“She wasn’t nice, she was a point guard”: USC legend Cynthia Cooper describes iconic moment vs Kim Mulkey and Louisana Tech

For those who only know Kim Mulkey as the hard-charging Baylor and LSU women's basketball coach, women's hoops icon Cynthia Cooper dished some fairly surprising info. Turns out that Mulkey was just as intense as a player at Louisiana Tech as she is a coach.

Cooper was asked about her interactions with Mulkey back in the latter's playing career in a recent appearance on the All the Smoke podcast. Hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson opened the door to Cooper's take on Mulkey the player and the hoops legend didn't hold back.

Mulkey "talked too much" as a player per Cooper

"Kim talked too much. [Jackson asks "Was she nice?"] NO! She wasn't nice. She was a point guard. She had those pigtails, man, c'mon. Little braids in her hair. I took my first-- and only-- collegiate charge. It was a block all the way, but they didn't call it a block.... The ball was tapped away, Kim tapped the ball away from Kathy, and I saw it happening.... Janice Lawrence passes it out to Kim Mulkey on the fast break, I sprint back, took a charge. Boom! Charge on Kim Mulkey."-- Cynthia Cooper

Mulkey had plenty to talk about in her playing career. A star at Louisiana Tech after being recruit from tiny Tickfaw, Louisiana, Mulkey was an All-American, led her team to two national titles, won an Olympic gold medal and even won an award as the nation's top scorer for players under 5-foot-6 (Mulkey was 5-foot-4).

Mulkey's career at Louisiana Tech saw Tech move from the old AIAW in 1981, where Tech won the title to the NCAA in 1982, where Tech once again won the national title. Her meeting with Cynthia Cooper came in 1983, when Cooper's USC squad and Mulkey's Bulldogs met for the national title, with USC prevailing 69-67. Cheryl Miller was the star for USC, but Cooper was an up and coming star.

Despite their careers overlapping by two seasons, Mulkey and Cooper didn't play together on the Olympic Team. Mulkey made the 1984 squad as a senior and won a gold medal, but Cooper was only a sophomore and didn't appear on that team. Cooper, being two classes younger, played internationally until 1997, when she was one of the oldest players in the new WNBA.

Mulkey, on the other hand, went straight into coaching. She spent a decade and a half as an assistant at Tech, but by the time Cooper wrapped up her WNBA career, Mulkey was several years into her head coaching career at Baylor, where she won her first championship in 2005.

What do you think of Cooper's assessment of Mulkey? Surprised to learn of the battle between these two hoops legends, then speak out in our comments section!