The greatest USC women’s basketball player ever is also — one could certainly argue — the greatest women’s basketball player of all time.
Cheryl Miller is women’s basketball royalty, the best of the best. If there’s a Mount Rushmore of women’s basketball superstars, Miller has to be on it, period, end of sentence.
USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb, in a recent interview with P.J. Brown of Tucson.com, shared how much Cheryl Miller’s support has meant to her and to the USC women’s basketball program. Gottlieb also mentioned how much she personally admires Miller:
“I describe to other people who maybe aren’t as in tune on what it’s like to have Cheryl Miller just stop by as if Michael Jordan walked in just to chat with your players at North Carolina. The best player, really in the history of our game.
“Maybe (Miller’s) career was cut short, but in terms of who she was at ‘SC I can’t help but get goosebumps. Like I’m not starstruck often, but it’s Cheryl Miller. She is this epic player and to have the connection to USC with her to know what our mission is to try and get USC back to the level that she and her teammates were at, and to have her be here in support, it’s just it’s incredibly special. I think that’s an understatement.
“It’s a unique position to be in in women’s college basketball. I think we’re all stewards of the game. We all have to honor the history. To be here and she’s on my wall, as is Lisa Leslie, Tina Thompson and the McGee twins (Paula and Pamela). But Cheryl is right in the middle so I look at her on the wall every day then she walks to the office and is like, ‘Coach, what’s up? How can I help?’ I’m just like, it’s crazy to me to think this is my life and this is what I get to do. But I take that responsibility really seriously. She’s just such a cool human being and an epic great in our game that I just want to be part of telling her story and also having our players understand what it means to wear the USC jersey.”
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