With all of the exciting surrounding [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] this season, it’s often easy to forget about [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag]. Notre Dame’s best player the previous couple of seasons, Miles hasn’t played since she was injured in the Irish’s regular-season finale last year. Since then, the Irish have been vague at best on updates about her, but it appears progress is being made.
Emily Adams of the Hartford Courant took video of Miles practicing her shot ahead the Irish’s much-anticipated game against UConn. Adams speculated that this might mean she would play against the Huskies:
So…Olivia Miles is out taking shots and appears to be in uniform ahead of Notre Dame’s game at UConn.
There hasn’t been any update on her status, but if she plays it would be her first game since a season-ending knee injury late in the 2022-23 season. pic.twitter.com/h5MFoJ0U2y
— Emily Adams (@eaadams6) January 27, 2024
The hope of Miles playing turned out to be short-lived. Soon after, Adams spotted Miles on the Irish’s bench having changed out of her basketball gear:
Olivia Miles is back in sweats on the Notre Dame bench, so looks like UConn won’t be seeing her tonight.
Still cool to see her out there shooting and hopefully getting closer to return! pic.twitter.com/qifW6Lk2Se— Emily Adams (@eaadams6) January 28, 2024
As the Irish get deeper into the season, each game obviously becomes more important. Having Miles back for the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament would be a huge boost. The question is how she’ll fit into a rotation that is used to playing without her by now. Hopefully, we’ll get an answer soon.
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