Photo: Evan Rodriguez — Storrs Central

The preseason is officially over. After wrapping up its final exhibition on Sunday, UConn can now turn its full attention to the regular season opener against Louisville on Nov. 4.

There’s been a lot of chances to see the Huskies against a variety of competition this fall. There was the open practice on Sept. 21 when they scrimmage themselves and their male practice squad. They already faced Division I competition during an Oct. 13 exhibition with Boston College, then they got a standard tune-up by beating up Division II Southern Connecticut on Oct. 26.

All in all, there’s been plenty of basketball to evaluate to this point. Now that the games matter from here on out, let’s take a look at where everyone on the roster stands heading into the regular season.

Risers

Sarah Strong/Azzi Fudd

UConn’s two superstars have been as good as advertised so far.

Fudd has been aggressive with the ball in her hands and showed she can still explode at any moment with 15 points on 5-5 shooting from three in the third quarter against BC. Strong looks like the best player in the country and overcame a sub-par shooting performance (4-11) on Sunday by piling up 10 rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two steals — all without a turnover.

They’re really good. No need to overthink it.

Serah Williams

Nobody has come further during the preseason than Williams. She had a really rough time during UConn’s open practice and didn’t look comfortable in really any facet of the game. Since then, she’s put together two strong performances.

Williams broke out with 15 points on just 5-7 shooting in 17 minutes of action while getting to the line for seven free throw attempts against BC. She followed that up with 14 points on 6-8 shooting, five rebounds, three steals and two assists in 17 minutes on Sunday.

The Wisconsin transfer should only keep getting better, too.

“Serah Williams probably doesn't know a lot of our sets. We don't have a lot of them in there,” Auriemma said. “I think the place she knows the best is: ‘Throw it to me.’ What play are we running? She says, ‘Throw it to me.’ She wants to go in the lane, she knows where she wants the ball and she works really hard to get it there.”

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Jon Sayles1 year ago

Coolio - thanks Dan!

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Stewart Ronk1 year ago

You wrote, "Williams broke out with 15 points on just 5-7 shooting in 17 minutes of action while getting to the line for seven free throw attempts against BC."

That could and, in my estimation, should be, "Williams broke out against BC with 15 points, shooting a remarkably efficient 5-7 from the floor in just 17 minutes of action, while getting to the line for seven free throw attempts."

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Jon Sayles1 year ago

What if by "just" he meant "out of just 7 shot attempts she nailed 5 swishes"? English (Oy)

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Bill Hanley1 year ago

Think "concise". "Williams broke out with 15 points in only 17 minutes of action." [The box score will tell me how she did that.]