One month after Kym Royster's IU career came to an end, she said she wanted to pursue a career overseas.
In April, Royster said she didn't have much details on where she wanted to play, and she was just looking at multiple options. She said her time with IU when the team traveled to Italy and Puerto Rico made her want to travel and play overseas.
Royster officially announced Monday afternoon via her Instagram that she had signed a deal with Zabiny Brno in the Czech Republic ZBL, the top professional women's league.
"Once I finally signed, it was a type of relief," Royster said. "I was just relieved to finally know where I was headed to, and I was excited as well."
Royster said her agent is based in Ohio, and he had a player play for Zabiny Brno last season.
"She ended up taking a job here in the states," Royster said. "We’re similar players and so that is where the team took interest in me because they were looking for a post player to fill the current player’s spot."
Royster finished her career at IU as the all-time winningest player with 88 wins. All four years she played, the Hoosiers had 20 or more wins each season.
After averaging four points per game during her first two years, Royster surged in her junior year with 10.2 points per game.
“Her junior year was sort of a breakout year for her,” IU Coach Teri Moren said in an IDS article. “I would say she was the most improved player in the Big Ten.”
Her senior season, Royster took a dip in the scoring department, scoring 6.2 per game, but her defense improved as the Hoosiers advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament.
Royster is the first IU player since 1995 to reach the NCAA Tournament two times in her career and the only player in program history to win two NCAA Tournament games.
"My time at IU will help me because of the connections that I will be able to make just from having attended IU in general," Royster said. "There are Hoosiers all over the world and it wouldn’t surprise me if I ran into a few during my journey overseas. I have already had a few reach out to me because they too have pursued careers overseas playing basketball."
Moren also expressed her excitement in an IU Athletics press release for the first four-year recruit under her tenure to sign a professional contract.
"We are excited to see Kym sign her first contract and continue her playing career overseas," Moren said in the release. "She's a tremendous young woman who will continue to do great things for her new team in the Czech Republic. We are looking forward to following her professional career this fall."
In her 137 games played, she scored 876 points and 617 rebounds while shooting 56.6% from the floor, the second-best field goal percentage in school history.
"We needed to replace our American post player this year after enjoying great success last year," Zabiny Brno Head Coach Jakub Gazda said. "We weren’t just looking for a player at the same position but also a person of a similar character-hard worker, team player, unselfish and coachable. From our research, Kym will fit the profile well."
Royster will begin her professional career in early August.
