2000–01 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team

The 2000–01 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 2000–01 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Fighting Irish, led by fourteenth-year head coach Muffet McGraw, played their home games at Edmund P. Joyce Center as members of the Big East Conference. The Irish finished the season 34–2, 15–1 in Big East play to earn a share of the regular season championship. They defeated Virginia and Florida State before losing to UConn in the Big East Women's Tournament championship. Notre Dame received an at-large bid as the No. 1 seed in the Midwest (Denver) region. They defeated Alcorn State and Michigan to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. There they defeated Utah and Vanderbilt to advance to the Final Four. The Fighting Irish exacted some revenge over the No. 1 UConn Huskies in the Final Four, then defeated the No. 3 seed from the Mideast region, 9th ranked Purdue, in the national championship. The Irish edged the Boilermakers 68–66 to capture the program's first national title.

The Fighting Irish opened the season ranked No. 6 in the AP poll. After 18 wins without a defeat, including a comfortable win over No. 1 UConn, Notre Dame rose to the No. 1 ranking. The team went on to win their first 23 games before losing 54–53 at Rutgers.

Senior center Ruth Riley was named Big East Player of the Year and Naismith Player of the Year, and earned her second straight First-team All-American honor.

Schedule and results
!colspan=9 style=|Exhibition

!colspan=9 style=| Regular season

!colspan=9 style=| Big East tournament

!colspan=9 style=| NCAA women's tournament

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