Hoops genes, and hoops passion

IOWA CITY -- Her basketball genes, those came at birth.

Her basketball skills and basketball passion, that arrived much later.

"I remember when I started playing in sixth grade, I wasn't very good," said Iowa City High center Haley Lorenzen. "I was 5-foot-10, and I had huge feet. I was clumsy.

"I was a better swimmer, and I liked soccer a lot better."

No, despite her relatively famous last name (her father, Al Lorenzen, was a 1984 McDonald's All-American at Cedar Rapids Kennedy who later played for the University of Iowa), Lorenzen didn't come out of the womb dribbling a basketball.

But she was destined to be an athlete. Some sort of athlete.

"She has such a unique blend of both Al and I," said Lorenzen's mother, Karen Napolitano (she and Al divorced when Haley was 5). "She got her height and her size from Al. She got her long arms and her quickness from me."

Napolitano was an all-American goalie for Iowa's 1986 NCAA-championship field hockey team. Al's current wife, the former Barb Franke, was an all-Big Ten basketball player at Wisconsin.

"With Al, and Barb, and me ... that seems like a lot to measure up to for a kid," Napolitano said. "But Haley, she has the potential to surpass all of us."

That clumsy kid has developed into a fluid post at City High. She's 6-foot-3 1/2 ("and my doctor said my growth plates are still open," she said with no small measure of happiness). She's also a solid 180 pounds, about 10 more than she carried last year.

"She's gotten stronger. Her hands are better. She can take the ball hard to the basket with either hand," said City High Coach Bill McTaggart. "I think it's going to be hard for other teams to guard her."

ESPN's HoopGurlz website lists Lorenzen as the fifth-best senior center in the nation and the No. 35 senior recruit overall. She committed in January to attend the University of Florida, and signed last week.

"When we went on her first official visit, I tried to find something I didn't like about it," said Al Lorenzen, the CEO of Wildwood Hills Ranch of Iowa who lives near Granger. "I mean, it's so far away. And it's the SEC."

"But after a day and a half, I told her, 'You know what? You'd be crazy not to want to go to school here.' "

Florida being Florida, that sold Haley. So did the fact that UF has the nation's third-ranked interior-design program.

"When recruits say they just have a feeling about a place, that's true," she said. "And that's what I had at Florida. When you know, you know."

Lorenzen jumped onto the Gators' radar after she attended an elite camp there.

"The obvious thing Haley adds is a great deal of size," Florida Coach Amanda Butler said. "What she adds that you don't know about until you get the opportunity to spend time with her, is her personality and her work ethic; the spirit that she has.

"Haley is going to add a ton to our program besides her height."

She'll add a hate-to-lose edge. City High was ranked No. 1 in the final 5A rankings last year, but was upset in the regional finals by Iowa City West. She was gracious in defeat on the court and in a postgame interview, but barely slept for a week.

"It really left a bad taste in my mouth," she said. "I can't let that happen again."

And her ability is still on a drastically upward plane.

She averaged a modest 3.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game as a freshman. Those numbers grew to 13.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest as a sophomore, then 18.7 and 9.2 last year, when she earned first-team all-state honors.Lorenzen's basketball fire began to flicker in the summer after her sixth-grade year.

"I picked her up at Lisa Bluder's camp, and she was all bummed out," her father said. "She was upset because she wasn't an all-star."

We had a good conversation that day. I told her that between Karen and Barb and me, we knew how to help. We had the resources, and genetics sure weren't going to be a problem.

"She came back, and said, 'I want to be good. I want to be really good.' "

Gradually, soccer and swimming went by the wayside. Lorenzen became a full-time basketball player. And, yes, she has became good. Really good.

Throughout the fall, for example, she went through four lifting sessions per week at Pro Fit Gym in Iowa City.

She could tell the difference during the first week of practice.

"One of our coaches will put a pad on, and it's designed to make us finish with contact," she said. "I feel I can hold my ground a lot better."

West Coach B.J. Mayer said, "She has come a long way since her freshman year. She's so big and strong. Most teams just don't have the size and strength to deal with her. She'll be a hard matchup for lots of people."

Lorenzen is bigger and stronger. And she'll be a little louder this winter.

"She's more vocal," McTaggart said. "That's what you want out of your seniors, and that's what you want out of your best player."

The Little Hawks open Friday at home against Burlington.

"I can't wait," Lorenzen said. "As a senior, there are a lot of lasts. And this will be my last first game. I'm excited. We've got a lot of good pieces on this team, and we're capable of winning a lot of games."