AMES, Iowa - In 2005-06, Brittany Wilkins became the diamond in the rough for the Iowa State women's basketball team. As a fifth-year senior, she broke her own mold and posted one of the best senior campaigns in Cyclone history. Her senior campaign was so good in fact that she signed a free-agent contract with the WNBA Sacramento Monarchs and has gone on to a very successful career playing overseas.
Wilkins nearly averaged a double-double as a senior, posting 16.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. After starting just 18 games in her first three seasons as a Cyclone, Wilkins started all 31 contests and posted 11 double-doubles in her last season in Ames.
She was just the seventh Cyclone to earn conference all-tournament honors after posting 23.5 ppg and 8.0 rpg in ISU's two Big 12 Championship games, facing first-team all-league centers in both contests. Wilkins was an honorable mention all-Big 12 pick by the coaches, and earned all-tournament honors at both of ISU's regular-season tournaments, as well as first-team academic all-conference accolades.
Wilkins is preparing to begin her next season in Mersin, Turkey, where she will play in the very competitive Turkish league. Cyclones.com caught up with her to find out where she has been and what all she has done since graduating from Iowa State with a degree in Exercise and Sport Science.
Where have you been since leaving Iowa State?
“I graduated in May, 2006, and went and played in Sacramento for the (WNBA) Monarchs. Basically I got to travel all around the U.S. playing in all the big arenas. That was really cool.
“From there I had knee surgery. Dr. Greenwald operated on my other knee. Last January to April I played in Switzerland for a team. That was my first experience overseas. It was really interesting and I enjoyed it a lot. It was quite difficult at first just getting used to the lifestyle. While I was there, I was able to travel to Paris, France, with my dad and sister, and all around Switzerland. I took a trip to Italy and went to Rome. I also made it to Germany in that trip as well, and I flew to Ireland and visited Mary Fox.
“After that, I came back to Sacramento and made the team there. I made the team until midway through the summer and got cut in the middle of the season. I continued to live and work out there. I was the executive assistant for the general manager of the Monarchs. I did that and I was a practice player for the team.
“I then went to Adelaide, Australia, and played with Tracy Gahan. That was really great. I loved playing there. It was a good league, good city and everything. I really got to see a lot while I was in Australia, so I would love to go back there and see more of the country. I ended up leaving there early due to limited minutes.
“I went back to Switzerland for a Eurocup team for five weeks. I came home for five or six days. Unpacked and repacked and left for Switzerland and played for a different team there. I got to travel a little bit around Switzerland. I had some friends in Basel, Switzerland, that I graduated with from Iowa State. I traveled there quite a bit and went to France and Germany.
“I came home for Christmas and then took a job in Sweden. I played for a team called Lulio Basket, which is 60 miles south of the arctic circle. It was pretty cold up there in the dead of winter. I got there and it was dark by one o'clock in the afternoon for a good month. And that was really interesting.
“Then this last go around I came home and I tried out for the San Antonio Silver Stars. I was one of the last few people to get cut from the roster. And that's it. That's been my career so far. Last year I played and lived on three different continents. It was pretty cool, but last year was a pretty busy year for me.
“The team that I played with in the Eurocup traveled to Slovakia and Hungary. In Slovakia I played against Lindsey Wilson. That was really interesting seeing a lot of Eastern European countries. Last year alone, I was in nine or 10 different countries either visiting or living.”
What are your plans for the upcoming season?
“Now I've had my time off which has been different, but I've really enjoyed it. I'm just staying at home here in Nebraska. On Sept. 30, I am leaving for Mersin, Turkey, which is along the Mediterranean coast right across the bay from the island of Cyprus.
“Mersin is the team I am playing in the Turkish league. It ranks among the top three leagues in the world, so there is going to be a lot of WNBA players on each team. I'll have probably four or five Americans on my team, so that will be pretty exciting because in the past I've only played with either one or none. It's a really good league. I had an opportunity to go back to Australia, but I turned it down because I wanted to live in another culture and I thought seeing Turkey would be a really cool opportunity. I'll be there until April 30, 2009.”
What is it like living on three different continents and visiting so many places?
“I feel very fortunate because I know a lot of people in this world have never even left the United States and some people haven't even left the Midwest. I feel pretty blessed. I haven't had to fork out much money to get to these countries, so that's a blessing in itself just to get there and see these other cultures. I've learned to respect a lot of other languages. And you learn a lot about yourself and your country when you leave your country.
“I just try to represent myself the best that I can and just enjoy everywhere I go. Some places are harder than other because of the language barrier. They all spoke to you in French or German in my town (in Switzerland). The Scandinavian countries are very good at their English, so there were times that I didn't even realize I was in another country when I was in Sweden. It kind of just depends on where you are at. Turkey is going to be very different with the language barrier and the culture. It's 98 percent Muslim there. I've really learned a lot about other cultures. I would like to work and maybe even live overseas when I get done playing.”
How do handle playing on a team where people don't speak your language?
“You kind of get used to it. You learn other ways of communication obviously. It gets difficult at times, because basketball is a game of communication. You kind of take it as it comes and you learn how to use your hands a lot. To respect their language, I bought a book to learn a little bit of Turkish before I get there. I don't know how easy it is. It is different and at times it can be hard.
“When the coaches get upset or mad at the team and yell at the team, they usually yell in the language they are best at. Sometimes it is nice being the American because you miss out on being yelled at. You just kind of sit there because you can't really understand it. But most of the time I have a translator as well. One of my teammates would translate for me during huddles. I usually look at my translator instead of my coach and they would just talk to me and fill me in on what's going on.”
What is it like to have to look at a translator during a huddle after playing for Coach Fennelly, who demands your attention when he is talking to you?
