Micaela Cocks plays outside the highlight reel.
The native of Auckland, New Zealand predicates her game more on solid, fundamental play. The no-look passes, behind the back passes and fancy dribbling are absent from Cocks’ game.
Cocks, a sophomore, is an emerging presence as the starting point guard for the Oregon women’s basketball team.
“She’s just a natural leader,” coach Bev Smith said. “She doesn’t have to say much because she works so hard.”
The hard work is paying off. Cocks is averaging 7.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 15 games this season, including eight starts. Cocks began the season in the same position she filled last year – back-up to starter Tamika Nurse.
Nurse struggled early this season and Cocks quietly supplanted the incumbent starter. Nurse has shifted at times to the off-guard position, allowing Smith to use both guards in the same lineup.
Cocks brings versatility, Smith says, whether it’s her ability to play both guard positions and small forward or how she can score from three-point range, off the dribble jumper or with a mid-range shot.
Starting or not, Cocks is fine either way.
“The most important (thing) is who’s (on the court) at the end of the game,” Cocks said.
Cocks says starting and coming off the bench require different approaches.
“When you’re coming off the bench, you’re more like that energy player and you have the chance to get the flow of the game,” she said. “When you’re starting I have to have a different focus where I’m really focused on our gameplan – just really keeping our team in the right offense and having a good solid start is important.”
Leaving her mark
Cocks struggled against the pressure of Arizona State and had seven turnovers to go with her six points.
When Oregon left McArthur Court for the Bay Area schools, Cocks delivered one of her best performances with 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists against California.
“She scored,” Smith said. “She played great defense and she rebounded. Anytime you get your point guard getting nine rebounds that’s pretty exciting.”
Cocks is older than her classmates – she turns 22 in May – and Oregon’s lone senior Kaela Chapdelaine says the extra experience Cocks had with the New Zealand national team has been invaluable.
Ask any member of Oregon’s team about who has the best level of physical fitness and Cocks is their nearly unanimous response.
“She is incredible,” Chapdelaine said. “She is just a freak that way.”
Ask Jess McCormack, a teammate on the New Zealand national team and a freshman center for the Washington Huskies, if anyone can beat out Cocks.
“Not on our New Zealand team, no,” McCormack said laughing.
Friendly rival
Cocks and McCormack are friends and discussed the possibility of playing in college together.
“I looked at Oregon originally right at the start, but it just didn’t really feel right for me and we can keep in contact other ways,” McCormack said. “It wasn’t really crucial that we went to the same school.”
The friends had pointed to this weekend as a chance to reconnect, but McCormack, who suffered a concussion last weekend against USC, wasn’t cleared by doctors as of Tuesday and stayed in Seattle.
So although the reunion has to wait for now, McCormack says the two talk frequently, whether it’s about basketball or life. The two will pair up again next summer, as the New Zealand national team made it into the Beijing Olympics.
“You can’t even express it in words how exciting it is that we’re going to the Olympics this year,” McCormack said. “It’s just crazy – totally unexpected – and it’s just going to be such an amazing experience.”
The 6-foot-5 McCormack is an emerging presence in the post for Washington. She already has high expectations attached to her name after Sean Dennis, an assistant coach for the New Zealand national team, said she could eventually be New Zealand’s version of Lauren Jackson, one of the faces of the WNBA and a perennial all-star.
“That’s what I want to aspire to be,” McCormack said. “I want to reach that level in my career … at some point. But I’m obviously nowhere near that yet but it’s very flattering.”