TEMPE- Arizona State women's basketball head coach Molly Miller and senior guard Makayla Moore spoke to reporters at the Weatherup Center on Thursday, just 18 days before they start their new season at home.
After Thursday's practice, Miller seems fired up for her first season as head coach of the program.
Following a busy offseason of revamping the roster and setting expectations, Miller shared that she is excited to coach the Sun Devils' women's basketball team.
"What's neat about this group is they all came in with a clean slate, so it's not like there's been established starters or minutes," Miller said Thursday. "So, they all come and compete because they have something to prove, whether it's a chip on their shoulder from the portal, never playing here, or returners coming and wanting to start a new chapter. That's been a really cool dynamic, is that the competition is on level high, because there's no predetermined expectations."
When asked about what Moore has observed from coach Miller, she was impressed with the way she challenges each and every player on the Arizona State team.
She is entering her senior season, her second with the Sun Devils, after spending the first two seasons of her collegiate career with Seattle U and last season with Arizona State under former head coach Natasha Adair.
"So far, it's been amazing," Moore said. "She has a great way of motivating you to want to work harder, and I love that about her. She makes you want to do hard things and do it for the team. So it's really great to learn from her and just get to play."
What players admire the most about Miller's leadership is the way she encourages them to play hard on both ends of the court.
"She's just so happy all the time," Moore said. "And she knows just the way she motivates you, that her energy, and she gets so excited when you do it right. So you want her to get excited for you. You want her to get excited for each other when you do something right. (For example), somebody just took a charge earlier, and we all just do a party for them. She just motivates you to do the little thing. So I think that because she gets excited for the little things, it makes you want to work hard for me."
The last time Arizona State participated in the NCAA Women's Tournament was in 2019, in which they had Charli Turner Thorne as its head coach.
Miller stated that she wants her group to take it one game at a time in order to achieve success on and off the court. She led the Grand Canyon University Lopes to their first NCAA Women's Division I tournament earlier this year.
"I don't want to sound cliche, but I might, it's just the daily process," Miller said. "It is so important. Daily wins will stack up, and then all of a sudden, the byproduct is going to be winning, the byproduct is going to be turning appearances. The byproduct is knocking off teams in the tournament. So it's just the culture initially, and then progress throughout the year."
One of the notable names the Sun Devils acquired through the transfer portal is fifth-year Australian guard Last-Tear Poa, who won a National Championship with Angel Reese and the LSU Tigers in 2023.
Poa is known for her tenacious defense, including forcing turnovers and drawing charges. In the 2023 Women's National Championship game, she forced guard Caitlin Clark into foul trouble, which allowed the Iowa Hawkeyes star to sit on the bench in the second quarter.
"She's competitive, which I love," Miller said. "We're finding that fine line of letting her loose and also being disciplined in what we want to do. She's been great, she's been fun to coach. She has this passion and fire about her that I can really appreciate."
The Sun Devils will begin its season at home on November 3, as they welcome the Coppin State Eagles.