Matilda Shanahan
 art by shrouded Nights | |
| No. 24 – Williamsburg Minutemen | |
|---|---|
| Position | Center |
| Species | Giant Pyrenees Dog ( Canidae ) |
| Gender | Female |
| Nickname(s) | |
| Tilly, Ramen Queen | |
| Personal information | |
| Born |
June 29, 2005 Bismarck, North Dakota |
| Listed height | 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) |
| Listed weight | 255 lb (116 kg) |
| Shoots | Right-handed |
| Career information | |
| School | North Star University |
| FBA draft | 2024 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3rd overall |
| Selected by the Williamsburg Minutemen | |
| Pro playing career | 2024–present |
| Career history | |
| 2024 - present | Williamsburg Minutemen |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Contract information | |
| Contract year | 2024 |
| 2026 Salary | $4 million |
| Player Contacts | |
| (IC) Agent | MartineauQC |
| (OOC) Creator | MartineauQC |
| (OOC) Actor | Unknown |
| (OOC) Usage | Ask me before any use |
Biography
A big dog with a big heart, and a big soul. All hail the ramen Queen, North Dakota’s keeper of the ball and maestro of noodles has a very interesting story.
From Bismarck, North Dakota, Matilda lived an ordinary childhood with her parents. Her mom was a catering chef while her Dad was a traveling bus driver. So for long periods of time, she hasn't had much time seeing her dad, but she would get comfort in helping her mom in her catering business. Being big dogs, the connection felt natural. But one of the biggest lessons Matilda learned from her mom was that sometimes the best way to break the ice and connect with people, was with comfort food. At school, Matilda's gentle and affectionate nature made it complicated to make friends, so suddenly she started to take her mother’s lesson at heart at a small scale first: ramen noodles. At first, she would buy many packets of noodles and even went the long way of cooking them for kids and friends that didn’t have money for food or just forgot their lunch. “The ramen club” was a huge success, as it allowed Matilda to build a strong confidence, strong will and fearlessness to develop as a person, but also in other aspects of her life,like basketball.
Since she was a young pup, she always liked basketball. She would play the game at every occasion she would, and typically, she was always liked to play with due to her tall stature as her big and tall doggo genes showed early. She was a Center, she blocked shots and she would fetch the rebounds, typical enough at her position. As she grew, she also wished deep in her mind to perform and get better to maybe hope to one day be good enough to be in the FBA, but something seemed to be holding her back; What made her special? Sure she blocked and grabbed the rebounds, but so did every other bigfurs that wanted to go on the same path Matilda wanted to go. She needed to surpass herself, showing she was someone to take notice of. It was right around the time Matilda suddenly became more popular in her group with her food initiatives, and low and behold with her new found confidence, Matilda grew some particular set of skills.
First of all, back to the Ramen club. Ramen packets were fun and all, but one thing Tilly learned from her mom is that food that is handmade with love is always appreciated more. What did Matilda decide to do? She took time and studied how to make her own ramen noodles and recipes. This took attention, time and effort as making noodles may be considered a craft as itself. With all that time and preparation, it gave something to Matilda, a real soft touch with the ball and also a great vision to pay attention to what’s going on to the court. Her big velvet paws started to show great ball control and great abilities to make razor sharp passes and gave her a great shooting stroke. Her attention to detail to make the noodles she loved, also would be replicated on the court, as there wasn’t a spot she couldn’t find where to put a pass in, sometimes under heavy traffic in front of the basket. So Matilda soon grew to be a big fur that drove the offense, as well as shooting the ball really well and with efficiency. As the overall game over the FBA became more leaning onto the offense, Matilda’s talents started to get noticed by a couple of scouts, but when it came the time to choose a college to go to, Matilda’s choice was pretty clear: She was going to go to North Star University, her hometown’s college. NSU Head Coach Gloria Ford had her eye on Matilda for quite some time:
“ Normally we look for talent abroad. When you have players coming in from all over the world, it's something special when you find one right on your doorstep. And Matilda was that player. I've been watching her grow and improve her skills. She was to become a beloved asset for our use. And admittedly... She makes fantastic noodle bowls." - Gloria Ford, NSU Head Coach.
