Historic_Huskies.compressed

Historic
Huskies2013-14:MEMORABLESEASON
UConnMenWin
2014NCAATitle
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CHAMPION PROFILE
DID YOU KNOW?
Coach
Kevin
Ollie
Year: Second
Hometown:
Los Angeles
KEVIN’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Ollie is the 18th
coach in the history
of the program
and is 52-18 through
his first two seasons.
He is the only coach
at UConn to win
50 games in his
first two seasons.
NCAA2014Champs
UConnMen—32-8
UConn played
10 teams ranked
in the Top 25 over
its final 12 games
of the season.
The Huskies were
10-2 in those games.
SCHEDULE
UC OPP
78. . . . . . . Maryland. . . . . . . 77
80. . . . . . . . . Yale. . . . . . . . . 62
101. . . . . . . Detroit. . . . . . . . 55
77. . . . . . . Boston U.. . . . . . . 60
72. . . . Boston College-x. . . . 70
59. . . . . . . Indiana-x. . . . . . . 58
76. . . . . Loyola (Md.). . . . . . 66
65. . . . . . . . Florida. . . . . . . . 64
95. . . . . . . . Maine . . . . . . . . 68
51. . . . . . . Stanford . . . . . . . 53
82. . . . . at Washington. . . . . 70
82. . . . E. Washington. . . . . 65
71. . . . . . at Houston. . . . . . 75
65. . . . . . . at SMU. . . . . . . . 74
61. . . . . . . Harvard. . . . . . . . 56
84. . . . . . . . . UCF. . . . . . . . . 61
83. . . . . . at Memphis. . . . . . 73
64. . . . . . . Louisville. . . . . . . 76
90. . . . . . . . Temple. . . . . . . . 66
82. . . . . . . at Rutgers. . . . . . . 71
80. . . . . . . Houston . . . . . . . 43
58. . . . . at Cincinnati. . . . . .63
75. . . . . . . . at UCF. . . . . . . . 55
83. . . . . South Florida. . . . . 40
86. . . . . Memphis, OT. . . . . 81
68. . . . . . . at Temple. . . . . . . 55
55. . . . . . . . . SMU. . . . . . . . . 64
61. . . . at South Florida. . . . 56
51. . . . . . Cincinnati. . . . . . . 45
69. . . . . . . . Rutgers. . . . . . . . 63
48. . . . . . at Louisville. . . . . . 81
72. . . . . . Memphis-y. . . . . . 53
58. . . . . Cincinnati-y. . . . . . 56
61. . . . . . Louisville-y. . . . . . 71
89. . Saint Joseph’s, OT-z. . .81
77. . . . . . Villanova-z. . . . . . 65
81. . . . . . . Iowa St.-z. . . . . . . 76
60. . . . . Michigan St.-z. . . . . 54
63. . . . . . . Florida-z. . . . . . . 53
60. . . . . . Kentucky-z. . . . . . 54
x-2K Sports Classic
y-American Athletic Conference
z-NCAA
UConn Men’s history in NCAA tournament
1951 — lost to St. John’s 63-52.
1954 — lost to Navy 85-80.
1956 — beat Manhattan 84-75; lost to Temple 65-59;
lost to Dartmouth 85-64.
1957 — lost to Syracuse 82-76.
1958 — lost to Dartmouth 75-64.
1959 — lost to Boston University 60-58.
1960 — lost to NYU 78-59.
1963 — lost to West Virginia 77-71.
1964 — beat Temple 53-48; beat Princeton 52-50; lost to Duke 101-54.
1965 — lost to Saint Joseph’s 67-61.
1967 — lost to Boston College 48-42.
1976 — beat Hofstra 80-78, OT; lost to Rutgers 93-79.
1979 — lost to Syracuse 89-81.
1990 — beat Boston University 76-52; beat California 74-54;
beat Clemson 71-70; lost to Duke 79-78, OT.
1991 — beat LSU 79-62; beat Xavier 66-50; lost to Duke 81-67.
1992 — beat Nebraska 86-65; lost to Ohio State 78-55.
1994 — beat Rider 64-46; beat George Washington 75-63;
lost to Florida 69-60, OT.
1995 — beat Chattanooga 100-71; beat Cincinnati 96-91;
beat Maryland 99-89; lost to UCLA 102-96.
1996 — beat Colgate 68-59; beat Eastern Michigan 95-81;
lost to Mississippi State 73-63.
1998 — beat Fairleigh Dickinson 93-85; beat Indiana 78-68;
beat Washington 75-74; lost to North Carolina 75-64.
1999 — beat UTSA 91-66; beat New Mexico 78-56; beat Iowa 78-68;
beat Gonzaga 67-62; beat Ohio State 64-58; beat Duke 77-74.
NCAA champion.
2000 — beat Utah State 75-67; lost to Tennessee 65-61.
2002 — beat Hampton 78-67; beat N.C. State 77-74; beat Southern Illinois
71-59; lost to Maryland 90-82.
2003 — beat BYU 58-53; beat Stanford 85-74; lost to Texas 82-78.
2004 — beat Vermont 70-53; beat DePaul 72-55; beat Vanderbilt 73-53;
beat Alabama 87-71; beat Duke 79-78; beat Georgia Tech 82-73.
NCAA champion.
2005 — beat UCF 77-71; lost to N.C. State 65-62.
2006 — beat Albany (N.Y.) 72-59; beat Kentucky 87-83; beat Washington
98-92, OT; lost to George Mason 86-84, OT.
2008 — lost to San Diego 70-69, OT.
2009 — beat Chattanooga 103-47; beat Texas A&M 92-66; beat Purdue
72-60; beat Missouri 82-75; lost to Michigan State 82-73.
Final Four.
2011 — beat Bucknell 81-52; beat Cincinnati 69-58; beat San Diego State
74-67; beat Arizona 65-63; beat Kentucky 56-55;
beat Butler 53-51. NCAA champion.
2012 — lost to Iowa State 77-64.
2014 — beat Saint Joseph’s 89-81, OT; beat Villanova 77-65; beat Iowa
State 81-76; beat Michigan State 60-54; beat Florida 63-53.
Final Four. Beat Kentucky 60-54. NCAA champion.
<Ryan Boatright + Amida Brimah | The Associated Press
UConn made
101 of 115 free
throw attempts
in the six games
of the NCAA
tournament,
an 87.8 percentage.

4
6
8
12
14
16
20
22
24
28
2013-14: MEMORABLE SEASON | 3
NationalChamps
HistoricHuskies
2013-14: Memorable Season
ConferenceCoachesShowTheirRespect
Huskies Selected Second in Preseason AAC Poll
ShabazzProvidesPreviewofStardom
Long Before the Final Four, Napier was Clutch
MakeNoMistake:ThisisOllie’sTeam
Huskies Adopt Traits of Second-Year Coach
Boatright,BrothersHonorFallenCousin
Teammates Support Guard After Cousin Killed
‘ShabazzonWheels’ProvidesInspiration
Wallingford Teen, Napier Share Mutual Respect
LenehanMoreThanStudentoftheGame
Xavier Grad and Walk-On Has 4.0 GPA in Molecular Biology
LouisvilleOnlyTeamUConnCan’tDefeat
Huskies Always Had Ability to Beat Any Other Team
PremonitionPowersHuskiestoFinalFour
Kevin Ollie Took His Team to AT&T Stadium Earlier in Season
NoLuckNeededAgainstFlorida
No Last-Second Heroics in National Semifinal Game
TheseHuskiesAlwaysBelieved
Napier and Teammates Knew a Title was Within Reach
<Ryan Boatright | Arnold Gold — New Haven Register ^
Amida Brimha | The Associated Press
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T
HE UCONN MEN’S BASKET-
BALL team may not necessarily want
to be in the American Athletic Confer-
ence, but the Huskies are getting
plenty of respect in the new league.
UConn was tabbed to finish second in the
American’s inaugural preseason coaches’ poll on
Wednesday at AAC media day at FedEx Forum.
Senior guard Shabazz Napier was also named to
the preseason all-conference first team and junior
guard Ryan Boatright to the second team.
Defending national champion Louisville
was picked to win the conference by nine of the
league’s 10 coaches. Coaches can’t vote for their
own team, so Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino
voted for UConn.
“I was trying to decide between Memphis
and UConn, and to be quite honest, it was 1 and
1A,” Pitino explained. “I just think that their
backcourt is awesome. Memphis’s backcourt is
awesome. I wanted to vote as a tie, they told me I
couldn’t do it, so I just picked UConn because of
more familiarity with them.”
Pitino added, “I think (UConn has) a great
backcourt, a terrific frontcourt but, not that it’s
not about the players, but they have a coach that
is not only a terrific young coach, but there’s not a
living room in the country that he will walk into,
where when he leaves, that family won’t want to
put him in the top three choices to go to school.”
Louisville senior guard Russ Smith was
tabbed preseason player of the year and SMU’s
Keith Frazier was named rookie of the year.
Smith, Napier and Memphis guard Joe Jackson
were all unanimous first-team selections.
Junior forward DeAndre Daniels, who aver-
aged 12.1 points and a team-high 5.5 rebounds last
year and really came alive over the final few weeks
of the season, was shut out of the preseason awards.
“I don’t really focus on individual awards and
stuff,” Daniels said. “Basketball is a team sport,
so all I’m worried about is how I can do things I
can do to make my team better — rebounding,
scoring, all the little things.”
Still, Ollie seemed a little miffed about the gen-
eral lack of attention Daniels is getting nationally.
“People aren’t noticing him — he knows that,
we know that. That only adds fuel to his fire,”
said the coach. “For (a recent publication) to
come out to say he’s not one of the top basketball
players in America, I want to see who wrote that.
We’re going to show ’em, he’s going to show ’em,
that he is a great basketball player and a force to
be reckoned with this season.”
11
Ryan Boatright
Year: Jr.
Height: 6-0
Weight: 168
Position: Guard
Hometown:
Aurora, Ill.
RYAN’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Boatright had
14 points,
3 assists and
3 steals in the win
over Kentucky.
ConferenceCoaches
ShowTheirRespectStory by David Borges | 10.16.2013
<DeAndre Daniels | The Associated Press ^
Kevin Ollie + Shabazz Napier | Peter Casolino — New Haven Register
DID YOU KNOW?
Boatright scored
more than 40 points
seven times as a
senior in high school
to share Mr. Illinois
Basketball honors.
CHAMPION PROFILE
UConn defeated
eight teams which
won either their
regular-season
or conference
tournament
championship.

A
PPARENTLY, WE’VE REACHED
THE POINT where even when Shabazz
Napier all but tries to give a game
away, he still somehow manages
to emerge a hero.
With the game clock winding down to its
final seconds and UConn trailing by a point,
Napier dribbled straight into a Florida trap,
nearly turning the ball over before putting up a
wild shot. It barely grazed the rim, but caromed
off the backboard — and off DeAndre Daniels’
fingertips — straight back to Napier, who calmly
swished a 14-footer as time expired.
A 65-64 win for the 12th-ranked Huskies over
the Gators before a rowdy, sellout crowd at Gam-
pel Pavilion, and yet another huge shot by a player
who is seriously starting to rival Kemba Walker as
the most clutch player in program history.
“He’s one of the big-time players ever to put
this jersey on,” said UConn coach Kevin Ollie.
This wasn’t meant to be another column on
how clutch Napier is. Many were written last
season, though largely ignored by the national
media as the Huskies played in postseason-less
purgatory. It couldn’t be avoided a little over
a week ago at Madison Square Garden, when
Napier’s 27-point, yeoman’s effort almost single-
handedly guided the Huskies to a one-point win
over Indiana.
Against Florida, Napier converted a four-
point play with 33.5 seconds left to put the
Huskies up one, but Michael Frazier put the
15th-ranked Gators back on top with a slash to
the hoop. Napier then turned his own broken
play into more broken opponents’ hearts.
“Shabazz, he’s a great player,” said Daniels.
“He willed his team to win that game. He never
gave up, and the heart that kid has, we hope
everybody on the team follows his lead.”
Napier finished with a game-high 26 points,
including five 3-pointers.
“You always see highlight films of guys hitting
the last shot, guys at the free throw line making
the free throws,” he said. “You want to be the
hero, you want to be the guy that’s known as
the hero at the end of the game. Who doesn’t?
Growing up, I wanted to be Superman. Every-
body wants to be the hero. I just felt like I was
fortunate enough to be in the right spot at the
right time.”
Asked if he had played the role of Superman
on Monday, Napier quickly countered: “Nah.
Superman does it on his own, I can’t do it without
my teammates. They made sure I got the right
picks, DeAndre put a good hand on the ball the
last second. We found a way to win.”
Daniels finished with 14 points, a team-high
seven rebounds and, of course, that all-important
game-winning tip. Or pass?
“Yeah, I was trying to tip it,” Daniels said,
a wry smile spread across his face. “I think they
should put that in the books as an assist.”
Tip or pass, Florida coach Billy Donovan
recognized its significance.
“The guy that won the game for them was
DeAndre Daniels,” Donovan noted. “He made
an unbelievable tip-out, off-balance, which kept
the ball alive. We had guys on Napier that kind
of ran to the rim to go defensive rebound, which
left space for Napier. We needed to keep a guy
there and we didn’t. But his shot really was luck,
in the fact that the ball was tipped to him. If it’s
tipped anywhere else, it’s out.”
Instead, it rolled straight into the hands of
Napier, a player who still comes up huge even
when he’s on the verge of being a goat.
“He’s amazing, he’s the best in the country,
in my eyes,” said Daniels. “He’s a senior, and he
wants it so bad. We’re going to follow the lead of
Shabazz.”
35
Amida Brimah
Year: Fr.
Height: 7-0
Weight: 217
Position: Center
Hometown:
Accra, Ghana
AMIDA’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Came off the bench
to score 20 points
in a victory over
Central Florida
on Jan. 11.
ShabazzProvides
PreviewofStardom
Story by David Borges | 12.02.2013
DID YOU KNOW?
Brimah has
been playing
organized basketball
for only four years.
He was a soccer
player in Ghana.
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Ryan Boatright and Shabazz Napier | The Associated Press
The Huskies shot
77.7 percent from
the free throw line,
just short of
the team-record
78.2 percent in
the 1980-81 season.

