A few Notre Dame women's basketball notes on Jayda Porter and Giovanna Burress
The Irish are off to a great start in the 2026 class, and while they just have one commitment, it's a significant one. Georgia small forward Bella Ragone decided to commit to Notre Dame at the end of May, as she's the No. 23 overall prospect in the 247Sports Composite Rankings.
Niele Ivey is looking to add another top prospect to join Ragone in power forward Jayda Porter. The 6-foot, 3-inch Missouri native is just behind her in the rankings, as the No. 31 overall player in the cycle and this weekend decided to schedule her official visit to South Bend for Sep. 13th. Porter also announced visits to Oklahoma, Nebraska and Wisconsin. She's the brother of NBA player Michael Porter Jr., and daughter to Michael Sr. who is currently the head coach at Missouri.
Looking further ahead, the Irish extended an offer to 2028 New Jersey guard Giovanna Burress on Saturday. The sister of wide receiver Elijah and daughter of Plaxico, could eventually join her brother on campus as Notre Dame has offered extremely early. Giovanna is looking like a national prospect, so this could be the start of a long relationship. While the Irish are early, they are not the only big schools to offer as Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan State and others have already done so.
It very much looks like Ivey is taking a page out of Marcus Freeman's recruiting playbook, offering players that have elite athletic lineages. Hopefully this strategy works as well for the women's basketball team as it has for the football team.
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