Further Mile for Smiles: Olivia Miles' Return Vindicated by WNBA Draft Hype

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Going again to highschool paid dividends for TCU’s Olivia Miles, who has inserted herself into the highest choose dialog on the 2026 WNBA Draft.

NEW YORK—Irrespective of how playing advertisements and affords assault the senses throughout broadcasts of this WNBA season, the businesses concerned nonetheless cannot supply the self-bet. TCU guard Olivia Miles confronted no such downside and is cashing in.

With the shot clock turned off within the WNBA’s countdown to Monday’s draft (7 p.m. ET, ESPN), Miles has the makings of a coup on the high spot. Many have been fast to show the No. 1 honor to nationwide champions Lauren Betts and/or Azzi Fudd, and even worldwide sensation Awa Fam, however Miles’ final miles have prolonged the dialog.

“I feel the flexibility that I deliver is second to none, and I say that with confidence as a result of I do know and belief in my recreation and myself,” Miles mentioned as a number of potential headlining picks spoke throughout their keep at The Luxurious Assortment Resort Manhattan Midtown. “I feel you will not discover a higher participant who makes the individuals round them higher. In the end, it is out of my palms. I can solely marketing campaign and petition for myself, however I feel the movie and my teammates, when you have been to ask them to talk, speaks for itself.”

Miles within the Metroplex

The highest choose likewise belongs to the metroplex, because the Dallas Wings are selecting first for the second straight season. Whether or not the Wings decide so as to add one other ball-heavy level guard subsequent to Paige Bueckers may dominate the ultimate 48 hours earlier than the draft, however Miles also needs to draw consideration from different lottery individuals, together with the Minnesota Lynx, Seattle Storm, Washington Mystics, and Chicago Sky, in addition to growth yields Toronto Tempo and Portland Hearth.

Like many March movers, Miles discovered the gas for a leap on the NCAA Event bracket. The previous Notre Dame rep averaged 19 factors, 9.8 rebounds, and 9.0 assists within the Horned Frogs’ match quartet, the output headlined by a 28-10-8 exhibiting within the Candy 16 overcome Virginia.

The Horned Frogs fell to nationwide runner-up South Carolina within the regional ultimate however Fort Value historical past is nonetheless on the road: Miles will possible turn out to be the fourth or fifth Frog to have her identify written on a WNBA Draft card (teammate Marta Suárez can be anticipated to hitch the ranks) and it is attainable she’ll be the best TCU alumna chosen (Sandora Irvin, third to Phoenix in 2005, holds the present file).

Miles Leads the Class in an Vital Metric

Miles admitted that she will be able to’t management such a destiny, however she had full energy to find out which lottery batch she’d be part of: Miles was extensively seen as an early choose in final yr’s draft, even after a knee damage saved her out of Notre Dame’s match run. She opted for the portal slightly than the choose, heading south to Fort Value after it reached its first girls’s regional ultimate in program historical past.

Vindication is probably the one metric that is not measured by draft scouts, however Miles may nicely stand because the undisputed chief among the many 36 chosen on Monday.

“I am unable to even describe what this yr did for me in phrases,” Miles mentioned, additionally happy by the truth that her first WNBA contract will likely be completed below the phrases of a brand new collective bargaining settlement. “I feel mentally, bodily, emotionally, the whole lot that I used to be in a position to develop and to do and to domesticate out of myself get extra potential out of myself earlier than I used to be a professional [was huge]. I feel I am extra prepared. However this yr has paid off in so many alternative methods, and I am unable to await it to translate.”

It proved to be the precise determination for causes far past the luck of the Irish, as she saved the Massive 12 Participant of the Yr honor in Fort Value after Hailey Van Lith gained it final time round. The {hardware} was beneficial sufficient, but it surely was the happiness that maybe pushed Miles excessive.

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Miles’ Draft Future Awaits

Following the aforementioned win over Virginia, Miles proclaimed that her Texas tour allowed her to get her “pleasure again” (h/t Charlotte Gibson, ESPN). She elaborated on the feeling in New York, additionally emphasizing the significance of sustaining it together with her professional debut looming.

“The power and the circulation of the sport, and simply being current in basketball, is. It is like chaos. It is the whole lot taking place abruptly,” Miles mentioned in her definition. “However discovering your pleasure and discovering the circulation of the sport and throwing a dime and like feeling on high of the world, or making a 3-point shot and profitable a recreation and never wanting it to be over. I feel that is the enjoyment that I used to be in search of and finally doing with everybody round me.

“I felt like I wanted to seek out that, so I did not view basketball as a job or a chore,” Miles continued. “If you view your job as a job, I really feel like that is when you must query what you are doing, particularly if it is a sport that we play for enjoyable, and finally join for enjoyable. Sustaining that by means of, clearly, it is now extra of a enterprise than ever earlier than. It should be essential only for me to get pleasure from and play my finest.”

Her a part of the discount is taken care of, and now she merely sits again and waits for her draft evening future. Irrespective of the place she’s chosen, Miles promised that her eventual chooser can be getting “a high-IQ participant who’s going to make their teammates higher.”

“I feel that it is uncommon to discover a true level guard in our recreation, and so I used to be simply excited to deliver that again to the league, deliver that old-fashioned model again to the league,” Miles mentioned. “No matter staff picks me up, it is a perception, and it is an appreciation, as a result of they need me on their staff they usually need to put money into me. Wherever I’m going, in truth, I simply desire a staff to consider in me and have me as their level guard. I will be honored both approach.”

Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags

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