K
EVIN OLLIE HAS OFTEN SAID
that coaching is overrated, noting college
basketball is a “players’ game.”
Perhaps. But there’s little doubt that
the job Ollie has done in his first two seasons as
UConn’s head coach has been decidedly under-
rated, at least nationally.
Think about it: a guy with zero head coach-
ing experience at any level of basketball takes
over for Jim Calhoun, one of the winningest,
most decorated coaches in college basketball his-
tory. His first year, he’s barred from postseason
play, through no fault of his own, yet leads the
Huskies to 20 victories, including signature wins
over Michigan State (in his very first game at the
helm) and Syracuse.
Now in Year Two, Ollie has guided UConn
to 28 wins (so far), a trip to the AAC champion-
ship game and, now, the NCAA tournament’s
Sweet 16. That’s 48-18 over his first two years
as a head coach, all the while doing it in a style
that sometimes borrows from Calhoun but is
predominately all his own.
That’ll work.
“You could just see the confidence his team
has played with,” said Iowa State coach Fred Hoi-
berg, a longtime friend of Ollie’s who’ll match
wits with him in Friday night’s Sweet 16 battle at
Madison Square Garden. “Even last year, when
they couldn’t play in the postseason, just to see
what he was starting … It’s hard to do. People
don’t really realize how difficult it is to replace a
legend like Jim Calhoun.”
St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli echoed those
sentiments last week.
“You’re replacing a guy that’s hung all those
banners, who’s in the Hall of Fame,” Martelli
noted. “Sometimes, guys from the NBA don’t
always get college basketball. But Kevin Ollie …
he gets it.”
But don’t just take those two top-notch
coaches’ words for it. They never had to replace
a legend. Mike Davis did, and he’s been very
impressed by what Ollie has accomplished so far.
“I think he’s done a terrific job,” said Davis,
who took over for Bob Knight at Indiana in
2000, “especially coming into a situation where
they couldn’t go to the postseason the first year,
and having really good players stay and play for
him. That speaks volumes for him and his team.”
Davis’s situation was a little different than
Ollie’s. Knight was fired just before the start of
the 2000 season as a result of numerous issues,
including choking a player at practice. Calhoun,
of course, simply retired.
“It’s always tough (replacing a legend),” Davis
continued. “You’re never going to replace him.
Normally, it’s the guy after you that’s able to
coach the team (better).”
Davis added that he didn’t really feel pressure
at first, everything happened so quickly. But once
he realized the demands at IU — anything short
of a Sweet 16 was considered a massive failure —
the pressure really got to him. He resigned after
six years on the job. After six more seasons at
Alabama-Birmingham, Davis is now in his second
season as head man at Texas Southern, which he
just led to an NCAA tourney appearance.
Davis has never met Ollie, but has long
admired him from afar.
“As a player, he was a guy that always made
the team because of his work ethic,” Davis noted.
“As a coach, you see the passion and love for the
players and university that he has.”
Ollie has earned plenty of praise for the way
he’s gotten his players to buy in to his system, to
play hard and — when there were no postseason
hopes a year ago — to play for pride. What’s not
mentioned enough has been his X’s-and-O’s,
in-game coaching. UConn almost always runs
an effective play after a timeout. Look no further
than the play at the end of regulation against
21
Omar Calhoun
Year: So.
Height: 6-6
Weight: 200
Position: Guard
Hometown:
Brooklyn, N.Y.
OMAR’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Led team in scoring
in back-to-back
games with
18 against Yale
and 17 against
Detroit.
MakeNoMistake:
ThisIsOllie’sTeamStory by David Borges | 03.25.2014
DID YOU KNOW?
Calhoun was
the New York State
Gatorade Player
of the Year
as a senior for
Christ The King
after averaging
25.7 points,
8.0 rebounds,
3.0 assists
and 1.8 steals
per game.
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Kevin Ollie | The Associated Press

2
DeAndre
Daniels
Year: Jr.
Height: 6-9
Weight: 195
Position: Forward
Hometown:
Los Angeles, Calif.
DEANDRE’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Daniels scored
20 points and
added 10 rebounds
in the national
semifinal win
over Florida.
DID YOU KNOW?
Daniels was ranked
the No. 10 recruit
by Rivals.com
for the 2011 class
coming out of
IMG Academy
in Bradenton, Fla.
The Huskies have
won 30 or more
games nine times
since the 1989-90
season.
CHAMPION PROFILE
St. Joe’s Thursday night. Off an inbounds pass
from under their own basket with 2.9 seconds
left, the Huskies got the ball into the hands of
Shabazz Napier for a 17-footer. The shot misfired
and it was on to overtime, but it was a beautifully
designed play.
And in the Huskies’ win over Villanova on
Saturday, UConn mixed its defenses up for much
of the game, switching from man to zone and
keeping the Wildcats off-balance.
This is not to say that everything’s been perfect
in Ollie’s first two seasons. While UConn certainly
overachieved last season, it’s fair to say that, at this
point, the Huskies haven’t overachieved or under-
achieved but, rather, lived up to expectations this
season. Picked at No. 18 in the AP preseason poll,
they finished No. 21. Tabbed to finish second in
the AAC to Louisville, they finished tied for third
and lost to the Cardinals in the conference finals.
Ollie has also had a somewhat skeptical, at
times terse relationship with the local media,
which is odd considering the overwhelming
positive press he’s received since his hire. And if
you really want to nitpick, you could point out
that Ollie has gone up against three Hall of Fame
coaches so far and is 1-6 in those games, beating
Jim Boeheim once but losing to Rick Pitino four
times and Larry Brown twice.
Of course, if you add a pair of almost certain
future Hall-of-Famers — Billy Donovan and Tom
Izzo — Ollie’s record goes up to 3-6.
Then again, as Ollie is quick to point out,
coaching is overrated. It’s a player’s game. No
doubt, it would be hard to imagine the Huskies
getting this far without the heroics of Napier.
But what can’t be overrated is how Kevin Ollie
has taken over for a Hall of Fame coach and, in
his own style, infused life back into a program
that was going through some dark days, all the
way to the Sweet 16. And perhaps beyond …
<Ryan Boatright, Kevin Ollie and Jim Nantz | The Associated Press ^
Geno Auriemma and Kevin Ollie | Arnold Gold — New Haven Register

I
N THIS, UCONN’S FIRST LEAGUE
road win and, without a doubt, its biggest
overall win of the season to date, the Hus-
kies bonded together like a true family in
every sense of the word. And it really had little to
do with basketball.
Ryan Boatright was hardly the star of
UConn’s 83-73 win over Memphis Thursday
night at FedExForum. The junior guard hit just
two shots and finished with a mere seven points,
about half his season average. But he’s had a lot
more on his mind this week.
On Monday night, Boatright’s cousin, Arin
Williams, was shot dead in a restaurant in
Boatright’s hometown of Aurora, Ill. Killed by a
gunshot to the head. Two men, ages 18 and 19,
have been arrested and charged with the murder.
Against Memphis, Boatright had the initials
“A.W.” written on his left cheek, in tribute to
Williams, 20, who was “my cousin, but really my
brother.”
“We came out of the womb together,”
Boatright said of Williams, who was actually a
few months younger than him. “I never called
him ‘cuz’, I called him, ‘bro.’”
If Boatright tragically lost a brother on
Monday night, his extended family was there all
week to pick him up. Shabazz Napier may have
doled out 10 assists, but the entire team really
got the assist, helping Boatright through this
most trying week.
“They were there for me, whenever I needed,
they were there to comfort me, to encourage me
and stuff like that,” said Boatright. “But they
also gave me my space.”
“Just being there for him,” said DeAndre
Daniels, after finishing off perhaps his best game
as a Husky, “just telling him that we’re his broth-
ers, and if he ever needed anything, we’d be there
for him. Just being there for him, that was the
main thing.”
Added Lasan Kromah: “We all told him we
were there for him, and if he needed anything,
we were there, we were family, and we’d care for
him.”
Boatright admitted it’s been a “real tough”
week for him.
“Little to no sleep, real emotional,” he said.
“It’s been a rough one, but I’m glad I was here to
fight with my team and pulled out a win on the
road that was big for us.”
And make no mistake, this was a huge win.
With the 17th-ranked Tigers on Thursday,
quickly backed up by defending national champ
Louisville Saturday in Storrs, UConn was either
on the brink of a major turnaround of its season
— or, perhaps, of drifting into NIT territory.
“Huge for us, especially going into Louis-
ville. We can cap that off with a great weekend,”
Boatright said. With them beating Louisville,
that really helped our RPI and stuff like that, so
it was a huge win for us.”
But Thursday wasn’t really about RPI, or
about Daniels’ command, 23-point, 11-rebound
performance. It wasn’t about Kromah hitting all
five shots from the floor and both his free throws
for 13 points, or both Daniels and Shabazz Napier
(17 points, 10 assists) notching double-doubles.
It wasn’t about Omar Calhoun snapping out of
a major shooting funk by hitting 3 of 4 shots,
including a 3-pointer, or the Huskies winning
despite 7-foot Amida Brimah and 6-10 Phil Nolan
fouling out late in the game.
No, this win was really Ryan Boatright hon-
oring a kid he grew up with, who was taken in
by his mom after his own mother died of a brain
anyeurism during childbirth, “a real goofy dude
... a joy to be around” who “made a lot of people
happy, and was loved by everybody.”
It was about a teammate losing a “brother”
three nights earlier, and being picked up by his
other “brothers” this most trying of weeks.
12
Kentan Facey
Year: Fr.
Height: 6-9
Weight: 200
Position: Forward
Hometown:
Trelawny, Jamaica
KENTAN’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Facey made
2 of his 3
three-point
attempts
this season.
Boatright,Brothers
HonorFallenCousinStory by David Borges | 01.16.2014
DID YOU KNOW?
Despite living
in the United States
for just more
than three years,
Facey was named
the New York State
Gatorade Player
of the Year for 2013.
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Ryan Boatright | The Associated Press

