Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo 'humbled' by newfound stardom - ESPN

ALBANY, N.Y. — Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo was a rising prep star growing up in New Jersey, but she did not start following women's basketball until her junior year in high school.

Now, in the middle of a freshman All-America season, Hidalgo reflected how she has become a household name headed into the Irish's Sweet 16 matchup against Oregon State on Friday.

«I never thought I would be the face of something,» Hidalgo said Thursday. «It's still like, 'Wow, people are trying to look up to me.' When I was in Spain, and people are chanting my last name, it's just like, people know me from all over and it's humbling. I continue to be humbled because I know in an instant everything could be taken away from me.»

Hidalgo has led an injury-depleted Notre Dame team, playing with six players in its rotation, to its third straight Sweet 16 appearance. It was the work of coach Niele Ivey, a Notre Dame alum herself, that got Hidalgo interested in playing for the Irish.

But during a wide-ranging interview Thursday during the open locker room period, Hidalgo said she did not know much about Notre Dame women's basketball's rich history when Ivey started recruiting her because she did not watch women's basketball growing up.

Hidalgo recalled, as a fifth grader, being turned off to the sport because, as she describes it, «people kind of bashed women's basketball.»

«When I was seeing women's basketball, and this is a big reason I didn't really watch it, is hearing the media say women shouldn't be playing basketball,» she said. «This is a man's sport. They should be back in the kitchen and seeing all that it was like no encouragement. I'm like, 'Do I really want to do this when I get older?' It was just like, 'No, I don't really think I