Tampa, Florida – The University of Connecticut attacker, Sarah Strong, is the best first year of university basketball – men or women. It may seem blasphemous in a season when everyone said that the distinction belonged to striker Duke Cooper Flagg.
But while Duke was eliminated from the male tournament on Saturday, the performance of Strong at 24 points and 15 reimburses against South Carolina helped to raise Uconn for a victory of 82-59 and a national championship.
In the 40 seasons of Geno Auriemma as a huskies chief coach, Uconn had several high-level first-year students. With Strong’s performance not only on Sunday, but throughout the tournament and the Uconn season, she put her fingerprints all over the school and the history of the tournament.
She became the first first year in history with 20 points and 15 rebounds in the match for the national title. Strong was the third first-year student with 20 points in the national semi-finals and in the national championship. She became the first first year in Uconn’s story with four 20 -point games in a single NCAA tournament and UCONN’s first recruit with three consecutive 20 points games in the tournament.
She also set a record for points in a single NCAA tournament.
Paige Bueckers, who won his first national championship on Sunday, is clearly the star of the Uconn. Azzi Fudd sets the tone for the team. But Strong was all the Uconn engine this season – bounce back with revenge, score if necessary and play suffocating defense on the best player of the opponent.
Auriemma said he had seen this in strong when he had watched her like a student of 10th.
“When I saw Sarah playing in high school, in 10th year, I couldn’t think of a woman’s player to compare her,” said Auriemma. “I said,” She’s Charles Barkley. I said, “This kid is great on his feet, she knows the game.
“I just think that when you have a child who is so young – who knows the game so well and has the capacity, whatever the situation in which she is in the field, whatever the part of the field, no matter what she calls, she has the ability to do so – it’s very rare among professional basketball players, and even less a first year student of 19 years.”
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During the season, criticisms and certain coaches reprimanded the southern Caroline head coach Dawn Staley for packaging her team with the McDonald’s All-Americans. Strong is the Carolina of the South All-American did not obtain. She was the best recruit in the 2024 class.
There was a moment in Sunday defeat for South Carolina when the difference between a real recruit and a prodigy has become obvious.
The moment took place with 39 seconds to play in the third trimester, Uconn at the top of 59-40. The talented recruit of South Carolina, Joyce Edwards, had hung hard and put it into play. While Edwards left the game, clearly frustrated, strong – generally stoic – freshly sunk. At this point, Strong already had 17 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots.
It was at this point that the distinction became obvious: Edwards was a real first year. Strong is a prodigy.
She grew up in and around the game. Strong’s mother, Allison Feaster, is vice-president of team operations and organizational growth of Boston Celtics. Feaster was a star player from Harvard and played in the WNBA. Strong’s father, Danny Strong, played collegially in the state of North Carolina and abroad for 15 years.
Throughout the tournament, Strong’s teammates constantly described him as a wise and mature player beyond her years. They call her an equal player who avoids ups and downs.
She took advantage of a fantastic first year season, and her line of statistics is shouting: Big East Freshman of the year. Associated Press All-American second team. Average of 16 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.3 interceptions and 1.6 blocks per game.
Strong is a force.
Thien-An Truong / ISI Photos / Getty Images
While Feaster looked at his daughter on the championship stage on Sunday, I asked her questions about the source of Strong’s maturity.
Feaster said it goes beyond basketball.
“I think it’s faith,” she said. “I think it is faith in the process, faith in its purpose. God has put it here for a reason. She is who she is, and I’m just grateful. ”
When they asked her how she felt herself while looking at her daughter to live a championship moment, Feaster said: “The only emotion I have is just a pure gratitude for all this.
While Strong’s father looked at the confetti falling, he thought about all years of sacrifice, the hard work of his daughter.
“It took a lot of prayer, a lot of time and supervise the whole process,” said Danny Strong. “She knew it was there that she wanted to be of the sixth year. It was in her heart. We are really happy that we had the opportunity to be here, and on stage, as we are right now.”
Strong’s journey is just beginning and will probably continue to Uconn. Unlike Flagg, which should leave Duke after a season for the NBA, Strong will probably spend its next three years in Uconn in competition for the championships and perhaps develop in the next superstar of the program.
I asked Danny Strong what his expectations were for his 19 -year -old daughter.
“Stay humble, stay hungry, keep working and keep working until you are ready to hang your shoes,” he said. “No matter what you do, no matter what you do, stay grateful, stay asked and keep working hard. That’s it.”
He almost guaranteed that the next three years of Strong will have spent in Storrs, Connecticut.
“Oh yeah, certainly,” he said. “We raised it to be a locked and faithful person. Once you started something, you’ve finished it. We are not going to jump and do all these crazy things.”
This season was quite crazy. Their daughter is the best first year of university basketball. Period.
And now she is national champion.
