The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Edwards like any other teen — until she steps onto court
Aaliyah Edwards is human. Her mother wants to remind everyone this because, with all she’s accomplished, it’s sometimes easy to forget how old — or better yet, how young — she still is.
“She’s no less human than any 17yearold,” Jackie says. “She has her good days, she has her bad days. She has the days when, like any young person, you have to give them a little nudge to get up and go.”
Thursday was very much a good day for Edwards. A busy, sometimes chaotic, but gratifying kind of day.
Edwards, a senior at Crestwood Preparatory College in Toronto and one of the top recruits in the 2020 class, announced her commitment to UConn during a ceremony at her school. She had arrived at that decision roughly five days before during a visit to Storrs, where she met with the team and took in the spectacle that is First Night.
“I just kind of needed to physically be on the campus and physically be with the girls and be with Coach,” Edwards, a 6foot3 wing, said by phone. “Everything was a phone call and FaceTime up until then. Just to kind of validate and clarify any little missed questions, I just wanted to be on the campus so I could get that true feeling of what it’s going to be like every day for four years.”
There should be more good days than bad. That’s just the way life is in Geno Auriemma’s program. The Huskies have won a record 11 national championships and played in 12 straight Final Fours. And, if next year’s recruiting class is any indication, they’re not likely to slow down anytime soon.
The Huskies’ 2020 class features three players ranked in the top 30 nationally, according to ESPN: point guard Paige
Bueckers (1), wing Mir McLean (21) and Edwards (26). Highly sought Croatian point guard Nika Muhl and threestar forward Piath Gabriel have also committed. At the moment, only two other programs have landed multiple top25 commits: Oregon (four) and Notre Dame (two).
Nearly every prominent program in the country was after Edwards. UConn threw its hat into the ring in March, starting with a text from assistant coach Jasmine Lister. Then, just a few weeks later, Auriemma picked up his pursuit at the Final Four in Tampa, Fla., where Edwards was playing at the Next Generation minicamp.
Edwards, who coincidentally was rooming with Muhl, pretty much knew at that point where she wanted to go to college. Last weekend’s trip to campus only reaffirmed her thinking.
“When I came in and visited there, spending time with the girls, seeing who they really are, kind of getting a oneonone with them, they’re just amazing,” Edwards said. “They’re likeminded people to myself — resilient, relentless. They’ve got that competitive mentality.
“On the court, they mean business, they ball out. But off the court, they’re so nice, they’re chill, they’re together, they’re relaxed.”
Marlo Davis has seen those intangibles with his own eyes. Edwards transferred into Davis’ program before her junior year from Frontenac Secondary School. Such a move required leaving the quiet countryside of Kingston, Ontario, her hometown, for the hustle and bustle of Toronto. She’s currently living with a billet family.
It was a stark change, but one that Edwards felt was necessary to prepare for bigtime college basketball.
“She’s been a programchanger. We were always a really good program. We have several other highmajor players,” Davis said, referring to, most notably, forward Latasha Lattimore, the No. 11 prospect in 2021. “But (Edwards) took us over the top, not only just her ability on the court but her ability to lead, her work ethic every day, her commitment to the program, her commitment to herself, and honestly her commitment to being a model studentathlete.”
Edwards’ stock continued to rise this summer as she made her debut with the Canadian national team. She was particularly impressive at the FIBA AmeriCup in Puerto Rico, where she averaged 6.0 points and 2.2 rebounds. In the gold medal game, she scored nine points in 18 minutes against a United States team that included the likes of Tina Charles, Napheesa Collier and Sylvia Fowles.
The experience was certainly eyeopening for Edwards. But intimidating? Not at all.
“I’m seeing these girls on TV and hearing about their names, so it was great to be able to put my skills to the level and kind of compete at their level, and see how well I would do at that,” she said. “But I just treated them as another baller. I’m not really focusing on the name, just playing good basketball.”
On Friday, Edwards made the roster for the Olympic PreQualifying Americas Tournament next month in Edmonton. It’ll be her first opportunity, believe it or not, to play with one of her country’s most recognizable women’s basketball stars — former Husky Kia Nurse.
After that, like any other teenager, she’ll go back to school.
“She’s normal,” Jackie said. “She’s a normal teenager with good days and notsogood days.”