USC Women's Basketball: Legendary Forward Ranked Among Top 25 Team USA Players

This Trojans great numbers among the best-ever in international competition.

Mar 6, 2011; Los Angeles, CA, USA; The retired numbers of some Southern California Trojans former women's basketball legends. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

A whopping two USC Trojans women's basketball superstars, both local products, have been ranked among the top 25 best Team USA players in history by The Athletic's Joe Vardon. That includes both the Olympics and other FIBA games.

Center Lisa Leslie, a Compton native who played for the Trojans from 1990-94, was Vardon's pick for the best Team USA player ever, of any gender. The 6'5" big also enjoyed a Hall of Fame career with the Los Angeles Sparks, winning two titles and three MVP awards.

Small forward Cheryl Miller, who won two national championships with the Trojans during her tenure there from 1982-86, was Vardon's pick for the No. 24-best player in Team USA play.

"Perhaps the first 'closer' in U.S. women’s history, Cheryl Miller scored 16 points with 11 boards in the Americans’ first Olympic gold win in 1984," Vardon writes. "The winning margin in that game against South Korea was 30 points. Two years later, in a U.S.-Soviet finale at the FIBA World Championships, Miller was brilliant with 24 points and 15 rebounds."

"Miller, a college star at USC and two-time USAB Athlete of the Year, led the U.S. in scoring for the one Olympics, two FIBA championships and Pan-Am Games in which she played," Vardon notes. "The only time those teams didn’t win gold was in 1983, when the Soviets beat the U.S. by two points. Of course, Miller scored a team-best 23 points; her 'closing' skills would kick in the following summer."

More USC: Trojans Great Hailed As Best Team USA Olympic Hooper Ever