Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
"I'm still kind of speechless” - Dream comes true for Malashka in 2023 WNBA Draft
4/19/2023 5:16:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Lady Raider forward’s selection by the Chicago Sky made her the fifth MTSU player ever drafted
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Kseniya Malashka wasn't paying super close attention to the end of the WNBA draft last week, which the forward from Minsk, Belarus had decided to watch with her teammates.
As the third round began to come to a close, Malashka was focused on her homework, making sure it was ready for the next day. She knew that there was a shot she'd be drafted, of course, enough teams had shown interest in her that it was always a possibility.
When she heard her teammates cheering, though, she knew her dream had become a reality.
"With eight minutes left, I just looked up and saw my name," Malashka said. "Everyone is screaming, jumping, yelling, it was a big moment for me. I'm still kind of speechless."
The ESPN broadcast of the draft did not even have a picture of Malashka, who was selected No. 35 overall by the Chicago Sky, just her name on the screen next to a picture of the Sky's logo, sandwiched in between Ashten Prechtel of Stanford (drafted by the Connecticut Sun at No. 34) and Brittany Davis of Alabama (drafted by the Las Vegas Aces at No. 36).
"To see one of your player's dreams come true, that's why you do it," Associate Head Coach Matt Insell said of the moment on draft night. "When her name popped up, I got a little emotional. Not because it was great for our program, I was emotional for her and her mother and the sacrifices they've had to make."
Malashka immediately called her mom, her first ever basketball coach, back home in Belarus, to share the good news. Her dad, less basketball savvy than her mom, asked if she was now a Chicago Bull. Not quite, but Malashka was a player that Chicago Sky Head Coach and General Manager James Wade had an eye on for a long time.
"First you look at her size and speed, which she has," Wade said. "She has an advantage most of the time when she's on the floor. She's either going to be faster or she's going to be bigger. I know she played more inside this year, but you can see that she does stuff that guards can do. Her being able to defend multiple positions as well... It's going to be interesting to see how she develops."
One of just four players not drafted from one of the six "power" conferences in women's basketball (the autonomy five FBS conferences plus the Big East) or directly from a professional team overseas, Wade said that players like Malashka can sometimes get overlooked in the draft process. But that she fits the bill of the type of player the Sky looks for at all levels during their evaluation process.
"We look for consistency, and sometimes the more consistent players are the ones you have to lean on and teams plan for and they're going to get double teamed every night," Wade said. "And they still have to go out and get you 20 points and 10 rebounds and shoot a good percentage for those teams to be successful."
With the third-round pick by the Sky, MTSU has had five different Lady Raiders selected in the WNBA draft, giving Middle Tennessee as many WNBA draft picks as programs like Syracuse, Colorado and Ole Miss and more draft picks than programs like South Dakota State, Wake Forest, Villanova and Western Kentucky.
That's a fact that is a credit to MTSU's longevity during the WNBA's 26-year history, but also to what the program is doing right now, Insell said.
"When (Malashka) came here, she was a player that was wanting to improve her game to give herself a chance to be a professional athlete," Insell said. "That's something that we worked towards and to see her accomplish that and see her name on the screen, that was pretty satisfying for us as a program.
"A lot of these other programs across the country try to convince recruits that you have to go play in certain conferences to be able to play in the WNBA, which is a total false statement."
The road for Malashka to make the Sky's roster is a tough one, given the team only rosters 12 players at a time. But Malashka's European background gives her a potential avenue to becoming a regular player in the WNBA: playing in Europe while the Sky retain her draft rights.
As Malashka put it, for her, the WNBA is "overseas", which is something that, combined with her make up, made her a good pick to pull the trigger on for Wade.
"She has to go and play in a competitive league where she's going to play," Wade said. "Sometimes you have teams that stack up to put on a good team, and she goes over there, and she sits, I think it'll be tough for her to improve. But I think she needs to go into a situation where she'll be able to play and make mistakes and learn from them and also play against great competition.
"She seemed like a great teammate and someone that's very mature. That's what you look for, you know that if it's a mature player, then they're probably going to go play and take care of business. You bet on those players a little bit more."
Wade said that with the right amount of development, Malashka may look like a completely different player in a year or two, thanks to the WNBA level of competition many of the leagues interested in her in Europe have. If she becomes a player teams need to plan for night-in and night-out, as she was across Conference USA, that will be a good sign for her future.
For now, Malashka is readying herself for that next step, continuing to get up shots in Murphy Center whenever she can. And wherever basketball takes her next, that Glass House Community is always going to stick with her.
