SOUTH BEND – From an optics standpoint, it sits somewhere between awkward and awful.
Just when you thought the Dumpster fire of Notre Dame women’s basketball since late March had burned itself out, two players off a team that was ranked No. 1 in the nation as late as February 23 — the two starting guards, the two all-conference guards, the two freaking All-American guards — decide to each blowtorch the smoldering ash.
Up everything went — whhhhhoooosssshhhh!!!! It ignited in, of all places, Purcell Pavilion on an early May night seen as a celebration of Irish women’s basketball past.
You’ve seen the video by now. You had to have seen the video by now unless you’ve been out of the country or living somewhere with some seriously spotty Wi-Fi. It posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday (solid work, @katemartinlov3r).
The 40-second clip features an exchange between current Irish point guard Hannah Hidalgo, who will be back in 2025-26 for her junior year, and former Irish point guard Olivia Miles, who turned college athletics on its head last month, bypassing a likely top three WNBA draft pick to play her final college season at … TCU.
That’s the same TCU team that sent Notre Dame home from the Sweet 16 for a fourth consecutive season in late March. Add another blowtorch to the equation.
Recorded between the railing of section 16 in the arena stands during halftime of the WNBA game between the Dallas Wings and Las Vegas Aces, the video had more than 4.5 million views by Monday night. Yeah, it went viral. On steroids.
In the video, Hidalgo is seen walking from the right toward Miles in the tunnel just off the end of the Wings’ bench. That’s where Miles met with fans during intermission, likely to keep a main arena walkway behind the Dallas bench from becoming congested.
Miles and former Irish forward Kylee Watson, who will play next season at Villanova, spent the first half seated in the front row behind the Wings’ bench. Their seats were swarmed at every timeout. By the start of the third quarter, those two seats stayed empty.
As Hidalgo approaches Miles, they exchanged an awkward handshake. The two won big games together. The two scored plenty of points together. The two spent this past season often playing can-you-top-this in terms of making highlight plays together.
They greeted one another like a pair of acne-faced middle schoolers taking their “handshake” for a test drive. They also stood so far apart as if both were radioactive. All that was missing were Haz-Mat suits.
It was beyond odd.
Nothing to see there? How about everything to see there. One handshake — or an attempt at one — said plenty.
Said there’s history there, and it’s not necessarily happy.
Hidalgo says something to Miles, who laughs and throws her head back for affect. Miles then looks like she’s trying to explain something. Hidalgo extends her right index finger toward Miles as if to stress a point. There’s no audible audio, so it’s difficult to tell the tone of the conversation. Are they serious? Are they not serious? Are they friends? New enemies? Is it heated? Chill?
Is Hidalgo bothered by how the season ended? The way Miles left? Something that happened between them earlier in the night? Something personal?
None of that matters. That’s not the point. When everybody has a camera phone and is ready to record, that’s a conversation that belongs behind closed doors. Maybe locked doors. No matter the nature. Be anywhere but there. In that tunnel. On that day. Between two former teammates.
Take it to the Irish locker room on the other end of the arena. Take it to a private place elsewhere in the building. Take it to an office, an alcove, anywhere but out there in the public for everyone to see. We saw.
Hidalgo knows better. Miles knows better. They turned a private convo into a very public scene.
Why?
More than a half-minute in, returning guard Cassan Prosper, who was at the game with Hidalgo, approaches, As does a Notre Dame security officer, who asks/advises the two guards to take the conversation anywhere but there. The group continues up the ramp and out of view as the video ends.
For so long, Notre Dame women’s basketball was the gold standard of high-visibility programs on that campus. Football has had its foibles. Men’s basketball has had its messes. Anything adverse seemingly bounced off the women’s program. All is well! The Irish played in front of home sellouts. They won big games. They went to Final Fours. They had generational talents.
It was a program that could seldom do wrong. It now seemingly can’t get right.
This is the time of year for Notre Dame women’s basketball to heal. To figure out why last season happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again. To get back to work. To get back to being Notre Dame women’s basketball. To move forward.
If only it could get out of its own way.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
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