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Message: [QUOTE="YKCornelius, post: 5353765, member: 9864"] GC20, this is probably not going to go over well with a lot of folks, but I am not smitten on how Olivia Miles projects at the pro level. The college game will mask a lot of the shortcomings of a player's game, but the pro game will expose them all. First of all, her man-to-man defense is weak. For her entire tenure at ND, Olivia never had to defend against the other team's best scorer, in large part due to Sonia Citron. Even so, she never exhibited the necessary quickness to keep in front of whomever she was defending. Swiping at the ball, trying to take charges, and trying to block shots from behind with her long arms after her opponent blows by her is OM's defensive MO when playing man-to-man. It looks like she studied defense at the School of Ogunbowale. As harsh as this might sound, I also question her physical toughness. I think she purposefully shied away from contact both on offense and defense during her time at ND, which is/was a big contrast to past recent Irish guards (Jackie Young, Arike, all the Mabrys, Skylar, Kayla, Jewell). Granted she was out for a year battling injury, but I was surprised when she returned last year without spending more time in the gym building upper body strength. Hopefully she went to the gym a lot this summer and enters her final year a lot stronger. Last but not least, her speed and stamina are concerns, IMHO. She has great court vision and an inherent feel for the game, but I don't recall ever seeing her go full speed transitioning up and down the court. Certainly not in her games against the Huskies. Olivia is a beautiful, fun-to-watch college player. I think she will do very well at TCU this season - and I am certainly rooting for her to do so. I have serious reservations about what waits for her after graduation. Methinks she will benefit greatly from going overseas to work on the aspects of her game that were glossed over in college. That said, the good news is all of these areas can be improved before next year's draft. The bad news is the clock's ticking.... I am curious as to whether others - especially ND fans - had/have similar thoughts.... [/QUOTE]

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