SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — With three weeks to go until the start of the 2023-24 Notre Dame women’s basketball season, Olivia Miles is the first Irish player to make a national watch list. On Monday, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association announced 20 players have been named to the watch list for the 2024 Nancy Lieberman Award, which goes to the nation’s top point guard. Miles, a junior who made the Lieberman Top 10 List last season and was a finalist for the award two years ago, is one of four ACC players on the list.
“The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is honored to celebrate both men and women at all levels of the game,” said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. “The players being recognized today on the Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List have proven that they are masters of their game and have become outstanding examples of the bright future basketball has. We look forward to evaluating this year’s top point guards with Nancy Lieberman, a Hall of Famer who helped pave the way for today’s female athletes.”
Despite having her season cut short with a knee injury last February, Miles raked in the postseason awards. She was named to the All-ACC First Team, AP All-America Second Team and USBWA All-America Third Team. She was also a finalist for the Dawn Staley Award and was on the John R. Wooden Award National Ballot.
Statistically, Miles led Notre Dame with 7.2 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game. She ranked second in points per game (14.3), and she led the ACC in assists. Miles posted 10 double-doubles over 28 games, which ranks second all-time for a Notre Dame guard (Jackie Young).
Skylar Diggins-Smith is the only other Irish player to win the Nancy Lieberman Award, having done so twice in 2012 and 2013. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has won the last two.
Any player can work their way on to the list throughout the season. Fans are encouraged to participate in Fan Voting, presented by Dell Technologies, in each of the three rounds starting Friday, October 20. In late January, the watch list of 20 players for the 2024 Nancy Liberman Award will be narrowed to 10, and then in late February to just five. In March, the five finalists will be presented to Lieberman and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee, where a winner will be selected.
About Nancy Lieberman:
Playing hoops on the rough-and-tumble Harlem courts, Brooklyn-bred Nancy Lieberman learned to play a physical, aggressive style of basketball unlike other women of her time. As a 5-10 point guard, Lieberman was taller than many of the guards of her era, and her ability to drive to the hoop, dish out assists, and grab hard-fought rebounds served her well during her stellar career. She compiled over 2,400 points, 1,100 rebounds, and 961 assists as she led the Lady Monarchs to a 125-15 record, one WNIT title and back to back National Championships in 1979 and 1980 (102-6 her last 3 years).
Before her illustrious career began at ODU, Nancy made the 1975 USA Pan Am team that won the Gold Medal in Mexico City she was a high school junior at Far Rockaway High School at the time. In 1976, as a member of the USA’s first Women’s Olympic Team which won the Silver Medal, Lieberman made history by being the youngest Olympian in basketball ever, male or female (which still stands today). Lieberman then led Old Dominion University to back-to-back AIAW national championships in 1979 and 1980. She was twice named the Wade Trophy winner — a basketball first as the nation’s top female athlete during those two seasons and a three-time All-American. Lieberman was the two-time winner of the Broderick Cup as well. Lieberman played professionally in the first women’s pro league in the WBL 1980-81 and in 1984 in the WABA. Earning WBL MVP honors with the Dallas Diamonds in 1981, she led the team to the 1984 WABA championship and was league MVP.
In 1986, she signed to be the first woman to play in a men’s professional league in the USBL with the Springfield Fame, and in 1987, with the Long Island Knights. She joined the 1987 Harlem Globetrotter world tour with the Washington Generals. 1997 Lieberman made history in the inaugural season of the WNBA, playing for the Phoenix Mercury at the age of 39, and in 2008, playing for the Detroit Shock at age 50. Her coaching career started in 1998 as the Head Coach/GM for the Detroit Shock, taking the Shock to the playoffs in year two. In 2011, she was the first female head coach hired in the NBA D- League for the Dallas Mavericks affiliate, the Texas Legends, and led them to the playoffs. In 2015, she became only the second woman hired as an assistant coach in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings. She was named a recipient of the 2017 Mannie Jackson Basketball’s Human Spirit Award for her on-going philanthropic work across the country through her Nancy Lieberman Charities, changing the lives of underserved youth across the country. In 2018, Nancy Lieberman became the first female head coach in a men’s professional league with the BIG3 League for Team Power. Nancy led team Power to a 2018 Championship victory and was selected Coach of the Year, becoming the first female in history to be awarded Coach of the Year. Follow Nancy on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @Nancylieberman and go to nancyliebermancharities.org for more information.
About the WBCA:
Founded in 1981, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of womens’ and girls’ basketball at all levels of competition. The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to those organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. For more information, visit us online: WBCA.org, follow @wbca1981 or call 1-770-279-8027.
About the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame:
Located in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city where basketball was born, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting, preserving and celebrating the game of basketball at every level – men and women, amateur and professional players, coaches and contributors, both domestically and internationally. The Hall of Fame museum is home to more than 400 inductees and over 40,000 square feet of basketball history. Nearly 200,000 people visit the Hall of Fame museum each year to learn about the game, experience the interactive exhibits and test their skills on the Jerry Colangelo “Court of Dreams.” Best known for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the game’s elite, the Hall of Fame also operates over 70 high school and collegiate competitions annually throughout the country and abroad. For more information on the Basketball Hall of Fame organization, its museum and events, visit hoophall.com, follow @hoophall or call 1-877-4HOOPLA.