S
OMETIMES, INSPIRATION AND
HEALING can come from just a few,
meaningful words.
Sometimes, after all the medicine, the
prayers, the tireless work of doctors and nurses,
the MRIs, the rehab and the unbridled love from
family, friends and an entire community have
been exhausted, a simple message from a hero
is enough to help a young man get through his
toughest times.
So when Connor Reed, who two months ago
lay in a hospital bed in a comatose state and a
month ago could barely move his legs, first saw
a YouTube video of UConn’s Shabazz Napier
urging him to keep fighting through his battle
with a rare disease called Acute Disseminated
Encephalomyelitis (ADEM), it went a great way
toward Reed’s healing process.
“It was awesome. I love Shabazz,” said Reed.
“I watch that video every day.”
Reed, 18, was living a perfectly normal,
healthy life of a senior at Sheehan High, a
doubles player on the tennis team, when, around
New Year’s, he complained of severe headaches.
On Jan. 2, he was admitted at the MidState
Medical Center in Meriden, where at first he was
diagnosed with severe viral meningitis. After
about a week, with Reed’s condition worsening,
he was transferred to Yale-New Haven Hospital.
He was diagnosed with ADEM, an auto-immune
disease where the antibodies in your body attack
your own nervous system. Reed was hooked up
to a breathing tube and, for a few days, was co-
matose. He was unable to move a muscle, except
for opening and closing his eyes.
He ran the risk of full paralysis. But through
medication and plasmapheresis, in which
Connor’s blood was essentially exchanged and
recycled through a machine, he gradually showed
signs of improvement. First he was able to move
his head, and gradually progressed from there.
After 25 days in Yale-New Haven’s intensive
care unit, he was eventually released in early
February. Reed is now at Gaylord Hospital in
Wallingford, rehabbing.
He has walked with a walker. There is about
a 75 percent recovery rate within 3-6 months
from ADEM, and all signs point to Reed heading
down that road.
“I have no health problems, besides my legs
not having full mobility,” Reed said the other
day. “I feel stronger than I’ve ever felt.”
In the meantime, Reed plays a mean game
of wheelchair basketball at the hospital gym.
He calls himself “Shabazz on Wheels.”
Alyssa Yardis, a nurse at Yale-New Haven,
became close with Reed. When she found out he
was a UConn fan, Yardis, a UConn grad, got in
touch with ex-Husky Jerome Dyson, who posted
a “Good luck” message on Reed’s Twitter page.
“He was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s so cool,’”
Yardis recalled. “He said the only thing that
would be cooler is if I knew Shabazz.”
Yardis didn’t know Napier personally, but
her close friend, Emily Noonan, is the assistant
director of UConn’s athletic video department.
Napier’s not on Twitter, but Noonan had
the senior guard film a video, during which he
expressed the following message: “Hey Connor
… I heard your story and I just wanted to say,
I’m glad that I’m your inspiration. I heard you
call yourself ‘Shabazz Napier on Wheels.’ I want
you to keep fighting, keep going. Every time you
make a basket, think of me. Every time I make
a basket, I’m gonna have you in my prayers.
I think it’s really special, and I’m honored for
you to believe in me and motivate me, because
of everything you go through, you still continue
fighting. I just want you to know I’m here for
you. I just want you to continue working hard,
and like I said, when you make that shot, just
think of me.”
5
Niels Giffey
Year: Sr.
Height: 6-7
Weight: 205
Position: Guard /
Forward
Hometown:
Berlin, Germany
NIELS’
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Scored 24 points
and added
11 rebounds
in a 72-53 win
at Memphis
March 13.
‘ShabazzonWheels’
ProvidesInspirationStory by David Borges | 03.20.2014
DID YOU KNOW?
Giffey was
the Huskies’
second-best
3-point shooter
this season.
He made 58
3-pointers
and shot 48.3
percent from
beyond the arc.
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Shabazz Napier + his mother Carmen Velasquez | The Associated Press

T
HE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECT-
ICUT is currently in its semester exam
period, and the men’s basketball team
is in the midst of a 12-day layoff be-
tween games.
You might say that this is truly Pat Lenehan’s
time to shine.
That’s not meant as a knock on the Cheshire
native’s basketball skills, though by his own ad-
mission he’s never really been a standout player,
even as a starting guard at Xavier High. It’s just
that, as a junior walk-on with the Huskies, Lene-
han’s only real highlights thus far have come in
the annual preseason Husky Run (he’s finished
second twice) and in last month’s exhibition-
game win over Division 3 Concordia (he scored
seven points).
But where Lenehan is truly UConn’s star,
where he’s as clutch as Shabazz Napier and more
talented than anyone, is in the classroom. Never
mind Lenehan’s 0.0 regular-season scoring aver-
age, it’s his 4.0 grade-point average as a molecular
and cell biology major that’s as impressive as any
statistic. He’s also part of a combined program in
medicine where, if he maintains a high GPA and
gets a good enough score on his MCAT exam,
he’s guaranteed admission into UConn’s medical
school.
All the while, Lenehan is working hard at
UConn’s practices, often as a member of the
scout team, and traveling with the team wherever
it goes.
“It gets hard sometimes (juggling hoops and
books), when we’re busy,” he admitted. “I study
on the road a pretty good amount when we
travel. When I’m here, it’s pretty much basketball
and school, the two things I spend most of my
time with. Basketball definitely makes you spend
time more efficiently.”
In fact, Pat McKenna, sports information
director for the UConn women’s team and Lene-
han’s second cousin, often sees Lenehan studying
outside of his office when he arrives for work in
the morning.
“The thing I’ve kind of realized, that I tell the
new walk-ons who are traveling, is that you kind
of just figure out a way,” Lenehan added. “When
you think about it from the outside, it seems like
it would be impossible. But you really just figure
out a way to make it work. It hasn’t been too
much of a problem so far.”
Recently, Lenehan was nominated for the
Goldwater Scholarship, which grants $7,500 to
math and science majors who have had signifi-
cant research experience. Lenehan is currently
conducting research with Dr. Barbara Mellone
on (what else?) proteins and the formation of
centromeres and kinetochores in Dosophilia.
“Maybe he can tutor some of our guys, too,”
joked UConn head coach Kevin Ollie, before
adding, “I’m having enough problems helping
my daughter with her math homework.”
Lenehan played basketball and baseball all four
years at Xavier. He was better on the diamond, but
enjoyed playing basketball more. As a senior, he
moved over from shooting guard to point guard
and was more of a facilitator than a scorer, as Mike
Boornazian, who now plays at Bates College, was
averaging about 30 points per game.
Only one Division III school, MIT, took any
notice of him, though a couple of Ivy League
coaches told him that if he was able to get into their
school, he’d have a chance to walk on the team.
Lenehan decided to come to UConn. He
didn’t even know he could try out for the basket-
ball team until he saw a sign posted early in his
freshman year.
“I just figured I would try out, and it worked
out,” he said. “I’m happy that I made that decision.”
Lenehan was just a practice player as a fresh-
man. Last year, he got to sit on the bench in uni-
form and travel to some road games the first half
20
Lasan Kromah
Year: Grad student
Height: 6-6
Weight: 201
Position: Guard /
Forward
Hometown:
Greenbelt, Md.
LASAN’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Kromah tied for the
team lead with
six rebounds
against Kentucky.
LenehanMoreThan
StudentoftheGameStory by David Borges | 12.08.2013
DID YOU KNOW?
Kromah averaged
11.0 points during
three seasons with
George Washington,
where he scored more
than 1,000 points.
The Huskies
are 58-29
in 32 NCAA
tournament
appearances.
UConn is 38-8
in its last
12 NCAA
appearances dating
back to 1999.
CHAMPION PROFILE
< Ryan Boatright, DeAndre Daniels and Pat Lenehan | The Associated Press

Lenehan was just a practice player as a freshman.
Last year, he got to sit on the bench in uniform
and travel to some road games the first half of
the year of the year until another walk-on, Kiefer
Lammi, returned from injury. This year, Lenehan
and Tor Watts, a senior from Brooklyn, N.Y., are
the team’s two traveling walk-ons. They feel as
much a part of the team as any scholarship player.
“In the past, especially when we were fresh-
men, we’d pretty much sit on the sideline (in
practice) and feel really separated,” Lenehan said.
“But now, me and Tor do everything the rest of
the team does, in terms of lifting, running. If
we’re not in a drill, we’re helping with a drill, and
going on the road and everything. We feel like
we’re part of the team now.”
That’s never more evident than in the waning
minutes of a blowout, when the walk-ons are able
to get some run. Against Concordia, Lenehan
entered the game with 5 ½ minutes left to play
and immediately hit a 3-pointer, followed by a
nifty scoop shot and a couple of free throws.
“As small a thing as it is — an exhibition
game against a D-3 team — to me, I’ve never
had that kind of experience before,” Lenehan
said. “That’s definitely something I’ll remember.
Then the whole bench cheering when I scored.
When I was talking to Emily (Noonan, UConn’s
live personality on the court) after the game,
Boat (Ryan Boatright) came over and was jump-
ing up and down and everything. It’s nice to see
someone so excited for, y’know, making a layup.”
Said Boatright: “We see that (the walk-ons)
sacrifice for us. They do the running that we’ve
got to do, they practice like we’ve got to practice,
but they don’t get a lot of attention. Once they
get a chance to get in the game, and they get to
make shots and stuff like that, we’re extremely
proud for them.”
Lenehan is equally supportive of his teammates
against criticism that they’re just at UConn to
play basketball.
“I mean, they’re in study hall for the required
amount of time every week. So, they do the
schoolwork, too. And then they work really hard
in basketball. I think I work hard in basketball,
(but) I come in and shoot at night and stuff and
any night I come in, they’re in here shooting,
too. It’s definitely a source of pride, earning a
spot on the team and everything, but it’s not like
I’m working harder overall than anybody else
that’s out there.”
Of course, Lenehan’s seven points of glory
against Concordia don’t count toward his overall
stats, since it was an exhibition game. A couple
of weeks later, he had two chances to score in a
regular-season game against Detroit.
“I got blocked on my first layup,” he said,
shaking his head, “then I missed the second one.
So, hopefully, I’ll get another chance.”
If not, Pat Lenehan will undoubtedly remain
UConn’s star in the classroom.
14
Pat Lenehan
Year: Jr.
Height: 6-3
Weight: 181
Position: Guard
Hometown:
Middletown, Conn.
PAT’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Made a 3-pointer
from the corner
against
South Florida.
Feb. 13.
DID YOU KNOW?
UConn is 4-0
in national
championship games
and 8-1 in the
Final Four.
The Huskies
own the highest
winning percentage
of any team
with three or more
appearances.
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Ryan Boatright and Shabazz Napier | The Associated Press ^
Pat Lenehan and Memphis Coach Josh Pastner | The Associated Press

L
OUISVILLE AND UCONN WILL
EACH travel down different roads now
that the inaugural American Athletic
Conference tournament is over.
Both will be heading to the Big Dance, the
Cardinals to defend their national title, the
Huskies to make up for lost time after last year’s
postseason ban. Both teams hope their respective
roads end up in Dallas, site of this year’s Final
Four. After that, Louisville heads down Tobacco
Road to the ACC.
And Kevin Ollie & Co. will likely volunteer
to drive them to the airport, if need be.
The Cardinals continued their utter recent
dominance over UConn in the AAC tournament
final at FedExForum, topping the Huskies 71-61
in a game that never really seemed that close.
Louisville opened up a 14-point halftime lead
with a 10-2 run to close out the first half, and the
Huskies never got back to within 10 until Amida
Brimah’s meaningless basket in the closing
seconds.
UConn had more fight than it did a week
earlier in Louisville, when Rick Pitino’s bunch
ran the Huskies out of the KFC Yum! Center to
the tune of an 81-48 blowout, their worst loss in
22 years.
You remember that one, right? When Mon-
trezl Harrell treated the Huskies like his personal
plaything, throwing down backward dunks and
alley-oop slams?
It wasn’t that bad on Saturday. The Huskies
stayed within striking distance for most of the
first half, until the 10-2 run that included five
points in the final 32 seconds — a Luke Han-
cock 3-pointer followed by a Napier turnover and
layup by Terry Rozier.
Louisville’s 37-23 halftime lead appeared
insurmountable, and it turned out to be, even
though the Huskies finally found some gaps in
the Cardinals’ zone and made the final score a
little more respectable.
“I wish them the best of luck in the ACC,”
Ollie said.
Truly, there is no great shame in losing to
Louisville right now. The Cards won their three
games this week in Memphis by a combined total
of 100 points. They trailed for exactly 27 seconds
in their first (and final) AAC tourney.
They have now won their last four games
(two of them against UConn) by an average
margin of 33.2 points, which the Huskies actu-
ally lowered from 41 per game after Saturday’s
10-point loss.
There is no doubt this UConn team can win
some games in the NCAA tournament.
It really all comes down to matchups. Teams
with big, physical inside players like Harrell will
be tough for the Huskies to handle, as well as
teams that pressure opponents’ guards and play
an active, expansive zone.
But how many teams would you bet heavily
that the Huskies can’t beat? Louisville, obviously,
and certainly SMU has had the Huskies’ number
twice this season. Maybe Arizona or likely top
overall seed Florida … oh wait, UConn already
beat the Gators this season. Granted, it was back
in early December, before a rowdy sellout at
Gampel, and Florida was down a couple of key
players. And it took a Napier buzzer-beater just
to nab that one.
But to say the Huskies can’t beat Florida
would be inherently false because, well...they
already did.
“You know how this tournament is a one-
game elimination,” said Ollie. “Somebody can
get hot, and hopefully, that team will be us and
we will get hot and play together.”
Added Boatright: “If we get to Dallas, every-
body will forget about this loss. We’ve got to re-
focus and get back to the basics and put together
these last few wins.”
13
Shabazz Napier
Year: Sr.
Height: 6-1
Weight: 180
Position: Guard
Hometown:
Roxbury, Mass.
SHABAZZ’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
American Athletic
Conference
Player of the Year
and All-America
selection.
LouisvilleOnlyTeam
UConnCan’tDefeat
Story by David Borges | 03.15.2014
DID YOU KNOW?
Napier led UConn
in scoring with
18.0 points
per game as well
as 195 assists.
He led the Huskies
in scoring in
23 of 40 games.
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Shabazz Napier | The Associated Press

