Inside Notre Dame point guard Olivia Miles' journey to ascend again

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — On the other side of her slow-burning convalescence, Olivia Miles believes her big dreams are still waiting for her.

Maybe with a perspective that will make the words she someday wants to tell the world more powerful.

But in the moment she lives in now, 11 weeks removed from major surgery on her right knee, what the future might look like can’t take away the persistent pain and the sudden vulnerability felt by the face of Notre Dame women’s basketball’s burgeoning resurgence.

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“I’m supposed to be cleared to run soon,” offered the 5-foot-10 Notre Dame All-America point guard, who still walks with a limp. “But as far as when I’ll be all the way back, I don’t even really know. It’s out of my hands. It’s up to my surgeon and my trainer.

“But I’m planning to take as much time as I need, because I want to play as long as possible. So, I’m not in any rush to come back.”

Even if a more deliberate approach means that she’ll start her junior season on the bench — in Paris, no less — when the Irish open the season overseas on Nov. 6 against South Carolina.

Notre Dame, coming off a 27-6 season with an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, is ranked 10th in the ESPN Way-Too-Early Top 25, and the Gamecocks (36-1) are ranked eighth, reloading after an undefeated regular season and a Final Four run.

The uncertainty of Miles’ status is baked into projections that might have been Final Four ambitious had the Phillipsburg, N.J., product been talking in late June about being ahead of schedule. As it stands, even getting into the specifics of the injury takes Miles too far out of her comfort zone.

“Just watching film of myself still is hard, because it makes me sad,” Miles told Inside ND Sports earlier this week. “But I still do it, because it’s one way I can get better. Another way I try to grow my game is being on the sideline a lot during our workouts. Just seeing things from a different perspective.

“But it’s different, and I’m still adjusting. I’ve never had to sit out like this. It’s weird for me, but I’ve had to find ways to learn and make my time useful and be helpful to my team and stuff.”

It’s sort of been her routine since suffering the season-ending injury while landing awkwardly after making a jump pass in the first half of Notre Dame’s 68-65 win at Louisville in ND’s Feb. 26 regular-season finale. The Irish actually rallied in that game with a rush of adrenaline, a reinvented offensive flow and a performance for the ages by Miles’ sidekick, Sonia Citron.

But it wasn’t sustainable.

That same Louisville team, six days later, smothered the Irish in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, 64-38. In total, the threat to put up a triple-double every time she takes the floor — and Miles has three actual ones already — missed the last five games, with Maryland using Louisville’s blueprint to truncate Notre Dame’s postseason push.

The 2023-24 Irish roster appears better equipped both to deal with Miles’ absence and enhance her presence when she returns.

Potentially most impactful among the newcomers is freshman point guard Hannah Hidalgo, the McDonald’s All American Game co-MVP and the No. 5 player nationally in the 2023 class, per ESPNw.

The 5-6 Hidalgo has such a heavy commitment to Team USA in international play this summer, she wasn’t able to enroll in summer school at ND, but she has been able to attend some of the early team workouts.

Included in Hidalgo’s time away from South Bend is the FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup to be played July 15-23 in Madrid Spain.

“I’m trying to help her with our offense or just her responsibilities and stuff like that,” Miles said of the fellow New Jerseyite, “but she looks great, and I’m excited for her to come and get into things full swing after Team USA and all that.

“And yeah, I can see situations where we can be on the court at the same time. It’s going to be a lot like the 2018 championship team, where I think you have a lot of dynamic players who can play any position. I think that people will see that soon. We have a lot of guards, but also interchangeable positions.

“I, obviously, like and prefer to run the 1, but I’m willing to — with another great point guard — switch on and off, both of us be combo guards and kind of lead the offense. So, I’m not only comfortable with that, I’m excited for that.”

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Pepperdine grad transfer Becky Obinma, a 6-2 forward, 6-1 freshman sharpshooter Emma Risch, and 5-8 Fordham grad transfer guard Anna DeWolfe are the other additions to a roster that lost grad seniors Dara Mabrey and Lauren Ebo.

“Anna is actually the one who’s impressed me the most,” Miles said. “She just is so good, and I just love watching her play. She’s such a good 2 guard/1 guard. She really can do anything. She’s kind of small, but she uses her height so well. She’s so cerebral. Her mind works so fast on the court.

“She just understands spots and positions. She’s really impressive to me.”

What Miles has been able to do on the court to this point is form shooting. Her biggest area of emphasis now, and when she fully recovers, is improving her 3-point shooting. ND’s reigning leader in assists (6.9) and rebounds (7.3), and in scoring before her injury (14.3, Citron surpassed her at 14.7) was a 23-percent shooter behind the arc last season.

“I think everything else will kind of follow,” she said, “but that’s really my main emphasis.”

Someday her off-the-court impact will follow as well. At least that’s the plan. Head coach Niele Ivey, in fact, proclaimed upon Miles’ arrival at ND as an early enrollee during the COVID-affected 2020-21 season, that the No. 8 prospect in the 2021 class had the kind of message and clout to change the world.

“It’s pretty unfortunate, because I felt like this [NCAA] Tournament for me was really going to be big in terms of using my platform and expanding it,” Miles said. “But the injury really shifted that. It just wasn’t the right time anymore.”

What she continues to do more subtly is sell T-shirts she designed and the messaging she came up with that helps define her on and off the court — “See No Limits.” The $45 items are part of her NIL initiative in a partnership with Playa Society.

“They do a lot of work in social movements and pushing for women’s basketball and all that good stuff,” said Miles, a political science major. “So, that was really an exciting partnership. And basically, I’m actually part of the company.

“I got to work with and pick some other college girls who align with my views, and they can come and work with my brand and we can do events or talking or stuff like that. Or little pop-up shops. Like I’ll be at the WNBA All-Star break [July 14-15] in Vegas and will be selling.

“I’ve had plenty of times in my life where people tried to put limits on me. There’s always someone in the crowd who has an opinion on what I’m doing. I’m too flashy, too this, doing too much, too fancy, all that stuff. I've heard it all the time. But you know, I just continue to be myself and so, I tried to take a saying that embodies what I do.”

Especially now with limits and circumstances that are the hardest to control to date.

“I’m a big mental health advocate,” Miles said, “and everything circles around this injury. It’s been very, very tough mentally on me to keep pushing through, but I can’t wait to be a resource and an outlet. Like we have some projects in the works right now that could be super exciting that could help perpetuate that message.

“Because what better way to do that than having to have overcome it yourself and have that story to tell.”

Miles leans into her family — 15-year-old brother Isaiah, mom Maria and dad Yakubu — for strength and examples of people who role-modeled overcoming limits in their own lives.

“My parents sacrificed a lot to put me in the right places to be successful,” Miles said. “My dad came here as a Jamaican immigrant when he was 12 and taught me so many things, including how to play soccer from the jump, really. Like as soon as I learned to walk.”

And now Olivia Miles is figuratively learning how to walk all over again. … And to dream. And to overcome.

“I still believe in myself,” Miles said. “And I still believe in what I can do at Notre Dame, and [coach Ivey] does as well. One of my only goals was to leave Notre Dame better than I found it. I’m as motivated as ever to make that happen.”

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