A family, together and connected by basketball. The sport has seen before the union of relatives in the same team, in the same championship, so many times, that it has become something natural. In college basketball, the relationship between a mother and her son only increases every time he scores and with every instruction scribbled on the coach’s board.
Jaden and Niele Ivey are just like that. The Purdue shooting guard, one of the best in all of college basketball in 2021-22, and the coach at the University of Notre Dame. The most incredible: both are placed among the top 16 teams of the March Madness men and women’s tournaments.
The path traced by both leads to the same goal, success. Former WNBA player, Niele discovered her pregnancy in her rookie year in the North American professional league. She only played for five seasons at the Indiana Fever, Detroit Shock and Phoenix Mercury.
Before that, a national title for Notre Dame, her, “team-soul mate”, if you will, Once her professional career ended, Niele became an assistant at Fighting Irish, continuing her career now on the bench at the university that revealed her to the world.
The year 2019-20 was a difficult and distinct time for both the mother and her son. Jaden, in his last year of high school, did not have his mother in the stands. Niele, on the bench for the Memphis Grizzlies after being called to be part of Taylor Jenkins's committee, couldn't see her son's last steps before heading to college.
The following season, Niele took over the post of head coach at Notre Dame, becoming the university's 1st African American female coach. Then their paths crossed again. Two hours separate South Bend, where Notre Dame is located, from West Lafayette, town of Purdue, both in Indiana.
Niele travels smoothly to see all of her son's games with the Boilermakers. She's not the coach anymore, she's now simply the mother of a possible Top 5 in the 2022 NBA Draft.
The outcome? A fantastic season for both of them. Jaden is a candidate for the men's college basketball best shooting guard. Niele took Notre Dame to March Madness' Sweet 16 and could go even further.
A scribble on the coach’s board, a score during the game. Player, coach, mother, son. Functions often get mixed up. Love for each other and for basketball, never. Those are intact.
Purdue faces Saint Peter's, for the Sweet 16, this Friday and could be among the top eight in the country. Notre Dame faces North Carolina State on Saturday and could also be among the top eight in the country.