The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Opportunity knocks for UConn freshmen
Graduation losses could open door for freshmen to contribute immediately
NEW YORK — There have been countless words used to describe the UConn women’s basketball program, but somehow consensus national high school player of the year Christyn Williams came up with one not associated with the Huskies for quite some time.
“We are going to be like the underdogs, so we’ll have to prove things,” Williams said at Jordan Brand Classic media day festivities on Saturday.
Being underdogs is an interesting concept for UConn. Since the start of the 2007-08 season the Huskies have played 420 games and in only 10 of them was UConn ranked lower in the Associated Press poll than their opponent.
With Kia Nurse, Azurá Stevens and Gabby Williams expected to be among the first 10 picks in Thursday’s WNBA Draft, it’s a safe assumption that the 2018-19 UConn team won’t be the preseason No. 1 team as it has been in seven of the previous 11 seasons. Still, UConn could start the season ranked in the top five, something that has happened in every AP poll since Feb. 5, 2007.
None of the returning players have ever lost a regular-season game at UConn. With road games scheduled against potential top five teams Notre Dame, Baylor and Louisville, that certainly could change. Some of UConn’s most rewarding national championship runs came during seasons when the Huskies flew under the radar or as under the radar as an 11time national champion is allowed to fly.
With the return AllAmericans Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson as well as Crystal Dangerfield, who will be among the nation’s elite point guards, UConn isn’t exactly crying poverty. Underdog might be a bit strong of a term, but there will be plenty of questions surrounding the Huskies. Many of them will center around Williams and fellow incoming freshman Olivia Nelson-Ododa.
The last time two UConn freshmen averaged at least 20 minutes per game came during the 2010-11 season when Bria Hartley and Stefanie Dolson were on the court for 31.8 and 24.2 minutes, respectively. It would be a surprise to nobody to see the two fivestar national recruits be part of the main rotation beginning with the Huskies’ season opener. While Collier, Dangerfield and Samuelson could be as talented as any three teammates in the country next season, the reality is that the development of Nelson-Ododa, Williams and last year’s top freshman, Megan Walker, could go a long way in determining the type of season awaiting the Huskies.
Nelson-Ododa and Williams certainly looked the part in the two national all-star games. Williams was named the most valuable player in the McDonald’s All-American Game, while she joined Nelson-Ododa as a double-digit scorer in Sunday’s Jordan Brand Classic.
They are planning to arrive on campus on May 29. They will start working in the offseason conditioning program and take part in pickup games with the veteran UConn players healthy enough to hit the court running.
Running is probably the operative word.
“They are a running team so that is a big thing is running, but regardless, I want to develop my game,” Nelson-Ododa said. “However Coach Auriemma and his coaching staff wants to develop me as a player, I am ready to do that.”
Even with the return of its top two scorers and three players who handed out more than 100 assists a season ago, things will look a bit different for the Huskies next season. The graduation of Nurse and Williams, the last two WBCA Defensive Players of the Year, and Stevens, the team’s top shot blocker, will change how the Huskies play on defense. On offense, so much ran through Williams’ capable hands as she filled the role previously held by fellow All-Americans Dolson and Morgan Tuck as a point forward creating scoring opportunities for teammates and herself from the high post.
Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma has changed styles before and shown the ability to adapt his system to the talent of his top players rather than force players into roles they are unable to succeed in.
Adaptability is one of Auriemma’s great strengths, according to Andy Landers, a former college coach at Georgia.
“I did this for 36 years, kids change,” said Landers, now an ESPN women’s basketball analyst. “The thing that has impressed me the most is (Auriemma) has been able to identify those changes in the way kids are and adjust the kid’s needs to what he does,”
“It is hard to do as a coach, it is harder to do if you have been successful as a coach. The more successful you are, the more you think this is the way it is going to be and you do things my way. Sometimes you lose the ability to adapt or adjust. You become rigid because this way has been the way that has produced championships. You have to change, otherwise you’d still be digging wells by hand.”
A foot injury kept Samuelson out of the 2016 national championship game and with UConn losing in the national semifinals in each of the last two seasons, not long after the overtime loss to Notre Dame at the Final Four Auriemma was asked about Samuelson entering her senior season without ever playing in a national title game
“Wow, a kid went to Connecticut and didn’t play in a championship game, how awful,” Auriemma said. “That is 99 percent of the kids who play college basketball, but the thing that this reminds you and you say our goal is to go to the Final Four and win a national championship. I’ll bet 20 schools, 25 schools think that, but it is not going to happen for everybody. It has happened to us a lot of times for a long time. These last two years are a huge reminder. Lou has another chance, Pheesa has another chance, Crystal’s got two more chances and we’ll see where that goes.”