Rubama: The Portsmouth Invitational Tournament welcomes Cynthia Cooper, one of the greatest women’s basketball players ever

PORTSMOUTH — Xavier Johnson showed up to practice on Wednesday not knowing who would be his coaches for the 70th Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.

Once he arrived, he learned his coaches would be Mike Holland, Roland Ross and Cynthia Cooper.

He didn’t recognize any of the names, not even Cooper.

“To be honest, I didn’t know. But they talked about her history a little bit,” said Johnson, a guard from Southern Illinois. “And then she gave us a nice no-look pass, and I was like, ‘All right, she got some game.’ So, I’m going to have to do some more research ”

What he’ll find out is that Cooper is one of the greatest female basketball players of all time.

Cooper won championships at every level.

At Locke High, she averaged 31 points a game to lead her team to the 4A California state championship.

At Southern California, she teamed with Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller to win back-to-back national championships.

There was no WNBA then, so she went overseas and played against the best.

Then in 1997, the WNBA was formed.

Cooper, then 34, returned to the states. She became a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player who led the Houston Comets to four consecutive championships and was named the Finals MVP each time. Cooper, a four-time All-WNBA first-team performer, led the league in scoring three times.

Cooper also was a member of the United States Olympic team that won gold in 1988 and bronze in 1992.

She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.

After playing, she got into coaching. She was the head coach at Prairie View A&M, UNC Wilmington, Texas Southern and her alma mater, USC. She took three teams to the NCAA Tournament.

Now she’s trying another challenge: To coach in the NBA.

“I’m part of the NBA Coaching Development Program,” said Cooper, now 61. “So that’s what I’m doing, and that’s why I’m here. And I’m learning. I’m learning all the analytics. I’m learning about the film sessions, the scouting and all of that good stuff. Hopefully, I’ll carve out a place on a team soon. So we’ll see what happens.”

If this week is any indication, Cooper will do well.

She, along with Holland and Ross, helped Jani-King win the PIT championship Saturday night.

Holland, the head boys basketball coach at Churchland High, said coaching with Cooper was a dream come true.

“I was like, ‘I’m honored.’ She’s a world champion, Olympian and just a great player. In my opinion, they started the WNBA because of her,” he said. “So it’s just an honor to be able to learn and get some knowledge. She is a professional and these guys are trying to be pros. She can teach them things.”

Guard A.J. Hoggard, who played for Michigan State, was extremely impressed with Cooper, especially her energy and passion for the game.

“Oh, man, it was wonderful. You get to learn from a great. You just get to pick her brain,” he said. “She was a guard, so just being able to learn from her this week, and what she knows on the pro level, was definitely big.”

Unlike some of those in attendance at the PIT, Hoggard knew exactly who Cooper was.

“Oh yeah, most definitely,” he said, laughing. “I was kind of surprised. It kind of threw me for a loop. I knew it was her because I knew her face, but I wasn’t like, ‘No way.’ It was shocking, but it was definitely fun.

“She’s helped us to continue to have confidence in our game, and trust in the work that we’ve put in our whole life,” he added. “She brings that energy to keep us going.”

Johnson, who played for George Mason before going to Southern Illinois, said what he loved most about Cooper was her knowledge of the game.

“She’s a great coach and gives a lot of good insight for sure,” he said. “I definitely respect her and definitely respect what she brings to the table.”

Cooper remembers fondly her playing days.

And she’s excited and encouraged to see the current state of women’s basketball at both the college and WNBA level.

“Man, if I was coming out of college with this, I think I would have played until I was 60,” she said, smiling. “I love the attention that women’s basketball is getting right now. I think they deserve it; they worked really hard not just in the (WNBA), but in college. Look at the college players that are now bringing their talent to the (WNBA). So I’m really excited for what’s next for the (WNBA). I’m excited to see the growth and the continued positive energy and the hype around the game, because that’s what we need.”

She saw how the NCAA women’s title game between South Carolina and Iowa drew nearly 19 million average viewers, eclipsing the men’s final between Purdue and Connecticut by more than four million.

She also loves how Iowa star Caitlin Clark, selected No. 1 overall by the Indiana Fever in the WNBA, has brought more fans to the game. And she was flattered by Clark’s comments on Saturday Night Live last week when she credited Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley and Maya Moore for how they “kicked down the door, so I could walk inside.”

“It makes me feel great that the players now recognize who came before them, but it’s really about them,” Cooper said. “We did our job to lay the foundation, but they’re the ones who are going to solidify the WNBA.”

Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com