Monika Czinano Has Blossomed into Star

Iowa Center Developed Through Hard Work, Determination

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Monika Czinano had a ringside seat for Megan Gustafson’s record-setting performance during the 2018-19 basketball season.

Gustafson, a 6-foot-3 center, was the National Player of the Year and took the Iowa women’s team to lofty heights. There was a Big Ten Tournament title, a trip to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, 29 victories and a pile of records and national awards.

Czinano, a 6-3 freshman and backup post, played 181 minutes and averaged 1.9 points that season. And nothing that Czinano did reminded Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder of Gustafson.

“Oh, no,” Bluder said. “Monika’s freshman year was… wow.”

Bluder’s frank assessment included this memory.

“She had a messed-up shot, to be quite honest, that freshman year,” Bluder said.

But instead of getting discouraged and thinking she was in over her head, Czinano went to work. And four years later, the fifth-year senior is considered one of the best players in the Big Ten. She and point guard Caitlin Clark are expected to lead the Hawkeyes to another strong season.

“I really believe that Caitlin and Monika are one of the most dynamic duos in the country,” Bluder said.

Czinano’s transition was the product of hard work, and the realization that she had to get better in a hurry.

“I remember coming into the gym that summer and we had those shooting guns set up,” Czinano said. “I was shooting short corner shots and stuff. And I remember shooting 30 percent. I was like, “Oh my God, I’m going to suck. What is happening?’ I remember thinking, “This is the worst thing that could ever happen to me at this point. Coach (Jan) Jensen has developed some amazing posts. I put my trust in her, and stuck with the process.”

Jensen spent countless hours with Gustafson, molding her into an elite player. Czinano was next in line.

“When Monika came in here as a freshman, she had no idea how good she could be,” Bluder said. “And she was looking at Megan, who’s all-everything, and all she did that year is she learned. She learned how to work. She learned how to be positive like Megan.”

In the summer between Czinano’s freshman and sophomore seasons, the Iowa coaching staff had some frank discussions with her. They told her she had to change her shot. Monika dropped the ball toward her waist after catching a pass, and then shot it back and off her ear. Through hours of hard work, she now catches it and snaps her wrist, an economy of motion with killer results.

Czinano, a starter the last three seasons, led the nation in field-goal percentage in 2021-22 at .679 while averaging 21.2 points a game. She shot .668 the year before while averaging 19.3 points, and .679 while averaging 16 points as a sophomore.

“We completely changed her style of shooting,” Bluder said. “She did the hard work then. We gave her the opportunity, the education. It was up to her to make it work, and she did. She was in the gym all the time, doing one-handed shooting, two-hand soft-touch shooting, doing the things that were required for her to straighten out her shot. And boy, did she ever straighten it out.”

Czinano has positive memories of the 2018-19 season, even though her contributions were minimal. She remembers talking to Kate Martin, another fifth-year senior, after Iowa won the Big Ten postseason tournament and made the Elite Eight.

‘“We thought this was the best it was ever going to be,” she said. “Having Megan (Gustafson), Hannah (Stewart), Tania (Davis), Kathleen (Doyle), we worshiped them. And now we’re in a position where we’re competing like that team, even out-competing that team. It’s just mind blowing how it’s all fallen into place. We’re just so blessed.”

Iowa’s No.4 preseason ranking in the Associated Press poll will be put to the test time and time again this season, starting with Friday’s exhibition game with Nebraska-Kearney.

Czinano could have passed on another season of college ball, but she was quick to take advantage of a fifth year that was offered by the NCAA because of the pandemic.

“I didn’t want to give up being on this team and being with these people every day,” Czinano said. “Obviously, I love basketball at the same time. It was like a no brainer. I didn’t want to give this all up.”

Czinano, named to the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Watch List last week, has scored 1,763 career points. Clark has 1,662. It’s not hard to imagine both of them joining Gustafson (2,804), Ally Disterhoff (2,102) and Cindy Haugejorde (2,059) in the 2,000–point club before the season ends.

That would be quite an accomplishment for a Czinano, who struggled with her shot as a freshman and then shot lights out the next three.

“I can’t believe how far she has come from her freshman year to her sophomore, junior, senior year and now her fifth year,” Bluder said.