W
HEN UCONN WAS OUT
IN DALLAS, just after New
Year’s to play SMU, Kevin Ollie
brought his team to AT&T
Stadium to take a tour. The giant leviathan of
a stadium is home to the Dallas Cowboys, but
more to the point, is also the home to this year’s
Final Four.
Ollie wanted his players to look around and
get a feel of how it might be playing on college
basketball’s biggest stage in a few months.
“We certainly weren’t taking it for granted,”
recalled associate head coach Glen Miller, “but
we wanted to get our guys to experience the
stadium and get a feel for what it would be like
to return if we could take care of business.”
Just a couple of days removed from a bad,
New Year’s Eve loss at Houston, Ollie and his
players may have been the only people who
believed they could actually get there.
And those are the only people that mattered.
Before a rowdy, largely pro-UConn sellout
crowd at Madison Square Garden, the Huskies
added their latest, perhaps most unlikely
accomplishment in program history. UConn
rallied back from a nine-point second-half deficit
to score a 60-54 win over Michigan State in an
Elite Eight battle and advance to its fifth Final
Four — all in the past 15 years.
“It was just an amazing feeling to do it in
Madison Square Garden,” said Ollie. “For the
NCAA not to be here for 50 years and then we
come out and win it, it just puts a great bow on
this gift. And we’re going to unwrap it again and
we’re going down to Texas.”
And really, who could have predicted that
three months ago? Or even three weeks ago,
when the Huskies were getting blown out by 33
points in their regular-season finale at Louisville?
Now, Louisville’s gone, along with all but
three other teams from this year’s tournament —
Florida, Wisconsin and Kentucky.
Shabazz Napier, the senior guard, kept his
remarkable college career going with yet another
big performance, netting a game-high 25 points,
including four 3-pointers. He was named the
East Regional’s most outstanding player.
“They made their run, it was time for us to
make ours,” Napier explained. “When Coach
looks at me a certain way, I just know I’ve got to
be more aggressive, and I’ve got to hit open shots
when my teammates get me the ball and we just
kept running. Guys were just feeling the intensity
that the fans were bringing, and we were just
fortunate enough to get the ‘W.’”
And now, off to Dallas. To be fair, Ollie had
other motives in visiting AT&T Stadium back
on Jan. 3. He was born in Dallas, and though he
grew up in Los Angeles, he’s always been a big
Cowboys fan. But without question, he wanted
his players to look around the gigantic building
and think of what a great experience it would be
to play there in the Final Four.
“That building is unbelievable, it’s crazy,”
said Ryan Boatright (11 points).
“Just picturing and seeing yourself there
playing on the 50-yard line in that big stadium,
it was unbelievable. It really drove us to want to
get back there.”
Added Napier: “I just felt, if we gave ourselves
a chance, of course we’d get there. But I don’t
look too far ahead. I just want to deal with what’s
in front of me. I don’t want to forget what’s in
front of me.”
Three months ago, a return trip to the home
of the Cowboys was, indeed, too far ahead of
Shabazz Napier & Co. But now, it’s right in front
of them.
“We went to that stadium, looked around and
we told ourselves we’re going to get there, we’ve
just got to keep working,” said DeAndre Daniels.
“That’s what we did.”
0
Phillip Nolan
Year: So.
Height: 6-10
Weight: 212
Position: Forward
Hometown:
Milwaukee, Wis.
PHILLIP’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Has played
in a team-best
49 consecutive
games for
the Huskies.
PremonitionPowers
HuskiestoFinalFourStory by David Borges | 03.30.2014
DID YOU KNOW?
UConn is 87-25
all-time in games
televised on CBS.
Nolan spent
the summer of 2013
as a member
of the East Coast
All-Stars, competing
in Estonia during
the 2013 Four
Nations Cup
competition.
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Niels Giffey | The Associated Press

Tyler’s brother Ryan
played basketball for
Fairfield University
from 2008-12.
10
Tyler Olander
Year: Sr.
Height: 6-10
Weight: 230
Position: Forward
Hometown:
Mansfield, Conn.
TYLER’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Averaged 1.8 points
and 1.2 rebounds
in 8.3 minutes
per game.
N
O “LUCK” LAST-SECOND
SHOT needed this time. No
injury excuses for Florida, either.
This one was no fluke. And, really,
neither was the last one. But we’ll get to
that later.
Paced by DeAndre Daniels and yet another
smothering defensive effort, UConn topped
Florida 63-53 Saturday night in a national
semifinal bout at AT&T Stadium and advanced
to their fourth national championship game (and
second in the past three years).
The Huskies hope to make it a perfect 4-for-4
in national championship games Monday against
Kentucky.
“We didn’t come to Dallas to just play in
the national championship game,” said Ryan
Boatright. “We came to win. We know we have
one more game and 40 more minutes until the
real celebration.”
Daniels was simply the best player on the floor
on Saturday, scoring 20 points and grabbing 10
rebounds while playing all but a few seconds. He’s
the first player with 20 and 10 in a Final Four
game since Carmelo Anthony in 2003.
Shabazz Napier wasn’t his usual dynamic
self offensively (12 points on 3-for-6 shooting)
but he doled out six assists and had four steals.
Boatright was even more dominant on defense,
harassing Gator point guard Scottie Wilbekin
most of the night, and also had 13 points and
six boards. And Niels Giffey chipped in with 11
points.
The Huskies trailed 16-4 midway through
the first half, but ended the half on a 21-6 run
and never looked back. They hit nine of their last
10 shots in the game and shot 63.6 percent in the
second half.
“It was a great victory,” said coach Kevin Ollie.
“We stayed positive and productive, especially in
the first five minutes when they got out to a lead.
They stayed together and showed some true grit
and toughness. I’m proud of their effort.”
UConn improved to 31-8 on the season,
while the Gators wind up 36-3 — 36-1 against
teams not named UConn. The Huskies edged
Florida 65-64 back on Dec. 2 at Gampel Pavilion
when Shabazz Napier hit a 15-footer at the buzz-
er. After the game, Florida coach Billy Donovan
called the play “luck.” On Friday, a CBSsports.
com columnist took it all even a step further,
casting doubt on the entire game.
“Let’s face it,” wrote Gregg Doyel, “UConn’s
December victory over Florida was a fluke.”
He pointed out Napier only got to take his
buzzer-beater thanks to a fortunate tipped ball by
Daniels. Even more importantly, Doyel pointed
out, Florida played the game without Kasey Hill
(injury) and Chris Walker (ineligible). And, the
Gators had to go the final three minutes without
their best player and floor general, Wilbekin,
who turned his ankle late in the contest and
never returned.
Oh, and the game was played at Gampel.
And so there the two teams were again on
Saturday, on the neutral floor of vast AT&T
Stadium — where you could barely hear either
team’s fans, they were so far away from the
court. There was Hill, who scored seven points
and committed four fouls and four turnovers
in 15 minutes. There was Walker — unless you
blinked and missed the two minutes in which he
logged all zeroes in the box score.
And there was Wilbekin, seemingly healthy
but dogged by Boatright and Napier all night
and finishing with just four points — more than
nine below his season average.
But wait — early in the second half, Wil-
bekin was noticeably limping and had to be
pulled from the game. More luck and flukiness
going the Huskies’ way, right?
“I was getting a little cramp, but it wasn’t too
NoLuckNeeded
AgainstFloridaStory by David Borges | 04.05.2014
DID YOU KNOW?
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Ryan Boatright + Phil Nolan | The Associated Press
UConn’s four
national titles ties it
with Duke for fifth
most behind UCLA
(11), Kentucky (8),
Indiana (5) and
North Carolina (5).

44
Rodney Purvis
Year: R-So.
Height: 6-4
Weight: 230
Position: Guard
Home town:
Raleigh, N.C.
RODNEY’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Purvis sat out
season per
NCAA rules
after transferring
in from
North Carolina State.
bad,” Wilbekin stated afterward. “I got out of
the game and got some ice, and then it wasn’t
really a problem from then on.”
So much for that.
Nope, nothing fluky about this one, according
to Giffey, who was the player Doyel talked to for
the story about the Dec. 2 game.
“If you beat a team like that twice, you’re sure
it’s not a fluke,” Giffey noted. “Obviously, Flor-
ida was one of the great teams throughout this
whole year. The last two games they lost were
today and the last time we played them. I think
it was just a trick question the guy asked me. He
just gave me some extra motivation, that’s all.”
Tyler Olander didn’t have much of a night,
allowing Florida’s Patric Young to burn him
down low a couple of times and fumbling away
a pinpoint Napier pass in his five minutes
of action.
But he summed up the idea of the Dec. 2
“fluke” perhaps better than anyone.
“Those are just excuses,” Olander said.
“Despite all that, it was a great game. What can
they say now? What was the reason that we won
this time? Scottie Wilbekin didn’t get hurt. Chris
Walker could have played. I’d like to hear what
they have to say now.”
Well, coach Donovan?
“I didn’t think it was one of our better
games,” he said, “and I think Connecticut cer-
tainly had a lot to do with that.”
To be fair, it seemed most of UConn’s players
weren’t aware of the “fluke” story. They’ve all
noticed that most of the TV analysts and experts
picked them to lose — not only on Saturday
night but, in some cases, ever since their first
NCAA tournament game against St. Joseph’s
two weeks ago.
“We like that, we love it,” said Boatright.
“Everybody doesn’t believe in us. They had us
losing every game in the postseason. We believed
in each other and we believed in this coaching
staff. We knew that we could be in this situation.
We went out there and tried to prove everybody
wrong. It’s kind of like an us-against-the-world
mentality.”
Added Daniels: “We feel like we have been
doubted all season. Definitely heading into the
tournament, when people didn’t have us winning
the first game ... When people say that, we like
to go out and try to prove people wrong and let
them know that UConn’s back on top.”
Not yet. One more game to go, on Monday
night against Kentucky. The Huskies haven’t
faced the Wildcats yet this season, so there are no
“fluke” wins to look back on. But you can count
on Kentucky being the favorite, and most of the
experts and analysts picking against UConn.
Just the way the Huskies like it.
Love it, even.
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Terrence Samuel | The Associated Press ^
Kevin Ollie | Peter Casolino — New Haven Register
DID YOU KNOW?
Purvis was named
the 2012 Gatorade
State Player
and AP Player
of Year for
North Carolina.
He was also
a McDonald’s
All-American.

S
HABAZZ NAPIER STOOD and
watched as the strains of “One Shining
Moment” filled the AT&T Center and
highlights played on the giant, 80-yard
video board above.
His eyes welled up with tears and at one
point he bent his head down, seemingly overcome
by the moment, knowing that his career was
now ended.
Granted, it ended better than anyone could
have possibly imagined. And in fact, it had ended
just as it had begun — as a national champion.
Napier had just scored a game-high 22 points
to lead UConn to a 60-54 victory over Kentucky
in the national championship game on Monday
night before a record crowd of 79,238. He, along
with fellow seniors Niels Giffey and Tyler Olan-
der, became the first UConn players ever to win
two national titles and, in fact, the first players in
the history of college basketball to win national
titles their freshman and senior seasons.
In between were some tough times — postsea-
son bans, coaching changes, conference changes,
you know the story. Now, it was over.
“Everything hits you,” Napier said afterward.
Kevin Ollie put his arm around him and kissed
his cheek — a small, poignant moment. Just as
Napier had been there for his coach when Ollie
needed him most, when he took over a program in
peril 18 months earlier and Napier stuck around,
Ollie was now there for him.
Two of the greatest champions in UConn
lore, sharing one, shining moment.
“It’s special,” Napier said. “Then my mother
came. It’s just a special moment. To come from
where we came from and no one believed.”
UConn’s fourth national title, all in the past
15 years, was its most unlikely. There were no
Ben Gordons or Emeka Okafors or Richard
Hamiltons in this mix, though many of the
program’s all-time greats — Hamilton, Ray Allen,
Khalid El-Amin, Andre Drummond — were in
the house. There was no five-wins-in-five-nights
run through the Big East tournament to give an
inkling this could happen. Just a couple of wins
in the American Athletic Conference tournament,
sandwiched between a pair of thumpings at the
hands of Louisville, and a near-miss, overtime
win in their first NCAA tournament game.
Heck, the Kemba Walker-led 2011 national
title team was a No. 3 seed. This team was
seeded seventh.
“Unbelievable!” a jubilant athletic director
Warde Manuel shouted, amidst the confetti and
postgame fireworks. “Anybody predict that?”
Nope, no one saw this coming. Except Napier.
“What did I tell y’all when we lost against
Louisville at home?” he recalled saying to his
teammates on the podium, after being handed
the national championship trophy by NCAA
president Mark Emmert. “Everyone was like,
‘Man, you said we were going to hold that
trophy.’ And I was like, ‘Man, we’re the best
team in the country.’”
Yup, this is the most unbelievable of UConn’s
championship runs. And Napier now goes down
as the greatest winner in program history. Maybe
even its greatest player.
He won’t have the best NBA career, though he
certainly could end up having a long, successful
one. Even Kemba only won one national title.
Allen, Drummond, Caron Butler, Rudy Gay,
Ollie himself — they never even won one as players.
“It puts him right up there with all the great
guards that came through the university,” said
Hamilton.
“We have a legacy of producing great guards
and showing up at the right time. He displayed
it again, you know? That’s why I always tell kids,
‘How can you not want to come to the University
of Connecticut? Why would you choose any other
school?’”
3
Terrence
Samuel
Year: Fr.
Height: 6-4
Weight: 190
Position: Guard
Hometown:
Brooklyn, N.Y.
TERRENCE’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Scored 10 points
on 3 for 4 shooting
in NCAA tournament
win over Iowa State
March 28.
TheseHuskies
AlwaysBelievedStory by David Borges | 04.07.2014
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Ryan Boatright | The Associated Press
DID YOU KNOW?
Kevin Ollie joins
Steve Fisher
as the only coaches
to guide their team
to a national title
in their first NCAA
tournament
appearance as coach.
Fisher did it 1989
with Michigan.

