We’re past the point of UConn women’s basketball being described as a program.
It’s a machine.
A machine that takes great talent and develops it into something otherworldly. Those who have lived inside the machine for decades can’t even describe why it’s just so much better than all its competitors.
“I only know what we do,” said assistant coach Chris Dailey, who has been by head coach Geno Auriemma’s side since he took the reigns in Storrs in 1985. “I wish I could be a fly on the wall in other practices and see, but all I know is the things we think are important: how hard we go, the effort, not taking plays off.”
It’s just how it is. How it’s always been. Breanna Stewart, perhaps the greatest player to ever put on a UConn jersey, is nearing the end of her run in Storrs. When she hangs it up, likely with four Final Four MOP awards, it’ll be time for the next crop of UConn legends to carry on the greatness.
That next generation was on full display Monday as the Huskies toppled Texas, 86-65, to clinch their ninth straight Final Four appearance.
Freshman Katie Lou Samuelson scored nine points, grabbed six rebounds and had a block she was so proud of that she felt the need to reenact it in the locker room after the game. Her classmate, Napheesa Collier, came off the bench to score nine points of her own on 4-4 shooting to go with four rebounds.
“She’s young and she knows one thing,” Auriemma said of Collier. “If we shoot it, I’m going to go offensive rebound it. If there’s a lane open, I’m going to drive it to the rim.”
OK so that’s two things, but Collier earned the extra accolade.
If this was the last game of the season, it may have represented a symbolic passing of the torch, from one terrifying group of basketball superhumans to another.
Instead, it was just evidence that UConn women’s basketball never truly rebuilds. Yeah, there will probably be some losses next year. A National Championship isn’t a foregone conclusion. Heck, neither is a Final Four [audible gasp].
But how freaking crazy is it that even in their worst years, we can still set the Final Four as a reasonable expectation?
For what it’s worth, those who are coming back are eager to meet the challenges in front of them.
“Coach let us know, this the reason you came here,” Samuelson said about playing in the NCAA Tournament. “He gave us that confidence that they wouldn’t have recruited us if they didn’t think we could do it.”
We’ve heard a lot about how these are the last games we will get to see Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and likely Morgan Tuck play at the collegiate level. We should cherish these moments, recognize how special they are and savor it as they cut down the nets one final time.
This is all true.
But at the same time, we can look ahead to the future and understand that in a few years, Samuelson and Collier will be signing off, maybe with a few rings of their own.
And then we’ll do the same for the next class. And then the next.
That’s just how it is at UConn. The machine never stops.
