and five MAC West Division crowns. She earned her bachelor's degree in kinesiology from Michigan in 2002 and her master's degree in sports studies from Miami in 2008.
The 2010–11 Mid-American Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2010, followed by the start of the 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play began in January 2011 and concluded in March 2011. Kent State won the regular season title with a conference record of 12–4. Sixth-seeded Akron defeated Kent State in the MAC tournament final in overtime and represented the MAC in the NCAA tournament where they lost in the first round to Notre Dame.
The 2023–24 Mid-American Conference women's basketball season will be the season for Mid-American Conference women's basketball teams. It will begin with practices in October 2023, followed by the start of the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November. Conference play will begin in January 2024 and conclude in March 2024. The 2024 MAC tournament will be held at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio for the 24th consecutive season.
