CGB Hall of Fame: Desean Jackson vs Milica Vukadinovic

I nominated her last year. And I’ll do it again this year. Until Boyle’s Bears came to Cal (Ashley Walker, etc.) best Cal women’s basketball player ever. Tall rangy point guard with an uncanny ability to get into the lane and overpower smaller guards with court vision for days. Here’s the official Cal Athletic Hall of Fame bio

One of Cal’s only first team Kodak All-American (1993) in women’s basketball history…Vukadinovic propelled the Golden Bears to NCAA postseason berths in each of her two seasons with the program…two-time first team All-Pac-10 choice led Cal to the 1992 and 1993 NCAA playoffs…a member of the Yugoslavian National Team, she would have competed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics if her country had not been banned…Vukadinovic, also a GTE Academic All-American and two-time first team Pac-10 All-Academic choice, ranked as high as fourth in scoring average (15.7 ppg), sixth in assists (358) and third in three-point shooting percentage (.389) among Cal’s career leaders…voted the school’s women’s basketball Player of the Decade for 1986-96.

More than just the stats – she was amazing to watch. Being on the Cal campus in 1992 and 1993 was heaven for point guard fans. With Kidd (and KJ Roberts) leading the men’s team and Milica running the woman’s team. A tall point guard, she could see over her defenders – she was fond of the creative pass – with a bit of flair. The rest of her offensive game wasn’t as pretty but she would just get into the lane and shoot over short guards or go around posts.

Ohio Bear chips in.

Tara Vanderveer used to call her the "Magic Johnson of women’s basketball" during Milica’s playing days. "Meets" (as her teammates nicknamed her) was a magician with the ball. She had a flair for the no look pass and a great fake pass and drive to the basket move that would freeze a defender. She was big for a women’s basketball point guard (she went about 6-1 or 6-2), but she was quick.

Assist to Vlade Divac for bringing Meets to Cal. Story goes that when Meets had the opportunity to come to the US to play college basketball, her major schollie offers were from Cal and UNLV. Divac (her countryman) advised her to go to Cal for the academics because "UNLV is just a basketball school." Thanks, Vlade. (NOTE: My source for this anecdote was either Milica herself or then-Coach Gooch Foster; I have forgotten which due to the passage of time. I’m old, ya know.)