Nika Mühl 'really close' to decision about future

UConn women’s basketball’s two undecided seniors both spoke about their future on Tuesday. Nika Mühl said she’s “really close” to making her choice but is still working through a few things.

“I'm actually really close to making that decision,” she said. “I just feel like I'm trying to look for the right time to announce everything. So that's all I'm gonna say.”

Aaliyah Edwards reiterated that she won’t declare any plans for the future until this season ends.

“I feel like some days I want to do this, some days I want to do that,” she said. “But as I said multiple times before, I just want to say present, stay in the moment. We can leave that decision for after the season and we'll see how it goes.”

One potential factor for both in their decision? NIL. As international students, they can’t take full advantage of their potential earnings because they’re here on student visas, not work visas. While they can make passive income from merchandise sales such as jerseys or shirts, they can’t sign endorsement deals or capitalize on their own name, image, and likeness while in college like their American-born teammates.

Mühl downplayed the significance of that.

“It doesn't really impact me that much because I never had that initially. So it's not like I had it and it was taken away from me,” she explained. “I feel like when you're here, especially at UConn, it's not about how much money you make, it’s not about NIL, it’s not about what else you can do. I feel like everybody's priority here is basketball.”

Edwards put more stock in it, but still not much.

“For me, that's not really a deciding factor. I came here to play basketball. That’s what I signed up to do four years ago and that's still going to be my decision,” she said. “Maybe a little bit, a little influence, but it's really about the team.”

Both Mühl and Edwards have an additional year of eligibility from playing during the Covid-shortened season in 2020-21. UConn’s other two seniors, Paige Bueckers and Aubrey Griffin, announced they’ll be back next season during senior night.

The Huskies have just one open scholarship for next season, but head coach Geno Auriemma wasn’t all that concerned when asked about that earlier in the month.

“We won't be talking about scholarships if they all leave,” he said before senior night. “And then if they all come back, we don't need a lot of scholarships, do we?”

The coach has mentioned that he doesn’t expect Mühl to return but Edwards hasn’t indicated which way she’s leaning.