As of last season, the four teams earned more wins than Hana One Q's two-year wins. Hana One Q, which was experiencing a dark period, sought change by recruiting Kim Jong-un from the FA market this off-season. Hana One Q, which beefed up its power by recruiting Kim Si-on through trade, is aiming to advance to the playoffs by creating a sensation this season. "Rookie" met Jihyun Shin, which is leading Hana One Q's upward trajectory.
Hana One Q has solidified its weakest position in the league by winning only 11 games in the past two seasons. Considering that Woori Bank, which took the top spot last season, has won 25 games, Hana One Q has earned less than half of the wins in two seasons combined. The figures confirm how hopeless Hana One Q's dark days were.
In the off-season following with a report card of five wins and 25 losses, the composition of Hana One Q squad has not changed significantly. Coach Kim Do-wan has taken the helm anew, but there was not much that could be done with the formation of Hana One Q's roster, which has disappeared both now and future. Still, Hana One Q was a team that relied solely on Jihyun Shin and Yang In-young, and was merely an offering to other teams that could easily secure one win. Hana One Q, which started its season with eight consecutive losses, posted an overwhelming six wins and 24 losses again this time, ranking the lowest for the second consecutive year.
Jihyun Shin was a lonely ace who led Hana Q. He spent the 2021-2022 season with an average of 17.8 points and 5.2 assists. Despite the opponent team's tight control in the ensuing season, he posted a consistent stat of 15.3 points and 4.6 assists on average. However, Jihyun Shin had a harder time than anyone else amid the situation of Hana Q that was collapsing without a rudder.
"If the team keeps losing back-to-back games and keep playing tough games, it's inevitably stressful. Still, it's still early in the season, but I'm really happy because the team has been evaluated as a different team, and I'm building up wins. But I think it's too early to like it because I saw that it got a little better in the beginning. What's more important is going forward."
As Jihyun Shin said, Hana Q is showing a different appearance from the previous two seasons. This change in Hana Q started with off-season performance.
The biggest change was the recruitment of Kim Jong-un. As the mood for change was sensed at the destination of Kim Jong-un, who was highly likely to remain at Woori Bank, strong waves began to hit the calm FA market. In fact, Shinhan Bank and Hana One Q actively jumped into recruiting Kim Jong-un, and the last team to get a contract signed by Kim Jong-un was Hana One Q. Hana One Q succeeded in adding leadership that was essential to the team by signing a two-year, 250 million won contract with Kim Jong-un.
"I didn't know why but I felt like she would come to our team. I also heard that from people around me, so I remember calling her. It wasn't easy for her to decide to move to a different team, so we talked a lot about it."
Hana One Q, which added a veteran captain, overcame the crisis of sinking and started a strong voyage again. Another helmsman immediately joined Hana One Q. On the day of the new player selection meeting, Hana One Q succeeded in recruiting Kim Si-on instead of giving up the second pick for the 2023-2024 season and the first-round pick for the 2025-2026 season to BNK.
It was different from a trade two years ago that involved recruiting Marbles. Hana One Q, which recruited Kim Jong Un, needed to add power that could be utilized immediately. Also, the weight of the nominations that were given when recruiting Marbles and the weight of the nominations that were given when recruiting Kim Si-on were poles apart. However, One Q completed the formation of an off-season squad by adding Kim Jong Un and Kim Si-on to its roster.
"(Kim)Jung-eun is the one who puts a lot of focus and (Kim)Xion is also a player who plays her role hard in things like bad, so I thought she would be able to show a better performance than last year. I was looking forward to seeing her development in the field of defense."
The changed Hana One Q had a fierce off-season. Immediately after joining Hana One Q, Kim gave advice to younger players and played the role of the oldest sister. This was one of the biggest effects Hana One Q sought after when recruiting Kim. However, Jihyun Shin did not have much time to incorporate itself into a new team. Kim was called up to the off-season national team and participated in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
"I didn't have much time to work on it during the off-season. The trade for Zion was not done until just before the season. That's why I went to Japan to practice and continued to practice before the season."
The national team was honored, but the scars remained strong. Players who had been to the national team struggled in condition as they could not play off-season games for a long time. Early in the season, each team had no choice but to focus on recovery of players who had been to the national team.
"I think I was in good condition and bad condition. I don't think I was able to fit in good condition from the beginning of the season. But I don't think it's because of the national team."
Hana One-Q, which started its last soothing session at the end of the off-season, also had a practice match with male college players. The practice match with male college players, which inevitably has differences in terms of strength and physique, was an unusual move.