At the triumphant inauguration of each college basketball season, Power 5 teams debut down one of two roads: either they humorously stomp a mid-major program that’s just happy to be playing in a real arena, or they’re locked into an exhibition dog fight with a fellow title contender. The latter games are played in the interest of national excitement. The former are mostly-pointless stimuli for the host team’s record.
Monday’s matchup in South Bend between No. 6 Notre Dame and Mercyhurst, hailing from Erie, Pennsylvania, never projected to be a competitive outing—rightfully so. However, the game found purpose elsewhere. 617 days since she last played, Notre Dame senior guard Olivia Miles was making her return to the sport.
Miles, who tore her ACL in late February of the 2022-23 season, headlined the AP All-American Second Team that very same year. The Fighting Irish closed out that regular season 2-2 following Miles’ injury, valiantly fighting to win two March Madness contests without their floor general before losing to Maryland in…