After leading UConn to its improbable 2011
title, Walker’s number was retired among the
Huskies of Honor the very next day. Napier
could soon be getting similar treatment.
“I’m sure he will,” said El-Amin, whose own
number was retired to the rafters earlier this
season. “What he has done, won two national
championships … (he’s) in a league of (his) own,
so I’m sure he definitely deserves that.”
Of course, as Napier is quick to point out,
this wasn’t a one-man show. Ryan Boatright
scored 14 points, despite picking up two first-half
fouls, then painfully turning his ankle with nine
minutes left, forcing him to call a timeout.
He never missed a second.
“I turned it pretty good, (but) just the adrena-
line – nine minutes left, national championship,
biggest game of my life — I wasn’t gonna let that
stop me from playing. I’m sure once I calm down,
everything wears off, it’s gonna be sore.”
Giffey, another two-time national champ,
finished with 10 points, including a huge
3-pointer from the top of the key with 6:19 left,
after Kentucky had closed to within two points.
The Wildcats would never get that close again.
DeAndre Daniels didn’t have a big night, also
picking up two first-half fouls and finishing with
eight points on 4-for-14 shooting. But his inside
hoop with 2:47 left — the Huskies’ last field goal
of the season — kept Kentucky at bay, giving
UConn a 58-52 lead.
And Ollie. What more can be said about a
second-year coach, in his very first NCAA tour-
nament, leading his team to a national title?
“We found out tonight he is one of the best,
if not the best, coach in America,” said Manuel.
“I have a lot of thanks to give to Coach (Jim)
Calhoun, for his wisdom, his guidance, his
suggestion, his prodding. He was right, I couldn’t
have a better adviser to advise me on who the
next coach should be to replace him.”
On the other side, the annual Kentucky
diaspora was about to begin. At least four of the
five freshmen who started Monday night will likely
be heading to the NBA draft. Assistant coach
Orlando Antigua is taking over at South Florida.
Heck, there were even rumors Monday night that
John Calipari would bolt to take the Lakers’ job.
“The Lakers have a basketball coach,” he said
firmly. “Kentucky has a basketball coach. I’ve got
the best job in the country. I’m not going to even
dignify that stuff.”
Things will be different next year at UConn,
too. Napier will certainly be taken in June’s NBA
draft. Daniels and Boatright may decide – however
unwisely — to make themselves available, as well.
“I don’t know,” Boatright said, with a chuckle.
“I’m just enjoying the moment right now.”
Added Daniels: “I’m not even focusing on
that. I’m just happy right now and I’m going to
celebrate with my team and my family.”
We’ll undoubtedly hear about NBA feelers
for Ollie, but it’s highly unlikely he’ll leave. He’ll
be there, just like his players were there for him
18 months ago, when they could have left but
didn’t. Just like he was there for Shabazz Napier,
in an emotional moment amidst the celebration
on Monday night.
CHAMPIONPROFILE
22
Leon Tolksdorf
Year: So.
Height: 6-8
Weight: 218
Position: Forward
Home town: Berlin,
Germany
LEON’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Tolksdorf
was captain
of German U-20
national team.
25
Tor Watts
Year: Sr.
Height: 6-1
Weight: 202
Position: Guard
Home town:
Brooklyn, N.Y.
TOR’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Scored
in 101-55 win
over Detroit
on Nov. 15.
CHAMPION PROFILE
<DeAndre Daniels | The Associated Press ^
Kevin Ollie and Shabazz Napier | The Associated Press

UCONNHUSKIES
2014NCAAMen’sBasketballNationalChampions
ArnoldGold—NewHavenRegister

UCONNHUSKIES
2014NCAAWomen’sBasketballNationalChampions
ArnoldGold—NewHavenRegister

F
OUR YEARS AGO, THEY CAME
TO UConn and put their trust in the
guidance of Hall of Fame coach Geno
Auriemma to drive them to levels they
didn’t know they could reach.
The collegiate careers of Stefanie Dolson
and Bria Hartley ended with a second-straight
national championship and emotional embraces
that Dolson called “a long time coming.”
Dolson played a starring role in UConn’s
79-58 win over rival Notre Dame on Tuesday
night in Nashville, Tenn., at Bridgestone Arena
in the first national-championship showdown
between undefeated teams.
But it was a typical UConn win with
contributions from all five starters and top
reserve Kiah Stokes.
UConn won a record ninth Division I title,
joined the 2011-12 Baylor team as the only
women’s teams to finish 40-0 and completed the
championship double with the men’s basketball
team for the second time (2004).
“We knew it was going to happen,” Dolson said.
“We had confidence in each other and confi-
dence in our team and, to be honest, we all knew
we were going to win. That is something that is
incredible. Nobody can say that they have (the
record), and for him to have it is pretty special.
And to get it with this team is even more special.”
Stewart led UConn with 21 points and nine
rebounds as she earned Final Four Most Outstand-
ing Player honors for the second year in a row.
Dolson had 17 points, 16 rebounds, seven
assists and three blocks while Kaleena Mosqueda-
Lewis added 18 points and seven rebounds.
UConn took little time setting the tone,
making seven straight shots to race out to a 22-8
lead. The Huskies did most of their damage in
the paint, taking advantage of the absence of
All-American Natalie Achonwa — she tore her
ACL in the Elite Eight win over Baylor — as
Dolson and Stewart combined to score 16 of the
Huskies’ first 18 points.
It was Stewart, hitting a layup off a feed from
Moriah Jefferson, who gave UConn the 14-point
lead.
With the Huskies leading 24-10, reserve
Michaela Mabrey shot the Irish back into the
game with a pair of key 3-pointers.
However, after back-to-back 3s by Mabrey
and Kayla McBride pulled Notre Dame within
six points, the Huskies were able to regain
control long enough to twice extend the lead
back to 10 points.
Then Jewell Loyd hit a pair of 3-pointers 41
seconds apart to pull the Fighting Irish within
five with 27 seconds to play in the half.
It looked like that was how the game would
stand heading into the locker room, but Mosqueda-
Lewis battled two taller Notre Dame players for an
offensive rebound after a missed jumper by Dolson
and scored on the putback with 2 seconds left to
give UConn a 45-38 halftime advantage.
“I thought either (Notre Dame) was going
to win because we couldn’t stop them or we were
going to score a lot because when we get it going
it is hard to stop us,” Auriemma said.
McBride had 19 points, Loyd 13 and Mabrey
10 for Notre Dame (37-1).
After the pregame hype surrounding the
sour relationship between Auriemma and Notre
Dame coach Muffet McGraw, the two both had
huge smiles after Auriemma cracked a joke in the
handshake just before the game started.
Auriemma went to great lengths to compli-
ment McGraw, her staff and squad, which he
called “a great team,” during his postgame press
conferences.
COACH
Shea Ralph
Year: 5th
Hometown:
Fayetteville, N.C.
SHEA’S
HIGHLIGHT
Ralph’s primary
responsibility
is working
with the
Huskies guards.
She spent her
previous five
seasons
as an assistant
at Pittsburgh.
HistoricConclusion
ToaPerfectSeasonStory by Jim Fuller | 04.08.2014
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Stefanie Dolson, and Bria Hartley and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis | The Associated Press
DID YOU KNOW?
Ralph is
a 2001 graduate
of UConn,
where she helped
lead the Huskies
to the 2000 NCAA
title. She was the
Most Outstanding
Player in the
Final Four.
She ended her
career at UConn
with 1,678 points.

S
URE, THERE WAS THE OCCA-
SIONAL bump on the road along the
way, but the women’s basketball season is
going to end with one glorious collision
of heavyweight programs.
With UConn overcoming a sluggish start to
roll to a 75-56 victory over Stanford in Nashville,
Tenn., before a crowd of 17,548 at Bridgestone
Arena on Sunday night, the reigning national
champions not only stand a win away from a
record ninth national title, but there is more
history there for the taking.
When UConn meets former conference rival
Notre Dame on Tuesday night, it will be the
first time two undefeated teams will meet for the
NCAA Division I title.
“We have worked all year to be undefeated
and get here so it is pretty cool,” UConn senior
center Stefanie Dolson said. “Everybody is going
to be able to see a great game.”
Stanford and Maryland, known as the other
two teams in the Final Four, came to Nashville
eager to spoil the dream matchup.
For a while, it seemed as if Stanford might
actually pull it off.
With UConn missing 15 of its first 20 shots,
the Huskies twice trailed by six points before
ripping off runs of 12-0 in the first half and
14-0 in the second half to pull away.
“I think it is awesome,” UConn senior guard
Bria Hartley said. “You compete for this every
year and in your last year you want to go out on
a high note.”
After a late push allowed UConn to erase a
pair of six-point deficits and take a four-point
halftime lead, the Huskies extended the lead
when Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had seven points
and Hartley added four during a 14-0 run to give
the Huskies a 44-27 lead.
Mosqueda-Lewis had all 15 of her points in
the second half and extended her UConn record
by scoring in double figures in all 16 NCAA
tournament games she has played in, the longest
streak for a Husky to start her career. She is third
on the overall list at UConn as Maya Moore did
it 18 straight times and Diana Taurasi 17 in a
row. Breanna Stewart led the Huskies with 18
points, Hartley finished with 13 while Dolson
and Moriah Jefferson added 10 points each.
Stokes, the only reserve to play before the final
minute, had nine points and four rebounds.
Speaking of records, Hartley became UConn’s
all-time leader in minutes played, and Dolson set
the NCAA Division I women’s basketball record
for most career games started.
UConn matched the program’s best record
with a 39-0 mark.
As they did in tournament games against
Brigham Young and Texas A&M, UConn’s top
two offensive players struggled in the early going.
The duo of Stewart and Hartley combined to miss
seven of their first eight shots. With Mosqueda-
Lewis, who has been on a scoring tear in the
NCAA tournament, failing to score in the first
half, it was looking pretty bleak.
When Lili Thompson drilled a 3-pointer,
Stanford led 16-10 and UConn looked flustered.
Back-to-back layups by Hartley and Jefferson
got the Huskies out of their offensive doldrums
— temporarily. However, the Cardinal were able
to re-establish the six-point lead when Mikaela
Ruef beat the shot clock with a banked-in jumper
from just inside the 3-point line.
It was Stokes who sparked a 12-0 run. She hit
one of two from the free-throw line, had a steal
leading to a Hartley 3-pointer and later scored
in the lane. Stewart added four points during the
run to give the Huskies a 28-22 lead. UConn
headed into the locker room up 28-24.
Amber Orrange had 16 points and Chiney
Ogwumike 15 points and 10 rebounds for Stan-
ford (33-4).
COACH
Marisa
Moseley
Year: 5th
Hometown:
Springfield, Mass.
MARISA’S
HIGHLIGHT
Moseley’s primary
responsibility
is working
with forwards
and centers
for Huskies.
Came to UConn
from Minnesota,
where she spent
two seasons
on staff.
VictorySetsUp
PerfectChallengeStory by Jim Fuller | 04.06.2014
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Bria Hartley | The Associated Press
DID YOU KNOW?
Since 2000, UConn
is 72-7 in the
NCAA tournament,
advancing to
12 Final Fours
and winning eight
national titles.
This was the 17th
time UConn was
selected a No. 1
seed in the NCAA
tournament.

