So the buzz on X yesterday was that she's a silent commit to Iowa and will be announcing it within a week or so. She's a 5 star #6 overall player in the class according to 247. She'd be the highest rated recruit since you know who. I think Addie Deal was like in the teens last yr. McKenna is a 6'2 PF/SF style player. She's been a double digit rebounder. She's long armed athletic and hustler. She's on the slender side yet likes to mix it up inside. I think she's more of an in the lane type of player I don't know if her jumper goes out to the 3 or not so much. But she's a crafty scorer but her defense and rebounding will be great day 1. She'll seamlessly slide into the 4 spot for us to replace Stuelke. I think who she'll become in a couple yrs of being in the weight room will be significantly different then who she'll be day 1. But what a difference maker she'll be.
McKenna Woliczko
- Thread starter Hawkfnntn
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HawkIowa44
Well-Known Member
The Hawks are also in the finals for 5 Star wing Addison Bjorn and 5 Star guard Jenica Lewis from Johnston, IA. Get all three of them with Deal and the rest of the highly rated players the Hawks already have... things are cooking in Hawkeye basketball land
Very much so. Landing Mckenna could be a heck of a domino starter cause at this point Iowa has no commits for 26 yet. Bjorn who is a wing 2/3 type of player would fit in perfectly with Deal and Woliczko not to mention our post players Heiden and Hays.
The only reason I'm not as sure about Lewis coming would be that Iowa's already got Deal and Houston. Along with Chit-Chat the guard spot seems kinda locked in for the foreseeable future Would Lewis be ok with limited mins off the bench for her first couple yrs? Iowa also has Levin that's going to be a soph maybe she'll improve and crack into playing more. I'd love for Lewis to stay home but she's got other great options. Notre Dame being one of em.
I think we'll see soon enough I think the dominos will start falling quickly after McKenna announces.
HawkIowa44
Well-Known Member
What's crazy over the last couple of seasons is that other than Houston, all of the other in-state players that are rated high have gone elsewhere. Not sure if that's because of Iowa's national name, being that we're able to get highly rated players from around the country or is it because in-state talent is just getting that much better with bigger options outside of the state?
Great question. Yeah recruiting has evolved some and Iowa atm is evolving to be on the young side. Stuelke Ferurbach and McCabe will all be done after this yr and all the main players the following yr will be sophs and freshman depending how the rest of this yrs class goes. Heiden will be a junior. I don't foresee may more impactful transfers coming in unless someone else unexpectedly leaves like Guyton did.
The wild card we have is Emely Rodriguez. She transfered in and I've heard she'll be a perfect fit to replace Affolters role. Be it off the bench or if she starts right away I think she'll be a huge part of this yrs team and going forward. She's just a sophomore.
judzeehawk
Well-Known Member
Addison Bjorn is in Iowa City this weekend for her official visit. The bad news is her last official visit is with Kansas. Addison is from Riverside Mo. but that's really close to Kansas U. if she wants to be close to home.
Yeah it almost seems greedy to think we could land her to pair up with Deal and Woliczko. What a 3 some they'd make and that's not even to shortchange how good Heiden and Hays should be in the post for the forseeable future. We're talking about legitimate final 4 expectations again in a couple yrs. That's three 5 stars with 4 stars sprinkled throughout the rest of the roster. CC wishes she'd have had talent like that around her. I don't know if we'll land Bjorn or Lewis as well but we're in the running still.
HawkPowerlifter
Well-Known Member
I think the other question about Woliczko is where she would fit in position wise. Doesn't play more of a power forward position and they project her more of the small forward position for college. Sometimes that is a deal breaker for an athlete being asked to change positions. I think in this case, it shouldn't be an issue with how Iowa's offense rotates.
I'd seen her dad post some videos of her. I haven't seen many highlights of her to be honest. She has a jumper that goes out to the HS 3 pt line anyway and she really likes to mix it up inside mostly. I'm not so sure about her handles I didn't see her dribble much at all or do much in the open floor everything I've seen has been half court clips.
I get the sense that her best yrs will be her JR/SR yrs I don't think she's gonna be an instant dominant player right away. I think she'll need to get a little bigger/stronger to play inside the same way she has been. But she's skilled enough to. And yeah Iowa basically plays position less ball to the extent of just matching up situationally with who they are playing against.
As far as this yr goes I'll be curious about how the Stuelke at the 4 goes cause they're gonna be trying that again. I'm not sure she has the skills/outside shot for it but they can't leave Heiden/Hays on the bench much. They'll deserve PT too.
HawkPowerlifter
Well-Known Member
Regardless, positive news for the Hawkeyes!
We landed a 5 star and two 4s last yr. Probably one 5 star this week and in the running for 2 more. That's just off the charts crazy. To think of what Jan has been able to do in the short time she's taken over is wildly impressive and a lot to be excited about.
Sure the CC effect has been off the charts amazing but there's never any promises of being able to recruit well going forward and how long that'd go. Or winning games for that matter. Jans had a shakeup of her staff since she took over too. She's had to replace Raina Harmon and Tania Davis. Harmon is a big loss she went on to be HC at FGCU.
When you start having kids saying no to Geno, Dawn and Kim Mulkey etc. That's pretty noticeable. We should be over the moon with how the womens program has been going. They deserve all the love they've been getting from the fans and full houses. We need to keep that going
