{"id":225798,"date":"2025-10-15T05:39:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T05:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/225798\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T05:39:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T05:39:18","slug":"2025s-projected-top-3-pick-olivia-miles-reveals-motivation-behind-surprising-transfer-portal-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/225798\/","title":{"rendered":"2025\u2019s Projected Top-3 Pick Olivia Miles Reveals Motivation Behind Surprising Transfer Portal Move"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"https:\/\/img.particlenews.com\/image.php?url=0oWCBi_15eS4Hqu00\"<\/p>\n

Olivia Miles, 22, shocked the basketball community this spring when she turned down a near-certain top-three selection in the 2025 WNBA Draft to play one more year of college ball.<\/p>\n

Instead of returning to Notre Dame, where she became a national standout, the star guard entered the transfer portal and committed to TCU, a program steadily gaining momentum. Miles has now opened up about the real reasons behind the decision, finally shedding light on the personal and competitive motivations that fueled her unexpected move.<\/p>\n

Why Did Olivia Miles Make the Unexpected Transfer From Notre Dame to TCU?<\/p>\n

Olivia Miles\u2019 decision this spring caught nearly everyone off guard. The 22-year-old guard, widely projected as a top-three selection in the 2025 WNBA Draft, turned down a guaranteed professional future to play one more year of college basketball. But the bigger surprise wasn\u2019t her return to the NCAA; it was her choice to leave Notre Dame for TCU.<\/p>\n

After a recent Horned Frogs practice, Miles finally addressed what led to her move<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my main motivation was just to be a year further removed from my knee injury,\u201d she said. \u201cJust gain more confidence mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually too. And just, you know, feel more ready to be a pro. And I felt like I could do that here in a pro-style system. I get to really focus on basketball here. I\u2019ve gotten my degrees out the way. So I\u2019m just really in a system that\u2019s catered to me and, you know, my strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miles\u2019 extra year of eligibility came after she missed the 2023-24 season\u00a0due to an ACL injury suffered late in the prior campaign. She came back<\/a> strong for Notre Dame in 2024-25, starting all 34 games and averaging 15.4 points, 5.8 assists, and 5.6 rebounds.<\/p>\n

Her performance earned her second-team Associated Press All-America honors and positioned her as a possible No. 2 pick\u00a0in the upcoming WNBA draft.<\/p>\n

Instead, she\u2019s now the centerpiece of a TCU team that enters this season with historic momentum. The Horned Frogs were voted No. 1 in the Big 12 preseason poll for the first time ever, receiving 10 of 16 first-place votes from league coaches. Iowa State, Baylor, and Oklahoma State followed, each collecting two votes.<\/p>\n

TCU\u2019s rise has been rapid under head coach Mark Campbell. Last season, the Frogs won the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles behind Hailey Van Lith, Sedona Prince, and Madison Conner. Van Lith, a former Louisville standout, was selected in Chicago\u2019s first round of the WNBA Draft, while Conner went in the third round to Seattle.<\/p>\n

Now, Miles steps into the spotlight as TCU\u2019s preseason newcomer of the year, just as Van Lith did in 2024 before claiming Big 12 Player of the Year honors. With her experience, leadership, and health restored, Miles\u2019 transfer not only reshapes TCU\u2019s championship hopes but also gives her one more year to prepare for the professional stage on her own terms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Olivia Miles, 22, shocked the basketball community this spring when she turned down a near-certain top-three selection in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[126614,4,983,15134,57607,99,434],"class_list":["post-225798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-2025s-projected-top-3-pick-olivia-miles-reveals-motivation-behind-surprising-transfer-portal-move","tag-breaking-news","tag-local-news","tag-newsbreak","tag-pfsn","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}