The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘LouConn!’
How UConn’s new transfer wound up in Storrs
As Lou Lopez Sénéchal was lighting up the MAAC as a senior at Fairfield last season, UConn women’s basketball assistant coach Morgan Valley’s phone was lighting up in Storrs.
Valley heard from friends, acquaintances, head coaches, assistants. And every word of analysis offered by these colleagues with a closer view supported what Valley had come to believe from a distance — that Lopez Sénéchal would be a great fit for the Huskies, if ever the opportunity presented itself.
By the time Lopez Sénéchal was done leading Fairfield to one of the best seasons in program history while averaging 19.6 points and shooting 40 percent on 3-pointers, UConn was in Bridgeport for NCAA Tournament regional play. Lopez Sénéchal’s name hit the transfer portal and Valley jumped at the opportunity to recruit her.
“I hit up CD,” Valley said of UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey. “And I said, ‘This kid is good.’ ”
Lopez Sénéchal announced Saturday, about four weeks after Valley initially contacted her, that she will use her final season of eligibility to attend UConn as a graduate student and play for Geno Auriemma’s program in the 2022-23 season.
“I had a really good connection with Morgan Valley throughout the process, and I was able to learn a lot about UConn even before visiting,” said Lopez Sénéchal, a four-year starter at Fairfield who was born in Mexico and raised primarily in France. “I take this year as a challenge to myself to play at a higher level. I know that I’m going to accept whatever role I have because of how grateful I am for the opportuni
ty. I’m going to embrace every moment and do my best to make an impact there.”
Of meeting with Auriemma, Lopez Sénéchal said, “He’s obviously a great coach. I’ve heard and I know that he’s very demanding, which, for me is a quality from a coach that I want. I know that he expects a lot from the players. But he’s told that if he expects that much, it’s because he believes in them. For me, that’s a mindset I really like.”
Lopez Sénéchal’s decision to transfer provides further development and a proving ground for her professional aspirations. Her addition gives UConn a needed scorer, at the least. Lopez Sénéchal is a versatile and mature player who Valley likened, stylistically, to Ann Strother and Svetlana Abrosimova.
UConn is the only school Lopez Sénéchal visited.
“I was very grateful to talk to schools and have their interest,” she said. “But when I went to UConn, it was almost a no-brainer. I really felt comfortable. A lot of factors made me feel that way. It just felt right.”
Lopez Sénéchal, 6-feet-1, plays both forward positions but operates more like a bigger guard, probably set to contribute mostly from the perimeter in support of Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd. Her range and efficiency will help the Huskies stretch defenses. That range and efficiency tore defenses apart in the MAAC.
Throughout the season, Valley spoke frequently with Iona coach Billi Chambers, a close friend.
“She (coached) against Lou every year for the last four years and would talk about her non-stop, how good she was,” Valley said.
With Fairfield coach Joe Frager having announced his retirement before the season, it was widely assumed that Lopez Sénéchal would enter the transfer portal and look to play at a high-major program. When she did, Valley called Frager, who coached former UConn player Maria Conlon at Seymour High. Frager went on to coach at Southern Connecticut, winning a Division II national championship in 2007, and Fairfield, where he spent 15 years.
“He had nothing but great things to say about her,” Valley said. “I’ve known Coach Frager for a really long time — a really good man, very honest and straightforward — and he said, ‘This kid is great and she can play for you.’ He knows what it takes to play here.”
Fairfield (25-7, 19-1) won the MAAC to clinch its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001. The Stags, seeded 15th in the Spokane Regional, played second-seeded Texas in Austin, Tex., and lost 70-52. Lopez Sénéchal scored 17 points on 5-for-10 shooting in 30 minutes, missing the entire second quarter to receive stitches in her mouth after taking an elbow in the first.
Valley also talked to another close friend, April Phillips, the Texas assistant who has since been named head coach at San Jose State.
“She was like, ‘Morgan, that kid can go. If she didn’t get knocked in the mouth by Lauren Ebo, who knows how that game would have turned out?’ ” Valley said. “I thought that was pretty high praise. And I actually had random people in (the MAAC) texting me, like, ‘This kid can play. This kid is great.’ I had numerous people, unsolicited, texting me.”
When Lopez Sénéchal committed to UConn, Valley’s wife, Lauren, reacted by yelling, “LouConn!”
“I told Lou that and Lou said all her friends had been saying the same thing since they found out she was going to visit,” Valley said.
Katie Lou Samuelson, UConn’s fifth all-time leading scorer with 2,342 points, tweeted, “You can never have too many Lou’s.”
Lopez Sénéchal will graduate from Fairfield next month with a degree in marketing and report to UConn in June.
“He didn’t promise me anything,” Senechal said of her role and conversations with Auriemma. “I obviously have to earn what I’ll have. But he was saying, the fact that they’re losing some guards, I could add to the other guards. They play with a lot of guards and four out, one in. He talked to me about that and how I could add to the team. He showed me some clips and types of workouts and how I can fit in the game.
“I’ve always heard really good things about UConn and I think everyone knows what UConn is. Walking in the building and seeing all the names and numbers related to the former players and the WNBA, all this information is great. I was very impressed.”
Banners in the Werth Champions Center honor UConn All-Americans and Olympic gold medalists in addition to the program’s 11 national championships.
“There’s a lot of people on that wall — and who aren’t on that wall — who have played professionally just by doing what’s asked of you,” Valley said. “She’ll be a pro, no matter what. She could go home to France and she’ll be a professional. But I think playing here, there could be some really good things ahead for her.”
Lopez Sénéchal has one season to leave her mark.
“She’s really good at reading screens, really good at taking what you give her, really efficient, and she can flat out score,” Valley said. “She’s very good at taking the space or creating the space to get her shot off. … Her personality, she’s quiet but she has a presence about her. She’s not shy. When she met the players, she seemed to fit right in. I think she’s really mature and has a good presence about her. She’s just really easy. She’s just a cool kid.”
The Huskies are coming off a wild season, rife with injuries, yet reached the national championship game. Lopez Sénéchal got to know UConn players during her visit. .
“I’m glad they have international players,” Lopez Sénéchal said. “I really felt comfortable with them right away, and the rest of the players as well. It’s a really close group, I can tell. With all that happened last year, all the ups and downs, they were able to get really close and I was able to see that.”