Sue Phillips pointed her pen down the table at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore. — toward high school seniors Hannah Hidalgo, Mikaylah Williams and KK Arnold, all wearing the same red and white USA shirt that, in a few months, they’d replace with colors of different college programs — and uttered a statement that applied to just about anyone on the inaugural women’s Nike Hoop Summit roster.
No. 1 overall recruit JuJu Watkins missed that game, resting a sore ankle. Hidalgo, a Merchantville, N.J. native, played a team-high 27 minutes, poured in 13 points and dished out eight assists.
At the next level, Phillips predicted, Hidalgo and this collection of players would sell out arenas.
Their 21-point win over Team World in April 2023 would become a footnote to whatever they accomplished next, when they capitalized on the sport’s momentum — which Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese jolted with the Iowa-LSU national championship earlier that week — and ensured it was never extinguished.
“They’re our future stars,” Phillips said that day.
In the present, the spotlight belongs to Clark.
But for as much as the 2024 NCAA Tournament, one year later, will be about the farewell and the last chapter to Clark’s historic Iowa tenure, it’s also about the introduction and preview of what’s next.
Clark reset the standard of what could be possible, but over time, it’ll gradually become the next thing that Hidalgo and the women wearing the next batch of USA basketball shirts — including LSU’s Williams and UConn’s Arnold — attempt to shatter.
Hannah Hidalgo is part of the next generation of women’s college basketball that will be more apparent after Caitlin Clark’s departure. MATT CASHORE / USA TODAY NETWORKAnd at the center of that will be Hidalgo — the 5-foot-6 guard who joined USC’s Watkins as the fourth and fifth freshmen to earn an AP All-American honor since the award started — when No. 2 Notre Dame opens Saturday against Kent State.
Neither she nor her family expected the accolades for Hidalgo’s ascension as one of the future faces of the sport.
Her father and Paul VI High School coach, Orlando, didn’t even know all of those awards even existed and was surprised to stumble upon the AP news on X.
Hidalgo just focused on maximizing her skill set that blends natural scoring (23.3 points per game) and sharp defensive instincts (NCAA-high 4.6 steals), but that’ll be accompanied by a different type of spotlight for the next three seasons.
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“That 2023 class, Hannah’s class, is so deep,” Orlando told The Post. “It kind of reminded me of the [Allen] Iverson draft [in 1996], where they had that many talented players. … [Hidalgo] just wants to be the best at what she does, and she’ll put in the work and the time to be the best.
“And it just comes with her gifts and her talent that she’s one of the best girls right now in college.”
The root of Hidalgo’s defensive strength dates back to some of her earliest basketball days, when she faced her brother — who was taller — one-on-one and learned to never let him post up.
Then, in middle school, Hidalgo was the lone girl and starting point guard on the Life Center Academy team that Orlando coached.
He wanted her to learn man-to-man principles in that setting and its importance for successful teams.
Hannah Hidalgo (3) attempts to steal the ball from Purdue Northwest’s Kennedy Jackson (23) in the first half. MATT CASHORE / USA TODAY NETWORKBut Orlando also taught Hidalgo to look for cues.
As she aged through the levels and started playing for Philly Rise’s 17u team, Hidalgo studied the rhythm of opponents before games, searching film for any tip — a hitch in their shoulder, a pattern before they crossed over — that could lead to a steal.
During her second college game in November, Hidalgo snagged 12 steals against NJIT.
“She makes you uncomfortable when you play against her,” Kevin Lynch, a former Division I assistant and Philly Rise founder, told The Post. “Even the good players. They start to speed their game up, and that leads to turnovers or bad passes.”
Hidalgo was always quick, too. “Lightning quick,” Phillips said. Someone who could seamlessly adapt to the college game, the “fearless” type who figured out how to not get bumped off routes when cutting and not let a defense’s pressure disrupt attacks the basket.
ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips hands the MVP trophy to Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Hannah Hidalgo (3) in the college basketball game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the NC State Wolfpack. Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesAt Notre Dame, Hidalgo encountered creative freedom, especially with junior guard Olivia Miles out for the season due to injury.
She could make mistakes, face different traps and learn to adapt when one team experimented with a different defensive strategy.
It happened against N.C. State in the regular season, when they kept forcing her to go left with a different “wrinkle,” Orlando said.
By the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, Hidalgo figured out how to adjust.
Caitlin Clark is hoping to win a national title with Iowa. APShe’s become the focal point of opposing game plans, and national attention — especially after Clark graduates and the accompanying spotlight gets divided among the rising stars such as Hidalgo, Watkins and others.
That’s the logical next step, Orlando, Lynch and Phillips all agreed.
Clark changed the game, Orlando said.
And this group of freshmen — with his daughter a key member — has the chance to do the same.
“It’s like the double-edged sword,” Phillips said. “You’d hate to have them be in the shadows of, say, a Caitlin Clark, and then you also hate to limit a kid to what they could become. You just continue to hope that they spread their wings and really flourish to grow the game.”
