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Claudia Kunzer’s college basketball career is over. She loved close to every minute of it and will miss it dearly, which is completely understandable given how much she appeared to enjoy her four years at the University of South Dakota.

The conversion to real life doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a problem, though. This is because Kunzer is approaching her nursing career like she approaches all other challenges. That is, with a smile on her face at 100 miles an hour. Don’t feel sorry for this kid leaving basketball behind. Feel sorry for basketball.

“From the first time I talked to Claudia – and this goes back to when I was recruiting her when we were at Northern Kentucky – there has never been a conversation I’ve had with her where she was not absolutely exuding energy,” said USD coach Dawn Plitzuweit.

That went from the first phone call to the first face-to-face meeting to the hug after the loss to Oregon earlier this week in the NCAA tournament.

“There is so much about this young lady that is so incredibly special,” Plitzuweit said. “To give that level of energy to every conversation, to every team meeting, to every team dinner, to every practice, to every game – she never wavered in providing that energy for everybody else.”

The end of a season is something she’s plenty familiar with. Athletes know the routine. That’s until it’s over for good. This is the first time she’s dealt with the last game ever.

“It’s probably going to hit me in maybe a week or two, or maybe a month,” Kunzer said. “There was definitely some sadness. It’s like ‘Wow, I’ve been playing basketball my whole life and I’m not going to have practice tomorrow. I feel like I’m going to be practicing tomorrow, but I’m not.’”

Kunzer, to the extent that it’s physically possible, has fueled the Coyotes’ effort over her college career by tirelessly keeping everyone riled up. She has not spent a lot of minutes on the court in games, but she has nevertheless won over the crowds and USD and Vermillion as the hype woman. She’s done this so well she’s been recognized for it often, which is difficult to do given that cheering on teammates at a basketball game, while crucial, is not a particularly memorable sight at a basketball game.

In her role as an emotional leader, she has drawn the attention of television news, the newspapers that cover the team and, most impressively, a full-page story in Sports Illustrated that could be a story in itself.

The thing is, it’s not an act. It’s not just yelling and jumping up and down, though that would be plenty. There is more to the Coyotes’ hype woman than the hype. A lot more. There is thought and purpose and sincere concern for teammates behind all that mayhem.

“I realized that if this was going to be my role on this team, I was going to do it to the best of my ability because that’s what I came here for,” she said. “People sometimes ask me ‘Hey, do you wish you were playing more?’ and I’m like ‘Honestly, I will do whatever it takes to make this team be the best it can be.’ I think this was what I was meant to do for my team and I just took it and ran with it. And I’m so grateful because I love this role. I love being the person that my teammates can look to for a smile or just some extra energy.”

Kunzer’s mother Sandy has been a nurse in Chicago and Claudia is intent on following in her footsteps. To that end, the younger Kunzer often had the opportunity this past semester to show how much she loves playing basketball and the idea of being a nurse.

It translated to some ridiculously long days during the season. As part of her education, she is often going to Sioux Falls for clinicals. That is, learning by doing and observing. It involved getting up at 4:30 a.m., driving to Sioux Falls, working on her feet all day, then hustling back to Vermillion for practice.

“Practice is a huge stress reliever,” she said. “But then you get done and go study until midnight, then you go to bed and do it all over again the next day.”

Because of days like that – and the promise of even more of them as she advances in nursing school – she decided she would not be joining her teammates as a member of the Coyotes next season. In short, she cares too much about nursing and too much about basketball. Both would suffer to an extent she wouldn’t be comfortable with.

“I’m not sure I’d be mentally stable enough to deal with that,” she said. “I gave my heart and soul to basketball. Now it’s time for me to give my all to nursing, which I’m going to be doing the rest of my life.”

When you get Kunzer talking about her next career, you get to hear a lot about her tireless mother. Sandy has a background working in intensive care taking care of babies. She’s talked to her daughter often about what the career is like and her daughter has asked a lot of questions.

“My mom would tell me all the time about it being one of the most rewarding jobs you could ever have,” Kunzer said. “When you care for a baby and then get to see them go home with their parents, it’s amazing. My mom still has contact with some of the families. She sees the babies grow. How cool is that? Then this semester with my clinicals, I got to see a C-section and got to go down into the neonatal unit and I fell in love. Right there. I called my mom and I said ‘Mom, this is what I want to do. This is the coolest thing ever.’”

And poof...no more talk of sports broadcasting, another potential career option.

Part of the Kunzer package, as witnessed by those who have watched the Coyotes the last four years, is that she doesn’t take herself too seriously.

Coach Plitzuweit went to the freshmen on this year’s squad to find a story about her. Something that would be quintessential Kunzer, in other words.

And this is what they told her:

“She got into the Denver game and she’s standing in the corner next to our bench,” Plitzuweit said. “She whispered to them that she was going to hit a ‘3’ on the next possession. Then she gets the ball and drains the ‘3’. She looked at the bench and had the biggest smile on her face all the way down the court. In the course of a game, or in the course of practice, she’s always finding a way to make a moment a fun moment. Here’s a kid who spends a lot of time cheering for everyone else. Then she calls her shot and makes it. You have to love that.”

Kunzer’s roommates have been teammates Liv Korngable, Monica Arens and Chloe Lamb since she was a freshman. The crew got off to a slow start, but things worked out to the point where they now joke about those first few months.

“When we did finally start talking, it was like ‘Wow, we actually enjoy each other,” Kunzer said. “We’ve talked a lot about our growth as friends since then.”

Another favorite topic is the time Kunzer made mac and cheese. It’s a fairly mundane task for most, but Kunzer, as is often the case, added excitement to the process.

“I woke up from a nap and I was super-tired and I’m thinking ‘I’m going to go make some mac and cheese,’’ she said. “‘Yep, I’ll hang out with all my roommates and make some mac and cheese. That’s what I’m going to do.’”

So Kunzer started boiling the water. A crucial first step for sure. But then the plan began to break down.

“When people make mac and cheese – most people know this because who doesn’t like mac and cheese? – you boil the water and put the noodles in and then you pour off the water and mix the other stuff in there when the water’s gone,” Kunzer said. “My beautiful thinking on this was ‘OK, well I got the water boiling. Now I’m going to put it all in there before I even put the noodles in. The butter, the milk – all of it.’”

Arens saw what was happening and, like all good teammates, called attention to it.

“Monica is like ‘What are you doing, dude?’ And I say ‘What do you mean? I’m making mac and cheese.’ Then she starts shaking her head and says ‘Dude, dude, dude...Liv, Chloe, come look at this! Come look at this!’”

It’s now officially tattooed in the memory banks.

“I’ve never really lived that one down,” Kunzer said. “I’ll hear ‘Remember that one time you tried to make mac and cheese and you totally made it wrong – and it’s like the easiest in the world to make? Maybe read the directions next time.’”

There’s a lot else she’ll never forget, too. 

“Coming from a big place like Chicago, I didn’t know for sure how I’d like living in Vermillion,” she said. “But I have to say it’s the best choice I ever could have made. Everyone knows everyone. When I go to Walmart, I don’t know if I’m going to be in there for five minutes or an hour because people come up to me and just want to know what kind of day I’m having. You don’t find that everywhere. You don’t find places like Vermillion everywhere. I love basketball but it’s been the relationships and the people that have made it all worthwhile.”