Geno: Sarah Strong "will significantly change the trajectory of our program"

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News

• Chasing Perfection: Season predictions

Game coverage

• The Aftermath: Paige Bueckers wastes no time taking over in exhibition

• Stock watch: Who's up and who's down after UConn's exhibition

• Photo gallery: Fort Hays State Tigers at UConn

Analysis

Opponent previews:

• The marquee matchups

• NCAA Tournament caliber teams

• Everyone else

Last week’s Weekly

• UConn still figuring out what it has beyond Bueckers

Geno: Sarah Strong "will significantly change the trajectory of our program"

A few years ago, UConn assistant Jamelle Elliott found herself in an empty back gym watching ninth graders play. She was the only coach there — maybe save for then-UCF assistant Nykesha Sales, who played with Elliott in Storrs. Given the age of the players, what would they even look for?

But one prospect caught Elliott’s eye — so much so that when she returned to campus to report back, Geno Auriemma hit the road immediately to take a look for himself.

“She just saw something,” he said about his assistant.

Auriemma quickly came to the same conclusion.

“All you saw was this young kid who had a knack for doing the things that people have to learn to do — and she already had them,” he said. “The way she saw the floor, how she finished around the basket, her non-rushed, casual approach to the game where all the great players have the ability to slow the game down somewhat.”

The kid? A young Sarah Strong. At the time, she was far from being the No. 1 player in the class of 2024. For awhile, she was an under-the-radar recruit who the Huskies first discovered. There was a time where the only coaches who went to see her play were Auriemma and his staff. USA Basketball categorized her among “others to consider” for awhile.

UConn knew from the start, though. So when all the top programs eventually caught on to Strong’s talents, the Huskies never worried about their position. Even as the early signing day in November came and went without a decision, they remained confident.

“We felt like we were there at the beginning, we stayed with her through the whole time and had a great relationship with Sarah; Danny, her dad; and Allison, her mom. We always felt pretty good about it,” Auriemma said in the spring.

Eventually, Strong picked UConn over finalists Duke and UNC on April 6 — the day after the national semifinals. The Huskies’ persistence paid off.

Now, with the 2024-25 season about to get underway, they can begin reap the rewards.

After all, they don’t view her as just any other freshman. It’s not that Strong is ranked by ESPN as the nation’s top recruit. That doesn’t mean anything inside the walls of the Werth Champions Center. Instead, UConn — who has more national championships than any other program and has reached 15 of the last 16 Final Fours — believes Strong is the type of player who can keep that success going.

“During her junior year, it became, ‘If we get Sarah to come into our program, we will significantly change the trajectory of our program,’” Auriemma said.

That didn’t happen from the moment she stepped on campus, though. She only spent a couple weeks in Storrs during summer workouts before departing for national team duty. When she returned for the fall semester, the freshman felt like she missed out on important bonding time with her teammates.

“I just felt left out because they were all really close,” Strong said. “I was like, ‘Oh, dang, I don't really know you like that.’”

That carried over to the basketball court. During fall workouts, she was tentative and didn’t stand out. But as the Huskies made her feel more welcome and she got used to life in Storrs, Strong slowly settled in. When official practice began in early October, a switch flipped.

Suddenly, Strong transformed from being a typical freshman into the program-altering player they watched in high school.

“I can honestly say that she's probably as impressive as any freshman that we've had in a long, long time with all the things that she's capable of doing on the court,” Auriemma said. “Every day she does something I haven't seen before from her.”

She’s still not all the way there, though. Strong looked good in her preseason debut — 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals, one block — but she can still do more. From the coach’s perspective, she’s still thinking too much.

“I think the big thing with Sarah — as it is with most thinkers and pleasers — they're probably the worst kind of freshman to have. They think too much and they want to just do the right thing. For Sarah, I want it to be instinctive for her,” Auriemma said.

The stats shouldn’t particularly matter, though. Strong isn’t being counted on to lead any one position. Instead, the coach tasked her to “impact winning” by contributing in whatever ways the team may need on a given night. That should be easy enough, though. Strong spent her high school career doing just that.

“A lot of times, she was playing with a team of teammates that needed her to be everything, which means that you had to be the best passer on the team because they needed your help to get shots. You had to score enough to take the load off of their their scoring. You had to defend a lot of different positions to help them,” Auriemma aid.

“I thought watching Sarah play… her ability to to win games and to impact games, that's what made me think that she could be that right away — because she did it, and she did it at every level that she played at, whether it was high school team, travel team, USA Basketball. She just has a way that’s hard to teach. You have to come with those things.”

The last freshman that the coach spoke this highly of is still on the roster: Paige Bueckers. The two share some similarities, too — both were No. 1 recruits, both were expected to contribute right away and both are viewed as generational talents.

But Bueckers had to put the team on her back from the moment she stepped on campus. She didn’t have anyone else to lean on. Strong has the luxury of playing alongside Bueckers as a freshman before taking the reins herself next season. Together, they could form a 1-2 punch that the Huskies have lacked in recent years.

“I think Sarah and Paige already have some sort of connection going on the court,” Auriemma said.

Bueckers hasn’t been able to get UConn over the hump to win a national championship on her own. Strong could help with that. She’s not being asked to turn a program around that’s been in disarray or help build a winner. The Huskies have remained one of the most successful teams in the nation — they just keep coming up short of 12th national championship game.

Strong could be a difference-maker. At the very least, she’ll ensure that UConn remains an annual contender.

“The last couple years — for whatever reason — you're this far away,” Auriemma said, holding two fingers close together. “So a player like that can help you close that gap. But what I really mean is that's a four year (window) being able to close the gap… Provided you surround her with other people, she's one that can keep you there.”

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