Olivia Miles could have been a lottery pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. However, she decided to transfer to TCU instead of leaving Notre Dame for the WNBA. That decision hasn’t changed much about her potential as a pro. Miles is still projected to be a lottery pick and have a successful WNBA career.
She put together five high-scoring games to start her season at TCU and recorded two double-doubles, one with 11 assists and 17 points and one with 15 points and 14 rebounds. In her first two games, she also continued her much-improved 3-point shooting from the previous season, sinking four of her eight attempts. Since then, Miles has cooled down considerably from long range, stringing together three bad shooting games.
The season is still young, though, and Miles has plenty of time to prove that last season’s 3-point shooting wasn’t a fluke. Miles’s decison to stay in college already looks pretty good because she will get to enter the WNBA under a new CBA and get another season to prepare after a torn ACL in 2023. If she can prove that her improved 3-point shot is here to stay and enter the WNBA as a more well-rounded player, it will look even better.
Olivia Miles vastly improved as a 3-point shooter last season
Miles has never been afraid to shoot threes at the college level. She took 1.7 attempts per game as a freshman, 3.7 in her second season, and 2.8 in her third season at Notre Dame. Over those three seasons, she never averaged more than 27% shooting from three, though. In the WNBA, being a guard without a solid 3-point shot is difficult, but Miles still had great potential as a playmaker and scorer inside the arc. That potential skyrocketed when her 3-point percentage did.
Miles kicked off her fourth season at Notre Dame by sinking 13 of her 24 threes in her first five games. While Miles still had some bad shooting games—as everyone does once in a while—she managed to finish the season shooting 40.6% on 5.3 attempts per game.
Improving as a 3-point shooter quickly made Miles the complete package—a guard who can score from several levels, rebound well, and excel as a playmaker.
This season, she will have to prove that last season’s success wasn’t just a fluke. Over her last three games, Miles only converted three of her 15 attempts from behind the arc. There’s no reason to panic yet, though. Three games are a small sample size and Miles has plenty of time to put together another efficient season.
Miles also impacts games when her threes aren’t falling. She went 1-3 from long range against Tennessee State but still finished the game with 17 points, 11 assists, and five steals. Likewise, she scored 15 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, and dished out five assists when she went 1-6 from three against NC State. She also only made one of six attempts in TCU’s most recent game against Tarleton State, but still filled up the stat sheet with 18 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals.
Miles will be a top draft pick even if she can’t quite replicate last season’s success from three.