Don’t sleep on Sjerven: Coyotes’ center prepares for WNBA combine

This week back in Minnesota, Hannah Sjerven went through basketball-centered workouts that were like none she’d experienced in a very long time.

It wasn’t the content of these workouts that seemed foreign, it was the context. She was no longer a college basketball player and no longer playing for the South Dakota women’s team.

Sjerven and Coyote fans know this happens all the time. Senior basketball players leave college. Few move on, however, having played such a significant role in so many memories.

Sjerven’s list of individual accomplishments goes on for paragraphs but her most impressive numbers were the ones she shared with teammates: four consecutive NCAA tournament berths with a Sweet 16 appearance her final season.

“It’s definitely a weird feeling,” Sjerven said. “I’m still training because I don’t know what is to come and I don’t want to be unprepared. Plus it’s a good way to stay in shape, if nothing else.”

Except in Sjerven’s case, there is plenty else. As one of the best players in USD and Summit League history, a pro basketball career is a virtual lock. The same applies to super-senior teammate guard Chloe Lamb. It’s just a matter of where that journey begins and at what level.

It’s likely a month from now Sjerven will have a better handle on the transition to something new. For now, though, it’s impossible to ignore all that she’s leaving behind, particularly over the last two weeks.

“I don’t know that I have really accepted the fact that I’m done playing for the Coyotes,” she said. “There isn’t another game or another practice. It just hasn’t hit me yet. Maybe it’s because the turnaround has been so tight – there hasn’t been any off-time yet. Maybe after I get a little time away it will fully hit me. For right now, though, I’m trying to focus on the next step.”

The next step will be sorting out options as a future pro. Both she and Lamb have declared their eligibility for the WNBA draft. That doesn’t mean they’ll be drafted, of course, but it does mean they’re up for consideration.

In Sjerven’s case, the sting of losing a tight game to Michigan for the chance to push a dream season to the Elite Eight still smarts plenty. Those three NCAA games nevertheless emphatically demonstrated that she’s capable of being an extremely productive player at a very high level.

In those three games against Ole Miss, Baylor and Michigan she faced three centers who could go in the top five picks in the WNBA draft. Against Shakira Austin of Ole Miss she scored 20 points, hit 7-of-7 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds. Against NaLyssa Smith of Baylor she scored 16 points and grabbed four rebounds and against Naz Hillman of Michigan she scored 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting to go with eight rebounds.

Against Austin and Smith, her performance on both ends of the court set a tone those heavily favored opponents could not overcome. In the loss to Michigan, she battled Hillman to a draw despite dealing with foul trouble that was fueled by at least two calls Coyote fans won’t soon forget.

If you’re a 6-2 center wanting to prove you can compete against the best at your position, you could not have hand-picked a more intimidating challenge in college basketball over the course of three consecutive games against three different teams.

“I have definitely heard that my performances in those three games helped my stock,” Sjerven said. “I was able to showcase my abilities on a bigger stage against bigger competition. That was good for me.”

Because the season lasted so long, she has had to rush the transitional details. There will be a learning curve involved in familiarizing herself with the process. What if the WNBA is not where she ends up? Then where should she play? What league? What country? There is a lot going on right now.

“At the end of the day it’s fun,” she said. “It’s exciting that I’m in this spot that I’m in. It’s an amazing opportunity that not many people get. I’m very grateful for that.”

Sjerven wants to be a sports psychologist someday. With a psychology undergrad degree and one master’s degree in hand and another on the way, she’ll have much of the academics already taken care of when she decides she has had enough basketball.

That future career – the one that comes after the one coming up – will include a ton of personal experience in addition to all those diplomas. Ultimately that will work in her favor, just like those last three basketball games did.

“I have been able to have a few conversations with people about my basketball career at USD,” she said. “I have been able to reflect at least a little bit. I feel very lucky and very thankful for everything that South Dakota has given me. I came to South Dakota as a transfer – I was unsure how long I was going to play basketball. But they worked with me for a year and believed in me. They took that risk and they ended up making me into what I am. I credit USD for all of it.”