No. 1 prospect in Class of 2024 commits to UConn
Naismith High School Player of the Year Sarah Strong committed to UConn women's basketball on Saturday, becoming coach Geno Auriemma's third No. 1 overall prospect in the last five seasons.
Strong, a 6-foot-2 forward from Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, chose the Huskies among other finalists, Duke and North Carolina. She now headlines UConn's 2024 recruiting class alongside No. 4 prospect Allie Ziebell and No. 18 Morgan Cheli, who both signed during the early period in November. The Huskies are currently the only team with three commitments ranked in the top 20 nationally, though USC, UCLA and South Carolina all have three signees in the top 30.
Strong led Grace Christian High School to an undefeated season in 202324 for a third consecutive North Carolina state championship. She averaged over a double-double with 21 points and 16.7 rebounds, plus 4.6 assists, 2.8 steals and 1.8 blocks. Strong was also the co-MVP of the McDonald's All-American game alongside South Carolina signee Joyce Edwards.
“I want to definitely get better and just grow as a person off the court, and I really want to be coached by (Auriemma),” Strong said, revealing her decision on ESPN during the Chipotle Nationals championship game Saturday.
UConn has not signed a No. 1 prospect since Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd committed to the Huskies back-to-back in 2020 and 2021. The program was not even a finalist for last year's top recruit, JuJu Watkins, now a freshman at USC, and they lost 2022 No. 1 Lauren Betts to Stanford before the 6-6 center transferred to UCLA last offseason.
The Huskies finished the 2024 season on a heartbreaking 71-69 loss to No. 1 seed Iowa in the Final Four on Friday night.
UConn returns Bueckers for her fifth year in 2024-25, and the Huskies also expect as many as six players back from season-ending injuries this year. Neither freshman forward Jana el Alfy (Achilles) nor sophomore Ayanna
Patterson (patellar tendonitis) appeared in a single game this year, and Fudd played only twice prior to her season-ending ACL tear. Guard Caroline Ducharme also saw the court just four times before ongoing head and neck injuries forced her to cut her season short.
With a full roster, the Huskies were voted the No. 2 team in the country in the 2023-24 preseason
AP poll. Strong figures to be an immediate contributor with Aaliyah Edwards headed to the WNBA Draft, and the freshman brings a more versatile scoring ability with elite passing vision. Auriemma is also no stranger to incorporating rookies early after working with a bench rotation that was entirely freshmen for most of this season.