Holy crap. So this is what a 5 star freshman is supposed to look like. Smooth as hell and composure of a senior. She's a bona fide Big10 freshman of the year candidate. Color me excited 
McKenna Woliczko
- Thread starter Jonesy5960
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She'll have her hiccups, but its clear that she's going to defend and hit the glass, and let the offense come to her.Holy crap. So this is what a 5 star freshman is supposed to look like. Smooth as hell and composure of a senior. She's a bona fide Big10 freshman of the year candidate. Color me excited
Seemed really comfortable out there.
I'm sure, but she's easily the most polished Big 10 ready freshman at Iowa since CC22.
I agree. Its obvious her international experience really helped her "polish". It seems clear in her interviews, and from what Jan has said that she has a good head on her shoulders, and is putting in the work. If she can hold that 4 spot, and our bench is Strem, Journey, Faison and Layla, we should be in really good shape. Was impressed with Faison in her minutes as well.
Agree
I think we all had crazy high expectations that Deal would be day 1 starter material and maybe a poor man’s CC performer.
What surprised me is that Deal wanted to be a ball heavy guard like Clark. Meaning, she wanted to have the ball in her hands and act like a PG.
Her ball handling was very average, dribbles way too high, average foot speed. A defensive minded guard would eat her up if she was a primary ball handler
Was hard to watch the jerky YouTube video, but what I saw of "Mick" looked awfully good...
MW is very long, attacks the boards, very efficient offensively, and physical when needed. Hopefully she will continue to get stronger and better as season progresses. She was impressive last night, but competition was limited.
She's lean but she looks fairly strong. I'm still skeptical, and I kind of doubt that Jan would consider it, but she might be able to take some of Layla's minutes if the latter struggles again this year. She was a post in high school and going small against some of the lighter posts in the league might be an option.
Wife and I were talking somewhat similar, there was a stretch in the 4th Q that neither Heiden or Hays were in the lineup, was McKenna playing 5?
I don't recall that so I couldn't comment. I don't place a lot of importance on garbage time substitutions because they're more focused on getting the back of the bench minutes than anything else.
You can tell she is super competitive as well. 2nd half, the girl she was guarding hit a three. She immediately ran down, buried her defender deep in the post, DEMANDED the ball and scored an easy two. I liked that.
She must have been pretty darned ticked off by that 3... I saw her play a number of HS games, and she rarely demands the ball like that. Nice to see that she will do so when she feels the need...
It will be, and I'm pretty certain there will be matchups where we'll go small and see MW in the post and Journey or Faison at the 4. Just watched Cory Brada'a podcast and that's what KA expects to see against some smaller lineups.
I was just as impressed when she had her defender out by the three point line and pump faked and drove to the hoop for the layup. She handles the ball pretty well also.
To be fair "emptying the bench" may still include a former starter or 2 on the floor unless they play people completely out of position. Small roster and all
She will attack rebounds, out of her area. Journey anticipates and moves to the ball also, but doesn't have MW's length. Ava is basically an in her area rebounder. Not a knock, but you rarely see her move out of her area anticipating the board and positioning herself to grab it.
The ball handling of of this team is a leap forward. Last year in tough or pressing, we wanted Chit Chat or Stremlow bringing the ball up for the most part. Add Dana, Amari even MW handles the ball better than Hannah
Yes, Woliczko and Houston were Center and PF for few possessions in the 3rd then there was a timeout and Hays was in for Woliczko after the timeout.
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