Monika Czinano has been a staple for Iowa women’s basketball over the past four seasons.
As one of the Hawkeyes’ two biggest stars, Czinano represented one half of The Law Firm that led Iowa to the pinnacle of a national championship game. The Hawkeyes finished the 2022-23 women’s college basketball season with a 31-7 record. Those 31 wins are the most in a single season in Iowa history.
Her performance at Iowa has made Czinano a WNBA draft prospect. The draft is set to take place on Monday, April 10 at 6 p.m. on ESPN. One analyst attempted to project where the top projects might land.
ESPN’s M.A. Voepel projected the WNBA draft’s first three rounds. Voepel has Czinano landing with the Indiana Fever with the No. 17 overall selection in the WNBA draft’s second round.
According to Voepel’s WNBA draft projection, Czinano would join South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston, Brea Beal, Zia Cooke and Drexel’s Keishana Washington as Indiana Fever’s five draft picks.
Per Voepel’s projection, Boston went No. 1 overall, Beal was selected seventh, Cooke 13th and Washington 25th.
Czinano ends her Iowa career with 2,413 points, 787 rebounds, 152 assists, 65 steals and 60 blocks. The Watertown, Minnesota, native averaged 17.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game this past season. She also shot 67.4% from the floor, which ranked third nationally.
That impressive field goal percentage is one of the hallmarks of Czinano’s career and perhaps the biggest reason she will be an attractive draft addition. She led the nation in that category during both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons with 66.8% and 67.9% field goal shooting. Her 67.9% field goal shooting in 2019-20 also ranked second in the country.
“I just hope people saw how much fun I played with. I love this game, and I love it for the team. Basketball is fun to me, but I didn’t even like it all the time growing up. But I love being on a team and feeling like a part of something. That’s what I felt here at Iowa,” Czinano said after the title game versus LSU.
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