Plum, Auriemma sweep awards
Washington star broke scoring mark; UConn’s coach unbeaten again
DALLAS — Kelsey Plum had a historic season for Washington while Geno Auriemma did one of his best coaching jobs at UConn.
Both were overwhelming choices as The Associated Press women’s basketball Player and Coach of the Year in awards announced Thursday.
Plum broke the career NCAA scoring mark, topping Jackie Stiles’ 16-yearold record in style with a 57-point effort on her senior night.
“If you had told me that all this stuff would have happened to me personally, I would have laughed at you,” Plum said. “Not the sense that I didn’t believe in myself or anything like that. But it’s not something that you think about. I’m the all-time leading scorer in college basketball and it’s something I never dreamed about.”
Auriemma did laugh before the season at the notion his Huskies, who lost three All-Americans to graduation, would be undefeated this year.
He thought there was no way that the team’s 75game winning streak would continue that much longer. Not with a schedule filled with top teams.
Yet UConn met every challenge and enter the Final Four without a loss, winners of 111 straight games.
“This year, our coaching staff, it was hard. It was really, really hard because the of the people that we had to replace, the schedule that we had early on, the lack of depth, what we thought we had going in and what we ended up with ultimately,” Auriemma said. “There were just a lot of challenges going into this season. I’m probably prouder of what our coaching staff did this season than I am since anytime going back to Di- ana (Taurasi)’s junior year. That was probably the last time that I thought we really, really, really did about as good a job as you can possibly do, maybe more so. That was the last time I remember it being this hard.”
Vic Schaefer doesn’t n want his players to forget last season’s humiliating 60-point loss to UConn in the NCAA Tournament.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs have had a constant reminder of that defeat all season long, with the number 60 written on the window of the team’s weight room.
“It’s annoying, honestly. It’s annoying to see that 60,” point guard Morgan William said. “Like, dang, we got beat by 60. It’s a pride thing, too. Getting beat by 60, that’s personal.”
The Bulldogs will get a chance at redemption when they play UConn in the national semifinals Friday night. It’s Mississippi State’s first appearance in the Final Four, while the Huskies are here for the 10th consecutive year.