The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Freshman Walker set for first taste of NCAA tourney
All-American Gabby Williams played a total of 14 minutes in the final three NCAA tournament games during her freshman season. The following season AllAmerican Napheesa Collier also had some growing pains during her first March Madness experience. Just last season, Crystal Dangerfield had a total of three field goals in the Huskies’ last four tournament games, proving yet again that for even a highly touted freshman, this time of the year can be rather challenging.
This year, plenty of eyes will be on Megan Walker, the winner of multiple national high school player of the year awards as a senior at Monacan (Va.) High School, to see what sort of role she has as the Huskies take aim at a record 12th national title.
Walker played just nine minutes in the American Athletic Conference title game against South Florida, including only two in the first half. UConn coach Geno Auriemma has relied on six-player rotations before, and it is very clear that he doesn’t play somebody that he doesn’t trust when the stakes begin to increase in the postseason.
Walker learned that the hard way when she was a healthy scratch in a Feb. 21 win at Tulane three days after she had a career best four offensive rebounds and scored in double figures for the eighth time in her debut season when UConn rolled past Temple.
Auriemma and his staff want to see a higher work rate, especially on the defensive end of the court, from Walker. She had her moments in the final two games of the regular season and in the conference tournament as she has learned what many UConn freshmen before her have discovered — their definition of playing hard and Auriemma’s take on the same subject often tend to be drastically
different.
With nearly two weeks from the end of the AAC tournament until UConn plays in the NCAA tournament for the 30th season in a row, there has been time for Walker to catch the eye of the coaches in practice.
“I feel like that comes in practice. He has been giving the second group lots of reps in our defensive drills,” Walker said during the conference tournament. “We are finally getting the hang of it, understanding what he wants us to do when we get out on the court.
“There are ups and downs, but it is pretty good now. Listening to the key things they say and do exactly that so I’d say it is pretty good.”
Walker showed flashes of her potential early in the season, combining for 25 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals in back-to-back wins over ranked Maryland and UCLA teams. As Dangerfield found out a season ago, having a huge game early as a UConn freshman could be as much of a curse as a blessing. Once Auriemma sees that production, he comes to expect it on a regular basis. He’s been asking more from Walker in practice before giving her quality minutes in games. He wants to see her drive aggressively to the basket and do more than hit the occasional jumper. Walker thinks the quality of her play and effort have increased.
“I do feel that way, offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding and just getting stops,” Walker said.
If being benched in the Tulane game wasn’t a wake-up call, seeing Williams and Dangerfield both limp off in the AAC quarterfinal win might have done the trick.
“I feel like that is what we are here for because anybody can go down at any point so it is being ready and the next man is up,” Walker said. “There’s no margin for error, we are here trying to accomplish the same thing, I feel like if all of us work hard and work together that we will do that.”
The NCAA tournament bracket will be announced live on ESPN from 7-8 p.m. on Monday. UConn will enter the NCAA tournament undefeated for the ninth time with the Huskies expected to be the No. 1 overall seed for the 13th time. UConn will host the first and second rounds on either March 16 and 18 or March 17 and 19. Barring a head-scratching move by the tournament selection committee or one of the most stunning upsets in women’s basketball history, UConn will head to Albany for the regionals with games set for March 23 and 25 as the Huskies look to punch their ticket to the Final Four for a record 11th consecutive year.