Photo by: Neil Enns/Seattle Storm
Cazorla Gives UO Presence in WNBA, And Soon Will Have Company
07/12/19 | Women's Basketball, @GoDucksMoseley
Rookie point guard Maite Cazorla is carving out a role with the Atlanta Dream, and is on the leading edge of a coming wave of Oregon talent in the WNBA.
Early in the fourth quarter of a game against Connecticut on Wednesday morning, Atlanta's WNBA team, the Dream, trailed 61-57. Atlanta needed a spark. Head coach Nicki Collen sought one from her rookie point guard from Oregon.
Into the game went Maite Cazorla. Onto a run went the Dream.
Cazorla started it herself with a layup on a pick-and-roll play, something she ran so often over the previous four seasons with the Ducks. Driving from the perimeter, Cazorla froze the defense with a hesitation move that might have been to set up a pass, before finishing the play herself at the rim. At the other end, Cazorla forced a turnover, and Atlanta ended up putting together a 10-0 run.
The Dream had the lead; though Cazorla went back to the bench for the final few minutes, they held on for their fourth win of the season, and their second in three games. Cazorla's layup to spark the game-clinching run gave her points in all 11 appearances this season, entering Atlanta's game Friday against Minnesota.
Prior to Wednesday's win over Connecticut, Atlanta had a three-game Western road trip that took the Dream to Seattle for a game July 5. On hand to watch that game in person were UO women's basketball coach Kelly Graves and three of Cazorla's former Oregon teammates: Oti Gildon, Ruthy Hebard and Lydia Giomi.
It was the first chance for Graves to watch a player he recruited to Oregon compete in the WNBA, and he looked on with pride from a courtside seat.
"It means everything," Graves said just prior to tipoff in Seattle. "She's certainly not going to be our last, but she's our first in a long time, and it's just awesome to see – to see her playing with the pros, the best of the best."
As Graves pointed out, Cazorla might be the first UO alum recruited by this coaching staff to make the WNBA, but she won't be the last. One of her teammates watching from the stands that night in Seattle, Hebard, is expected to be a top prospect in the 2020 draft, and of course two-time Pac-12 player of the year Sabrina Ionescu might be the top pick. Satou Sabally projects as a future pro as well, and if you're seeing a trend develop, you're not alone.
"Probably I won't like playing against them, but I'm excited," Cazorla said during a break from warmups for the game in Seattle. "A lot of (Ducks) are going to come to the league, and I'm excited to see what they do."
When Cazorla was selected in April by Atlanta with the 23rd overall pick of the 2019 WNBA Draft, in the second round, she became the ninth Oregon player all-time to be drafted by the league. The only two Ducks selected higher were Jenny Mowe (21st, 2001) and Jillian Alleyne (20th, 2016).
Cazorla was a fit for Atlanta in part because of her defense; the Ducks' best perimeter defender the last four years, she fit the defense-first philosophy of her new head coach, Collen. Also, Cazorla provided point guard depth Atlanta would require during a stretch of June games that primary backup Alex Bentley intended to miss owing to a commitment overseas.
Over the course of Atlanta's first six games of this season, which began in late May, Cazorla made three appearances. After starting 146 games at Oregon the previous four years, sitting out was new for Cazorla. So too has been the parity at the pro level; Atlanta is 4-10 entering Friday's game with Minnesota, having already matched the total number of losses Cazorla and the Ducks suffered over the previous two seasons combined.
Playing only sparingly through the early season stretch was hard, Cazorla said. But the player Graves always referred to as a "college pro" because of her dedication to the game kept herself ready, with an eye on the stretch of June games Bentley was going to miss.
"I knew my time was coming," Cazorla said. "I had time to prepare myself mentally. Doing whatever, working hard, getting shots up."
Cazorla didn't play in either of the Dream's last two games before Bentley's departure. But she played 12 minutes in Atlanta's first game without Bentley, one off her season high. She played 20 minutes two days later against Connecticut, then a season-high 24 against Washington, recording season highs of seven points and six assists. That earned Cazorla her first career start, on June 30 against New York, in the final game before Bentley's return.
But the return of the veteran didn't banish Cazorla back to the bench. The rookie from Oregon played 23 minutes in Bentley's first game back, July 2 against Minnesota. She still had a spot in Collen's rotation.
"Having those minutes gave me confidence," Cazorla said prior to Atlanta's next game, the July 5 date in Seattle. "I know she liked what I'm doing."
