Sky rookie Maddy Westbeld discusses disappointing end at Notre Dame, WNBA Draft process and much more

The last year has not gone to plan for Maddy Westbeld. Shortly before her fifth and final season at Notre Dame, the three-time All-ACC performer was forced to undergo surgery to address a lingering issue with her left foot. The procedure kept her on the sidelines until January. 

When Westbeld did return, her playing time was sporadic and she struggled to find a rhythm. Her 7.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per game were by far the worst marks of her impressive college career, and she shot just 30.8% from behind the arc. Due in part to Westbeld not being her usual self, the Fighting Irish, who were ranked No. 1 in the country at one point in the season, were eliminated by TCU in the Sweet 16. 

On a personal level, Westbeld’s draft stock took a big hit. Once a projected first-round pick, she slid to No. 16 overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft, where she was selected by the Chicago Sky.

Despite it all, Westbeld remains in contention to earn a roster spot with less than a week remaining until teams have to make their final cuts.

Ahead of the Sky’s final preseason game on Saturday against the Minnesota Lynx, CBS Sports spoke with Westbeld about Notre Dame, the draft process, learning from her big sister Kathryn (who also went to Notre Dame and is currently in training camp with the Phoenix Mercury) and playing with Angel Reese. 

Note: This Q&A has been condensed and edited for clarity and flow. 

CBS Sports: I want to go back first to Notre Dame. Obviously, your season didn’t end the way anyone expected. From your perspective what went wrong and have you been surprised by all of the transfers afterward?

Maddy Westbeld: I think when a team doesn’t finish out the year like it was projected or, the standard that they had, obviously it’s very disappointing. Just as a player and all of the relationships that I’ve had with every one of those girls, it’s like, you wanna always go out on a high note, and you wanna have your last memory with them be a great one.

However, it doesn’t take away from all of the amazing memories and the things that we had been able to accomplish prior to that. I can’t only hang my hat on what happened in the last part of this past season, just because we have been through so much together and what happened doesn’t speak for the character of the university, the character of the brand of just that team in general.

I’m just so grateful to have been a part of that, and what we had accomplished up to this point, and then also just going forward, understanding like, I couldn’t do it at that level. You know, I didn’t win a championship. That was the goal. So going into this next chapter of my life, I’m really excited and humbled by the fact that I’m in an underdog situation again where I’m able to really just push for another championship, and that’s why I’m so excited about playing for Chicago. Because everybody has that mentality, that edge about them, and we all are here to win, and we all are here to compete to be the best. So that’s what I’m so excited about.

CBS Sports: Sticking with college for a minute, you’ve had experience with NIL. I’m curious for your thoughts about it and how it will continue to impact the college game. 

Westbeld: I think it’s just the name of the game now. It kind of looks as professional as it could get in college. I appreciate having the lens that I have. My sister, who didn’t experience NIL at all, wasn’t able to profit off of all the work and sweat and tears and everything that she went through. I mean, she has a ring on her finger to prove it. But just to have that gratitude for the fact that I saw what it could have been without profiting off of NIL, and then also on the other end of it, working and getting what I deserve from that. 

I think going forward, NIL is the huge name of the game. Everybody is talking about it with the transfer portal and how the two go hand in hand. I think it just speaks to, especially at a place like Notre Dame, the core values of an institution to kind of repeat the same brand of players to come and play for that place. Because money talks, to be completely honest, and if you don’t get the right players in the right places, it’s tough to get the culture that you want. So I think it’s so important for coaches and their institutions to stay grounded in their standard and their core values so that you can continue to have success.

I think it’s a beautiful thing and it’s a great opportunity and it’s long overdue, but in the same sense it’s just, there’s ways to navigate it for sure.

CBS Sports: You dealt with an injury that affected your final season. How do you think it impacted your draft standing and that process? 

Westbeld: I think everything happens for a reason, and especially when it comes to injuries and timing of injuries. You can always question why, and I think the timing of my injury was a little bit different, especially when you see what could have been. I think that I could have had the surgery right after the [2023-24] season last year. It wasn’t as significant and I didn’t know better. In hindsight, it’s always 20/20.

It’s just like, I’m not gonna beat myself up about anything. I had the cards that I was dealt, and I walked through it with grace, and I walked through it with a mindset of getting better every single day. Coming back from that surgery, it was tough. It was definitely tough, and it put me in a very challenging situation, one that I had never been in before. But in the same sense, I’ve gained so much resilience and so much character from that situation that I don’t think I could be in a better position, standing where I am standing right now, just from the ability to fight through adversity and fight through tough things.

It was definitely tough, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

CBS Sports: With major injuries, players often talk about how it takes a while, even after they’re back on the court, to feel like themselves again. Where do you think you’re at with that process?

Westbeld: Oh yeah, I mean, there’s always still a little bit of pain management and whatnot when coming back from a tough surgery. When I came back it was like coming back into the game. I was learning how to play basketball again, because you come back in the middle of the season so that you don’t have that time to kind of play pick up and go two on two or three on three, you’re kind of just thrown into the fire.

So it was like, let me navigate this little by little. And with the time that I’ve had off and the time that I have in this training camp, it’s really been beautiful to just kind of have that breath of fresh air in a sense of just a new opportunity and kind of a new environment where I can prove to myself what I’m made of in this new place. And obviously, it’s the next level, it’s the best of the best.

To be completely honest, no, I don’t feel like I’m at 100% by any means, but for me to be standing where I’m standing right now and feel like that and know that I’m just scratching the surface, I think that just speaks to the player and the person I am, and motivation that I have to be great. 

CBS Sports: Going back to the draft, I’m sure that was an amazing moment, but what did it feel like to hear your name called?

