More moves, less Big Smile, NC State’s Elissa Cunane due for breakout junior campaign

N.C. State senior Kai Crutchfield rips off a list of improvements she has seen in junior center Elissa Cunane in the offseason and could have gone on for a few more minutes.

Crutchfield said Cunane has gotten stronger, is moving better without the ball and has improved her outside jump shot. Cunane’s face-up game looks much different, but she also worked on her back-to-the basket moves.

“You want me to keep going?” she asked. “She’s added a lot.”

That’s great for the Wolfpack, scary for the rest of the ACC.

Cunane, the 6-5 center from Summerfield, was already one of the best bigs in the conference. With the improvements Crutchfield listed, Cunane could be coming for the title as one of the best players in the nation, regardless of position.

As a sophomore Cunane was an unanimous All-ACC first-team selection. She averaged a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) and was the only player in the conference to do so. She was the only player in the ACC to rank in the top six in scoring, rebounding and field-goal percentage.

Cunane put together a streak of four consecutive double-doubles from Nov. 30 through Dec. 15 and scored more than 20 points five times. Along the way she led N.C. State to its first ACC tournament title in 29 years and was a preseason All-American this year.

Like Crutchfield listing Cunane’s improvements, listing her accolades could also go on all day.

The player known as “Big Smile” for her bubbly personality on and off the court, is one of four returning starters, but will easily be the centerpiece of coach Wes Moore’s offense. The offseason was a big one for Cunane, but it wasn’t traditional. Due to COVID, obviously, it was weird for all athletes, but Cunane took an unorthodox approach to her free time, and it could lead to her best season yet.

Relaxed summer

Players really attack the offseason. Most athletes take a few days off after the season ends and are immediately back in the gym for hours and hours of sessions.

Sometimes they hire personal trainers and post every single detail of their workouts on social media, to let the world see how much they are grinding. It’s all work, all the time. Tunnel vision inside the gym to be the best player they can be.

With so much improvement, based on her teammates’ testimonials, that has to be how Cunane approached the long summer months, right? Wrong.

“My offseason, I really spent the beginning of it right after ACC (tournament) just kind of relaxing,” Cunane said. “I spent time with my family, a lot of much-needed time.”

Don’t get this misconstrued and think Cunane didn’t put in work. She did, but in very unconventional ways.

She spent time on the water, kayaking with her mom. She went biking with her brother, getting exercise, but at the same time avoiding the pounding of being in the gym every day. After about a month, she finally started lifting weights again, before eventually easing back onto the court. Her time on the court wasn’t even with a basketball trainer, it was putting up shots with her mom and brother.

“I was really trying to have fun with it over the offseason,” Cunane said. “Now coming back and working on it, I’m really trying to take care of the ball and have a smarter IQ when I have the ball in the paint.”

The kayaking and biking still pushed Cunane physically, but it was also a good way to ease her mind while still pushing her body. The 2019-20 run to the ACC title was a grind, and having the season cut short due to COVID-19 last March was mentally taxing. Cunane wanted to make sure she came into her junior slate with a fresh outlook.

“There are a lot of people who will grind nonstop for basketball, and I applaud that,” Cunane said. “It’s not who I am all the time. In season we are getting up shots, but when I had downtime I wanted to take a mental break from basketball.”

In past offseasons she has been on campus for summer workouts. Since COVID-19 eliminated that, this was the first time since arriving on campus that Cunane was on her own. She chose to get away and can tell a difference.

“I came in with a better piece of mind,” Cunane said. “Not just go, go, go. I think that’s something that will transition into my game, not having to be so go, go, go, push it hard all the time. I just really focused on my mental side and how I can improve mentally.”

Whatever she did worked.

Crutchfield has noticed the improvements to the game. Kayla Jones, another senior, said Cunane does something new every day, showing off her different skills. The two seniors realize playing alongside a skilled center, with a new bag of tricks, makes life easier for everyone.

“Like Coach Moore says, either you’re going to take away Elissa, or you have to guard us,” Jones said. “It’s hard to guard her one-on-one, that’s why we have the shooters on the outside, and we just play ball.”

Less Big Smile?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why Cunane is called “Big Smile” by her teammates.

Pregame, on the court, between plays, during timeouts, it’s hard to find her without a smile on her face. That’s just her personality, which led to the moniker and it stuck.

Cunane enjoys playing the game, enjoys life in general and wears that emotion on her sleeve. And while she will still have fun playing the game she loves, Cunane admits she wants to be a more menacing presence on the floor and still have a good time. She’ll find a way to balance her Hulk/Bruce Banner personalities.

“I think you’re going to see both,” Cunane said while smiling, of course. “I can be ‘Big Smile’ without being not locked in. I do hope to be more tenacious.”

Even that sentence was followed by a grin and laugh from Cunane. She admitted it’s tough in the post and gets physical. She has gotten stronger in the offseason in an attempt to handle the banging. Cunane said that her personality may have been taken as a sign of weakness from opponents her first two years.

“I think I usually wait for the other player to get dirty or get physical before I’m like, ‘All right, let me turn it up a little bit,’ ” Cunane said. “I can see where players might think I’m kind of sneaky, like Big Smile, but in the post beating everyone (up). That’s one thing I hope to dial down a bit, stay more focused and be more tenacious in the post.”

This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 3:56 PM with the headline "More moves, less Big Smile, NC State’s Elissa Cunane due for breakout junior campaign."