T
HE TEAM THAT HAS RIPPED
through an undefeated season with
ridiculous ease and barely broke a sweat
in the inaugural American Athletic
Conference tournament looked somewhat
human as it attempted to take the final steps
toward an unprecedented seventh straight Final
Four appearance.
After a sloppy first half in the Lincoln re-
gional semifinals, the Huskies found themselves
being pushed around by a feisty Texas A&M
squad in the Elite Eight on Monday night in
Lincoln, Neb.
Only up three early in the second half,
UConn’s championship pedigree was on display.
Barely a game went by this season when the
defending national champions didn’t have at least
one run of scoring at least 10 consecutive points,
but none was as timely or pivotal as the one in
the second half that paved the way for a 69-54
win over third-seeded Texas A&M.
“BYU and Texas A&M both came out fight-
ing,” UConn senior center Stefanie Dolson said.
“We give a lot of credit to them. Texas A&M
was very physical down low and they made us
work and it just kind of shows that although we
weren’t making a lot of shots this whole weekend
we can still win games.”
As they did in the regional semifinal against
Brigham Young, the Huskies got off to a sluggish
start offensively, missing eight of their first 10
shots to enable the Aggies to take an 11-4 lead,
matching the largest deficit the Huskies have
faced this season.
After misfiring from the outside, the Huskies
began to assume control of the game by getting
the ball inside, as Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis fed
the ball to Dolson, then Bria Hartley had a fast-
break layup, before Mosqueda-Lewis drained the
Huskies’ first 3-pointer to tie the game at 11.
However, leading scorer Breanna Stewart
picked up her second foul 90 seconds later and
after leaving her in for a few minutes, UConn
coach Geno Auriemma pulled Stewart with
8:03 left in the half. The Huskies outscored
the Aggies 17-8 without the national player of
the year candidate in the game.
The Huskies had a 26-6 run to go up 30-17
and took a 34-23 lead into the locker room.
Jordan Jones, who came into the game
averaging seven points per game, had eight
points early in the second half as Texas A&M
pulled within three points.
Jefferson scored on a back-door layup, had
a tough defensive rebound and fed Hartley for
a 3-pointer in transition. Stewart, who got a
quick hook from Auriemma after a slow start
to the second half, hit a 3 and Dolson had
a layup to put the Huskies ahead 50-37.
“I think this time going to the Final Four was
really special,” said Mosqueda-Lewis, the Lincoln
Regional’s Most Outstanding Player. “We had
to fight for these wins. Each team we played
came out hard and aggressive. We wanted to stay
in it and it feels so special that we were able to
overcome it.”
Mosqueda-Lewis had 17 points and seven
rebounds, Hartley had 14 points, Dolson had
14 points, 10 rebounds and eight blocked shots
for UConn. She became the 12th player with
eight blocks in an NCAA Division I women’s
basketball tournament game. Breanna Stewart
had 13 points and Moriah Jefferson 11 points, six
rebounds and seven assists as UConn improved
to 38-0.
UConn moved by the Brittney Griner-led
2011-12 Baylor team to set the single-season
record for blocked shots in a season. Baylor had
310 in 40 games during its run to the national
title, while the Huskies have 313 in 38 games.
Stewart moved into third place on the single-
season scoring list at UConn.
COACH
Chris Dailey
Year: 29th
Hometown:
New Brunswick, N.J.
CHRIS’
HIGHLIGHT
Dailey has been
with Auriemma
for each of his
29 seasons
and has been
Associate Head
Coach since 1988.
In her time,
the program
has brought in
recruits from
29 different states.
ASeventh-Straight
BerthtoFinalFourStory by Jim Fuller | 03.31.2014
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Breanna Stewart | The Associated Press
DID YOU KNOW?
Dailey has been
inducted into
the Rutgers
Hall
of Fame,
the New Jersey
Sports Writers
Association
Hall of Fame
and the
Connecticut
Women’s Basketball
Hall of Fame.

I
N MANY WAYS, THE MOST
DIFFICULT part of the UConn women’s
basketball team’s ascension to conference
tournament champions might have been
determining which of the starters was not going
to be on the all-tournament team.
UConn’s methodical three-game march to
winning the inaugural American Athletic Con-
ference tournament title was so dominant that it
would have been fitting to have all five starters on
the team.
In a 72-52 win over Louisville in Monday
night’s title game before 8,034 at Mohegan Sun
Arena, UConn came a missed Moriah Jefferson
free throw away from having all five starters scor-
ing in double figures for the second straight game.
“Moriah Jefferson could have made the all-
tournament team very easily, so when you have
five starters who are capable of doing what they
do, you come out every night and compete every
night, play hard every night,” said UConn coach
Geno Auriemma after leading UConn to the
program’s 19th conference title.
Breanna Stewart had 20 points, nine rebounds,
six assists and four blocked shots to earn tour-
nament Most Outstanding Player honors. Bria
Hartley (16 points, six assists), Stefanie Dolson
(10 points, season-high 16 rebounds) and Kaleena
Mosqueda-Lewis (13 points) were joined on the
all-tournament team by Louisville’s Shoni Schim-
mel and Courtney Williams of South Florida.
“Our chemistry has been great, and (we are)
going to have great momentum going into the
NCAA tournament,” Dolson said. “I am really
excited for that.”
As they have done for several weeks, the duo
of Stewart and Hartley led the UConn offense.
“It has been going on for about a month, at
least a month,” Auriemma said. “I don’t know.
There are a couple of kids who are playing really
well across the country. I had the chance to see
the Notre Dame game the other day, and it’s hard
to find two better players in the country than
Kayla McBride and Jewell Loyd. But I would say
for the last month and month and a half, Stewie
and Bria have been as good individually and as
good of a combination as we have had in a long
time and as is there is in the country right now.”
UConn won its 40th straight game, matching
the 1985-87 Texas team for the sixth longest streak
in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history.
The Huskies own the two longest streaks with 90
straight from 2008-11 and 70 in a row.
UConn will now wait until March 17 to see
which regional it will be sent to, although the
belief is that UConn will be the No. 1 seed in
the regional hosted by Louisville. After the game,
Auriemma jokingly said to Louisville coach Jeff
Walz that he will provide a scouting report on the
team to earn the No. 1 seed in Louisville’s region.
“We could very well play them again, and I
believe we can beat them. What do you play the
game for?” Walz said. “I had a reporter ask my
player (Schimmel) do you think you could beat
UConn? They said yes and they blasted them for
it. What are you supposed to say? No? We show
up to play the game to win. If nobody thinks
they can be beat, let’s save a lot of money and
give them the trophy.”
UConn moved into second place on the
single-season NCAA Division I leaderboard for
blocked shots. UConn blocked six shots, giving
the team 280.
The 2011-12 Baylor team blocked a record
310 shots en route to becoming the first team
during the NCAA era to post a 40-0 record.
UConn can match that mark if it were to win a
second straight national title.
Schimmel had 20 points but was held to 7
of 25 shooting for Louisville (30-4).
3
Morgan Tuck
Year: So.
Height: 6-2
Position: Forward
Hometown:
Bolingbrook, Ill.
MORGAN’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Tuck scored
a career-high
19 points against
Houston on Jan. 19,
making a career-high
eight field goals.
AACChampionship
AlwaysintheCardsStory by Jim Fuller | 03.10.2014
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Breanna Stewart and Chris Dailey | The Associated Press
DID YOU KNOW?
Tuck’s father David
played at Ferris State
and her sister Taylor
plays for Illinois.
The Huskies are
47-4 in NCAA
tournament
games played in
Connecticut.

R
OLLING OUT A LINEUP WITH
three All-Americans in addition to
national player of the year candidate
Breanna Stewart, the top-ranked
UConn women’s basketball team has a way of
making the path of incredible dominance look
oh so easy.
However, the eight-time national champions
have been built on blue-collar work ethic and a
level of defensive intensity that doesn’t always come
across, even during nationally televised games.
With UConn eyeing an undefeated regular
season, the Huskies flexed their muscles on the
defensive end en route to a 68-48 win over No. 3
Louisville before a women’s basketball record crowd
of 22,163 at the KFC Yum! Center on Monday.
With the win, the Huskies secured the outright
American Athletic Conference regular-season title
and joined the 2011-12 Baylor team as the only
squads to post a 31-0 regular-season record.
Using an 11-0 run to take a 43-31 lead at
halftime, the points were hard to come by in
a rough-and-tumble second half. In the end,
UConn was able to hold the Cardinals scoreless
for a stretch of 9:28 when Louisville was
desperately trying to mount a comeback.
“I think second half we really dug down de-
fensively,” said Stewart, who led the Huskies with
22 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots.
“Our shots weren’t falling, but we held them
scoreless or forced them to take a bad shot.”
“Louisville is a great team. This is a great
game to play. It is the last regular-season game,
and it is at Louisville. It is hostile environment,
and you know it sends us into the postseason
on a really good note.”
The Cardinals seemingly couldn’t miss in
the opening minutes. Spurred on by emotional
Senior Night festivities which included a
Native American Day in honor of Louisville’s
2,000-point career scorer Shoni Schimmel,
Louisville made seven of its first nine shots.
The early six-point deficit was the largest the
Huskies have faced this season.
UConn switched things up, coming out with
a swarming 1-2-2 defense which shut off many
of the open looks the Cardinals were getting.
“It is their Senior Night. There is a lot of
emotion in the building and you have to expect
that,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said.
“I didn’t expect us not to make any shots in
the beginning, but I am not surprised that they
came out the way they did.
“I knew at some point our defense was going
to get settled down, and at some point they were
going to stop shooting 70 percent from the floor.
We made a couple of adjustments and we changed
a couple of things as the game went on, and in
the second half we gave them a couple of different
looks depending on who they had in the game.
When we had Kiah Stokes in the game, it was very
difficult to all of a sudden get anything inside.”
UConn posted its seventh undefeated regular
season and earned the No. 1 seed for the Ameri-
can Athletic Conference tournament.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, in her second game
back after missing four games with mononucleo-
sis, and Bria Hartley hit back-to-back 3-pointers
after Louisville got off to the 16-10 start. Another
3 by Mosqueda-Lewis gave the Huskies their first
lead with 12:29 to play in the first half.
Mosqueda-Lewis had all 13 of her points in
the first half and added nine rebounds for UConn
(31-0, 18-0). Bria Hartley had 14 points, Moriah
Jefferson had 11 points while Stefanie Dolson had
six points, seven rebounds and five assists.
41
Kiah Stokes
Year: Jr.
Height: 6-3
Position: Center
Hometown:
Marion, Iowa
KIAH’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Stokes scored
a career-high
19 points against
St. Bonaventure
Nov. 24. She also
had career-high
18 rebounds
against Temple
on Jan. 11.
RollingtoaPerfect
RegularSeasonStory by Jim Fuller | 03.03.2014
DID YOU KNOW?
UConn had perfect
regular seasons in
1994-95, 96-97,
01-02, 02-03,
08-09, 09-10
and 10-11.
UConn had perfect
conference records in
1994-95, 1996-97,
1999-00, 01-02,
02-03, 06-07,
08-09, 09-10
and 10-11.
CHAMPION PROFILE

L
IKE SO MANY OTHERS IN THE
women’s basketball community, Hall of
Fame Rutgers women’s basketball coach
C. Vivian Stringer saw Baylor nearly
push the defending national champion UConn
squad to the brink.
Partly as inspiration but more so as a teach-
ing tool, Stringer popped in the tape and told her
team that they were going to go after the Huskies.
By game’s end, one of the five Division I
women’s basketball coaches with at least 900
victories was singing the praises of the mighty
Huskies and offering as much praise as she has ever
heaped on a team in a post-game press conference.
With senior guard Bria Hartley setting career
highs with 30 points and six 3-pointers and
three other starters scoring in double figures,
the Huskies rolled to a 94-64 victory over
No. 23 Rutgers before a crowd of 6,480 at
the Louis Brown Athletic Center.
It is the most points Rutgers has allowed
at home in Stringer’s 19 seasons at the helm
of the Scarlet Knights.
“Connecticut is a great team,” Stringer said.
“The speed with which they ran and the accuracy,
it is almost like you have to be there to see it.
Some of us knew about it and some of us forgot
about it.
“Without question this is the best team I have
seen in all the years that I have ever watched Con-
necticut. I don’t know who we’ve seen better. You
may argue that the point guard (Moriah Jefferson)
isn’t as experienced, but sometimes when you are
quick like that, maybe you don’t have to have
experience. You know how to get to the hole and
you know how to deliver. Geno’s got a great group
of kids, and I know he has to be happy.”
Stringer also said that UConn is so talented
that “it is them and it is everybody else. They
clearly have it. They have the skill and the
commitment and they ran.”
Auriemma certainly was pleased. After
being held under 70 points in seven of the last
10 games against the Scarlet Knights, UConn
matched its second highest scoring output in 37
meetings with the Scarlet Knights.
Breanna Stewart had 23 points, nine rebounds
and four blocks. Stefanie Dolson finished with
16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists and
Jefferson had 13 points, four rebounds, eight
assists, three steals and her second straight game
against a ranked team without a turnover.
UConn improved to 19-0 and is 6-0 in the
American Athletic Conference.
“I think the way we moved the ball, when
you shoot 56 percent, it makes everything look
good,” Auriemma said. “I was telling the players
in the locker room that when your guards play
well, you have a chance to play (well). When
your guards play great, you have a chance to play
great and our guards were great. Bria was a little
better than she was last year (when Auriemma
played her only four minutes), and Moriah was
unbelievable. That was two games in a row now
where she was playing more like a senior than
she is playing like a sophomore, and that kind
of gives Bria an opportunity to get off the ball
a little bit and do what she does best and that is
score. When Bria is making shots, she is as good
as any guard in the country and we’ve got such
great balance. It was a great team effort, every-
body played great.”
A free-flowing pace agreed with the Huskies,
and especially the duo of Hartley and Stewart.
Hartley came into the game shooting 31 of
95 in her last eight games including going 9 of 35
from 3-point range, but she opened up by hitting
eight of her first nine shots. She finished with her
first 30-point game as a Husky and had a career-
high six 3-pointers.
30
Breanna
Stewart
Year: So.
Height: 6-4
Position: Forward
Hometown:
Syracuse, N.Y.
BREANNA’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Associated Press
and Naismith
national player
of the year scored
a career-high 37
points against
Temple Jan. 28.
UConnHasRespect
OfRutgers,StringerStory by Jim Fuller | 01.19.2014
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Kiah Stokes | The Associated Press
DID YOU KNOW?
During the 2013-14
season, Stewart
reached double
figures in points
in 38 games,
including 21 games
with 20-or-more
points. Stewart
recorded
11 double-doubles
for points and
rebounds this season.

