Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles reacts to $5M worth Candace Parker hailing her game as “WNBA ready”
Notre Dame women's basketball star Olivia Miles responded to WNBA legend Candace Parker's praise for the Fighting Irish guard. An Instagram video showed Candace responding to a question about her favorite college basketball player to watch. The former Tennessee star chose Miles due to her "WNBA ready" performances.
"My favorite player to watch in college basketball is Olivia Miles," she said. "I think she is the one player that's gonna really surprise a lot of people at the next level, because her game is just like WNBA ready. The way she moves, she plays, the way she makes people around her better."
Miles shared the video on her Instagram story, with the caption:
"Tha [goat emoji]"
Candace Parker began her collegiate basketball career at Tennessee in 2004, leading the Lady Vols to eight championship titles. She was selected as the first pick in the 2008 WNBA draft by the Los Angeles Sparks on April 9, 2008, and became the first WNBA player to win both the Rookie of the Year and the Most Valuable Player awards in the same season.
In 2016, she won her first WNBA championship with the Sparks before joining Chicago Sky, where she won her second WNBA title in 2021. In 2023, Parker joined the Las Vegas Aces and won her third title before retiring in 2024. Parker has an estimated net worth of $5 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Olivia Miles shines as Notre Dame route SMU 88-64
Olivia Miles put up a stellar performance as third-ranked Notre Dame (16-2, 7-0) defeated SMU (10-9, 2-5) 88-64 in an 11th consecutive win on Sunday evening. Miles recorded an initial seven points and four rebounds before leaving the game with an ankle injury.
Then she returned in the second quarter to deliver a triple, becoming the first player to reach 10 points in the game. Miles finished the game with 17 points, six assists and 10 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame star forward Hannah Hidalgo overcame injury to lead the Fighting Irish with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 steals. Other Fighting Irish players with double figures include Sonia Citron (11) and Liatu King (10).
“This group plays with a ton of grit, edge and a toughness about them,” Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said about Miles and her teammates during postgame. “The way that they defend, their activity on the ball, trying to impose their will.”
“We focused on taking care of the ball after having more turnovers than we wanted in the last game, and I thought that helped our offense execute a lot better,” she added.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame will be on the road for its next three games - Boston College (Jan. 23), Virginia Tech (Jan. 30) and Louisville (Feb. 2).