SOUTH BEND — Pick one.

Can’t do it. Won't do it.

Highlighting what play Notre Dame women’s basketball guard/magician Olivia Miles made Monday that made you sit up straight and say no way is like picking which of your children you like best.

It’s impossible.

Then again, so was Miles in her first official college basketball game in nearly two years.

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Think about that. All those long days and nights of not being able to do what she may love most to do. Play basketball. Dribble a basketball. Get a teammate the basketball. Leave all your cares at the arena door and go be free. That’s basketball for Miles.

Think of something that gives you joy. Maybe it’s your kids. Or grandkids. Or your job. Something that puts a smile on your face. That puts happiness in your heart. Gives you a sense of overwhelming satisfaction.

That’s basketball for Miles, who played her first official college basketball game in 617 days on Monday. That’s a lot of hours of hoping and praying that she could maybe play basketball again. A lot of hours of seemingly endless rehab. Of sweat. Of tears. Of the unknown. Of motivation that she would step on the basketball court again and do what she did Monday. Run. Jump. Dribble. Score. Play.

Miles is back playing college basketball, and college basketball is better for it.

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The junior from Phillipsburg, New Jersey finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, her fourth triple double of her career in a 105-61 win over Mercyhurst.

As for that triple double, Miles made it happen. Literally. Knowing it was Miles’ first game back, team videographer Ben Dismuke demanded in the run-up to this one that was never close only that she go and get a triple double. No pressure there, kid.

“I was like, ‘All right. Let me try,’” Miles said. “It’s awesome to kind of see those meaningless words at the time come to fruition and then experience that with my teammates.

“It was special.”

This one means more, in part because Miles probably feared that she’d never get the chance to score, to rebound, to pass, to play. Shredding your right knee as Miles did in Louisville on Feb. 26, 2023, and there must be doubt.

There was doubt, but that doubt was dominated by determination. She would be back. She would play. She would be ... better? Miles sure looked it Monday in logging 32 minutes before departing with 4:40 left in the fourth quarter and giving her head coach a double high-five.

Welcome back, Liv.

Livin’ right.

“Phenomenal game,” Irish head coach Niele Ivey said of one of her two starting point guards. “Made some spectacular passes. Really amazing to watch.”

Amazing. Awesome. Unbelievable. Pick a word to describe what cannot be described.

Watching Miles with the ball in her hands speeding down the floor and weighing her options just feels right. Again. Look, there she goes again surveying the entire scene. A maestro orchestrating everything. She sees her point guard buddy Hannah Hidalgo drifting to the far corner in front of the Mercyhurst bench, where she could likely shoot an uncontested 3. Get her the ball, Liv. Get it to her now. It’ll be a bucket.

Ah, but Miles had other ideas. She saw Hidalgo, but she also saw Pittsburgh transfer Liatu King slicing toward the hoop. With no Mercyhurst player on the roster taller than 5-foot-11 (seriously), there was only one option for Miles. One place to go with the ball.

Miles looked at Hidalgo — looked right at her! — while at the same time zipping a pass the other direction for King for another layup. That play allowed even Ivey, standing over there on the sideline, to smile. We saw it, Coach!

Later in the first half, when she had already entered serious triple-double territory, Miles was again on the move. Ball in her hands. Options being sorted. Another no-look pass. Another King bucket. The game’s not supposed to be that easy.

King’s going to score a lot and do a lot for the Irish this season. Likely on the receiving end of plenty of passes from Miles.

“Man, it’s really exciting,” King said of teaming with Miles. “I joke with Liv, like, sometimes I don’t even know when she’s going to throw the ball. Just always be prepared because she is a selfless point guard.”

There also were hesitation dribbles and scoop layups. One left-handed in the first half. One right-handed in the second. Early second half, one possession after hitting the underside of the rim off a back cut, Miles drove the lane, showed the ball to a defender, took it back and finished a layup and free throw.

Just another day (or night) at the office.

Finally — we'll stop after this one, promise — late clock in the third quarter, Miles looked up to caluclate time and space and everything else. She dribbled between her legs once. Then twice. She called off a King ball screen. It was too early. When the time was right, she called King back, then was gone. Down the lane and by her defender again for a left-handed scoop layup to close the quarter.

Pick one of those? See? Can’t do it. Won’t do it. For Miles, for the Irish, it’s all about playing with a certain freedom that comes from Ivey. Like go play the way you play.

“She understands that we have the best guards in the country,” Miles said of Ivey. “She trusts us to run her offense. I know what she wants and how she wants offense run. She allows us to be creative at the same time.”

Always. On Monday, Miles just played. She looked not the Miles of old, but the Miles of new. Miles 2.0 if you will.

As for the calendar, it lied a little. Notre Dame’s season didn’t really start Monday. It may not start with Sunday’s visit to Purdue. Boiler up? Boiler down! It may not start with next week’s home game against James Madison. Jimmy doesn’t stand a chance.

It may not start until that November 23 visit to No. 3 USC. That’s already circled. That’s when this will get good. Hollywood good. Everything until then will be window dressing. Until that day out in LA, it will be about fine-tuning an already tuned offense. It will be about getting some more stops. It will be about getting healthy. Seven available players? Ugh.

It will be about biding time until the nation’s No. 5 team can look — and feel — like one. As long as Miles is a part of all of it. Again.

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on Twitter: @tnoieNDI

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: One Notre Dame women's basketball guard had to wait 617 days to do this again