Tag: Cheryl Miller

Caitlin Clark dishes 10 assists in WNBA All-Star Game for coach Cheryl Miller

Caitlin Clark played beautiful team basketball, the kind Cheryl Miller certainly appreciated.

It was a feel-good weekend in Phoenix for a USC legend and the biggest name in contemporary women’s basketball. Cheryl Miller of USC, arguably the greatest women’s basketball player of all time, got to coach Caitlin Clark, the current women’s basketball star fans across the globe want to see, in the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game. The pairing of Miller and Clark earned a richly satisfying win as Team WNBA beat Team USA in a competitive and compelling WNBA All-Star showcase. Clark didn’t score a ton of points, but she handed out 10 assists and reminded everyone that she is a team-first player, someone many people think should have been included on the United States Olympic team, the team Clark and Miller defeated on Saturday in the desert.

Hawkeyes Wire had more on Clark’s winning night, with Miller enjoying what she saw as Clark’s coach for one very special game:

If you didn’t watch the 2024 WNBA All-Star game on Saturday night, then I truly feel bad for you. This was a special contest, one that showcased exactly why you should be tuning into women’s basketball. Ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the U.S. Women’s National Team squared off against the WNBA All-Stars in a true battle of the mega powers. Team WNBA had a chip on their shoulder and a point to prove, and they got the better of the national team 117-109.

It was a special game from the WNBA All-Stars. Arike Ogunbowale was always the most questionable snub from the Olympic Team roster, and she showed again why many believe she deserved a spot on the team with a record-breaking 32-point performance. Ogunbowale was at her best putting the ball in the hoop, Caitlin Clark looking her way often en route to 10 assists, an All-Star game rookie record.

Not bad, Cheryl Miller. Not bad, Caitlin Clark. Let’s do this again in the future, shall we?

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USC legend Cheryl Miller coaches WNBA All-Stars to upset of Team USA

Cheryl Miller had a lot of fun on a night she will remember.

It was just an All-Star game … or was it? This WNBA All-Star Game was the exception among modern professional sports star gatherings. The MLB All-Star Game used to be a game both leagues desperately wanted to win. The NBA All-Star Game used to be played with cutthroat intensity. (If you don’t believe us, watch the 1987 game in Seattle on YouTube. Trust us.) The Pro Bowl used to be a bare-knuckle, knock-down, drag-out game in which AFC and NFC players went full tilt for 60 minutes and treated the game as another professional football competition worth winning. Today, these games lack vigor, but the WNBA All-Star Game was the exception. USC icon Cheryl Miller was the winning coach, leading Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese — and Arike Ogunbowale — to victory. The WNBA All-Stars outscored Team USA, 117-109, in a spirited contest in Phoenix which clearly meant a lot to everyone involved.

Reese — who finished with another double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds) and Clark — 10 assists — were the headliners going into the game, but Ogunbowale stole the show with a 34-point performance which offset Breanna Stewart’s 31 points for Team USA. The WNBA All-Stars, by winning this game, made a lot of people question whether Team USA and coach Cheryl Reeve picked the right players. That point aside, Cheryl Miller certainly gave her WNBA All-Star squad the right direction and enabled her players to feel comfortable. It’s a moment Miller will remember, part of a 2024 which continues to be special for USC women’s basketball in so many ways.

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A mic’d-up Cheryl Miller made a delightful admission to the Team WNBA huddle during this year’s All-Star Game

Cheryl Miller was having the time of her life at the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game.

Women’s basketball legend Cheryl Miller hasn’t coached basketball formally in a half a decade, but she looked like she was having a blast during this year’s 2024 WNBA All-Star Game.

Miller coached Team WNBA against Cheryl Reeve and Team USA during this year’s All-Star Game, and the ESPN broadcast captured a delightful moment of her in the huddle with her team.

A mic’d-up Miller said that “I’m having fun… don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m having fun” to her team, which is just such a wonderful way of firing up your team while finding some good humor in the moment.

Maybe Miller will get back into coaching one of these days because she’s clearly having a ball with coaching Team WNBA this year.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN.

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USC basketball icon Cheryl Miller will coach Caitlin Clark in WNBA All-Star Game

Cheryl Miller coaching Caitlin Clark is really cool.

How awesome is this? USC basketball legend Cheryl Miller, arguably the greatest women’s basketball player who has ever lived, will coach in the upcoming WNBA All-Star Game on Saturday in Phoenix. The game format involves a collection of WNBA All-Stars playing Team USA before the Americans head to Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Cheryl Miller will coach the WNBA squad which includes Caitlin Clark, a player who was left off the Olympic roster. Cheryl Miller coaching Caitlin Clark? That should be a lot of fun and a memory of a lifetime for both women.

The game starts just after 8:30 p.m. Eastern time, 5:30 p.m. Pacific, on Saturday, July 20. ABC has the broadcast with streaming on ESPN Plus.

Caitlin Clark recently said this about representing Team USA in future international competitions, via Hawkeyes Wire:

After dispatching the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday, Clark was asked about her potential national team future.

“That’s what you dream of as a young kid, getting to represent your country. And, obviously, me and AB have the experience of playing for the junior national teams. You know how fun that is and how cool it is to wear ‘USA’ across your chest.

“So, it gives you something to work for, something to dream for. But, also I feel like I can continue to get a lot better. And for me, that’s my main focus and that’s what excites me the most going forward,” Clark said.

