Park Ji-su, The Overwhelming MVP of Women's Basketball

Park Ji-su, The Overwhelming MVP of Women's Basketball: "This Year is my Best Season"

Won MVP in rounds 1 to 5, leading to KB regular league championship

Park Ji-soo (Cheongju KB), already the ace of Korean women's basketball, boasted of her improved skills, saying, "This year is my best season."

Park Ji-soo's team KB won 68-60 in a home game against Busan BNK in the Woori Bank Woori WON 2023-2024 Women's Professional Basketball Regular League held at Cheongju Gymnasium in North Chungcheong Province on the 14th.

Jisoo Park led the team to victory that day with a double-double performance of 13 points and 15 rebounds.

13 points and 15 rebounds are personal records that any player would call the "game of a lifetime," but in an interview after the game, Park Ji-soo said, "I was excited because I knew that if I won today, I would be confirmed to be first in the regular league," and "I played a little worse than usual." He blamed himself.

Jisoo Park ranks first in both scoring (20.9 points) and rebounds (15.7 rebounds) this season, and his contribution is also overwhelmingly first.

By sweeping the Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards in rounds 1 to 5 of the regular season, he has virtually reserved this year's regular season MVP.

When asked after the game, "Do you think this year is the best season?" Park Ji-soo responded, "I remember a lot of my shortcomings, but since people around me praise me, I think this year is the best season."

He asked, “When will I receive the round MVP award in a row like this?” and added, “But personally, I need to add more weight under the goal and improve my ability to finish with a goal for it to be a perfect season.”

What makes this season even more special to Park Ji-soo is that he has memories of failure last season.

He only appeared in 9 out of 30 regular league games last season due to panic disorder and other reasons, and KB failed to advance to the semifinal playoffs with 10 wins and 20 losses.

Park Ji-soo smiled and said, "There was a difficult time last year, but I don't think there is a law that says only bad things will happen," and added meaning, "I did well last year, so I am proud of myself because I have had many good things happen this year and have received many awards."

Regarding the performance, which became even more overwhelming this year, he said, “I was very disappointed last year, so I prepared really hard this year.”

He added, “Last year’s performance was not good, but at this year’s opening media day, fans and players from other teams pointed out KB as a candidate for the championship, so we paid it forward.”

“I wanted to do it,” he said.

In particular, he emphasized, “I was more motivated by (rival) Asan Woori Bank winning overwhelmingly last season.”

He said he wanted to increase the proportion of outside plays, such as 3-point shots, to become internationally competitive.

Park Ji-soo said, "If I say this, the coach (who wants to focus on the goal) may not like it, but to be internationally competitive, you need to have the ability to shoot 3 points or a middle shot rather than taking it under the goal."

He added, "I'm not very strong, so if I go overseas, “Because that is a problem, I want to have another weapon,” he explained.

When asked about his thoughts on watching Japan defeat world-class powerhouses such as Spain and Canada in the final qualifying round for the Paris Olympics and win a ticket to the finals, Park Ji-soo said, "In basketball, where physical conditions are important, Japan, whose average height is around 170 cm, does well against tall Western teams.

“It’s surprising,” he said, adding, “Korean women’s basketball used to be like that, but it’s unfortunate that things have changed now.”

He pointed out, “The players’ mindset is important, and they need to not be complacent about where they are now, but set goals and challenge themselves toward a bigger stage.”

Jisoo Park pledged, “Since the regular league is not over, we will maintain our team’s form and continue to show good performance until the playoffs and championship game.”