The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Making a final AAC stand
Dangerfield ready to shoulder giant expectations of senior year
PHILADELPHIA — Crystal Dangerfield has had moments of brilliance over her first three seasons at UConn, but not enough to meet Geno Auriemma’s lofty expectations.
It’s why Dangerfield is feeling a bit impatient while preparing for her final goround in a Huskies uniform.
“It went fast,” Dangerfield said Monday from American Athletic Conference media day at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott. “After this, I don’t get all this again. It’s my last first of anything — last first day of practice, last media day.”
Dealing with that reality has been difficult. In fact, the usually stoic Dangerfield admitted she nearly cried when thinking last week about Senior Night.
As the starting point guard of the 11time national champions, who once again are the overwhelming favorite to win the AAC, Dangerfield faces the pressure to produce on a nightly basis. And to make matters more difficult, she doesn’t have a proven star like Katie Lou Samuelson or Napheesa Collier to be her trusty sidekick.
For the Huskies to get to where they want to go this season, Dangerfield, the team’s most experienced starter, needs to be more consistent.
“Yeah,” Dangerfield said, nodding her head in approval. “(Auriemma) expects that, and definitely I expect that from myself. I do. It’s going to be a matter of building that kind of play up now.”
Complicating matters is that Dangerfield — who was voted CoPreseason AAC Player of the Year, along with UCF guard Kay Kay Wright on Monday — only recently returned to practice after undergoing surgery to repair an impingement in her left hip on May 30. And even then, she still hasn’t felt like her normal self.
“If we go three days in a row, that fourth day is difficult,” Auriemma said. “It has to be monitored. ‘I can do this today, but only for this long. I have to step out of this drill, but I can get in this drill.’ It’s been a lot of that the last couple days.”
Added Dangerfield: “It’s just a matter of when I start feeling a little bit of soreness, I take myself out.”
Dangerfield sees no reason to push herself in practice with the preseason opener (Nov. 3 against Jefferson) just around the corner. After all, her presence will be invaluable given the construction of the Huskies’ roster. No one on the team has played more games (104) over the last three seasons than Dangerfield.
By nature, the leadership responsibilities will fall on her shoulders.
“Crystal has a huge role, and she knows it, but she carries it well,” sophomore guard Christyn Williams said. “She’s a leader on the team. She’s setting an example for us. I’m trying to grow into that leadership role, so I look to her.”
Auriemma is expecting a more complete version of Dangerfield this season. He wants to see more performances like the one Dangerfield authored during last year’s Sweet 16 victory over UCLA, when she rebounded from a scoreless first half to pour in 16 points over the final 20 minutes. For the season, she averaged 13.4 points and 5.9 assists.
“How many of those (performances) did you have?” Auriemma said he asked Dangerfield earlier this offseason. “That’s kind of what you’re going to need to bring almost every night.
“Does that mean you need to get 25 (points) every night? No, but you have to have that kind of impact on the game every single night. She’s lived in a world as a freshman, sophomore, junior where she didn’t have to do that, and we could still get to the Final Four.”
The Huskies were tabbed the favorite in the AAC preseason poll, which was released Monday morning. They received 11 of 12 firstplace votes from conference coaches, with UCF receiving the other. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team, so Auriemma’s vote went to the Knights.
The expectations obviously go far, far beyond staying atop the league for the seventh consecutive season. At minimum, getting to a 13th straight Final Four is a goal.
And most agree that the Huskies will need Dangerfield’s best to get there.
“For her to be out there right now, it feels good,” Williams said. “She’s the leader on the team, or one of the leaders on the team. It’s good to have your leader there.”