Ten games into her Notre Dame women’s basketball afterlife, TCU guard Olivia Miles continues to win, continues to stuff the stat sheet and continues to project as a top five pick in the next WNBA Draft (April 13).
One mock draft site even had the 5-foot-10 grad senior reuniting with former Irish teammate Sonia Citron with the Washington Mystics, which hold the fourth pick in the first round.
For now, Miles is a member of the TCU Horned Frogs, 11-0 heading into a Tuesday night matchup with Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3-5) and ranked No. 9 in the latest AP poll. She is averaging 17.5 points and 6.8 rebounds, and ranks sixth nationally in assists with 7.6 per game.
But could she and Irish two-time All-American Hannah Hidalgo have coexisted another season in the same backcourt?
Hidalgo is thriving statistically for the 20th-ranked Irish (8-2), heading into a Sunday home game with an overmatched Bellarmine team (2-9) on a six-game losing streak and that recently lost 100-37 to fellow ACC member Louisville.
She’s fifth in the nation in scoring (24.6) and is averaging a career-high 6.5 rebounds per game while leading the nation in steals at 5.4 per game.
If Miles and Hidalgo do share the same court again, it will be in the NCAA Tournament. And both Miles’ current and former team are projected into the field of 68 in the latest ESPN Bracketology.
TCU is slated as a No. 2 seed, the Irish a No. 5 seed. The Horned Frogs eliminated the Irish from the 2025 NCAA Tournament last March in the Sweet 16, 71-62, in what turned out to be Miles’ final game in an Irish uniform.
Three other ND players joined Miles in the transfer portal last spring — backup center Kate Koval, injured center Kylee Watson and backup guard Emma Risch. Here’s an update on how those four are faring this season in their new surroundings:
Olivia Miles, TCU
Miles is coming off back-to-back triple-doubles heading into TCU’s Arkansas-Pine Bluff matchup on Tuesday night. That gives her eight for her career, fourth all-time in the NCAA record books.
She is shooting .504 from the field, .341 from 3-point range and .837 from the free-throw line.
Kate Koval, LSU
The 6-5 sophomore center has played in all 12 games for the fifth-ranked Tigers (12-0), starting six.
Koval was averaging 11.9 points and 7.2 rebounds a game for the nation’s top-scoring team at 109.3 points per game heading into Tuesday’s matinee massacre of Morgan State (1-12). Koval is shooting .641 from the field and .738 from the free-throw line. She has not attempted a 3-pointer.
Like TCU, LSU is projected as a No. 2 seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament in the latest ESPN Bracketology.
Kylee Watson, Villanova
The 6-foot-4 forward missed all of last season at Notre Dame recovering from an ACL tear and is back on the sideline again at her third school after starting the first four games of the season for the Wildcats (8-2).
Villanova did not disclose the nature of the injury in its game notes, but did indicate Watson is out indefinitely.
In the four games the original Oregon signee played for Villanova, Watson averaged 6.8 points and 1.5 rebounds while averaging 17.8 minutes a game. She was shooting .556 from the field and .778 from the free-throw line with no 3-pointers.
Villanova is on the right side of the bubble in the latest ESPN Bracketology as a No. 10 seed.
Emma Risch, Florida State
After struggling with recurring hip injuries during her two seasons at Notre Dame, the 6-1 junior guard is starting to gain traction as a part-time starter with the Seminoles.
She is the only one of the four transfers scheduled to face her former Irish teammates during the regular season, and she individually fared well — 12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists — on Dec. 7. Collectively, though, Florida State got run out of its own gym, 94-58, in the ACC opener for both teams.
Risch is shooting better from the 3-point arc (.436) than overall (.407) and is .818 from the free-throw line. She is averaging 9.8 points and 3.3 rebounds with 6 blocked shots.