WATCH: Exclusive interview with Notre Dame point guard Olivia Miles
Blue & Gold interviewed Notre Dame point guard Olivia Miles on Wednesday evening. The interview with the superstar senior who’s set to make her return from a significant knee injury suffered in February 2023 spanned roughly 20 minutes and covered a variety of topics.
Miles has played in 67 games with 61 starts across three seasons at Notre Dame. She appeared in six matchups as a mid-year enrollee in the spring of 2021. Miles averaged 13.7 points, 7.4 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game in 2021-22 and 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game in 2022-23. She started every game in those two seasons.
You can watch Blue & Gold’s virtual sit-down with Miles via On3’s automatic video player integrated into this story link or by clicking here to go to YouTube.
Here’s a rundown of some of the things Miles said.
••• She’s happy. Healthy. It’s been 480 days since Miles played in an actual game — but who’s counting — so until we see her do it again, the first question that needs to be asked of her is how the knee is holding up. She said it feels good, but she won’t be fully in the clear until she goes through a 40-minute battle against opponents wearing colors other than those of Notre Dame. She needs to get back into the fire to be all the way back.
“My knee is healthy and great. I think the biggest thing for me is getting that game shape back. I haven’t been able to get those game reps yet. I feel myself getting there with time.
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“Also just getting the mind-body connection back. I feel like that’s one of the things a lot of people don’t talk about with this injury. It’s difficult to connect your mind movements with your body movements again. I’m getting my body to work how I want it to work. That’s through reps and that’s through training very hard and lifting and what not. I’m being very intentional in the weight room and on the court.”
••• Miles spoke about what it was like to sit on the bench for all 35 of Notre Dame’s games last season. Blue & Gold asked her what her game day duties were and if they made her want to get into coaching some day.
“I think about that more now than I ever have before. Before I got hurt, you kind of have to take a step back. I was like, ‘I could never be a coach.’ I’m too impatient. I can’t sit on the sideline. I just want to be in the game the whole time. After I got hurt and I experienced that coaching life, if you will, I reconsidered it. I’ve gotten a lot closer to my coaches and I understand their job better now.”
••• On the topic of coaching, Miles went in depth on what Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey means to the Fighting Irish programs and the individual players that make it up. For more from Miles on Ivey, Notre Dame’s transfer portal additions of the offseason, summer enrollee freshman Kate Koval and back-court mate Hannah Hidalgo — and much more — watch the full interview.