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A Late Spring Check-In With Trojans Wire

Checking in on Troy

We’re still a way away from the college football season getting underway but headlines are being made just about every day for some reason or another.

Over at Trojans Wire they’re getting ready for the third season of Lincoln Riley and USC’s first year in the Big Ten.

That is, if you still consider USC a football school.

USC has assembled what appears to be a women’s basketball big-three since the NCAA Tournament’s conclusion and will enter the 2024-25 season among the favorites to end up in the Final Four (as will Notre Dame).

These were only a couple of the topics on hand when Trojans Wire editor Matt Zemek invited me and Geoffrey Clark for a visit on the Trojans Wired Podcast earlier this week.  You can check out the episode below.

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Cheryl Miller paved the way for Caitlin Clark and others

Cheryl Miller discussed her pioneering career in a great conversation with Dan Patrick. Watch and learn.

Cheryl Miller is, quite simply, a trailblazer in women’s basketball. She was the first two-time national champion in the era of the Women’s NCAA Tournament, which began in 1982. USC won national titles in 1983 and 1984 to become the first two-time winner of the event. Miller and her USC teammates made history. What they also did was plant the seeds for more growth at USC. Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson became part of this story in the 1990s. USC made the Elite Eight in 1994, and the Trojans had not been back in the 30 years since then. JuJu Watkins finally led the Women of Troy to the round of eight in this year’s edition of March Madness, but the Trojans were stopped one win short of the Final Four by UConn and Paige Bueckers. UConn lost to Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Final Four on Friday night.

JuJu. Paige. Caitlin. Cheryl Miller was the first super-duperstar in the Women’s NCAA Tournament era 40 years ago. Miller talked about her life and her pioneering career in an extended conversation with Dan Patrick. It’s well worth watching and listening to.

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JuJu Watkins and Cheryl Miller discuss USC’s run to No. 1 seed for NCAA Tournament, and more

Cheryl Miller and JuJu Watkins had a conversation. You’ll want to watch it.

Cheryl Miller’s place as a basketball icon is enormous and secure. JuJu Watkins is just beginning to collect awards and pursue championships at USC. An established USC great and a rising USC star have a lot to talk about, and one of the great things about this USC women’s basketball season is how it has brought the legend and the current Trojan star together.

Cheryl Miller’s imprint on USC and Los Angeles sports is massive. As we noted, “After facing Kim Mulkey in a contentious Final Four semifinal on March 30, 1984, Cheryl Miller became a teammate of Mulkey on the 1984 United States Women’s Basketball National Team. Miller, Mulkey, and other women’s basketball stars of the era led the USA to the gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics. Miller therefore won a national title and Olympic gold in Los Angeles in 1984, a very special year for a USC basketball icon.”

Cheryl Miller and JuJu Watkins talked ball, USC, and more in a conversation you won’t want to miss. Here it is:

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JuJu Watkins breaks Cheryl Miller’s all-time single-season USC scoring record

JuJu Watkins and Cheryl Miller are linked forever in USC women’s basketball history.

JuJu Watkins has racked up a lot of awards this season. She is a First-Team All-American. She is the 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Freshman of the Year. She has made history on a lot of levels at USC. Now comes one of the crown-jewel achievements of her resplendent 2024 season: She is now the all-time single-season scoring leader for USC women’s basketball. Cheryl Miller had the record at 814 points. JuJu broke it early on Saturday in the Trojans’ NCAA Tournament opener against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Watkins will now try to win honors connected to team success. USC, powered by Watkins, led A&M-CC by a 36-20 score at halftime. The Trojans are trying to earn their way into the second round on Monday evening in the Galen Center against the Kansas Jayhawks, who defeated the Michigan Wolverines in overtime in the day’s first of two games in Galen.

JuJu Watkins broke a Cheryl Miller record set in 1986, the last time the Trojans were a No. 1 seed in the Women’s NCAA Tournament before this year. The year 1986 is also the last time the Trojans made the Women’s Final Four and reached the national championship game. Those are the goals JuJu Watkins wants to reach more than anything else.

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USC women’s basketball icon Cheryl Miller addresses Women of Troy after UCLA win

Miller, the leader of USC’s WBB dynasty in the 1980s, told the 2024 Trojans “the Bruins never saw it coming” on Sunday.

The USC women’s basketball program, it is important to note, is not doing something new. It is doing what it used to do 40 years ago. Everyone needs to remember that point.

USC women’s basketball is not a program which has never tasted elite success. The Trojans were the first dynastic power in women’s college hoops after the Women’s NCAA Tournament began in 1982. They were the first Division I team to win two NCAA Tournaments. Cheryl Miller was the leader of those USC teams. She is one of the greatest women’s basketball players of all time and a certified legend of the game.

After the 2024 USC team beat UCLA to rise to No. 4 in the USA TODAY Sports Women’s College Basketball Poll and become a projected No. 2 seed in the Women’s NCAA Tournament, Miller addressed the Women of Troy. She had a lot to say, and the three-minute speech is worth watching and sharing to every Trojan you know.

“The Bruins never saw it coming,” Miller said, praising the quality of USC’s effort against UCLA.

Here’s the speech in full:

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Lindsay Gottlieb can’t say enough great things about USC basketball icon Cheryl Miller

Lindsay Gottlieb knows how special Cheryl Miller is.

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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