Tori Jankoska is back in East Lansing this week and enjoying her time coaching at summer basketball camp.
But she should be in Chicago.
"I was really surprised, I think she was really surprised," MSU women's basketball coach Suzy Merchant said about her former star. "She hurt about that."
Jankoska left Michigan State as the program's all-time leading scorer and was selected 9th overall in April's WNBA draft by the Chicago Sky.
But after the team's opener, she was cut.
"The WNBA is a business," Jankoska said. "They have to do what they have to do and they didn't need me at the position."
Jankoska's not at all bitter about it, but from the outside looking in, a team waiving its first round pick is puzzling. To those who know her best, the move was a mistake.
"It doesn't make sense to me either," Merchant said, "and I think if you watch WNBA games, I think the one thing people say is you see the athleticism but sometimes the ability to put the ball in the basket and the scoring opportunities aren't always there. That's Tori's greatest gift."
"I'm just keeping my thoughts positive," Jankoska said. "I wish them nothing but the best and I just keep thinking everything happens for a reason. One door closes and a whole bunch more open."
The door she's taking leads overseas to a professional league in Poland. She'll join her new team (Basket Gdynia), ready to prove herself once again.
"My junior year was probably my worst year here and then I had the senior year I did so it drives the competitiveness. It drives me to keep getting better and show another whole country what I can do."