Westbeld: Yeah,  I’ll never forget that experience. I mean, growing up as a kid, obviously my dream has always been to be there, and to hear my name called by Cathy [Engelbert] and walk up on stage and wear the hat and all that.

And I mean, God is never going to put you in a position that you planned for yourself. Leading up to that, it just, I don’t know, things were just aligning to be home for it and to be in Dayton and to be around my family, regardless of anything that was out of my control. I’m so thankful that I was there to celebrate it with the people that I love. There were so many people who were there, and it was really a full circle moment.

My sister, she was undrafted out of college and got a training camp contract in L.A., and then got cut and has been playing overseas ever since. This is her first training camp back this year, and so for us to be able to celebrate this together, obviously I wouldn’t have been able to celebrate her if I were to be in New York. So that was just a testament to the fact that everything works out exactly how it should be. I was so grateful for that, and I’ll never forget it, truly.

CBS Sports: I was going to ask about your sister. How has she helped you navigate this whole process with the draft, coming to training camp and making the jump to the professional level? 

Westbeld: Yeah, she’s always been my greatest role model and somebody that I’ve truly modeled my life after and my core values. She’s a champion in everything that she does, and so I asked her about everything.

I’m like a sponge and I’m a really curious person, so I truly asked her about every experience that she’s had, especially coming out of college. She wasn’t exactly sure what to do and she didn’t have an agent and didn’t have the resources that are there today. With NIL players have agents now in college, and I mean, just the resources and the fact that I had a sister who went through it prior to me. It makes me emotional thinking about it because I feel like I’m reaping the benefits that she sowed and didn’t get to see the benefits from the work that she had put in.

So the fact that right now she gets to play, and she’s hooping her ass off right now in Phoenix. It just makes me so happy because, like I said, she went through the process blind, kind of. Thankfully, I have not made her – not that they were mistakes, but, you know, her lack of understanding. I’ve been able to use that and navigate it and try to make great decisions for myself. The fact that both of us are standing here right now fighting for a spot in the W, I think it’s such a beautiful journey.

CBS Sports: Now that you’ve been in training camp and played in the preseason, what has been the biggest difference from the college game to the pros?

Westbeld: Everybody talks about the physicality and the pace. For me, I think my natural game has been very physical all my life and then going to college, there’s  a lot of flops in college. When I got there, I had to kind of move, or shape my game into more of a finesse, fadeaway game, which is fine, I think that was a beautiful way for me to spread my game out a little bit and become more versatile. But I was truly really excited about the fact that I can embrace that physicality again coming to this level. And that’s exactly what I’ve experienced up to this point.

Then obviously, the pace and the amount of offensive tendencies, defensive tendencies, it’s just a lot. We’ve only been working, I think this is Day 8 or Day 9 of practicing it, so I’ve just been watching a lot of film and trying to keep up as much as possible, talking to my vets. 

I have amazing vets and they reach out to me asking how they can help me, and I think that’s just a testament to the character of this team. It’s been a tough transition, but it’s been relatively smooth, because of the people that I’m surrounded with here, so I’m grateful. It’s challenging, but that’s what I asked for.

CBS Sports: You guys went down to LSU to play a preseason game against Brazil in a homecoming game for Angel Reese. What was that experience like, and how has it been to play with Angel?

Westbeld: It was really cool. First of all, there’s a lot of purple. It was a lot of deep colored purple. I’ve never been there before, so that was different. But Angel is such a trailblazer in this game, and just for women’s sports, women’s leadership in general.

I’m grateful to share the floor with her, and to be able to see the impact that she’s making and the love that surrounds her, which is obviously very well deserved. I’m so grateful to be able to compete with her every day because her relentless activity is something that is very unique. Just being able to up my game, up my level of activity whenever I’m competing against her in practice, or just being able to watch her, even in the game, how she communicates with her teammates. She’s a phenomenal leader, and I think people don’t really see that, but being with her every day in practice, like she’s a great communicator and she’s a great leader. I’m grateful to be on the same team as her.

CBS Sports: Earlier you mentioned fighting for a roster spot. I imagine that’s a rare experience for you. Do you remember the last time you were actually unsure if you were going to make a team? 

Westbeld: There were a couple of times. I would equate this to trying out for [Team] USA. I played 3-on-3 a couple of summers ago and I made the team thankfully and that was an amazing experience. 

But this made me think about in high school actually, when I tried out and I got cut. I didn’t make the team in high school and that was really heartbreaking for me, but it was something that I used as a driving force after that to be better. I definitely use that as motivation.

Actually, before the first day of training camp, I thought back to that moment because I really sat and took a long time to reflect after that about how I was going to move going forward. That high school moment, that really hurt me, I’m not gonna lie to you. But it definitely drove me to want to become great.

CBS Sports: Finally, how do you think you can help the Sky this season? 

Westbeld: Right now, I’m still stepping into this role and kind of understanding what my expectations are. Obviously, I have my own expectations for what I wanna do this summer, but from what I’ve been talking about with the coaches and my GM, I think just coming in and being consistent every single day – bringing the intangibles, being a leader, doing all the little things, crashing [the glass] every possession, being a great teammate.

I think this team’s morale is really, really high, as it is. And one of the unspoken characteristics of leadership that I hold is being able to unite a team. Even as a rookie, I feel like my team’s little sister. I have a lot of vets who are five years-plus in the league, and honestly, I think because me and my sister are so close and we have that dynamic, I’m able to be really close to my teammates here already because it’s kind of the same dynamic. So, that’s been really, really fun.

And I think just continuing to build that culture within this team and within this organization, because talking to everybody, that’s what the chip on our shoulder is: getting Chicago back to the championship standard. And I want every part of that.