The NBA Finals date back to 1947 (when they were known as the Basketball Association of America Finals) and the very 1st NCAA tourney was held in 1939. Olympic basketball competition is even older: it debuted as a demonstration event in 1904 and the men’s version became a medal sport in 1936, with the women finally getting their chance to go for the gold in 1976. The United States has dominated Olympic basketball competition from the start: the men have now won 17 gold medals in the 20 tournaments they have participated in during the past 88 years, while the women have won 10 gold medals in the 12 tournaments in which they have competed during the past 48 years. While we have to wait 4 years until the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will fill the void by interviewing as many prior Olympic players/coaches as possible. We continue our coverage by chatting with fellow Rutgers star Mark Peterson about Cappie Pondexter being a great scorer and winning a gold medal.
Cappie was born in California/raised in Chicago and was named WBCA All-America Game MVP in 2001: what made her choose Rutgers? I think it was the connection she made with assistant coach Jolette Law and the chance to take her game to the next level under Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer.
What made Stringer such a great coach? She never stopped learning and never accepted where she was: she always looked for the next piece of knowledge that she could grasp. Even when she was at Cheyney State she would lean on Coach John Chaney’s ear and have her ladies practice with his men to absorb his knowledge of the game. She was always willing to listen to ideas that any of her assistants had. She genuinely cared about her players both on the court and off: she wanted them to become the best people that they could be, as that would make them even better players.
In 2003 she was named Big East ROY: how was she able to come in and contribute right from the start? She had to sit out a year but was still able to practice with the team, then she came in the next year and played right away.
In the 2005 Elite 8 she scored 25 PTS in a 10-PT loss to Tennessee, and in the 2006 Sweet 16 she scored 22 PTS in a 7-PT loss to Tennessee: what was it like to face Pat Summitt in March? That was like watching Bobby Fischer & Garry Kasparov play chess because they were both master tacticians. At that level it is about small things that will give 1 of them the edge. Pat seemed to have all the pieces that she needed, and every time Vivian faced her it seemed like we were missing 1 piece that we needed to get over the hump. We beat them a couple of times during the regular season but when we reached the NCAA tourney Tennessee just had the edge.
In 2006 her team went 16-0 in Big East play: did it reach a point where the fans just expected them to win every time that they stepped onto the court? The 2005 team was even more memorable. We started off non-conference play a little sluggish (losing 2 of 3 games to start December) but beat a trio of top-10 teams (#8 Tennessee/#4 Texas/#1 LSU) in a span of 8 days. That team got on a role and rolled through conference play with just 2 losses until getting beat by UConn in the Big East tourney title game.
She was the 1st player in history to be named to the All-Big East 1st-Team 4 times and in 2006 she was named conference POY/Women’s Basketball News Service national POY: what did it mean to her to receive such outstanding honors? Similar to Sue Wicks, she just wanted to play her best on the court. She appreciated when people acknowledged her hard work.
She graduated #2 on RU’s all-time career scoring list with 2211 PTS and her 42.6 3P% was #1 all-time: what was her secret for being a great scorer/shooter? She was relentless and worked on her shooting/ball-handling constantly. It reached a point where she was a very dangerous player all over the court: teams knew they had to contend with her on both offense/defense.
In the spring of 2006 she was drafted 2nd overall by Phoenix: did she see that as a validation of her college career, or the realization of a lifelong dream of reaching the WNBA, or other? Both, for sure. When she got to Rutgers she had a tattoo that Coach made her cover up. It was the WNBA logo, so she knew where she wanted to go and what she had to do to get there. Getting to play with Diana Taurasi allowed Phoenix to have 1 of the best backcourts in the league.
She played for Team USA at the 2008 Olympics: what did it mean to her to represent her country, and what did it mean to her to win a gold medal? That was just the next step. She never had the opportunity to win a title in college and every great player wants to contribute to a championship, which she did with Team USA.
She made the WNBA 15th/20th/25th Anniversary teams, won a pair of WNBA titles, and was named 2007 Finals MVP: where does she rank among the greatest players in Rutgers history? I would put her just behind Sue Wicks and just ahead of Regina Howard.
