Since she got to Iowa, senior forward Monika Czinano has played behind some stars.
As a freshman, she backed up national player of the year Megan Gustafson. The next year program great Kathleen Doyle topped the statistics column for the Hawkeyes, with Czinano right behind her. In 2020-2021, freshman Caitlin Clark was the team’s top scorer, where she has remained for the last three years, with Czinano right behind her as she opted to play a fifth season.
Receiving second billing to teammates has never bothered the Minnesota native. In fact, as Iowa prepares to face South Carolina in the national semifinals tomorrow, Czinano would rather not talk about herself.
“I love the team (and I) hate making it an individual thing,” she said. “I love it when it’s Iowa vs. South Carolina, when it’s all of our team; I just like talking about that more. I understand, to a certain extent, how good I am and how my development has happened. But I just love my team, and I want them to get the credit they deserve.”
But no matter how many times Czinano is asked to talk about Clark, who has won three national player of the year awards this week, the truth is that without her, the Hawkeyes would not be back in the Final Four for the…
