‘I don’t want to play like a robot’: Diamond Miller’s passion has made her the leader she is today

In a top ten February matchup, Ohio State had been playing Diamond Miller physically all night long, so when Miller finished through contact midway through the third, it was easy to see why the senior was feeling herself.

After the tough bucket, Miller stared down Taylor Thierry and then flexed for the raucous Xfinity Center crowd. While it was a split-second display of emotion during a physical game, it also provided a deeper look into the kind of passion that has made Miller the player she is today.

“[Ohio State] was playing dirty, but people say I play dirty too, so I showed them what real aggression is,” Miller said.

As a coveted five-star recruit out of Somerset, New Jersey, Miller grew up surrounded by basketball, which fueled the fire that she has for the game today. Diamond was challenged by her father Lance, who played overseas, and her sisters, Adreana and LaNiya, both of whom played college basketball, at Ohio State and Wagner, respectively.

Yet as a young player, Miller was often quiet while others were loud. Her coaches spoke to Miller’s focus on improving her skills, describing her as a gym rat who still needed to mature as a leader.

There were times when the inner fuel that drove Miller lashed out at others. Her high school coach Audrey Taylor remembers a younger Miller, who still had a ways to go to become a leader.

“When she was younger her leadership skills were based more towards negativity,” Taylor said. “I would say her emotional stability at that time was definitely a little low. But she really matured and started to uplift players…her maturity and leadership definitely adjusted.”

Yet Taylor never encouraged Miller to lose the emotional edge that she had, because of her own experience as a player. 

“I came through an era when I played, that coaches wanted you to fit a certain mold…coaches would tell you ‘that was too fancy, or keep it simple’,” Taylor said. “I preach to my girls [to be] expressive and not hold back, not allowing perceptions to ever silence you.”

Recently, Miller’s former teammate and now-LSU star Angel Reese responded to criticism for her own passionate play . 

“I don’t fit the narrative and I’M OK WITH THAT. I’m from Baltimore where you hoop outside & talk trash. If it was a boy y’all wouldn’t be saying nun at all. Let’s normalize women showing passion for the game instead of it being “embarrassing,” Reese tweeted Jan. 20 in response to receiving a technical foul for a stare down block on an opponent.

When asked about the tweet, Miller agreed with Reese’s sentiment.

“I definitely understand where [Angel] is coming from,” Miller said. “Why can’t we have the same passion and love for the game as a man?”

Historically, there have been numerous Black female athletes who have faced criticism for showing ‘too much intensity’ across multiple sports. 

In 2018, Serena Williams was given three violations by official Carlos Ramos. Williams accused Ramos of judging her more harshly than male athletes. Conversely, Gabby Douglas was the subject of critique in the 2016 Rio Olympics for not showing enough passion for her teammates.

“When a woman is emotional, she’s ‘hysterical’ and she’s penalized for it. When a man does the same, he’s ‘outspoken’ & there are no repercussions,” tennis icon Billie Jean King tweeted in 2018.

Miller commented on some of the criticism she has received this year based on her passion.

“I feel like I am more passionate than I was last year,” Miller said. “So I get a lot more ‘calm down, relax, and you’re doing too much’ and I don’t get it. When a man gets a block and [talks trash] everyone praises them, but if I do it, you get a warning.”

Her former high school coach agreed that the stereotypes need to be defied.

“I think what Angel Reese said was absolutely needed, because there should be no reason why these women should not show their competitiveness,” Taylor said.

In a 2019 Bustle article, Leeja Carter, Ph.D., an assistant professor in sport and exercise psychology at Long Island University-Brooklyn examined this disparity between men and women in sports, and specifically black women. 

“A Black woman must not only perform her gender based on stereotypical gender norms, but to counter intersectional, oppressive images of Black women, like the ‘angry Black woman’,” Carter said. “She must perform ‘happiness’ or ‘positivity’ to counter implicit notions of Black threat.”

While Miller has become more animated as she has taken on a leadership role for the Terps, she understands her place as an example for future generations of women in sports.

“I think it is important to be a role model, because I was that little girl in the stands at one point,” Miller said after an early season victory. “I just hope when they see us they see how passionate we are, that we’re strong and that we’re powerful.”

This season, Miller’s game has skyrocketed, as she is averaging a career-high 19.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, driving her stock into the top five in recent 2023 WNBA mock drafts. Miller has also noticeably displayed the passion she talks about, displaying more animation on the court — including constantly standing on the bench, flexing for the crowd and her notable shushing celebration against Notre Dame.

“She’s being an advocate for herself, and I am very proud of her in that regard,” her mother Dreana Miller said. “In the Iowa game you saw she could not stand still when the ref made the wrong call, because she can’t keep her mouth shut when it is about a game that she loves.”

The women’s game has often failed to garner the recognition given to the men’s side through fandom and media coverage. Miller is one of the many looking to create change.

For Diamond, it’s just about getting back to playing with the joy and emotion that made her fall in love with the sport in the first place.

“Basketball makes me hype, it makes me angry, it gives me all types of emotion,” Miller said. “I am not a robot. I don’t want to play like a robot. I want to show who I am on the court.”