New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Geno offers updates on injured players
It’s been a little over a month since UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma led his team into the national championship game in Minnesota.
Since the Final Four, he’s processed the loss to South Carolina while finding room to recruit and relax.
Auriemma spent a week vacationing after the season ended before UConn added Fairfield graduate transfer Lou Lopez Senechal at the end of April. He’s been spotted at various high school tournaments across the country watching top recruits while also making an appearance at the Kentucky Derby last weekend alongside his wife Kathy and fellow coaches Jeff Walz from Louisville and Doug Bruno from DePaul.
This weekend, Auriemma will be at Mohegan Sun for the Connecticut Sun’s home opener against the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sun will be honoring former UConn and Sun standout Asjha Jones while celebrating the franchise’s 20th anniversary season.
Meanwhile, Auriemma has been monitoring the status of his returning players as UConn prepares for the summer. UConn lost three players to graduation — Christyn Williams, Evina Westbrook and Olivia Nelson-Ododa — and three returning players will be coming off injuries.
What’s the status of the injured players? Auriemma offered updates on the health of Aubrey Griffin (back), Dorka Juhász (wrist) and Caroline Ducharme (hip).
Auriemma said Friday that Griffin should be practicing this summer after recovering from back surgery. Griffin, who also had a preseason ankle injury, missed the entire season and had surgery on Jan. 10.
The redshirt junior has been cleared to begin running.
“Anybody that’s ever had serious back issues knows how incredibly debilitating they are and how long it takes to recover from them,” Auriemma said. “So we’re hoping to have her be
working out with us during the middle of the summer.”
Also expected to return to full workouts by the middle of the summer is Juhász. The graduate student suffered a seasonending wrist fracture in the second quarter of UConn’s Elite Eight double-overtime win over NC State.
UConn announced on March 31 that the 6-foot-5 forward had surgery for the injury and gave an estimated recovery timeline of four
months — which would likely put her return around late July.
Auriemma said Juhász has been conditioning during her recovery process.
“I was in the weight room with her the other day and she’s doing all the things you would do if you weren’t injured except, she’s got a cast on her wrist, a soft one, so she’s limited with some things,” he said. “Dorka has really stepped up and every kid on the team really has a lot of respect for her, has a tremendous relationship with her. I can see her being a
huge influence on our team this coming year.”
The team will be without Ducharme until August, Auriemma said. Ducharme had surgery on her left hip on April 28, a procedure to repair an injury she suffered in high school before coming to UConn.
Auriemma said the injury bothered the sophomore guard throughout her freshman season, which prompted her to undergo surgery.
“This was absolutely necessary. She dealt with it all year,” Auriemma said. “It happened to her in high school and she had an incredible year in despite of it, and it’s gonna be a long way back for her, as well. …. Certainly when September, October come around the plan is for her to be 100 percent and in a better place than she was last year at this time.
“She’s a really tough kid, she works hard. she’s really driven to be really good so whatever she has to do to get back on the court there’s no doubt in my mind she’ll do that.”