Greenway talks hoops and recruiting
Anytime the North Tartan 15s AAU team takes the court for a tournament game, there are a handful of DI college coaches on the sideline taking it in. More often than not, the Iowa women’s basketball coaching staff has someone in attendance to watch class of ’26 PG Maddyn Greenway out of Plymouth, MN.
“Lot of people say it’s stressful, but I think it’s fun,” said Greenway. Her team just completed a 37-5 summer record, including a Summer Finale Championship in Des Moines to wrap up the summer. “It’s fun because now we have the opportunity to showcase all the hard work, we put in.”
While Maddyn is the primary scorer for her Providence Academy high school squad, it is not uncommon for her to be seen passing the ball more than shooting it for her AAU team.
“(This summer) I’ve learned that I can be more than just a scorer. For high school I scored the ball a lot. Now I can facilitate the ball and play more as a team player. When I’ve talked to coaches, they’ve said they like how I pass the ball.”
Meanwhile, with every game played, Maddyn gets recognized more and more for her play on the court, rather than for her father Chad, who was an All-American linebacker at Iowa. For a while, she was known more as “Chad’s daughter”, rather than by her own name.
“My first year it was a lot of ‘yeah, I’m his daughter’, but now the work I’ve put in, I’ve kind of established a name for myself. I just continue to showcase my talents in front of people and know that some people of course are going to say I get this (recognition) because of my dad, but I know that it’s not true.”
As a 7th grader, Greenway started on the varsity squad for Providence Academy averaging 21.0 points per game. She scored in double figures in all 24 games, including a 32-point performance against Duluth Marshall in the state tournament. This past season as an 8th grader, she once again averaged more than 20 points per game and cleared the 1,000-point mark in just 46 career games. The Lions went on to win the Class 2A State Championship and Maddyn was named to the All-Tournament Team.
“I know I’m probably going to get double teamed and box and one a lot, so probably just finishing through tall girls and finishing through contact,” said Greenway on what to expect from teams this winter and what she wants to improve on. “I like to go right to left a lot, so working on a counter to that and continue to be a knockdown shooter and finishing at the rim.”
As for her college recruitment, Maddyn has received offers from Iowa State, Michigan, Creighton and Minnesota on top of her Iowa offered she received last month when she took an unofficial visit to Iowa City and attended the Elite Camp hosted by the Hawkeyes.
“The Elite Camp was really fun. I got to play with some really good girls. I had some girls from Minnesota down there. It was really fun playing in front of all the coaches and my visit was awesome.”
Speaking on Coach Lisa Bluder and the rest of the coaching staff, Maddyn has known them since before the recruiting process even started, which has led to a good relationship.
“I’m really close with them. I’ve known a lot of them since I was younger, just from going to games, so I’ve gotten to know them really well over the course of a few years. I love all of them.”
She said she didn’t do a full campus tour during her visit this time, but she did back during her 7th grade unofficial visit in September of 2021 . “You know, from my parents going there, I know the campus pretty well.”
With Chad playing football at Iowa and her mom Jenni was a track and field athlete at Iowa, that means both of her parents went through the recruiting process and can offer advice to Maddyn along the way.
“Know that no matter when it comes, all your hard work is going to pay off in the end. Stay humble and have fun with it,” said Greenway on what her parents preach to her.
Despite the AAU portion of the year wrapping up this weekend, Maddyn will be back to work preparing for her freshman season with Providence Academy in no time.
“We will start high school workouts and scrimmages. Getting together with boys and girl’s teams to see the 7th graders coming up and getting captains practices in. We’re excited for our next year.”
A couple of highlights from Maddyn during the Battle of the Best and Summer Finale tournaments this month…