The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Texas A&M rebounding ace Howard visiting Storrs
With the departure of star frontcourt players Azurá Stevens and Gabby Williams, there are plenty of questions about what UConn’s front-line rotation will look like next season, even with the return of All-American Napheesa Collier.
Anriel Howard, who ranked seventh among NCAA Division I women’s basketball players with an average of 12.2 rebounds and eighth with 20 doubledoubles during her junior season at Texas A&M, is visiting UConn this weekend.
Howard, who also pulled down the fifth most offensive rebounds among Division I women’s basketball players during the 2017-18 season, has already visited Florida State and is tentatively scheduled to make visits to Tennessee and Mississippi State. Her fifth visit is still yet to be determined, according to her mother, Che.
The 5-foot-11 inch Howard is set to graduate in three years so she would be immediately eligible as a graduate transfer.
At the top of Howard’s priority list is a team capable of competing for a national title during the 201819 season, and one where she can continue to pursue a career in either communications or journalism.
“It is not like undergrad where if I get on a good team, they have my undergraduate program,” Che Howard said. “She has put a little more pressure to the whole scenario because she wants to win a championship and she wants to make sure her career path lines up accordingly; she wants to contribute. The stipulations are a lot more vigorous this time around.
“Anriel’s degree will be in broadcasting and communications with a minor in journalism. Her efforts in the journalism and communications world is pretty strenuous in the fact that she finished in three years so she is taking it very seriously . ... In high school, she was editor in chief of her newspaper in high school so that is her thing. She loves reporting, she loves the investigating part of it, anything that revolves around communication and journalism she really likes. We are paying attention to what each school can offer in that part.”
UConn offers a graduate degree program in communications and is a strong contender to reach the Final Four for a record 12th season in a row with the return of Collier, fellow All-American Katie Lou Samuelson, starting point guard Crystal Dangerfield and the last two national high school players of the
year in sophomore-to-be Megan Walker and incoming freshman Christyn Williams.
“I think we are excited,” Howard said of the visit to UConn. “We got to talk to coach Shea (Ralph) and coach Geno (Auriemma) over the phone and they seem like wonderful individuals, so we are excited to see them in person, meet the rest of the staff and meet the girls. That is an important part of it. We want to meet the girls, see how they are and how they love it and take it day by day.
“Coach Shea said that once they told the girls (UConn was recruiting Howard), they had a lot of nice things to say about her and thought she would fit into the program really well.”
Howard finished her junior season averaging 12.1 points. She had 12 3-pointers and shot 75 percent from the foul line.
She was tied for third on the team with 70 assists, second with 24 blocked shots and third with 37 steals. She had 26 points and 14 rebounds in a loss to eventual national champion Notre Dame in the Sweet 16.
She is on track to graduate a year early with a 3.2 grade point average.
“That is what I am most proud of and her character,” Howard said. “People say she is a prolific rebounder and she averages a double-double and that is wonderful, but I am most proud of her character and how she has matured and how she has handled this situation and on top of that still graduate and, hopefully, graduate with a 3.2. That is amazing to me.”
SAMUELSON SURGERY
UConn announced that Samuelson underwent surgery on her left ankle and that she is expected to be cleared in time for the beginning of her senior season.
Samuelson injured the ankle early in her junior season and she still led UConn with a 17.4 scoring average and 96 3-pointers.