Auriemma: Samuelson, Collier ready for pros

FRANKLIN — Geno Auriemma spent plenty of time this week traveling the state as part of the UConn Coaches Road show and fielding questions about incoming players and next year’s team.

There’s been plenty of UConn women’s basketball news coming since the end of the 2018-19 season with the addition of new players, schedule updates and more. Here’s a look at some of what he touched on:

Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson

Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson have moved onto the WNBA, with Collier playing for the Minnesota Lynx and Samuelson playing for the Chicago Sky. Auriemma has talked with both since they’ve started training camp, which is winding down ahead of the start of the regular season, and thinks they’re going to have interesting rookie years.

“They all say the same thing,” Auriemma said. “There’s a lot to learn, it’s much faster and more physical and you have to pick things up quickly. There’s a lot thrown at you. … It’s funny the way they talk when they leave. Lou says ‘I’ve got to be a lot more aggressive.’ Duh. Where have I heard that before?

“So I think that they can probably think back to when they were freshmen in college and remember how everything was like ‘Wow, I didn’t realize it was going to be like this.’ I think they’re going to have one of those summers, but the only difference is they have a lot more experience. They’re a lot smarter and much better prepared to handle all of this. They both went to the absolute perfect teams for them so I’m excited for both of them.”

Extending the South Carolina series

UConn and South Carolina extended their series for two more years, ensuring they’ll meet through the 2021-22 season. Auriemma was pleased with the extension for many reasons, chief among them being the Gamecocks amenability to playing later in the regular season.

“Most of the teams that we play, we always anticipate them being somewhat long term. I don’t remember the last time we said ‘Tell that school we’re not playing them anymore.’ We always kind of anticipate that when we make any kind of schedule we’ll do it in four-year cycles,” Auriemma said.

“South Carolina’s one of the schools that isn’t worried about playing in January and February. A lot of schools want to play in November and December. We can only play so many games in November and December. I like playing those kinds of games in January and February, and some schools don’t want to do that. I enjoy doing that, and it didn’t matter what league we were in. We’ve been doing that forever. Our kids look forward to those January and February Monday night big games on national television. They’re really cool, so the more we can do of those the better.”

Christyn Williams’ development

This offseason a lot of attention has been given to the four players UConn has coming into the program, but there are also plenty of returning players who are going through a critical offseason. Auriemma has often said players make the biggest improvement between their freshman and sophomore year.

Christyn Williams, who started in every game last season and averaged 11.7 points per game, is in the process of making that transition into her second season. She showed glimpses of what she’s capable of and clearly possesses plenty of talent, but she dealt with inconsistency and struggles that plague even the most talented freshmen. As a sophomore with experience and more responsibility, Auriemma expects her to flourish.

“Every kid goes about it differently. Sometimes when you have a little bit of success right away, you can get lulled into thinking it’s going to be easy,” Auriemma said. “I think most freshmen need to go through highs and lows and she’s certainly went through that. But if you look at the very last game we played, she was one of the best players on the floor. And she’s going to get even more opportunities to do that this coming year.”

Kelli Stacy can be reached at kstacy@courant.com.