UConn women have pieces in place to put together another long streak
STORRS, Conn. — Connecticut will return to campus from the Final Four on Sunday for the first time in five years without a national championship trophy.
But it’s not like Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma will return with nothing. His team heads into next season with a lot of talent and more experience.
Auriemma loses just one starter — senior point guard Saniya Chong — from a team that won its first 36 games and completed an NCAA record 111-game winning streak before losing to Mississippi State 66-64 in overtime Friday night in the national semifinals.
“When we started Oct. 15 to where we are today … these kids were way older than they were supposed to be,” Auriemma said. “They should have shown their age early on in the season, November, December, at some point. We just kept playing like older, older players, more mature players.” They will be next season. First-team All-Americans Katie Lou Samuelson and Napheesa Collier will be juniors. Gabby Williams, who made the second team, and Kia Nurse, who made a record 22 3-point shots during the NCAA Tournament, will be seniors.
Crystal Dangerfield, who shared point guard duties with Chong, will be a sophomore.
“We’ll talk about it as a team and make our minds up to have some changes made to come back as a different team, a better team,” Dangerfield said.
Azura Stevens, a 6-6 transfer from Duke, and 6-2 Batouly Camara from Kentucky will be eligible to play after sitting out this season. And the Huskies have another top recruiting class led by 6-1 Megan Walker, the consensus national high school player of the year.
On campus, there was a sense of shock and disbelief at the student union as fans mulled over the loss.
“I’m a little disappointed, but I think it kind of had to happen at some point,” said Jennifer Casparino, a freshman from Newington, Conn. “Everyone was waiting to see how long the streak would go. But I don’t expect them to lose again any time soon.”