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Is UConn women’s basketball team ahead of schedule as it finds itself as No. 1 in the national polls after, as No. 2, overwhelming visiting Oklahoma, 97-53, Sunday following unranked Texas stunning No. 1 Stanford, 69-64, in Austin

By Arnie Leshin
Arnie Leshin

It was an early Christmas present for the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team.

With legendary head coach Geno Auriemma of a record 11 national championships, looking on from his hospital bed recovering from surgery on Thursday, the gift came after unranked Texas stunned No. 1, previously unbeaten Stanford, 69-64, and a few hours later, undefeated No 2 UConn dominated visiting Oklahoma, 97-53.
Kind of surprising after Auriemma’s pre-season view of this present edition didn’t sound all that encouraging. He was concerned about being out sized in many games, having a usual depth problem, and a team that might be facing some downfalls along the way.
But this team has certainly turned this early prediction into shreds, now at 10-0after being ranked 6th, 5th and finally fourth in the pre-season polls. Then No. 1 Oregon lost on the same night that defending champion Baylor lost, and the Huskies became No. 2 behind the new top-ranked Cardinal.
But no matter what his own outlook was, Geno the genius showed why he is the quickest one to reach 700, 800, 900 and 1,000 career wins since taking over a program that played in a high school gymnasium when he arrived, moving past the legendary late UCLA coach John Wooden, and on track to become the winning-est men’s or women’s coach in his 40 years of of putting this program on top the women’s game, bringing capacity crowds to its home games and huge turnouts on the road.
Not to forget all the All-Americas, all the Players of the Year, as well as the most players to be drafted into the WNBA, and with about 14 still active, and having many of his assistant coaches now coaching around the country. He faces many of them during the season and it always starts and ends with hugs, except they can’t beat him.
What he did was make a better player out of the 6-5 sophomore Olivia Nelson-Ododa, who after her senior year of high school in Georgia, won a McDonald’s dunk contest that mixed in boys and girls. Her freshman season at UConn showed a gifted athlete who runs the floor like a whippet, leaps high to brings down rebounds, blocks shots, is a threat on defense, is very athletic, and only lacking an education on the offensive end.
So Auriemma and staff took advantage of her other skills and taught her the art of scoring points, and she certainly took it all in. Now she can block out to score inside, posts like she’s been doing it for years, takes advantage of her size that defenses can’t contend with, and even hits a few from outside. Now she has the full game and has become what the team truly needed, someone with size and skills, and she has all that.
Against Oklahoma, Nelson-Ododa, had career highs of 27 points, 15 rebounds, and tied her personal best in blocks with seven, to go with three assists.
Then Auriemma addressed the lack of depth problem, something he’s experienced in other seasons. He made 6-1 freshman Anna Makurat, a recruit from Poland, a starter and she’s fit in well as an outside shooter, inside threat, and ball handler. Then he began playing seniors, 6-2 forward Kyla Irwin, and 5-9 guard Molly Bent more to take advantage of their experience, even though a lot of it was as reserves.
But the next big move was getting 6-1 freshman Aubrey Griffin into play. A talented wing out of Ossining, N.Y, she holds several state records, and is quite comfortable playing in this lineup. No. 44 is quick, can penetrate, can finish inside, can hit from outside, can scrub the boards, and is a perfect fir for the game that Auriemma plays. She recently had a high of 22 points to go with 11 rebounds.
Now the team has more bench strength, can call on more capable reserves, as well as giving Griffin more time on the court.
There’s great balance, especially with 5-5 senior point guard Crystal Dangerfield, popping in 3s, handing out assists, and stealing the ball. She operates with versatile 6-1 junior Megan Walker, 5-11 sharpshooting sophomore Christyn Williams, and this trio has no problem with pressure defense. They all handle the ball well and can get the ball up court with perfection.
Makurat, an accomplished point guard, can also bring the ball up court and has the savvy of this position to fit right in. Nelson-Ododa also appears to be good with the ball.
Against the Sooners, Walker had 17 points, 15 rebounds and five assists. Dangerfield added 19 points, six assists and five steals, while Williams was good for 11 points. UConn was only up 15-11 after one quarter, increased it to 34-21 at the half, 61-35 and then end of three, and outscoring the visitors 35-18 in the final eight minutes, and getting close to 100 as the final buzzer sounded.
It out rebounded Oklahoma, 53-31, out assisted it 20-9, out shot it 44-for-79 against 19-for-70, and only Sooner leading scorer, senior Taylor Robertson could find the range, making good for seven 3s, five below her average, scoring 24 points and getting only 29 more from the rest of the team.
The rest of the new national poll has Oregon (10-1) as No. 2, South Carolina (10-1) as No. 3, Oregon State (11-0) as No. 4, Baylor’s defending champion at 10-1 and No. 5, and Stanford (10-1) as No. 6. Just behind are Mississippi State, UCLA, Kentucky, Florida State, and Texas, now at 7-4, made it in as No. 25.
So far, the Huskies have only played one American Athletic Conference team, Temple in Philadelphia, so their other wins have come over ranked non conference opponents DePaul and Notre Dame, along with Oklahoma, a Big 12 school. But they are far and away the best program in the AAC, and could still be undefeated when the NCAA announces its national tournament, and maybe even as the top-ranked entry.
The Huskies have Baylor and Oregon making the trip to Connecticut, also a visit from Tennessee, and will play at South Carolina.
Next year, UConn will be loaded. It brings in the nation’s No. 1 recruit, 5-11 point guard Paige Bueckers, who is an elite ball handler with magical moves, and is equally adept at scoring points and handing out assists. An honor student from Minnesota, she turned down a tun of other schools to commit to Husky land.
Then there’s 6-foot junior Evina Westbrook, who led the University of Tennessee in scoring and rebounding before transferring to UConn. But just prior to the season opener, she was ruled ineligible for this season, so she practices with the team and rides the bench and lends her support.
And with these two and Walker, Williams, Nelson-Ododa, Griffin and other returnees and other recruits, the Huskies are stocking up.
But this season finds them now with a true shot at again making the national tournament as a high seed, maybe even No. 1 if they remain undefeated, and its all because of how Auriemma and his staff pieced together a better team, one with outside shooting, one with give-and-go quickness inside, one with passing skills, one that crashes the boards, and one with quick hands good for swiping the ball and turning it into points.
The current new national polls list Oregon (11-1) as No. 2, South Carolina (11-1) as No. 3, Oregon State (11-0), as No. 4, defending champion Baylor (11-1) as No. 5, and Stanford (10-1) now as No. 6. Right behind are Florida State, UCLA, Kentucky, Texas A & M, Mississippi State, and Texas, now 7-4, made it in as No. 25.
In the upset over Stanford, the Longhorns were led by 6-1 sophomore post Charli Collier as she scored a game-high 20 points, a game-high 19 rebounds, contributed four blocks, and had a pair of steals and the same number of assists. She went down late in the first half after crashing into another player, but returned to start the second half.
In other games, Oregon downed Portland State, 89-51, South Carolina disposed of No. 24 South Dakota State, No. 8 FSU (12-0) rolled over No. 23 Michigan, 78-69, No. 10 UCLA  turned back No. 12 Indiana, 68-58, No. 14 Kentucky (9-1) edged California, 63-61, No. 15 Mississippi State (11-2) got past Virginia, 72-59, No. 11 Texas A & M (11-1) defeated Montana State, 78-67, and the national poll now has a new No. 1 to the possible surprise of Auriemma.

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