What Muffet McGraw and the Notre Dame women’s basketball team has accomplished this season is nothing short of a miracle.

So perhaps it was only fitting that the Fighting Irish snapped another 30-game winning streak of an opponent on Good Friday.

The latest opponent to fall to Notre Dame was undefeated No. 1-ranked Connecticut, which was the odds-on favorite to win its 12th national championship.

The Fighting Irish have been one of the top programs in the country for decades, but to pull off the stunning upset of the Huskies — with four of its better players in street clothes — is mind boggling.

I am sure most of you have already heard the phrase that Notre Dame has more players on the bench with ACL injuries (four) than it has losses on the season (three).

But that is a fact that you cannot ignore. Nor should you.

Among those lost this season to knee injuries were All-American Brianna Turner, who injured her knee during the NCAA tournament last season, and guards Mychael Johnson and Lili Thompson.

Notre Dame was able in part to offset those injuries when Jessica Sheperd, a transfer from Nebraska, was cleared by the NCAA to play this season instead of sitting it out.

Still, to continue to play at the level the Fighting Irish have all season with only seven scholarship players on the roster is remarkable.

But as remarkable as the regular season and the postseason has been, in Friday night’s victory over Connecticut in the national semifinals, I am not sure a lot of people believed that Notre Dame would be playing for the national championship on Sunday night.

Not only did McGraw get her team to the title, but the Fighting Irish defeated Mississippi State 61-58, to win the championship.

It was not until Saturday morning as I was catching up on what other media outlets were saying about Notre Dame’s victory that I found out that the Fighting Irish have now snapped lengthy winning streaks in both men’s and women’s basketball, football and soccer.
Of course I already knew that Notre Dame snapped UCLA’s national record 88-game winning streak and that the Fighting Irish snapped Oklahoma’s 47-game winning streak in football.

Notre Dame fans already know how good McGraw and her staff are. Now the rest of the college basketball world knows.

But as good as she has been, this year’s coaching job has been her best.

Perhaps it was foreshadowing when the Associated Press named her the national coach of the year prior to the national semifinal and Notre Dame’s stunning win over the Huskies.

And it was only fiiting that the nation’s  top Catholic university won its second national title on Easter Sunday, just as they did in 2001.

I can only imagine what the Fighting Irish will be like next season when all those players are healthy and ready to go.

Scott Novak is sports editor for Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com.