Cynthia Cooper is USC basketball royalty. She was a teammate of Cheryl Miller on the Trojans’ dynastic teams of the mid-1980s which brought multiple national championships to the school. USC was the first dynastic program of the NCAA Tournament era in women’s college basketball. The first Women’s NCAA Tournament and Final Four were held in 1982. USC was the first school to win multiple NCAA Tournaments. Cooper helped make that happen.
Three decades later, after her legendary playing career — complete with a star turn in the WNBA — had ended, Cooper coached the Trojans for a few seasons in the mid-2010s. The history of USC women’s basketball is deeply intertwined with the journey of Cynthia Cooper as a women’s hoops pioneer.
When she speaks, it’s worth listening and taking notes.
Via the Los Angeles Times, Cooper had this to say about USC’s current women’s basketball superstar, JuJu Watkins:
“The impact that Cheryl made on USC and the impact that JuJu is making at USC currently, their journeys are really the same, on parallel. I think JuJu has an ability to make players around her better. That’s why USC is better.”
JuJu Watkins the hooper is an amazing player, but JuJu Watkins the teammate — making a positive impact on the other four players on the floor — is the central reason why she is such a difference-maker at USC.
Cynthia Cooper would know.
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