The Notre Dame Fighting Irish were designated No. 3 seeds for the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday. They will play against the No. 14 seed Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks in the first round of the tournament on Friday.
In a clip posted on Instagram on Wednesday, Fighting Irish star Olivia Milles collaborated with Dick's Sporting Goods and Just Women's Sports to announce that she would document the team's off-court journey during March Madness.
"I'm Olivia Miles. I'm teaming up with Dick's Sporting Goods and Just Women's Sports to give you guys a behind-the-scenes look at Notre Dame travel days. Let me take you along," Olivia Miles said.
In the vlog, she showcased the team's routine on travel days and gave behind-the-scenes glimpses into the team's breakfast routine and their flight to South Bend. The Fighting Irish are sixth favorites to win the NCAA tournament (+600) while the South Carolina Gamecocks (+270) are the favorites (per BetGM).
The key to the Fighting Irish's March Madness hopes will lie with stars, Olivia Miles and Hannah Hidalgo. Miles is averaging 16.2 points on 49.6% shooting from the floor and 40.9% shooting from beyond the arc. She is also putting up 5.9 RPG and 5.8 APG this season.
On the other hand, Hidalgo has averaged 24.2 points on 46.6% shooting from the floor and 40.7% shooting from beyond the arc, 5.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists this season.
Dynamic duo lead Notre Dame's March Madness push
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish started the season on fire boosting their resume with wins against JuJu Watkin's USC Trojans and Madison Booker's Texas Longhorns before reinforcing it with a dominant win against Paige Buecker's UConn Huskies.
The Fighting Irish were poised to be No. 1 seeds at the NCAA Tournament before the wheels fell off their season when they lost three of their last five games culminating in an ACC Tournament semifinal loss to the Duke Blue Devils.
On Wednesday, Hannah Hidalgo was named to the Associated Press All-America first team while Olivia Miles was named to the second team. After Notre Dame beat UConn 79-68 in December, Huskies coach Geno Auriemma paid the duo a compliment, calling them the best "combination of guards in the country."
“They both are willing participants in this,” Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said recently. “They built chemistry in the summertime. They built chemistry this season. And again, they both want to win. You’ve got Liv coming back from an injury. She was really self-motivated to come and make an impact."
“Both of them are just playing unselfish basketball and learning to play with each other," Ivey added. There was always a lot of individual sacrifice, and then they just built that chemistry together throughout the season.”
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