By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – At media day this past Tuesday, I asked first-year Iowa forward McKenna Woliczko if she felt any pressure being a five-star recruit.

It’s a fair and obvious question to ask, especially at media day, but it’s also the last time she will get asked that question by me.

To ask it once or twice seems reasonable, but then it’s time to move on, for her sake, and for the sake of other five-star recruits that face the pressure of having to live up to a label that others have bestowed on them.

Now don’t get me wrong, being ranked as a five-star recruit in high school certainly has its perks and has to be a thrill, and a source of tremendous pride for the very few that earn that distinction.

Woliczko will always have her incredible high school career to look back on; being selected to play in the 2026 McDonald’s All-American game; twice being named a MaxPreps First-Team All-American; and twice being named the Nike Tournament of Champions MVP, becoming one of only two multi-year MVPs in event history alongside Katie Lou Samuelson.

She also climbed to as high as sixth in the national rankings, making her the highest rated Iowa recruit in the Jan Jensen era, and the second highest since Catlin Clark was ranked third in 2020.

But as great as all those milestone moments were for Woliczko, and for her family, they’re in the past, and for a college athlete, even a five-star, the past is anything that doesn’t happen in the present.

So as far as feeling any pressure as a five-star recruit, Woliczko said:

“I think no matter what there’s going to be that expectation and pressure coming in as a five-star. I hope that I can just play my game and be who I am.

“I know that my coaches and my teammates, obviously, they’re going to be proud of me no matter what I do. So going into it, I’m just going to go in and hope for the best, and I just trust that my practice all the work that I put in these past couple months will help.”

College athletes are coached to live in the moment, and if they do drift temporarily away from the present, it’s usually forward rather than backwards.

Carrying the five-star label is a burden whether the athlete makes it that way or not not because so many others make it that way with with their expectations.

The moment something goes wrong, or if a slump occurs, the question immediately becomes, why?

And are you over-rated?

I know this to be true because I’ve asked those questions, even recently.

Like when Iowa guard Taylor Stremlow beat out former five-star recruit Addie Deal for one of the starting guard positions last season, my first reaction was that Deal must have been over-rated as a five-star recruit coming out of southern California rather than Stremlow must have been under-rated as four-star recruit coming out of Verona, Wisconsin.

And I’m sure I wasn’t alone in that thought process.

Deal has since transferred to Wisconsin where she is expected to get more playing time, and maybe even a fresh start.

But her five-star label almost certainly has followed her to Madison.

From this point of view, Deal was given a fair chance to win the job, but Stremlow was just better.

And better should always prevail.

Woliczko, meanwhile, should be a significant contributor this season, and maybe even a starter right away.

With Hannah Stuelke having graduated and moved on, Iowa needs help at the forward position, and with Woliczko, what better way to provide help than with a versatile 6-foot-2 shot maker, rebounder and defender.

Regardless if she starts, Woliczko will be a key factor, because for one, her game is ready for college, and because her team needs her.

But even five-star recruits need time to grow, learn and adapt.

Sure, there’s a few transcendent five-star recruits that defy logic as Hawkeye fans know very well after experiencing the four-year Caitlin Clark extravaganza.

But for every Caitlin Clark, there are multiple five-star recruits that are more human than super natural.

One only has to watch Woliczko play just a few minutes to appreciate her skills, and to see why she climbed to five-star status.

She moves well laterally for someone 6-2, she scores in a variety of ways, and if she becomes a weapon from three, her game will climb to even a higher level.

But on the flipside, she’s also just 18 years old, far away from home, and just a few months into Iowa’s weight-training program.

Let her grow physically, emotionally and mentally before placing massive expectations on her shoulders.

Woliczko has to gain more more strength to handle the size and physicality in college. But that will come just from her daily routine as a Hawkeye.

“McKenna Woliczko was looking very strong, but she’s also looking like a freshman,” Jan Jensen said at media day. “She needs to get bigger, faster, stronger, and she will and she is, but you can’t jump the steps of how long it takes to understand how when you go up for a rebound that you can feel like you just get jacked and thrown halfway across the lane and there’s no foul, and oh, by the way, you’re still expected to get the ball.”

As a high school junior, Woliczko suffered a torn ACL in her right knee on Jan. 4, 2025.

Almost exactly one year year later, she came came back and scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in her first game.

Woliczko had her pick of colleges coming out of San Bruno, California before ultimately choosing Iowa over South Carolina.

Woliczko said when she committed that she chose Iowa in the end because of the connection she built with Jensen, the team and with the Iowa City community.

Her first season will undoubtedly have its ups-and-downs because that’s just how it goes for anyone in her position.

The stars don’t mean much anymore, but Woliczko understands the circumstances as she never once has brought up being a five-star recruit.

And she won’t hear about it anymore from me.