“It's extremely different. I felt disrespectful in a sense, not looking people in the eye. But overseas it's not as big. Being out of the U.S., I have really learned that Americans respect looking people in the eye and overseas there's not as big of a respect for that. It was pretty different. Coach Fennelly was very demanding on attention. Playing at Iowa State alone, it takes a lot of focus. It was a change, but I am adapting to it well.”
What is the biggest adjustment in your game you have had to make?
“I had to get used to the refereeing, because it is really bad. It depends on where you go. They kind of tend to pick on the Americans. That's just what I've been told. Usually the American is the only one on their team and usually one of the bigger players on the team, especially being a post player.
“I've had to adjust to the refereeing. There is one rule where you can't step with your right foot with the ball in your right hand. In Europe that's a travel because it is considered an open step. So if you want to go anywhere with the ball you have to crossover with your other foot. It's kind of odd, but it's one thing you will get called for overseas. My first game in Switzerland I think I had six travels because it is hard to get used to. And a step-through move, if you fake one way and you crossover the other way without the dribble, they call that a travel as well. So it's just adapting to different things.
“Playing in front of a huge crowd at Iowa State was great. In Switzerland there would be maybe 40 people at our game. In Sweden it was sold out some games. It just depends on where you go. Turkey is a very big basketball country so I think there will be quite a few fans there. I hope there is because it is more fun to play in front of lots of people.
“Overseas you have to learn to motivate yourself. It can be hard because maybe you don't feel like going to lift that day and when you don't have a consistent team it's hard. At Iowa State it's like you are all sisters and working for one goal. In a sense it is that way overseas, but not as much. At Iowa State you are with girls four or five years and you usually understand each other really well. And here I played for a team for six weeks and had to learn everybody and how they play. That was kind of difficult. But you take it as it comes and enjoy it while I can because I don't know how long I'm going to play. It's pretty rare to get paid to have fun and play a sport, so I just take it as a blessing and enjoy it.”
What is it like to have basketball as a career? Did you ever envision this being your career?
“To be honest with you, when I got done at Iowa State I was just planning on figuring out what I was going to do that summer. I was going to get a job working for the University in the exercise clinic in the Forker building. Until I got invited to the WNBA Draft Camp, I didn't really think I had a career or opportunity (in basketball). I thought about playing overseas, but the WNBA opened up a lot of doors for me. I felt like if God is going to open a window of opportunity, I will take it while I can. I know that I'm young and I won't be able to do this forever. I enjoy it and I'll continue to do it as long as I'm having fun. I'm going to keep taking the opportunities as long as they are there and do it as long as I can.”
Can you talk about your experience in the WNBA?
“The league is great. It is one of the best in the world. To be able to play in it and be on a team like that was really cool. I really enjoyed it. On the other side of it, in all professional sports there are a lot of politics. It can kind of get frustrating. I was with Sacramento my second year and I had a job and a week later I got cut from the team and I had to move out of my apartment and I didn't have a car anymore.
“But I've learned that I can't really trust in what I'm good at, which is basketball. I understand that I should live by faith and not by sight. In a career that I am good at you are going to get turned down and rejected, but that doesn't mean I am going to quit. It doesn't mean I am a bad player. A lot of it is just fitting into the right team. There are some players who will get cut from a team, but will go to another WNBA team and be staring the next year. The coaches are really different in the WNBA. They are really good obviously but different in a sense of that it is a job. In college it is really relational and you are guaranteed a contract for four years.”
What are your favorite Iowa State memories?
“I would have to say that there are a couple of different games. The Colorado game where we beat them at the last second and Medders hit that three-pointer at the Big 12 Tournament was pretty cool. Beating Texas at home in our building was great. My senior year was pretty memorable in the sense that we beat all the other Iowa teams.
“My senior year we faced a lot of adversity. We didn't have the numbers because a lot of people were hurt. I really learned a lot that year about pulling together. My past teammates are still some of my best friends today. I still talk to them all the time. The relationships were probably the biggest part for me.
“My senior year at the Big 12 Tournament, losing to Oklahoma was very hard. A lot of people didn't think we were all that good. We really came together and we gave Oklahoma a good run, but we ended up losing by four points. It's like Coach Fennelly always said, ?you're not going to remember the scores or how many games you won, but you are going to remember the relationships.' A lot of things he said back then are really true and have carried over. I don't remember the scores of the games and how many points I had, but a lot of my teammates are still my best friends.”
What are the things that Coach Fennelly used to say that you remember?
“?You'll remember the relationships, not the scores.' ?When you get frustrated with something you just need to figure it out.' He used to always say figure it out. One thing he's always been very adamant about is showing a lot of class wherever you go. Even if you lose and even if you are the underdog, you show respect to people. You thank the janitors and the bus drivers. And that has really carried over. I grew up that way, but just to have a coach that understands that it's not about winning and losing all the time, but respecting other people.”
Do you still keep up with the current team and what they are doing?
“I still work out with them actually. I've been back to Ames a couple of times this summer and I go in and lift weights some and condition with them. I go play pickup with them. I think they enjoy when I come back and play with them. A lot of the girls don't really know who I am even though it hasn't been that long. I played with Nicky Wieben, Toccara, Nis (Amanda Nisleit). I still keep in touch with all of them. They are really nice about letting me come and play. (Strength and conditioning coach Andy) Moser is really good about it too. People look at me funny because I don't have to do this, but I need to do it and I need to be in shape for my career. It's much easier to do with a support system around you. I e-mail them and encourage them through the year and in the season.”
What else would you like Cyclone fans to know?
“You take life as it comes and enjoy every moment because you don't know when the moment will pass.”
