WOMEN HAVE BEST TRIO IN THE NATION
STORRS – Geno Auriemma had Diana Taurasi and no one else did. Remember that? Taurasi wearing a UConn uniform pretty much guaranteed national championships in 2002-04 and led to the easiest explanation and most famous quote of Auriemma's 35-year Hall of Fame career.
"We have Diana Taurasi and you don't."
“You” was the rest of a helpless college basketball world.
The Huskies have also had Maya Moore. They have had Breanna Stewart. They have had, at different points, three transcendent players who, at their best, wouldn't allow them to lose.
They had others — Rebecca Lobo, Shea Ralph, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Tina Charles — who took charge of games and teams and an entire sport. There are 11 championship trophies in Auriemma's office and much of each's weight was carried by the type of player that UConn simply had and others didn't.
Who and what does UConn have now? Seniors Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson and junior Crystal Dangerfield make up, arguably, the best trio of players in college basketball. But there isn't the one otherworldly player who will wear a cape in March as the unquestioned NCAA Tournament answer.
Maybe there doesn't need to be.
“We don't have a Diana or a Stewie because we don't have a Diana personality, No. 1, and we don't have a Stewie talent,” Auriemma said. “We don't have a Maya. What we do have is three really, really good players. I don't know that I would trade those three as a group for any other three anywhere in the country. But none of them are D, none of them are Sue, none of them are Maya, none of them are Diana. It's just different, a different world, and that's not to say they can't have the same success.”
Collier and Samuelson are entering the final season of fabulous careers, both having jumped to the forefront as sophomores when UConn was coming off a fourth national championship and saying goodbye to the group led by Stewart. Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw compared playing the 2014 team to playing the Miami Heat, saying the only thing the Huskies were missing was LeBron James.
Collier and Samuelson, with much help from Gabby Williams and Kia Nurse ahead of them, have carried a heavy responsibility with great success, undefeated in the regular season, but twice losing on an overtime buzzer-beater at the Final Four.
So there is a sense of unfinished business for this season's two seniors. As freshmen, they won a national championship while bit players on one of the most dominant teams in history. Their legacy will be determined, in part, by the script they write as seniors.
Collier doesn't have to be Moore. Samuelson doesn't have to be Taurasi. Dangerfield doesn't have to be Bird. But one of them, or, more likely, all three, have to spin challenge and opportunity into something unique that could define their UConn careers.
Who is this season's take-charge, get-out-of-the-way player?
“That's what we're going to determine as the season goes on,” Auriemma said. “Obviously you know who you think it's going to be. What I like to say about our two seniors, Lou didn't get a chance to play in the national championship game as a freshman, Pheesa played a little bit. I don't know that those other guys on that team went 'If we don't get Lou and Pheesa into the mix at the Final Four we're going to struggle.' Then sophomore year Pheesa really struggled in the Final Four and last year Lou really struggled in the Final Four. So they've each had their moments where things went great and things not so great. I think what they learned at the Final Four when they were both really in the spotlight is going to help them. How do we find that out? We'll have some opportunities, I'm sure.”
The three players at are wired differently, physically and competitively, than those before them but the situation might dictate one of them grows into a similar takeover role.
The supporting cast, while talented, is extremely thin. There aren't many answers coming from the bench and we wonder even what will become of starters – sophomore Megan Walker and freshman Christyn Williams. The national defensive player of the year isn't on this team.
“What's the time frame for someone to become a great player?” Auriemma said. “Someone is really great as a freshman and people are surprised. Or somebody becomes like Pheesa and Lou, when they took off as sophomores after having just OK freshman years. It's kind of a surprise. And the other side is true. When somebody gets to be a senior, there's this perception that there's a whole other level for them. Sometimes it's more subtle than that. You might not even notice the huge improvement from junior year to senior year in a kid. And I think that's where Lou and Pheesa are right now, where whatever is happening on the court is going to be kind of subtle. Like, how much can their numbers go up?”
Right. It isn't about the numbers. It's about the results. It's about taking over. It's about owning parts of games and games, owning parts of the season and ultimately the season. We've seen a jump from several players on that front over the years.
“Sue was one,” Auriemma said. “She kind of waited until her senior year. She kind of deferred to the rest of the team her first few years here. Then senior year, especially the NCAA Tournament, it was like, it's over, just over. D did it as a junior, Tina Charles as a senior, Renee Montgomery as a senior. We've had guys who were really good and then when their senior year came – and that's what these guys are going to have to do.”