Zia Cooke will be on the doorstep of realizing her dream Monday night as she waits to hear her name called at the 2023 WNBA draft at Spring Studios in New York City.
The 2019 Rogers High School graduate, who led the Rams to back-to-back Division II state championships her junior and senior seasons, completed her accomplished four-year collegiate career March 31 when her top-ranked University of South Carolina team saw its perfect season spoiled in a 77-73 upset loss to Iowa in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament in Dallas.
Cooke, who will graduate on May 4 with a bachelor's degree in mass communications, decided to forgo a potential fifth college season. That extra year was an option for all college players because of the coronavirus pandemic. She declared her intention last week to enter the draft.
■ When: Monday, 7-9 p.m.
■ Where: Spring Studios, New York.
■ TV: ESPN.
■ Format: The draft has three rounds with 12 picks in each round.
The 5-foot-9 guard now stares straight ahead at her basketball future. She looks to become the fourth Toledo high school product from the City League chosen in a WNBA draft. She would join Central Catholic’s Ericka Haney (Notre Dame), who was picked in the third round of the 2002 draft by the Detroit Shock (No. 47 overall), Bowsher’s Kamesha Hairston (Temple University), who was selected in the first round of the 2007 draft by the Connecticut Sun (No. 12 overall), and Waite’s Natasha Howard (Florida State), the first-round pick of the Indiana Fever in 2014 (No. 5 overall).
“I first had a dream about the WNBA when I was in the seventh grade, when I received my first college offer,” Cooke said. “That's when realized that this was something I could go far with and I had the potential to actually make it to the WNBA.
“I always wanted to work extremely hard so I could get my chance. It's been a long journey, but we're finally here.”
Cooke will attend the draft along with her parents, Stratman Cooke III and Michelle Cooke, and older brother Stratman Cooke IV. A group of close to 100 family members and friends will gather at a nearby bar to watch the draft, which will be aired on ESPN on Monday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“I'm very excited for Zia,” said proud mom Michelle, “and I'm also excited that she knew what she wanted going into college, and she stayed focused on what her goal was.
“She completed it, and now she's at the top of where she wanted to be. I've always told her, 'You're almost at the mountain top.' She's finally there, and I'm very happy for her. I believe she'll have huge success in the WNBA.”
Where might Cooke be selected in the draft?
“I've talked to a variety of different teams,” she said. “I'm not able to give that information out, but I'm on the radar, for sure. They have projected me to maybe go No. 12 to Minnesota, but I have talked to multiple teams.
“It doesn't matter to me where I end up. I just want to be somewhere that is a good fit for me and for my game. Wherever I go, my success is already written for me. I'm going to produce the best that I can.”
Mock drafts have Cooke going anywhere from the middle of the first round to the early or mid-second round. There are three rounds of 12 picks.
“In terms of her positioning and where she's taken, I would imagine the earliest you would see is the middle of the first round,” said former college and WNBA star Rebecca Lobo, now an ESPN analyst. “Anywhere from there to the early-ish second round. I won't be surprised if she's on a roster, no matter where she's taken in the draft.”
Cooke impressed fellow ESPN analyst LaChina Robinson with her 24-point effort in the semifinal loss to Iowa.
“She really caught my eye with how tenacious she can be at the offensive end and how competitive she is when it comes to scoring the ball,” Robinson said. “We've seen that in spurts in her career.
“With South Carolina being so talented on the defensive end, and a lot of what they do with [6-5 star forward teammate Aliyah] Boston, Cooke can get lost. But, she definitely reminded us of what she can do with the ball in her hands.”
Lobo supplied an in-depth take on Cooke's WNBA potential.
“Zia has a lot of really nice skills that people are excited about,” Lobo said. “Primarily, you look at the role she had throughout the course of her four years at South Carolina as a scorer and as a player that can go get her own shot.
“South Carolina is not a heavy pick-and-roll team, but she's a player that would come off stagger screens, or they would run middle pick-and-roll with her. I remember, as I was calling the game at Tennessee earlier this year, in the fourth quarter almost every time down the floor it was Zia with a high-middle ball screen. She would just come off it and either get to the rim or hit the pull-up jumper.”
Lobo also addressed the areas in Cooke's game that need work as she transitions to the professional game.
“What you would like to see is a little more consistency with her 3-point shooting,” Lobo said. “She was certainly much better this year in terms of her field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage.
“Her defense and — as Dawn Staley would talk about, the other things she did on the floor — improved dramatically her senior year. They could put her on one of the primary perimeter scorers on the other team. She got better there and was incredibly impressive throughout the tournament and especially in the final four.”
Lobo noted Cooke's college finale may have been a preview of her potential role at the next level.
“She carried South Carolina offensively at times when they really needed her to do so,” Lobo said of Cooke, who scored 18 first-half points against Iowa to keep the Gamecocks close. “If she got on a team where her role could be just to come in for a few minutes at a time and score and bring that instant offense, that's a place where she could really thrive.”
Over the past six seasons, counting her final two at the prep level at Rogers, Cooke has played a major role on teams that posted an incredible 183-14 combined overall record.
That mark includes the leading coach Lamar Smith's state-champion Rams squads of 2018 (27-3) and 2019 (27-2) and a superb four-year run at South Carolina in which the Gamecocks were the nation's top women's program.
“I just love her heart,” Smith said. “I'm very proud of Zia, seeing her grow as a player, on and off the court. And, seeing her getting better and better every year, and becoming the player she is.
“She's going to continue to improve at the next level. Nothing Zia does surprises me.”
In her time at South Carolina, Cooke played in 137 career games, scoring 1,845 points (13.5 average), a total that ranks No. 8 in program history. She also contributed 340 rebounds, 254 assists, and 117 steals in her career while shooting 40 percent (457 of 1,135) overall, including 34 percent (196 of 574) on 3-pointers, and 75 percent (343 of 457) at the free-throw line.
As a sophomore (15.9 points) and senior (15.4) she led the team in scoring and was named first team All-Southeastern Conference.
Cooke said her decision to pass on the fifth college season was not made for financial reasons. Her popularity has enabled her to generate significant name, image, and likeness revenue.
“The NIL was one of the No. 1 reasons why I was thinking about staying,” Cooke said. “Just knowing that I could have made a lot of money staying one more year.”
Two of her top NIL deals have been with H&R Block and Dunkin' Donuts.
“But, I was just thinking: 'Am I prepared? Am I ready? Do I want to take advantage of this last year just to keep myself ready for the next level?’” Cooke said. “On the flip side, I was thinking I might be able to make the same amount of money in the league or even more.
“If it wasn't for COVID, I wouldn't even have a choice but to go this year. All I needed was my four years to prepare myself for the next level.”
Getting drafted is only half of the upcoming battle.
“I'm super excited,” Cooke said, “but I think it will really sink in when I hear my name being called. Right now, I'm still a little, bit nervous, just because I don't know where I'm going to end up.
“Once I hear my name called, and I get a chance to go to training camp, and I make a team, I think all the excitement will come out. I'm holding my breath right now until that moment.”
First Published April 9, 2023, 2:46 p.m.
