Accomplishments
Professional Basketball
WNBA Chicago Sky
WNBA East Regular Season Champs
Euroleague Final Eight
Eurocup Final Four
Turkish League Leading Scorer
Turkish League Leading Rebounder
Turkish All-Star
2x Turkish Cup Champion
2x Turkish Regular Season Champion
Euroleague Top Offensive Rebounder
All-Turkish League Team
Euroleague Player of the Week
Turkish League Player of the Week
Rutgers Women’s Basketball
Captain of Nationally Ranked Team
1000 Point Scorer
Member of Elite 8 and Sweet 16 teams
Big East Most Improved Player (2005)
3rd Team All-Big East (2005)
2nd Team All-Metropolitan (2005)
Big East Regular Season Champions (05)
Big East All-Academic Team (3.4 GPA)
Paradise Jam MVP (2004)
Notre Dame High School
Gatorade Player of Year
Parade All-American
WBCA All-American
Student All-American
McDonalds All-American
Blue Chip Top 3 in Nation
1st Team All-State
New Jersey Player of the Month
CVC Player of Year (3 Times)
1,741 Points Scored (All-Time Leader)
Notre Dame Hall of Fame
Michelle Campbell's Basketball game began to take off under the influence of Ann Demille and Phil Merlino in high school.
Michelle was heavily recruited but decided to continue her basketball career and education at the Big East powerhouse Rutgers University under the legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer. In 2004 -2005 she had a breakthrough season where she was awarded Most Improved Player in the Big East Conference and All Big East. While attending Rutgers she helped her team advance to the NCAA sweet sixteen, Elite eight, Big East Tournament Champs and Big East regular season Champs. Before she could even think about walking across the stage to get her diploma, basketball had another plan for her.
Michelle began her professional career at the Washington Mystics training camp. Next stop was overseas to Korea, Israel, Poland, Latvia and finally Turkey. She competed in Euroleague, Eurocup and the Turkish league. Out of all those countries she would find her home in Turkey. While playing in the Turkish league she was an All-Star, Turkish league-leading scorer and rebounder. In 2010 Michelle took a pivotal step in her professional career by become a Turkish citizen. She is now known in Turkey as Melisa Can. Michelle has played with and against many all time great players like Delisha Milton Jones, Cappie Pondexter, Matee Ajavon and Essence Carson just to name a few.
Finally in the summer of 2013 Michelle was able to make her WNBA debut.
"I'm looking forward to Michelle bringing her blue collar approach to training camp. She has always been a physical, tough minded player that got the job done on the defensive end, and over the past couple of years has done a nice job of developing her offensive game." stated Coach Chatman.
Playing in the WNBA brought Michelle's mental game to another level and she was able to compete along side many players that she had already played against in Europe. She was fortunate enough to play with some great players on and off the court, including Sylvia Folwes and rookie Elena Dellle Donne. Players were able to learn from a well established player that has paved a way for herself throughout Europe. Now Michelle was able to showcase her talent back in her own country.
Off the court Michelle is very dedicated to her community and the children of tomorrow. From working in soup kitchens, Habit for Humanity, to being a clinician for the Special Olympics’ Camp Shriver; she feels it is very important to give back.
Michelle has always been an advocate for children in basketball, especially girls that want to play. Michelle has paved the way for many young girls that want to pursue basketball on a higher level. Teaching basketball is just another way Michelle showcases her talents. Many girls from the United States all the way to Turkey look up to her.
Written By:Kristina Campbell