BOULDER, Colo. — CU Boulder is now synonymous with 'Star Power.' The CU women's basketball team, however, has built its back on grit, tenacity, and teamwork. Junior guard Kindyll Wetta is the true star of those qualities.
"Ultimately, coaches want to coach players that they can trust," head coach JR Payne said. "Trust to do what they're supposed to do. They don't have to be the best scorer in the world or the best rebounder in the world. If I can just trust you to do your job and do it to the best of your ability, any coach in the world will take a handful of those players, and that is Kindyll."
Just ask her coach of four years at Valor Christian High School, Jessika Caldwell.
"She just wants it so bad," Caldwell said. "I think she doesn't just want it for herself either. I think that's really what is the carryover and why people will trust her, is that yes she's determined, and focused, and wants to see herself succeed, but only for the betterment of her team."
Payne agrees.
"She does a great job of holding people accountable," she said "She calls people up to the standard when things aren't the way they need to be. She's just unselfish and wants to win. Ultimately, just very, very competitive."
Wetta said she prides herself on these qualities.
"I know I might not be the most talented player in the room, maybe not the best shooter, maybe not ... the list goes on and on, but I know I will always be the hardest working, the most disciplined, and I will always do what is asked of me no matter what," she said.
She also prides herself on being homegrown. It's a chip on her shoulder, really, that she's the only Coloradan on the Colorado Buffaloes.
"You know, we have a lot of talent coming out of Colorado and they're all going elsewhere," Wetta said. "They're not coming here, they're going other places, and so that really hits home for me."
Caldwell, who has been coaching at Valor since 2014, has seen plenty of talent in the Centennial state. She doesn't see this trend lasting long.
"I think it will continue to grow and get better because of the coaching staff and their heart to recruit great players and we have phenomenal females athletes in women's basketball in the state of Colorado at the high school level," Caldwell said. "So, I know Kindyll's yes will further more yeses in the future because she decided to stay."
She'll surely be an inspiration for future players the same way she's an inspiration for Caldwell's 12-year-old daughter both on and off the court.
"Kindyll is my daughter's hero. She is someone who my daughter looked up to for years and years, not only for her athletic abilities and the things that she does, but just her presence as a human," Caldwell said. "To me, it's really important that my daughter has amazing role models to model her life after, not only athletically, but academically as well, and Kindyll is one of those people who has the trifecta."