Notre Dame women's basketball reset: Olivia Miles up for award, AP Poll update

There are not 10 point guards in American better than Notre Dame freshman Olivia Miles.

That’s what the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association indicated Monday afternoon when 10 watch list candidates for the 2022 Nancy Lieberman Award, given annually for the last 23 years to the best point guard in the country, were announced. Miles is on the list.

She leads Notre Dame with 14.2 points per game and ranks second nationally in assists per game (7.2). Iowa sophomore Caitlin Clark, who is also one of the 10 candidates, ranks first with 8.2. Clark and Miles are the only players in the nation who average at least 14 points, seven assists and six rebounds per game. Miles greatly aided those statistics with a triple-double against Valparaiso in December. She had 11 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists in that Notre Dame victory.

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More recently, Miles has turned into a prolific scorer — which is Clark’s calling card. Clark has scored 40-plus points in two of Iowa’s last three games. She averages a staggering 27.4 points per game. Miles has only scored 27 or more once, meanwhile. But she posted a career-high 30 points against Boston College on Jan. 30 and poured in 24 more a few days later against Virginia Tech.

Considering Clark leads the country in scoring and assists, she’s likely the favorite to win the award as it stands. She’d join an elite list of players who have done so, including Notre Dame’s Skylar Diggins (2013). UConn’s Paige Bueckers, who has not played since injuring her knee against Notre Dame on Dec. 5, won the award last year.

What Miles has done in her first full collegiate season, though, has put the sport on notice; she could be one of the best distributors of the basketball in the women’s game for the foreseeable future.

2022 Nancy Lieberman Award watch list candidates

• Jordan Lewis, Baylor
• Nia Clouden, Michigan State
• Diamond Johnson, NC State
• Veronica Burton, Northwestern
• Khayla Pointer, LSU
• Caitlin Clark, Iowa
• Hailey Van Lith, Louisville
• Ashley Owusu, Maryland
• Olivia Miles, Notre Dame
• Destanni Henderson, South Carolina

Notre Dame moves up in latest AP Poll

What could have been.

All Notre Dame had to do was beat an opponent it had previously never lost to in program history and head coach Niele Ivey’s team would have been all but a lock to slide into the top-15 of the AP Poll for the first time this season.

Instead, the Irish lost to the Seminoles because of lackluster second and third quarters. Subsequently, Notre Dame only moved from No. 20 to No. 18 in the latest poll despite beating No. 3 NC State less than a week ago. The loss to unranked Florida State certainly hindered any more upward movement.

Still, the Irish (18-5, 9-3 ACC) only slid from No. 13 to No. 14 in the most recent NET Rankings. Ivey’s team is still in contention to earn a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament, which would ensure South Bend’s Purcell Pavilion as a host site for the first and second rounds of the tourney.

Week 14 AP Poll

1. South Carolina (21-1)
2. Stanford (18-3)
3. Louisville (21-2)
4. Michigan (20-2)
5. NC State (20-3)
6. Arizona (17-3)
7. Indiana (16-3)
8. UConn (15-4)
9. Iowa State (20-3)
10. Baylor (17-5)
11. Georgia Tech (18-4)
12. Oklahoma (20-3)
13. Tennessee (19-4)
14. LSU (18-4)
15. Maryland (17-6)
16. Texas (15-6)
17. Georgia (17-5)
18. Notre Dame (18-5)
19. Florida (17-6)
20. BYU (19-2)
21. Ohio State (16-4)
22. Florida Gulf Coast (21-1)
23. North Carolina (18-4)
24. Oregon (14-7)
25. Iowa (15-)

Notre Dame national team statistic rankings

Scoring offense: 75.5 ppg (25th)

Scoring defense: 62.4 ppg (159th)

Rebound margin: 7.4 (32nd)

Assists per game: 17.5 apg (14th)

Turnovers per game: 15.3 (130th)

Assist to turnover ratio: 1.15 (18th)

Turnovers forced per game: 17.4 (118th)

Upcoming Notre Dame schedule

Feb. 10, 6 p.m. ET: vs. Miami (12-9, 5-6)

Feb. 13, 2 p.m. ET: at No. 3 Louisville (21-2, 11-1)

Feb. 17, 8 p.m. ET: at No. 11 Georgia Tech (18-4, 9-2_

Feb. 24, 8 p.m. ET: vs. Clemson (8-15, 2-10)

Feb. 27, TBD: vs. No. 3 Louisville (21-2, 11-1)