Another Australian talent is coming to the United States.
When you think of iconic Australian basketball players, Liz Cambage and Lauren Jackson probably come to mind.
But Suzi-Rose Deegan is yet another Aussie to keep tabs on. Deegan, fresh off a dynamite performance in the U20 National Championships for Western Australia, verbally committed to Davidson College.
Back away, Steph Curry. Deegan’s got next.
She finished as the top scorer in the national championships and came up especially big in the team’s Bronze medal match against South Australia, who had they had previously lost to by seven. She finished the game with 32 points and the most important shot of them all: the game-winner.
For bronze🥉! Suzi-Rose Deegan was the heroine for Western Australia in the Under-20 women’s third place playoff against SA! #AusChamps pic.twitter.com/2RlAWOYyUF
— Basketball Australia (@BasketballAus) February 17, 2019
Deegan is teammates with several others who will play basketball and attend college in the United States. Samantha Ashby, who finished with 21 points, Caitlyn Jones, who is headed to University of Idaho and Carla Drennan, who will play at CSU Northridge, were also key in Western Australia’s strong finish.
The 17-year-old also played in the Youth Olympic Games 3×3 basketball team in the summer of 2018 alongside Ruby Porter, Sara-Rose Smith and Alexandra Fowler. They came in as underdogs, after only playing together for a week before the Olympics began, but earned a bronze medal in Buenos Aires.
The bronze medal game was just 90 minutes after they lost to France in an overtime heart breaker by a score of 20-19. They were ranked as one of the lowest teams coming into the tournament, yet resiliency carried them.
Resiliency has carried Deegan many places, in fact. The sharp shooter is actually blind in her left eye. Due to a degenerative disorder, her vision decreased over time and eventually took away her sight completely by age 13.
Her shooting form might not be considered textbook. But she still has the most important part down: it goes in. Her technique involves releasing the ball from the left side of her body, but with her right hand. This allows her to still see the basket with her right eye. Deegan compares her ‘swing’ to Lonzo Ball.
She’ll definitely be a fun one to watch in the coming years.
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