Despite professional basketball (not the ABA) being absent from the city of Pittsburgh, the Pitt Panthers have been able to remain a staple in the pro game for years. From Billy Knight, Jerome Lane, Vonteego Cummings, DeJuan Blair and Steven Adams, the Pitt men have found a way to keep their name in the league.
But the latest Pitt player to go pro won’t be appearing on the NBA hardwood anytime soon, but she’ll — yes, she — will be making a name for herself in Tulsa with the Shock of the WNBA.
Unlike the team name, though, it was anything but a shock that Pitt’s Brianna Kiesel was drafted in the second round of the recent WNBA Draft, as she averaged a team-high 18.3 points per game this past season for the Pitt women. But even still, it was a humbling experience for Kiesel, who joins Shavonte Zellous as the only other Panther to ever get drafted by the league.
“It feels good. I’m definitely excited. I think the people before me are great people,” Kiesel said of Zellous, Laine Selwyn and Marcedes Walker, the latter two who were not drafted. “Just to get drafted is special. There was talk that I would get selected, but nothing is guaranteed. I was very excited to hear my name called.”
Had Kiesel not been selected, her plan was to go to graduate school, as she was the ACC postgraduate scholarship winner. But now instead of returning to the Pitt campus, she’ll head out to Tulsa, Ok., a place she’s never been prior to being drafted.
“This past weekend was my first time going to Tulsa. I liked it a lot. The people are nice, and the hospitality is next to none,” Kiesel said in a phone interview from Pittsburgh. “They are welcoming, and it’s an old-fashioned place. I’m a city girl, so I can take a step back to get a grasp of what goes on in the city.”
While Kiesel can certainly get the job done as a scorer for the Shock, head coach Fred Williams wanted her for her defensive tenacity, which is perfectly fine by her.
“I’m looking to do whatever the coaching staff needs me to do. I would say that defense is one of the strengths of my game,” Kiesel said. “I like to pressure the ball handler. Not to make them turn it over, but to make it tougher to get into the offense.”
After meeting with the coaching staff, Kiesel is confident that the Shock can rebound from a season in which they finished dead last in the Western Conference, that is if the players can all buy into the system.
“I loved the coaches. They are very nice, on the same page and want the same thing. It was really nice. They make you feel welcome and they accept you with open arms,” Kiesel said. “If we can just get everyone to buy into the system, we will be better. We will need to work hard, get better and have individuals commit so we can get better as a team.”
The team has two of the more well-known players in the league for two different reasons. The Shock’s Glory Johnson, fiancee to former Baylor standout Brittney Griner, was arrested on Thursday morning for an assault complaint. Also on the team is one of the faces of the league in former Notre Dame standout Skylar Diggins.
Diggins and Kiesel met on the floor when Notre Dame visited the Pete a couple of years back, and let’s just say Kiesel is happy the two are teammates now.
“We played Notre Dame back in the day. We didn’t fare well, so it will be nice to play with her instead of against her,” Kiesel said, with a laugh.
Kiesel will need to adjust from the speed of the college game to the speed of the pro game, which is something she’s confident she can do rather quickly.
“It will be the speed and terminology that will be the biggest things. I think that I’m the type of player that will buy into the system. Coach Wiliams is a good coach and has a lot of knowledge of the game. The WNBA is competitive and is filled with good players that I got to watch growing up,” Kiesel said, adding that some of her favorites were Candace Parker, Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird.
And now, after a season in which the Pitt basketball team exceeded expectations, she’s hoping to accomplish the same thing with the Shock and continue to play winning basketball.
“It was an amazing experience to play in the NCAA Tournament. The first three years were struggling times, so to make it to the tournament under coach Serio in her second year speaks not only to the coach she is but also the team we had. We were young and bought in. We believed in her and that led us to a successful season,” Kiesel said of her college coach, adding that she gathered with the team during the draft. “She (Serio) was very excited. The team had a get together at the locker room at the Pete. They were all excited. That locker room has brought a lot of luck to us over the years.”
It won’t be in Pittsburgh anymore, but there’s a new locker room ready for Kiesel. But this one won’t require luck, but rather skill, which her new team knows she has plenty of.
Photo credit: Matt Cashore/USA Today
