PHOENIX (AP) 鈥� When basketball great Cheryl Miller thinks of the state of the women’s game today, she is filled with pride.
Pride with how interest and investment in women’s hoops has skyrocketed since her days dominating at Southern California. Pride with how women’s athletes are celebrated. Pride with the development in player skill over the years.
鈥淎 lot of these players are so dedicated, not just the X’s and O’s or the physical, their skillset,” said Miller, who was honored this week as of The Associated Press women鈥檚 basketball poll era, “but taking care of their bodies, the nutrition and sleeping better and what鈥檚 provided for them now at certain universities and programs. It鈥檚 just the evolution of the game itself.鈥�
Miller and other women’s basketball trailblazers, including Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman and former UCLA standout Ann Meyers Drysdale, spoke about the state of college sports at ,鈥� which was held at Arizona State鈥檚 First Amendment Forum in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix.
Most conversations centered on how name, image and likeness along with the transfer portal are shaping the college game.
The changes in college sports have permeated politics, and ahead of the start of the Final Four for both men and women, President Donald Trump aimed at restoring 鈥渙rder, fairness and stability鈥� to .
The order directs federal agencies to bolster the effectiveness of key rules on transferring, eligibility and pay-for-play by evaluating whether violations of such rules render a university unfit for federal grants and contracts.
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, whose team will play for the fourth time in five years, recently said her nowadays reflect the new college sports landscape. While Staley’s talks with recruits once centered on earning degrees, they’re mostly focused now on money, especially with players in the transfer portal.
That’s the same adjustment Arizona State coach Molly Miller has been forced to make.
“Recruiting a high school athlete is a lot different than recruiting a portal athlete,” Miller said on a panel hosted by the AP on Thursday.
鈥淭heir questions are totally different than the portal kids,鈥� she added. “Their questions are, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 the student-to-teacher ratio?’ When you get in the portal they鈥檙e like: 鈥楢m I going to play? What鈥檚 the depth chart like, is the culture good and how much (money)?鈥欌��
Ackerman, who was the first president of the WNBA, sees tremendous growth in institutional investment in women’s college sports, which she pointed out was evident in the success of the Final Four teams 鈥� South Carolina, UConn, Texas and UCLA 鈥� in Phoenix.
While that growth is paying off in brand value and fan engagement, Ackerman worries that it will lead to a wider disparity between schools with major football revenue and institutions that rely on smaller revenue streams.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure what the future holds,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 going to require leadership on campuses and innovation in terms of how to deploy resources that are finite for all sports.鈥�
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