Not long after Desiree Wooten arrived on the Colorado campus this summer, she began to hear about Jaylyn Sherrod.
A former CU women’s basketball star now with the WNBA’s New York Liberty, Sherrod was a small, fast point guard who was a bulldog on defense in leading the Buffs to back-to-back Sweet 16s in 2023 and 2024.
It’s way too early to put that expectation on Wooten, but the transfer from North Texas is displaying some of the same traits as the former All-Pac-12 star this summer.
“They talk a lot about her, so, yeah, I know she’s a great player,” Wooten said of Sherrod.
A 5-foot-8 guard (Sherrod was listed at 5-7), Wooten comes to CU after three seasons at North Texas. Last year, she averaged 11.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game, while earning all-defensive team honors in the American Athletic Conference.
“I feel like I bring a scoring mentality, a very competitive mentality,” Wooten said. “I hate to lose. I love to win.”
One of three transfer additions to CU this summer who earned all-defensive team honors in their respective conferences, Wooten said she “became a defensive monster” at UNT.
“I love defense, so I just think I could bring a lot of defensive aspects,” she said.
CU head coach JR Payne liked a lot of what she saw out of Wooten during the recruiting process, but said she’s been even more impressed this summer.
“She’s really special,” Payne said. “Honestly, she’s even better than I thought she was. We watched a lot of film and asked a lot of coaches about all of these kids, and she is electric in transition and crafty with the ball. She’s way faster in person than she was on film. I’m really excited about her. She’ll be one that people really love to watch.”
Although Wooten played well at UNT, she believes this could be a breakout year, in part because she’s feeling better physically.
Wooten has torn the ACL in both of her knees, sitting out the 2022-23 season with her second injury. Although she played in 65 out of UNT’s 66 games the last two years, she doesn’t feel like she’s ever fully recovered. She’s felt better this summer, though.
“After this summer, I feel like I’ll get there; at least 95% and I’m OK with that,” she said.
Wooten also deals with asthma and recently found out she has sickle cell trait (SCT), which can lead to complications when exercising at high altitude because of the thin air.
Payne said that because of SCT, Wooten won’t do the same conditioning as the rest of the team, but the staff will make sure she’s conditioned properly. Wooten said she does breathing treatments at home and has several different inhalers she uses to manage her health, and is confident she’ll be in good shape for basketball.
“You can’t help but be worried when you got something dealing with your health, but I trust (trainer Chris Miller) and I trust (assistant director of sports performance Adam Ringler),” she said.
With her knees feeling better and her health monitored by CU’s staff, Wooten believes she’s got untapped potential going into this season.
“This season is a little personal for me, so I’m just ready to showcase what I can do finally,” she said. “My confidence was knocked down a lot (in the past). I didn’t really believe in myself anymore for a point. I just had to get close with God, find God and just, like, try to stay on my path and not let either myself or anybody else knocking me off.
“That’s why it’s very intentional this year.”