Soon, Matilda would start her college career, as she puts her caring personality and her sharp big fur offensive abilities to good use. Already from the year 2021, she saw her minutes grow as well as growing a bond with her teammates from the bench. Her support of the offensive greatly grew NSU into a noteworthy college to a dark horse contender on the horizon. Her growth was steady, as she would continue to work hard into her main strengths, working on building her athletic capabilities and grown many close friendship with core players on NSU as well as learn from them: La’Tika Bambrick, Astrid Viktorson, Jonas Beckett, Dustin Foley, Kairi Sabathia, Maverick Taylor and many others. While not being in the famed “North Star Five”, she was an integral part of the team, where her kindness and affectionate nature was an inspiration and all of her friends repaid that be helping her along in getting better and be a literal sponge for knowledge in order to to push her play to 11 and start getting some eyes from Professional scouts.
….Not all of them share the same thoughts about Matilda.
Eli Wolfgang had a complicated history in NSU. While he eventually became a team captain for the Wanderers due to circumstances, He wasn’t as popular as some would think, especially with his teammates.Thinking highly of himself and condescending to his team, the one that received the most from Eli’s negative attitude was Matilda. Perhaps being so caring seemed to be easy for Eli to talk her down, but sooner or later it started to weigh down on her. Around the end of the 2022 season , as NSU would eventually lose the National title to Clairborne, Matilda would try to cheer up the team with a homemade ramen bowl she made for her team as they were getting back into their bus. When it came to Eli, without a beat, he took the ramen she made with love and tossed it outside the bus window. It was a shock to many, which eventually would be explained by Eli saying he was allergic to eggs ( Did not help he took way too long to tell the team nor his reaction was justified ). Still, that rather shook Matilda in the inside, as she kept that to herself all summer. She was just about ready to give up on her dream, but someone recently enrolled at NSU came in and talked to her against it. North Star Five member, Maverick Taylor.
“Tilly really humbled me, not only as a player but a person as well. When she mentioned callin' it quits I told her how she brought this entire team together and that it wouldn't be the same without. Sure there's that one bad egg of the group (pun intended) but she's got all of us backin' her up. And that's not planning to change any time soon." - Maverick Taylor, NSU Forward.
It seemed that it was not a coincidence that Gloria Ford had an eye for Matilda. As it has been known, NSU likes to go for wild cards and misfits when recruiting players. In those cases, it eventually is needed to have a player that can act as the glue that holds the team together. And In Matilda, Coach Ford recognized personal qualities in Shanahan that would not only help her grow as a prospect, but also help the team bond as a cohesive unit. As 2023 began, NSU was more than ever in the radar for a National title, as everyone improved around Matilda, and with her new vigor of achieving her goals, she continued to work hard to become a more polished offensive oriented big fur. Matilda would no longer feel intimidated by Wolfgang, as he would more or less become the butt of her teammates’s jokes and that would keep him honest. They would even go on and win the National Title that year, before falling short in winning the college classic in a scrappy affair against CFIS Champs Thunder Bay.
As 2024 came in, many players of NSU went on their way to join the FBA Draft, leaving behind Maverick Taylor and Matilda as the remaining veterans of the team. While the team's chances of repeating were greatly reduced, Matilda, with the help of Taylor, blossomed fully into the capable team presence that held the team together and grew into a great mentor and team leader. They managed to still have a 1st seed in their division, as they managed to go up to the Sweet Sixteen as they were beaten 103-98 by Chicago Bay. It was a bittersweet ending, but no one wasn’t sad. They celebrated the season they had by having a huge ramen party in the locker room after they were done. All thanks to the captainship of Maverick and their beloved Ramen Queen.
Once all was set and done, thanks for some last minute encouragement from Maverick, The Ramen Queen knew it was time, her team knew, her coach knew and the scouts knew. Matilda was a shiny diamond in the rough that could not be denied, and would leave NSU alongside Maverick and Declare for the 2024 FBA Draft.
Little piece of fact about Matilda, what started with an innocent shopping mall stall in Bismarck became the talk of the town as she would tend to her ramen stand in the off season and gain massive popularity as her basketball fame grew. She even gets some further help from Maverick Taylor, himself working at a Restaurant. She is also known to have her own portable Ramen stand, in which she happily pushes in town during special occasions. Her favorite Ramen is Tonkotsu Ramen. She also likes to dip into making Mochi desserts the traditional way, but needs to build some confidence as she once bonked Maverick on the dome during a mochitsuki ceremony.