That night in Seattle, with her college coach and teammates looking on, Cazorla played 13 minutes off the bench. She made two three-pointers, helping Atlanta end a four-game losing streak with a 77-66 victory.
"She's played really well," said Graves, who signed up to stream WNBA games online in order to watch Cazorla this season. "I've talked to her coach on a few occasions, and she's been really pleased. (Collen) said, 'Kelly, this is the hardest position to learn in the pros. And she's doing a great job with everything.' "
Graves no doubt will have his WNBA app open to stream a particular game Aug. 3. That day, Cazorla's Atlanta Dream meet the Chicago Sky and their point guard, Courtney Vandersloot. Graves coached Vandersloot at Gonzaga before coming to Oregon five years ago.
"And now, when Sabrina goes pro, you're talking about a lot of really good point guards in the league coming from our coaching," Graves said.
That will make for a lot of WNBA games for Graves to stream in the coming years. And it will mean an even stronger recruiting pitch for his Oregon staff, too.
Elite men's players have spent decades making their college decision based on which program will best prepare them to play in the NBA. On the women's side, that's only become a factor in the last 10 years or so, Graves said.
But it most definitely is a factor now.
"They grow up dreaming of playing in the pros," Graves said.
In recent years, a program like Connecticut or Notre Dame could point to the number of players it put into the WNBA, and contrast that with a program without the same tradition, like Oregon. But that won't be the case much longer, with Cazorla on the leading edge of what projects as a wave of Ducks who will play in the WNBA.
"Because of the runs we made, people were watching," Cazorla said of Oregon's two Elite Eight runs and one Final Four appearances during her four years. "That helped me. And I'm sure playing for (Graves), playing for Oregon, that helped me too."
Cazorla said the league is already well aware of Ionescu, who some considered the potential top pick in this year's draft before her decision to remain in school for her senior season. Oregon's staff believes Hebard also is a top-five talent, and the sky is the limit for Sabally.
Cazorla said she didn't really start thinking of herself as a potential WNBA player until her senior season. Ionescu obviously has been considered to have that potential for several years. Increasingly the Ducks are recruiting players with similar dreams, a trend that only figures to continue in the years to come.
"That's all we're really recruiting right now," Graves said. "We've gotten to the point where we're attracting the best talent. Yeah, we want those kinds of players that have that as one of their legitimate goals.
"We hadn't had it yet (at Oregon); we've only been here five years," Graves continued, while watching Cazorla warm up for her game in Seattle. "This is the first opportunity we've had to develop a pro, and so, yeah, I think that'll change (our recruiting pitch), no question."
Into the game went Maite Cazorla. Onto a run went the Dream.
Cazorla started it herself with a layup on a pick-and-roll play, something she ran so often over the previous four seasons with the Ducks. Driving from the perimeter, Cazorla froze the defense with a hesitation move that might have been to set up a pass, before finishing the play herself at the rim. At the other end, Cazorla forced a turnover, and Atlanta ended up putting together a 10-0 run.
The Dream had the lead; though Cazorla went back to the bench for the final few minutes, they held on for their fourth win of the season, and their second in three games. Cazorla's layup to spark the game-clinching run gave her points in all 11 appearances this season, entering Atlanta's game Friday against Minnesota.
Prior to Wednesday's win over Connecticut, Atlanta had a three-game Western road trip that took the Dream to Seattle for a game July 5. On hand to watch that game in person were UO women's basketball coach Kelly Graves and three of Cazorla's former Oregon teammates: Oti Gildon, Ruthy Hebard and Lydia Giomi.
It was the first chance for Graves to watch a player he recruited to Oregon compete in the WNBA, and he looked on with pride from a courtside seat.
"It means everything," Graves said just prior to tipoff in Seattle. "She's certainly not going to be our last, but she's our first in a long time, and it's just awesome to see – to see her playing with the pros, the best of the best."
As Graves pointed out, Cazorla might be the first UO alum recruited by this coaching staff to make the WNBA, but she won't be the last. One of her teammates watching from the stands that night in Seattle, Hebard, is expected to be a top prospect in the 2020 draft, and of course two-time Pac-12 player of the year Sabrina Ionescu might be the top pick. Satou Sabally projects as a future pro as well, and if you're seeing a trend develop, you're not alone.
"Probably I won't like playing against them, but I'm excited," Cazorla said during a break from warmups for the game in Seattle. "A lot of (Ducks) are going to come to the league, and I'm excited to see what they do."