"Middle Tennessee is an amazing program that has everything to make you successful," Malashka said. "I feel like our coaches invested a lot into our program and myself. I'm so happy that I chose to come here. They became family to me, not just my coaches and my team, but the whole MTSU community."
As the third round began to come to a close, Malashka was focused on her homework, making sure it was ready for the next day. She knew that there was a shot she'd be drafted, of course, enough teams had shown interest in her that it was always a possibility.
When she heard her teammates cheering, though, she knew her dream had become a reality.
"With eight minutes left, I just looked up and saw my name," Malashka said. "Everyone is screaming, jumping, yelling, it was a big moment for me. I'm still kind of speechless."
The ESPN broadcast of the draft did not even have a picture of Malashka, who was selected No. 35 overall by the Chicago Sky, just her name on the screen next to a picture of the Sky's logo, sandwiched in between Ashten Prechtel of Stanford (drafted by the Connecticut Sun at No. 34) and Brittany Davis of Alabama (drafted by the Las Vegas Aces at No. 36).
"To see one of your player's dreams come true, that's why you do it," Associate Head Coach Matt Insell said of the moment on draft night. "When her name popped up, I got a little emotional. Not because it was great for our program, I was emotional for her and her mother and the sacrifices they've had to make."
Malashka immediately called her mom, her first ever basketball coach, back home in Belarus, to share the good news. Her dad, less basketball savvy than her mom, asked if she was now a Chicago Bull. Not quite, but Malashka was a player that Chicago Sky Head Coach and General Manager James Wade had an eye on for a long time.
"First you look at her size and speed, which she has," Wade said. "She has an advantage most of the time when she's on the floor. She's either going to be faster or she's going to be bigger. I know she played more inside this year, but you can see that she does stuff that guards can do. Her being able to defend multiple positions as well... It's going to be interesting to see how she develops."
One of just four players not drafted from one of the six "power" conferences in women's basketball (the autonomy five FBS conferences plus the Big East) or directly from a professional team overseas, Wade said that players like Malashka can sometimes get overlooked in the draft process. But that she fits the bill of the type of player the Sky looks for at all levels during their evaluation process.
"We look for consistency, and sometimes the more consistent players are the ones you have to lean on and teams plan for and they're going to get double teamed every night," Wade said. "And they still have to go out and get you 20 points and 10 rebounds and shoot a good percentage for those teams to be successful."
With the third-round pick by the Sky, MTSU has had five different Lady Raiders selected in the WNBA draft, giving Middle Tennessee as many WNBA draft picks as programs like Syracuse, Colorado and Ole Miss and more draft picks than programs like South Dakota State, Wake Forest, Villanova and Western Kentucky.
That's a fact that is a credit to MTSU's longevity during the WNBA's 26-year history, but also to what the program is doing right now, Insell said.
"When (Malashka) came here, she was a player that was wanting to improve her game to give herself a chance to be a professional athlete," Insell said. "That's something that we worked towards and to see her accomplish that and see her name on the screen, that was pretty satisfying for us as a program.
"A lot of these other programs across the country try to convince recruits that you have to go play in certain conferences to be able to play in the WNBA, which is a total false statement."
The road for Malashka to make the Sky's roster is a tough one, given the team only rosters 12 players at a time. But Malashka's European background gives her a potential avenue to becoming a regular player in the WNBA: playing in Europe while the Sky retain her draft rights.
As Malashka put it, for her, the WNBA is "overseas", which is something that, combined with her make up, made her a good pick to pull the trigger on for Wade.
"She has to go and play in a competitive league where she's going to play," Wade said. "Sometimes you have teams that stack up to put on a good team, and she goes over there, and she sits, I think it'll be tough for her to improve. But I think she needs to go into a situation where she'll be able to play and make mistakes and learn from them and also play against great competition.
"She seemed like a great teammate and someone that's very mature. That's what you look for, you know that if it's a mature player, then they're probably going to go play and take care of business. You bet on those players a little bit more."
Wade said that with the right amount of development, Malashka may look like a completely different player in a year or two, thanks to the WNBA level of competition many of the leagues interested in her in Europe have. If she becomes a player teams need to plan for night-in and night-out, as she was across Conference USA, that will be a good sign for her future.
For now, Malashka is readying herself for that next step, continuing to get up shots in Murphy Center whenever she can. And wherever basketball takes her next, that Glass House Community is always going to stick with her.
"Middle Tennessee is an amazing program that has everything to make you successful," Malashka said. "I feel like our coaches invested a lot into our program and myself. I'm so happy that I chose to come here. They became family to me, not just my coaches and my team, but the whole MTSU community."
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