I
T WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO
QUANTIFY the amount of praise Geno
Auriemma has bestowed upon UConn
seniors Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley
over the past four years.
The blue-collar approach to basketball the
New York natives have displayed has endeared
them to their Hall of Fame coach. But no words
ever captured Auriemma’s true feelings toward
the two more aptly than the heartfelt bear hugs
that were shared inside Bridgestone Arena in the
final seconds of UConn’s record ninth national
championship.
Dolson was the first to trot to the sideline and
into the arms of Auriemma, who finally let his
guard down with the game’s outcome no longer
in question.
“He doesn’t hug me often,” Dolson said. “That
hug was a long time (coming) and it was a perfect
moment for it. He told me how much he was going
to miss me and that we love each other. He is like a
father to me, and I couldn’t have asked for a better
coach for my four years of college.”
Hartley was next up. The more emotional of
the two senior All-Americans, Hartley predict-
ably broke down as Auriemma expressed similar
sentiments to her after she checked out of her
final game as a Husky.
“I was just happy, excited, upset that it was
over, all in one,” Hartley said. “I just broke
down. This year was amazing and the four years
here have been great, so I am glad we were able
to end it going out on top.
“Coach cares about every one of his players.
We just loved our relationships with him. It used
to be five (in our class — Lauren Engeln, Michala
Johnson and Samarie Walker transferred) and now
it is just two, so we grew even closer with him.”
It’s been quite the ride for two seniors who
were thrust into the starting lineup as freshmen
for a team coming off back-to-back undefeated
seasons. For Dolson, the frustration of consecutive
losses to Notre Dame in the national semifinals
led to a heart-to-heart between her and associate
head coach Chris Dailey, who challenged her to
get into better physical condition so she could
reach her potential.
“These four years, it has been so up and
down,” Dolson said. “My first year — Coach
will always remind me of this — when I was in
his office saying, ‘I don’t even know if I want to
do this anymore. I don’t know if I like basketball
stuff.’ It was kind of those freshman emotions.
I am glad he pushed me through it and saw the
potential in me. He helped me grow into the
player and person I am today.”
Dolson leaves the program as just the fourth
Husky with at least 1,500 points and 1,000
rebounds in her career.
Hartley finished her career ranked eighth on
UConn’s career scoring list.
Following the title game, Auriemma admitted
he got a little more choked up than usual.
“For these two, I don’t think there was ever
more pressure on two players who have come
to Connecticut than there was on Stefanie and
Bria,” Auriemma said. “To come in as freshmen,
and their first game we had won 78 in a row.
‘Alright, you are the starting point guard, you are
the starting center. Don’t screw this up.’ They
had to do so much and it is unbelievable. Every
waking moment of every day, they have dedicated
it to our team. There has never been any drama,
never been any nonsense, I never had to worry
about anything. They are just unbelievable as
human beings and as players.
“You always say you are going to miss players.
You are going to miss their points, you are going
to miss their rebounds, but I will miss Stefanie
and I will miss Bria as people.”
11
Briana Pulido
Year: So.
Height: 5-7
Position: Guard
Hometown:
Miami, Fla.
BRIANA’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Pulido scored
six points
this season.
She is also
a member
of the
UConn track
and field team.
CoachHasBond
WithDolson,HartleyStory by Jim Fuller | 04.08.2014
CHAMPION PROFILE
DID YOU KNOW?
The Huskies
have advanced
to at least the
Regional semifinal
game in 21 straight
appearances. The last
time UConn failed
to reach the Regional
semifinal was in
1993 when the
Huskies lost 74-71
to Louisville.

A
S THE HUSKIES WERE BLOWING
the doors off Notre Dame en route to
another national championship, Seth
Davis of Sports Illustrated and CBS
Sports sent out this meme via Twitter: “Geno
about to win his 9th. Time to start talking about
him as one of the greatest coaches of any sport
ever. Deal with it.”
The response ranged from the reasonable
(“UConn is loaded with high school All-Ameri-
cans”) to the indignant (“one of the best coaches
ever in a sport dominated by four teams. Laugh-
able”) to the just plain silly (“Time for him to
prove himself in the men’s game”).
As the critics hammered away, Davis tweeted
a follow-up: “Everything y’all are tweeting me
knocking Geno was said about Wooden. Trust
me.” It was a noteworthy response given that
Davis, in January, released a definitive 608-page
biography, “Wooden: A Coach’s Life.”
For years, Auriemma has dismissed
comparisons between himself and Wooden.
But the fact is, he’s earned the right to be
mentioned in the same breath as the Wizard
of Westwood. Perhaps no other basketball coach
in history, aside from Wooden, enjoyed titanic
success through clean, honest methods and yet
was so readily dismissed by a small but vocal
band of critics.
Wooden’s UCLA dynasty — 10 titles in 12
seasons — is hailed as the most dominant in
college basketball. Four decades ago, there was an
unimpressed faction with familiar gripes. Since he
recruited the best players and won, success must
be as simple as bringing a ball to practice and
relaxing with a cold lemonade.
Perfection has been an expectation for
UConn’s women for over a decade. Auriemma
doesn’t simply recruit the best female high school
players, he finds the ones with an amplified
understanding of the game. On the heels of a
21-point stomping of Notre Dame on Tuesday,
the Huskies were once again perfect, 40 wins, no
losses, tied for the best season ever. The official
tally is now nine championships over the past
20 seasons. Not quite Wooden territory. But
Auriemma isn’t finished, either.
Still, there are many who continue to view
UConn’s undefeated campaigns with disdain;
who say it is “laughable” to measure Auriemma
against Wooden.
Comparisons between the two are nothing
new. The debate surfaced four years ago, when
UConn broke UCLA’s 88-game win streak. It’ll
truly heat up again when Geno ties, and then
breaks Wooden’s record 10 national champion-
ships. And there’s no reason to believe that event
isn’t inevitable. It will happen. Soon.
But his impact on the women’s game, like
Wooden on the men’s, goes beyond wins and
championships. Both helped their respective sport
achieve unparalleled popularity, a foundation
men’s basketball continues to build upon and one
that, in theory, should do the same for the women.
The nation eventually caught up to UCLA,
though not until 1975, when Wooden won his
10th crown in 12 years and retired. At some point,
the women’s game will catch up with UConn.
Odds are that won’t happen until Auriemma
finally decides to call it a career.
Auriemma turned 60 on March 23, an age
when it’s fair to openly wonder how many more
years a coach will stick around, even one clearly at
the top of his profession. A few other noteworthy
milestones are within his reach. At 879 career
wins, he’ll hit 900 next season. The thousand
mark should come in 2018; Pat Summitt’s record
1,098 within range by the time he’s 67.
Perhaps by then, like Wooden in retirement,
his legacy will be universally accepted, even
though he’s already secured a place as one of the
great coaches, men’s or women’s, of all time.
23
Kaleena
Mosqueda-
Lewis
Year: Jr.
Height: 6-0
Position: Forward
Hometown:
Anaheim Hills, Calif.
KALEENA’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Mosqueda-Lewis
led UConn in scoring
in back-to-back
NCAA tournament
wins against BYU
(19 points) and
Texas A&M (17).
AuriemmaEnters
WoodenTerritoryStory by Chip Malafronte | Date 04.09.2014
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Geno Auriemma and Stefanie Dolson | The Associated Press
DID YOU KNOW?
During Mosqueda-
Lewis’ high school
career at Mater
Dei and collegiate
career at UConn,
her team’s records
are a combined
231-16.
UConn has won
46 straight games,
its third-longest,
trailing its 90- and
70-game win streaks.

T
HE WHISPERS WERE THERE
BEFORE the top-ranked UConn
women’s basketball team played its first
game of the season.
Armed with perhaps four of the top 10 players
in the college game, the Huskies were going
to make opponents look downright average on
a nightly basis. But there were those who wondered
how the mighty Huskies would react when a team
was willing to engage in a stare-down and refuse
to blink. Could the plethora of All-Americans
execute in the closing minutes in a game where
the outcome could ride on each and every tightly
contested possession?
Well, UConn was placed in such a situation
before a crowd of 9,145 at a raucous Ferrell Center
and emerged with a hard-earned 66-55 victory to
snap Baylor’s 69-game home winning streak.
“We knew we would be tested like we were
tonight,” said UConn sophomore forward Breanna
Stewart. “In the end, when we had to make plays,
we made them.”
With less than four minutes to play, it was
a one-possession game when the Huskies’ best
players shook off a uneven performance that felt
like they were as out of sorts mentally as they
were a step slow physically.
Stefanie Dolson sandwiched two free throws
and a layup around a tough shot in the lane by
Stewart as UConn turned a three-point game
into a 11-point final margin.
“It had to be a great TV game,” Baylor coach
Kim Mulkey said.
“It ended up being an 11-point game, but it
wasn’t an 11-point game.
“It was a game of good defense. Neither team
shot it particularly well. There were shots that
we contested all night, and it was a good
basketball game.”
Stewart had 18 points, 11 rebounds and four
assists. Hartley added 17 points, Jefferson had 13
points, six rebounds, five assists, four steals and no
turnovers in 38 minutes, Dolson added 10 points
and seven assists and Kiah Stokes contributed six
rebounds and four blocked shots.
Davis had 11 points and 17 rebounds for
Baylor (14-2). Makenzie Robertson hit three
3-pointers and finished with 10 points.
UConn (18-0) twice led by 11 points including
once in the early stages of the second half, but the
Lady Bears came storming back each time.
While Baylor All-American Odyssey Sims
did some of the damage, it was not a one-person
show as Sune Agbuke and Nina Davis delivered
some key plays. Agbuke hit back-to-back baskets
to pull Baylor within 48-46. With the Huskies
up by three, Stewart hit a jumper and then came
up with a loose ball after Sims dribbled the ball
off her foot.
Stewart got the ball ahead to Hartley for a
layup and Dolson followed with a jumper to put
UConn up 56-49 and set the stage for a 10-2 run
to close out the Huskies’ most competitive game
of the season.
“There were certainly possessions when we had
to win those possessions and we did,” Auriemma
said. “Making any kind of play was hard tonight.”
UConn held Sims, the nation’s leading scorer,
to a season-low 20 points. She was held scoreless
for the final 10:53, going 0 for 4 with two fouls
and two turnovers.
Jefferson, the first Texas native to play
for UConn, used to come to games at Baylor
throughout her teenage years. She was the
Huskies’ best player in the early stages, scoring
10 of the Huskies first 17 points and adding a
pair of assists.
With the game tied at 10, Jefferson hit a pair
of free throws followed by a 3-pointer during a
7-0 run that gave UConn a 17-10 lead.
20
Tierney Lawlor
Year: Fr.
Height: 5-7
Position: Guard
Hometown:
Ansonia, Conn.
TIERNEY’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Lawlor matched
her career-high
with six points
on two
three-pointers
against
Cal-Davis
on Dec. 5.
UConnHasAnswers
ForItsFewCriticsStory by Jim Fuller | 01.13.2014
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Moriah Jefferson | The Associated Press
DID YOU KNOW?
Tierney’s parents
John and Eileen
are both
1988 graduates
of the
University of
Connecticut.
Her father
played football
for the Huskies.