When Cazorla was selected in April by Atlanta with the 23rd overall pick of the 2019 WNBA Draft, in the second round, she became the ninth Oregon player all-time to be drafted by the league. The only two Ducks selected higher were Jenny Mowe (21st, 2001) and Jillian Alleyne (20th, 2016).
Cazorla was a fit for Atlanta in part because of her defense; the Ducks' best perimeter defender the last four years, she fit the defense-first philosophy of her new head coach, Collen. Also, Cazorla provided point guard depth Atlanta would require during a stretch of June games that primary backup Alex Bentley intended to miss owing to a commitment overseas.
Over the course of Atlanta's first six games of this season, which began in late May, Cazorla made three appearances. After starting 146 games at Oregon the previous four years, sitting out was new for Cazorla. So too has been the parity at the pro level; Atlanta is 4-10 entering Friday's game with Minnesota, having already matched the total number of losses Cazorla and the Ducks suffered over the previous two seasons combined.
Playing only sparingly through the early season stretch was hard, Cazorla said. But the player Graves always referred to as a "college pro" because of her dedication to the game kept herself ready, with an eye on the stretch of June games Bentley was going to miss.
"I knew my time was coming," Cazorla said. "I had time to prepare myself mentally. Doing whatever, working hard, getting shots up."
Cazorla didn't play in either of the Dream's last two games before Bentley's departure. But she played 12 minutes in Atlanta's first game without Bentley, one off her season high. She played 20 minutes two days later against Connecticut, then a season-high 24 against Washington, recording season highs of seven points and six assists. That earned Cazorla her first career start, on June 30 against New York, in the final game before Bentley's return.
But the return of the veteran didn't banish Cazorla back to the bench. The rookie from Oregon played 23 minutes in Bentley's first game back, July 2 against Minnesota. She still had a spot in Collen's rotation.
"Having those minutes gave me confidence," Cazorla said prior to Atlanta's next game, the July 5 date in Seattle. "I know she liked what I'm doing."
That night in Seattle, with her college coach and teammates looking on, Cazorla played 13 minutes off the bench. She made two three-pointers, helping Atlanta end a four-game losing streak with a 77-66 victory.
"She's played really well," said Graves, who signed up to stream WNBA games online in order to watch Cazorla this season. "I've talked to her coach on a few occasions, and she's been really pleased. (Collen) said, 'Kelly, this is the hardest position to learn in the pros. And she's doing a great job with everything.' "
Graves no doubt will have his WNBA app open to stream a particular game Aug. 3. That day, Cazorla's Atlanta Dream meet the Chicago Sky and their point guard, Courtney Vandersloot. Graves coached Vandersloot at Gonzaga before coming to Oregon five years ago.
"And now, when Sabrina goes pro, you're talking about a lot of really good point guards in the league coming from our coaching," Graves said.
That will make for a lot of WNBA games for Graves to stream in the coming years. And it will mean an even stronger recruiting pitch for his Oregon staff, too.
Elite men's players have spent decades making their college decision based on which program will best prepare them to play in the NBA. On the women's side, that's only become a factor in the last 10 years or so, Graves said.
But it most definitely is a factor now.
"They grow up dreaming of playing in the pros," Graves said.
In recent years, a program like Connecticut or Notre Dame could point to the number of players it put into the WNBA, and contrast that with a program without the same tradition, like Oregon. But that won't be the case much longer, with Cazorla on the leading edge of what projects as a wave of Ducks who will play in the WNBA.
"Because of the runs we made, people were watching," Cazorla said of Oregon's two Elite Eight runs and one Final Four appearances during her four years. "That helped me. And I'm sure playing for (Graves), playing for Oregon, that helped me too."
Cazorla said the league is already well aware of Ionescu, who some considered the potential top pick in this year's draft before her decision to remain in school for her senior season. Oregon's staff believes Hebard also is a top-five talent, and the sky is the limit for Sabally.
Cazorla said she didn't really start thinking of herself as a potential WNBA player until her senior season. Ionescu obviously has been considered to have that potential for several years. Increasingly the Ducks are recruiting players with similar dreams, a trend that only figures to continue in the years to come.
"That's all we're really recruiting right now," Graves said. "We've gotten to the point where we're attracting the best talent. Yeah, we want those kinds of players that have that as one of their legitimate goals.
"We hadn't had it yet (at Oregon); we've only been here five years," Graves continued, while watching Cazorla warm up for her game in Seattle. "This is the first opportunity we've had to develop a pro, and so, yeah, I think that'll change (our recruiting pitch), no question."
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