The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Durr, Samuelson at center of showdown
The names were already well known before Asia Durr and Katie Lou Samuelson became teammates for five days in June 2013.
Durr would be named the most valuable player as the United States rolled to the FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Women title in Cancun as she led the U.S. in points scored, field goals and free throws made and attempted and steals. Samuelson was one of three players to start every game, was the No. 2 scorer on the team and drained a team-best 18 3-pointers.
The following summer Samuelson was the top scorer and was followed closely by Durr as the U.S. captured the FIBA U17 World Championship for Women. Four and a half months later, they would be the centers of attention when the national letters of intent started arriving at college campuses. Depending on which recruiting service was handling the ranking, either Durr or Samuelson were ranked first in their class as Durr signed with Louisville and Samuelson with UConn.
Their paths will cross again on Monday night when No. 1 UConn hosts fourth-ranked Louisville at Gampel Pavilion (7 p.m., ESPN2).
Durr recently surpassed the 1,500 career point mark, something that Samuelson could accomplish with 11 points agains the Cardinals.
The two youngest players in the USA Basketball Senior National Team pool won’t be hard to spot if their previous exploits against ranked opponents in any indication. Earlier this season Durr dropped 47 points against Ohio State and had 36 in the Cardinals’ 100-67 rout Notre Dame. Samuelson has scored in double figures in 14 of the last 15 regularseason games against teams ranked in the Associated Press top 25 poll.
“She can score in so many different ways,” Samuelson said. “It is just really hard to stop her and pigeonhole how you can take her out of the game. She is always going to do what she does and this year especially she has been having an amazing year for Louisville and her team has been really good.”
Both players have stepped into elite programs immediately. UConn won a national title during Samuelson’s freshman season while Louisville have won 80 games since Durr’s arrival. Both players have taken on larger roles as juniors.
The transfer of Mariya Moore, the Cardinals’ assist leader in each of Durr’s first two seasons, hasn’t forced Durr to be a point guard but has added more responsibility to what was already a pretty full plate.
“We have some new kids, we have a great point guard, a great post player,” Durr said. “Even if Mariya was still there, we would still have step up because we are still trying to become a better team.”
UConn coach Geno Au-
riemma recruited Durr out of St. Pius X Catholic High School in Atlanta and he is among those who believes her name should be mentioned early and often in the national player of the year debate.
“She always had the ability, kind of like Crystal (Dangerfield, UConn’s starting point guard), to kind of do whatever she wants with the ball,” Auriemma said. “She can go where she wants, get any shot she wants any time she wants. The first couple of years she was at Louisville she was way more concerned making sure everybody was involved, making sure everybody was happy. This season, she is much more focused on let’s make sure we win, let’s make sure we get stuff done and still be able to do some of that. I don’t know if anyone has had a more solid and at times a more spectacular season than she has had.”
Durr credits the time she spent at U.S. national team training camp in California before the season started for helping her get ready for this season.
“As a person and as a player I got the chance to be around a lot of really great players,” Durr said. “It prepared me well especially going out to Santa Barbara and dealing with people who have been playing for 10-12 years, so I think that was a great experience.”
Durr is not only averaging a team-leading 19.8 points per game while shooting 48 percent from the field and 46 percent from 3-point range, but for the first time in her collegiate career, she has more assists than turnovers.
Samuelson matched her career high with nine assists in Saturday’s 124-43 victory over Wichita State. Samuelson not only leads UConn in scoring and tops all Division I women’s basketball players in 3point percentage, but she is the only person in the top 15 in both 3-point accuracy and assist/turnover ratio.
“I take pride in trying to get my teammates the ball when they need it and make the right plays,” Samuelson said. “I’ve been trying to do it consistently every game. My teammates have finished a lot and finished things that I might not get that opportunity with different teammates so the people I have really help me a lot with that.”