UConn Legend Sue Bird Backs Hannah Hidalgo as 'Early' NCAA Player of the Year
The UConn Huskies vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish game on December 12 (which Notre Dame won 79-68) informed the women's college basketball community about several valuable things.
One is that despite suffering two losses relatively early in the 2024-25 season, Notre Dame should still be considered a bona fide National Championship contender. Similarly, Notre Dame sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo cannot be overlooked as one of the game's best players.
Hidalgo was the best player on the court during that December 12 game, which is indicative of how she has been playing throughout the entire season.
Due to this success, many fans consider Hidalgo to be the best player in women's college basketball right now. And it seems that UConn Huskies legend Sue Bird is one of these fans, according to her sentiment during a December 18 episode of the "A Touch More" podcast.
"When you have guards like that — like Hannah Hidalgo, like Olivia Miles — their fingerprints are going to be all over that team," Bird said.
"And yeah, you can't really talk about this [UConn] game without talking about Hannah. She balled the f*** out. 29 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists in front of some Notre Dame greats... So yeah, you can't say enough about Hannah.
“If I had to put in an early vote for player of the year, it’s probably Hannah,” Bird added. "I mean how can it not be? The numbers she's putting up, the ways in which she's helping her team win games, the big buckets she's getting. Can't say enough about her play."
“If I had to put in an early vote for player of the year, it’s probably Hannah (Hidalgo).”
— Vanshay Murdock 🎥🎥 (@VanshayM) December 18, 2024
- Sue Bird on @atouchmore pic.twitter.com/zj5SsadCNc
Hidalgo is surely deserving of this high praise from Bird.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.