SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Finding consistency is perhaps the most difficult — while simultaneously important — aspect of excelling as an athlete. It’s one thing to go off with a scoring burst in one game, but can you bring the same level of play to every game?
For Notre Dame forward Maddy Westbeld, consistency has been a career-long process, one she continues to chisel away at as she takes the next steps as a player. Westbeld won the team’s Most Improved award last season, having rounded out all of the facets of her game to become the glue that holds together the Irish’s foundation.
While rehab from offseason foot surgery sidelined her for nonconference play this season, Westbeld enters her final college months with a veteran’s perspective and mindset, shaped by the ups and downs of her five years in South Bend.
“It’s been a blessing,” Westbeld said of her recovery process. “I have always been on the court.”
Since she stepped foot on campus in 2020, Westbeld has dedicated every moment to her team. Redefining what her day-to-day looked like as she healed gave her a different insight that now fuels her as she returns to the court. She saw her first minutes in the third-ranked Irish’s ACC victory over North Carolina on Jan. 5 and hit a key 3-pointer Sunday against Clemson to ice the game.
Early mornings were spent solitary in the summer and early fall for the Ohio native. She started every day with meditation, a habit she believes is key to building the consistency she has shown over the past year. Then weight lifting and rehab, followed by recovery before preparing to sit and learn on the sideline during practice.
“That was my time to really lock into (my teammates) and see how they react,” Westbeld said.
How did they handle a turnover? What happened when each player missed a shot? How did Hannah Hidalgo’s defense spark her offense?
“I’m sitting here analyzing all these things because I want to be a better teammate,” Westbeld said. “I don’t want to miss a thing.”
After Notre Dame lost to Oregon State in the Sweet 16 of last year’s NCAA Tournament, Westbeld thought about entering the WNBA draft. Former Notre Dame greats Jewell Loyd and Skylar Diggins-Smith were a sounding board for Westbeld to get feedback. What did she need to lock in on for the next level? What context did she need to understand?
Westbeld also felt there were perhaps more ideas and opinions than answers when it came to taking her game to the next level. She admits she’s stubborn and she wanted to win a national title with the Irish, a key factor in returning for a fifth season.
“My goal and vision for this year … let me tighten up everything so that nobody can say (stuff) about me,” Westbeld said with a grin.
How No. 6 Notre Dame prepares its players for the WNBA — while also keeping the focus on winning
No one has spent more time with Westbeld over the past year than Irish player development director Carlos Knox. Westbeld approached her unspecified injury and return as an opportunity to attack her development and continue the bond she and Knox had developed since he joined the program before last season. She played through the injury and figured it was time to take care of it in the interest of her future.
“To understand exactly what you need as Maddy Westbeld is not difficult,” Knox said. “It’s embracing it.”
With a wealth of playing experience and more than a decade working with the Indiana Fever, Knox met with Westbeld on his first day on campus. What were her goals? What did she care most about developing? What did she see for herself?
He came back quickly with a plan to achieve those goals.
“I sincerely feel like a pro right now because of him,” Westbeld said.
Refining the process has been the root of Westbeld’s and Knox’s partnership. Putting in the work never has been a question, but redefining each moment and step with intention has been integral.
“There’s so many little things he brought to my attention and made me aware of in the game that I had no idea were even factors,” Westbeld said.
What’s your routine before you step on the court? How do you warm up? What’s your mindset while you’re warming up?
Everything is about repping at game speed, as Knox puts it and Westbeld reiterates. Doing 45 minutes of work with pro-level intensity will do more than two hours of a slow-burn shootaround.
The injury added another layer to Westbeld’s development: patience.
While she couldn’t put weight on her foot, she was constantly in the gym with Knox. Countless hours and practices, all done stationary, were the staple. Form shooting and ballhandling in a chair was something to focus on but also caused a level of antsiness, of wanting to shift over 50 feet and work on zone closeouts with her teammates.
But the perspective shift also created the opportunity to dive deeper into the game.
Westbeld and Knox are constantly communicating, sending clips back and forth of WNBA players. They talked and texted nonstop during the WNBA Finals, a matchup of some of the game’s elite forwards.
While Knox makes it clear there’s no direct comparison at the next level, he loves sending Westbeld film of Breanna Stewart. Westbeld sees so much of Napheesa Collier’s game that she wants to apply it to her own, dominating from the middle of the floor with counters, never sped up, always in control.
“This year is going to be a testament of her getting more vocal and imposing her will on the game,” Knox said.
Westbeld made significant strides last season, transitioning from more of a back-to-the-basket big to handling the ball on the perimeter. That also required more time defending outside the paint, where she and Knox feel she made key improvements with room to grow, particularly “playing on the balls of her feet” more often.
Knox said moving to the perimeter is key to Westbeld adapting to and preparing for the next level while also growing her understanding of the game and her ability to affect it.
But the most important aspect continues to be her outlook and mindset. Westbeld has a sense of calm and composure that comes only through experience. Her college career has been a whirlwind of highs and lows, and while observers can see the fruits of her consistency on the court, it’s more difficult to understand how finding that consistency takes place off the court.
Westbeld hit the ground running as a first-team All-ACC performer as a freshman, but she described the tunnel vision that comes with the college transition. You want to prove yourself when you first arrive, and people put their belief in you as you ascend.
But then there’s the struggle to maintain that. How people react to inconsistency alters self-belief, as Westbeld puts it.
“Who am I doing it for?” she said, recalling what she asked herself.
She always wanted to put her best foot forward on the court for her coaches and family. So much of this past year was about coming full circle and pulling her journey into complete focus.
“That focus was how I was able to realign myself,” she said.
Westbeld is a few months away from her last game in a Notre Dame uniform. The twists and turns of her time in South Bend — and the relationships she forged along the way — have her primed to go out on a high before launching into the next phase of her career.
Mark Schindler is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
