For Monika Czinano, medical school can wait.

The fifth-year Iowa women’s basketball center, who majors in biology, has been interested in attending medical school since her prep days.

“I came into Iowa wanting to go into science; I knew that,” Czinano told The Daily Iowan. “I started doing biology, and I just kind of fell in love with the progression of this continuous learning.”

But she knows her basketball career is limited, so she’s putting her medical career on hold to play professional basketball as long as possible.

“I want to play pro basketball, however that looks for me in the future,” Czinano added. “But yeah, it’s crazy the opportunities that basketball has given me. So as long as my body is willing and able, I’ll kind of do that for as long as I can.”

Czinano entered her name in the 2023 WNBA Draft, which has three rounds and 36 total picks.  If she’s picked on April 10, she would be the 15th Iowa women’s basketball player drafted into the WNBA.

She realizes, however, that getting drafted is just the first hurdle of playing professional women’s basketball.

According to NBC Sports, about half of the players drafted to the WNBA in any given year only play one year in the league. In the past five years, an average of 13 of the 36 players in a draft class have been waived before the season began.

Former Hawkeye Megan Gustafson, a two-time Big Ten Player of the Year and 2019 national player of the year, was drafted by the Dallas Wings as the 17th pick in the 2019 draft.

Gustafson was waived before the 2019 season began in May. The Wings re-signed her in June 2019. She signed a multiyear deal with the wings in February 2020 and played a full season with the Wings before she was waived in May 2021.

Then, Gustafson headed to Washington D.C. for a deal with the Mystics. She was signed and waived within a week in June 2021. Gustafson then signed three consecutive seven-day contracts with the Mystics before earning a contract for the rest of the 2021 season.

The Mystics waived Gustafson in April 2022, and she signed with the Phoenix Mercury for the 2022 season. She recently re-signed with the Mercury on a one-year contract.

“Just seeing how her professional career has flowed — she’s never given up,” Czinano said. “No matter if she’s gotten cut from a team, anything like that, she just does it with a smile on her face. So, she is just one of the best role models I could have for my career.”

Gustafson also plays professional basketball overseas in the winter — typical for WNBA players. Gustafson has played for teams in Hungary, Greece, and Poland throughout her overseas career.

Czinano, who has family in Hungary, is also hoping to play in the central European country.

“That’s like a huge goal of mine is to play in Hungary and get into that culture a little bit more than I have been able to living in America,” Czinano said. “So, I think that is kind of the next step for me. It’s a really exciting time. It’s a lot of unknowns, which I’m not really used to, but it’s a good thing.”

The aspiring pro basketball player sought advice from Gustafson about her experiences in Hungary as well.

“Megan did play in Hungary for a little bit, which is super cool,” Czinano said. “It’s really nice having people that I know a little bit of their stories, and the coaches obviously know a lot of their stories. So, I’m just kind of using that to help me down the road.”

Czinano backed up Gustafson at Iowa in the 2018-19 season — the sole year the pair played together.

But Czinano credits Gustafson for her development into the post player she is today — especially in her shooting form.

“Megan just really took me under her wing,” Czinano said. “She got me into the gym, just kind of modeled for me what it meant to be a really not only a great person, but like a really highly successful Division I athlete.”

As a freshman, Czinano never expected to become a three-time All-Big Ten selection and eventually lead the country in shooting percentage.

And a lot of it came from the work she put in between her freshman and sophomore seasons.

Czinano said she completely changed her shot form the summer after her first season with the Hawkeyes, learning how to shoot in a way that fit Iowa’s form.

“She didn’t play a lot her freshman year, you know. She was backing up Megan and played about five minutes a game,” head coach Lisa Bluder said. “But then she burst onto the scene. In my opinion, from where she was as a freshman to where she was as a sophomore was amazing.”

Her work resulted in three consecutive seasons as one of the top five shooting percentage leaders in the nation. In 2019-20, Czinano was second in the nation with a 67.9 shooting percentage, and she led the nation in 2020-21 and 2021-22 with a 66.8 and 67.9 shooting percentage, respectively.

This season, Czinano ranks fourth in the nation with a 67.3 field goal percentage.

“When you have a weapon like that inside, it makes everything flow so much easier,” Bluder said. “And then she’s just a great kid to be around too. She’s fun — She’s full of joy. She’s just a great young lady, too. Her impact to our program has been immense. We’ve had a really good center for a long time, and she’s just kept that tradition going.”

In her last year with the Hawkeyes, Czinano is working to make sure Iowa’s string of productive post players continues.

The Hawkeyes currently roster five players who can play in the post: Czinano; sophomores Sharon Goodman, Addy O’Grady, and AJ Ediger; and freshman Hannah Stuelke.

“Monika answers all my questions, and I have a lot of questions,” Stuelke said. “She’s always willing to answer them. She’s helped a lot … She’s an amazing person first, and she’s an amazing basketball player. So, whenever I need something I can ask her, and I can count on her.”

The Hawkeye women’s basketball program will honor Czinano and senior forward McKenna Warnock in a postgame ceremony after Iowa’s game against Indiana on Sunday.

While her Hawkeye career is ending, Czinano hasn’t thought about it — she always lives in the moment.

“I just know it is kind of a bittersweet moment because it is my last year, but at the same time, I’ve gotten more time here than most people have gotten,” Czinano said. “So, it is really exciting. I’m just taking every game one game at a time, just knowing that I don’t really have the capacity to really dwell on it for too long.”