SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
With all due respect to Dawn Staley and her 6-foot-5 All-America senior Elliyah Boston, they can thank Geno the genius Aureimma for not keeping an eye on his own players. Not to say it would have made a difference that would have dropped defending national champion South Carolina from the top of the perch in place of the University of Connecticut.
And not to say it wasn’t the first time that the remarkable head coach who has won a record 11 national championships since his undefeated year of 1995, but it doesn’t matter. This was as big as they come, for of the long list of elite players he’s had, Paige Bueckers is right up here, and no way during the off season should she have been playing playground pick-up basketball.
Result? Torn ACL.
At least she should have consulted Auriemma or one of his assistants about this, but obviously she didn’t, and now she’s done playing for this season, instead she gets to hang out alongside Auriemma in the new role he created as his assistant and with the old role as cheerleader remaining. You can mark it down as “athlete coach.”
No doubt she’s not happy about this, has that guilty feeling. At Hoskins High in Minnesota she reigned as back-to-back National Player of the Year, she was highly recruited, but in her junior year she had already decided on UConn, wanted to jump on the Auriemma bandwagon, could hardly wait.
Her freshmen season with the Huskies was her best. She won multiple awards never seen before. Freshman of the Year, Player of the Year, the nation’s leader in assists, started and played all 29 games, led the team in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, and whatever else she did as the outstanding team leader.
Auriemma has class though. He knew how talented she was, how she had all the key ingredients and then some, he just dealt with it, for it was much too late to pin a sign on her that said “No offseason basketball in playground.” Though the same stunning injury she picked up could have also happened in the gymnasium.
Other Bueckers injuries were never like this. As a sophomore, a knee injury at home against St. John’s sidelined her for two weeks. After she returned, she stumbled off the court late in a home game versus Notre Dame, required surgery on her leg and spent the next 19 games on the sidelines, each time throwing up shots and running up and down the court and including prescribed exercises.
Auriemma’s teams have made 14 straight appearances in the Final Four, now this streak is threated by the Gamcocks, who have won a pair of national titles under Staley. They head up to Connecticut on Sunday, Feb. 5, for an anticipated noon game at the XC Center in Hartford on FOX. At that time, the anticipation may have disappeared depending on what transpired in the games before this.
Now Auriemma brought in a pair of highly recruited high school players, 6-3 “Ice” Brady and 6-2 Avrianna Patterson, No. 3 and No. 4-ranked nationally, but he got bad news once again as Brady required surgery on Tuesday after sustaining a dislocated patella in her right knee. Nothing that would affect his team like the loss of Bueckers would, but still another roster loss.
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Not that the UConn roster is weak, far from it, it has about eight quality players including Patterson, has another Bueckers type in former high school player of the year, 5-11 sophomore Azzi Fudd, and she will engineer the offense along with 5-10 junior guard Nika Muhl. Fudd can hit from outside, handle the ball, play smart defense to create turnovers, and this makes for a good experienced backcourt.
The one in the middle is 6-5 graduate student Dorka Juhasz, a transfer from Ohio State who decided to return for her eligible senior season. She is a good outside shooter, is tough inside, and is a shot-blocker. She will be backed up by 6-5 sophomore Amari DeBerry, who Auriemma worked with to hit 3s, and she does, as well as getting down the court quick.
The key here is also 6-3 junior Aaliyah Edwards from Kingston, Ontario, who was recruited by former Husky Canadian Kia Nurse. Edward is strong inside, can pop the side jumper, blocks out well, plays aggressive defense, and Auriemma is counting on her in a big way. Sophomore Caroline Ducharme is 6-2, will swing between guard and forward, and is a crafty competitor who can hit the 3.
Not to forget returning 6-1 junior Aubrey Griffin, a starter as a freshman who sat out last season after knee surgery. She is equally adept at guard or small forward and is a welcomed sight. The one unknown at this time is 6-1 Lu Lopez Senechal, a grade student who is a native of France and led Fairfield University in scoring the last two years.
That’s it, that’s the latest on this Auriemma edition. He’s a super coach, is very popular with his players past and present, and on campus. He’s coached several times from his hospital bed, and each time he was caught on camera, the home crowd roared with delight. Just remember, he wasn’t given much of a chance last year and upset North Carolina State in the quarterfinals, Stanford in the semis, and lost by six to South Carolina in the finals.
At this point the Huskies are ranked sixth as they open tonight in Storrs’ Gampel Pavillion, one of four home sites but the only one on campus. No matter, the program brings huge turnouts wherever it plays.
Northeastern edged Boston University, 65-64, in its Monday opener. UConn routed Hartford at the XC Center in an exhibition game played last Friday.
One thing, don’t bet against Auriemma. He’s coached here and nowhere else, he’s had several unbeaten seasons, he finds ways to win, no one comes close to the long, long list of elite players he’s had, and of course Bueckers is right up there, just not this time.
South Carolina’s Staley is one of the better points guards of her time and was All-America at Temple University. After another strong recruiting haul, she has Boston, she has returning guards, two seniors in 5-9 Zia Cook and 6-1 Brea Beal, and a versatile forward in 6-4 senior Laetiana Amihere. She also returns 6-7 junior post Kamilla Cardoso out of Brazil and a transfer from Syracuse. In all, Staley has seven seniors, one junior, two sophomores, and three freshmen.
With five starting seniors, she had a rather good recruiting time. As for Boston, she is obviously the No. 1 WNBA recruit. She possesses elite finisher skills, had good footwork, plus defensive ability and savvy.
Could be that this is the Gamecocks final stand for now with this talent, and with Bueckers certain to return to the court and “Ice” Brady doing the same, next season could find Auriemma right up there again, and certainly not at No. 6.
