Earlier this season, UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Sarah Strong plays basketball as though she’s never rushed or sped up. That’s rare for a young player, but it only takes watching Strong play a few possessions to understand what Auriemma meant. There’s this flow and an unhurried decisiveness to her game that indicates she’s more mature than most 19-year-old sophomores. “The game is, like, in her soul,” Auriemma said.
Strong was The Athletic’s national freshman of the year last season, and her postseason play was even better. Her 114 points in the NCAA Tournament set a record, as her play down the stretch was arguably the tipping point for UConn’s national title run.
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This season, she averaged 18.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 3.2 steals and 1.6 blocks per game. More impressively, she did so in an historic manner, shooting 59.5 percent from the floor, 40.7 percent from beyond the arc and 88.1 percent from the free-throw line. According to the defensive rating statistic, no player has had a better defensive season since at least 2009.
There was little debate among our voters (Chantel Jennings, Sabreena Merchant, Zena Keita and Eden Laase), as three voted for Strong as The Athletic’s women’s basketball Player of the Year. Vanderbilt guard Mikayla Blakes, a sophomore, received the other vote.
At this point, the UConn-dominance-is-boring crowd has had years to debate during the reigns of several incredible players. But Strong seems to be on track to become the next generational great, and quite possibly by the end of her career, the best to ever come through Storrs.
Expect additions to her highlight reel throughout March as Strong and the Huskies look poised for another long NCAA Tournament run.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Connecticut Huskies, Women’s College Basketball
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