W
ATCHING KALEENA
MOSQUEDA-LEWIS
EFFORTLESSLY connect
on nine 3-pointers in her first two
games back from injury, it all looked so easy.
However, it soon became apparent that after
missing nearly a month and a half due to an
injured elbow left Mosqueda-Lewis with some
work to do. One of the most gifted pure scorers
in the history of the UConn women’s basketball
program was suddenly finding it hard to free
herself from defenders.
If you take away a strong shooting game at
Memphis, Mosqueda-Lewis was an uncharacter-
istically inaccurate 6 of 27 from 3-point range
since the back-to-back efforts against Duke and
California.
Whispers about her physical conditioning
could be heard before the subject was finally
publicized on the nationally televised broadcast
of UConn’s win at Baylor.
While Mosqueda-Lewis was a little too busy
trying to help the Huskies win a tough test on
the road to hear the pointed comments about her
being out of shape, she knows what people have
been saying about her.
“It is frustrating, but it is something I have
to go through,” said Mosqueda-Lewis (who would
eventually be diagnosed with mononucleosis less
than a month later).
“I got injured, I got out of shape and I have
to get back into shape during the season when we
already have practice and are having games.”
It won’t get easier on Sunday as Mosqueda-
Lewis and the top-ranked Huskies head to
Piscataway, N.J., to take on old rival Rutgers.
The Scarlet Knights are perennially one of
the toughest teams to score against, especially
at home, but for Mosqueda-Lewis it is the next
chance to show she still has the shooting touch
which made her an All-American as a sophomore.
Her teammates have seen her score early and
often in practice and they know she wants so
much to return to her pre-injury form.
“I am sure it is (frustrating),” UConn senior
guard Bria Hartley said. “I kind of sense what she
is going through. I feel like I can talk to her and
talk her through it. I don’t know how to change
it right away because it took me a while (when
Hartley injured her ankle last season), but you
just have to keep fighting and going through it.”
The casual fan might assume Mosqueda-
Lewis isn’t putting in the work necessary to be
in basketball shape.
But they haven’t been at Gampel Pavilion on
her “days off” when she heads in for additional
work on the treadmill, stationary bike or elliptical
machine.
“(The workout) depends on what I have done or
what I did the day before,” Mosqueda-Lewis said.
“What my body has gone through for the past
couple of days determines how tough a workout.
It is in the forefront. That is exactly why I’ve
been doing extra work. It is exactly why changing
things here or there is going to help me.”
Coach Geno Auriemma said it was unrealistic
to expect Mosqueda-Lewis to remain in top shape
with the amount of time she missed, but he is
expecting to see an improvement in conditioning
from his junior shooting star.
“It is not a concern of mine right now, but
a few weeks from now it will be if it doesn’t get
better,” Auriemma said.
“I think anytime you miss that much playing
time, time away from practice, you can go on a
treadmill, you can go on a bike all you want, but
for five weeks if you are not playing basketball, it
is going to take a while.”
4
Moriah
Jefferson
Year: So.
Height: 5-7
Position: Guard
Hometown:
Glenn Heights, Texas
MORIAH’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Jefferson helped
UConn defeat
Louisville Feb. 9
by scoring
a career-high
18 points.
NotAlwaysSoEasy
ForMosqueda-LewisStory by Jim Fuller | 01.18.2014
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis | The Associated Press
DID YOU KNOW?
During her five years
in the Texas Home
Educators Sports
Association, Jefferson
scored 3,354 points.
She was twice
named National
Christian
Homeschool
Basketball
Championships
Player of Year.

T
HE FIRST FIVE HOME GAMES
of the season at Moody Coliseum drew
an average of 366 fans. There’s a chance
that the personal cheering section for
UConn sophomore guard Moriah Jefferson could
approach that number when the top-ranked
Huskies play in Dallas for the first time.
Jefferson’s father said that he expected “a couple
hundred” family members, friends and supporters
to head over to Southern Methodist the last time
the Huskies were in the state of Texas.
Jefferson doesn’t know the exact number,
but there is no question it will be a lot when this
Texas swing, which began in Houston on Satur-
day, wraps up Tuesday.
“Honestly I have no idea,” Jefferson said. “I
guess I will find out when I get there.”
Jefferson said her Glenn Heights, Texas,
home is only about a 20-30 minute drive to the
SMU campus.
The opportunity to play so close to home as
well as square off against former AAU team-
mate Gabrielle Wilkins will make it a night to
remember.
“Anytime I get to come home it is always
exciting,” Jefferson said.
There isn’t as much tension surrounding this
game as her first game of the season back in her
home state.
The Jan. 13 game at Baylor was the most com-
petitive challenge the undefeated Huskies have
faced this season, and Jefferson was among those
players who helped limit national player of the
year candidate Odyssey Sims to 4 of 25 shooting.
There will be another test as Southern
Methodist University senior guard Keena Mays
is the leading scorer in the American Athletic
Conference.
The good news for Jefferson is she is back
playing at a high level after a game and a half of
less-than-impactful play.
With Jefferson dealing with a sore right foot
and clearly nowhere near her normally effective
self, UConn coach Geno Auriemma limited
her to a season-low 16 minutes against Central
Florida on Wednesday.
Jefferson didn’t get much done in the first
half of the Houston game either, before returning
back to form with a solid second half.
Jefferson missed her first four shots before
coming up with a steal that she converted into a
layup with 15 seconds left in the half.
“I think that layup at the end of the first half
kind of got me going a little bit and I just have to
be more aggressive,” Jefferson said.
Jefferson downplayed any problems with her
sore right foot even after she was seen wearing a
protective boot after the Houston game.
“It is just the wear and tear and it is to make
sure it doesn’t get worse,” Jefferson said.
“For the most part I am going full (speed) in
practices, I am able to practice, and in the games,
nothing is going to stop me in the games.”
Jefferson has started every game as a sopho-
more and has already surpassed her freshman
numbers in every major category.
With three assists and one steal against SMU
she would join Jen Rizzotti as the only UConn
sophomores with at least 150 assists and 75 steals.
Jefferson is garnering national attention,
joining teammate Bria Hartley as one of 22
candidates for the Nancy Lieberman Award,
which is presented annually to the nation’s top
point guard.
Iona junior guard and Meriden native Dami-
ka Martinez are also on the list, which will be cut
to five in March before the winner is announced
at the Final Four.
14
Bria Hartley
Year: Sr.
Height: 5-8
Position: Guard
Hometown:
North Babylon, N.Y.
BRIA’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Hartley, an
All-America
selection scored
a career-high
30 points at Rutgers
Jan. 19, making
11 field goals.
JeffersonFeelsRight
AtHomeinTexasStory by Jim Fuller | 02.24.2014
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Moriah Jefferson | The Associated Press
DID YOU KNOW?
Hartley was twice
the New York State
Gatorade Player
of the Year
at North Babylon
High School, where
she scored 1,978
points. She averaged
30 points
and 8.3 rebounds
as a senior, and 21
points as a junior.

A
S SENSATIONAL AS BREANNA
STEWART’S 37-point offensive
explosion was during Tuesday’s
American Athletic Conference
victory at Temple, the foundation of the UConn
women’s basketball program was built much
more by what took place on Saturday afternoon.
Rather than having one player simply take
over, all eight healthy full-scholarship players had
at least one field goal and two assists in an 86-29
win over Cincinnati.
Especially pleasing to the coaching staff was
the production of reserve guards Saniya Chong
and Brianna Banks.
After a string of quiet performances in recent
weeks, the duo combined for 16 points, six re-
bounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks
while not committing a turnover in a combined
45 minutes.
“We are doing a lot better than we did in the
past so hopefully keep getting better every day in
practice,” said Banks, a 5-foot-9 junior guard from
Newman, Ga., who had four points, five rebounds,
three assists, three steals and a blocked shot in 22
minutes. “We just try to make hustle plays and play
as hard as we can. That is all they expect from us.
“He (UConn coach Geno Auriemma) always
stresses about contributing off the bench,” added
Banks, who was on her way to a productive soph-
omore season before tearing her ACL last year.
“We try to come out and give as much as we
can every day especially in practice, because that
is where we get most of our playing time.
“Hustle plays are always the best plays. It just
shows that everybody is working hard, and not
everyone can hit for 37 like Stewie, so you have
to try to do something else.”
After a relatively quiet first half, Chong
played with the carefree attitude she displayed
earlier in the season and was 3 of 4 from the field
including shooting 3 for 3 from 3-point range
with four assists in 15 second-half minutes.
She had more points in the second half than
she did in the previous five games combined.
Chong had scored five points in her previous four
games.
“I accomplished a lot more,” said Chong, a
5-8 freshman guard from Ossining, N.Y. “I was
just really slow and not doing much to contribute
to the team. Just hearing it (from the coaches)
so many times, I really need to step up. I’ve been
working really hard in practice.”
Chong was named the Parade All-American
Team’s Girls Basketball Player of the Year in
2012-13, as well as the National High School
Coaches Association’s (NHSCA) national girl’s
basketball Player of the Year.
Like many freshmen who get off to fast starts
before opponents have a chance to study film on
them, Chong has been a little inconsistent during
her freshman year.
“I don’t know that any freshman is immune
to it,” Auriemma said.
“I think it does get to them all because it is
a long season and is a lot harder than anything
they’ve done. Saniya, she wants to be a great
competitor.
“She wants to do all of those things, and that
is good and that is going to help her. But for her,
especially if she is not concentrating on it all the
time, it just goes away. It is spotty.
“We didn’t play her much in the Maryland
game, she came back and played great in the
Penn State game.
“We didn’t play her much in the Baylor game,
and she gets better. She didn’t play in the South
Florida game because she was not feeling good
and came back and practiced great the next day.
I don’t think she has gotten to the point where
she knows how to do that every single day.”
31
Stefanie Dolson
Year: Sr.
Height: 6-5
Position: Center
Hometown:
Port Jervis, N.Y.
STEFANIE’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Dolson,
an All-America
selection, scored a
career-high
26 points and added
a career-high
11 assists against
Oregon Nov. 20.
PlentyinReserve
WithChong,BanksStory by Jim Fuller | 02.02.2014
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Saniya Chong | The Associated Press
DID YOU KNOW?
Dolson scored
1,951 points
and had
1,607 rebounds
during her career
at Minisink
High School.
She averaged
22.8 points,
17.6 rebounds,
5.6 assists
and 5.2 blocks
per game as a senior
in high school.

I
F ALL-AMERICAN KALEENA
MOSQUEDA-LEWIS had not been
knocked out of the clash of the women’s
basketball titans, the top-ranked UConn
women’s basketball team’s victory would have
been just what the doctor ordered in the eyes of
UConn Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma.
Auriemma said many of his star players
struggled, some key role players delivered in tight
spots and most of all the Huskies emerged with a
relatively routine 76-57 win over No. 3 Stanford
before a crowd of 9,529 at Gampel Pavilion
Monday night.
However, any positive vibes created by the
performances of reserves Kiah Stokes, Saniya
Chong and Morgan Tuck or from the wondrous
effort from All-American guard Bria Hartley
became secondary to the concern about the
health of Mosqueda-Lewis.
With 18:08 left in the game, Mosqueda-
Lewis, the Huskies’ leading scorer in each of the
last two seasons, jumped in the air to try to avoid
a fallen Chiney Ogwumike as she corralled a
rebound. Mosqueda-Lewis’ right elbow hit the
floor with tremendous impact and she was writh-
ing in pain, screaming “help me” according to
those sitting nearby when the play happened.
Hartley was brilliant in victory adding to a new
chapter to her “big-game Bria” nickname that has
accompanied her during these last four seasons.
Hartley had 20 points, eight rebounds, six assists,
two steals and just one turnover in 38 minutes.
The only other double-digit scorers were
reserves Tuck (11 points) and Stokes (10 points
to go with career highs with 13 rebounds and
six blocks). Chong came in and hit two huge
3-pointers including one that gave the Huskies
the lead for good.
“They have no chumps in their lineup,”
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said, “They are
all very capable players, and they play in a great
system so it doesn’t surprise me at all.”
Neither team looked sharp early on in a foul-
plagued affair.
UConn opened the game shooting 1 for 11
with a couple of missed layups.
Sophomore All-American candidate Breanna
Stewart picked up two fouls in the first 3:32 and
watched the rest of the first half from the bench.
Tuck came in and was also quickly whistled
for two fouls. Running out of options, Auriemma
called on Stokes, who has spent nearly as much
time in Auriemma’s doghouse than on the court
in her first two seasons.
Facing one of the nation’s most imposing
frontcourts and with All-American Stefanie
Dolson already with a foul, Stokes picked the
perfect time to deliver perhaps the best stretch of
basketball in her time with the Huskies. Stokes’
first-half numbers of eight points, eight rebounds
and five blocks don’t even begin the tell the story
of her impact in the final 11:38 of the first half.
Stokes made four straight free throws to get
the Huskies started on a 17-10 run. UConn took
its first double-digit lead late in the first half on
a Stefanie Dolson free throw. Coming out of a
timeout, Hartley found an open Mosqueda-Lewis
for a 3-pointer that sent the Huskies into the
locker room up 39-26.
“We found out that we have some players
who can make some plays when it is time to make
them,” Auriemma said. “I told the team after the
game that this game probably went, except for
Kaleena getting hurt, this game went exactly how
you hoped it would go. We played great at times,
we played terrible at times, we struggled, we had
to overcome certain things and in the end we beat
a really good team and we had the game in hand
pretty much the whole second half. That is better
than making every shot and winning by 35.”
12
Saniya Chong
Year: Fr.
Height: 5-8
Position: Guard
Hometown:
Ossining, N.Y.
SANIYA’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Chong had
a career-high
17 points
and 10 rebounds
against
Central Florida
on Feb. 10.
AlmostPerfection
AgainstStanfordStory by Jim Fuller | 11.12.2013
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Stefanie Dolson, and Kiah Stokes and Chiney Ogwumike | The Associated Press
DID YOU KNOW?
Chong was named
Parade All-American
Player of the Year
in 2013 after
averaging
34.4 points
and 9.1 assists
at Ossining
High School.
Scored at least
30 points in
51 of her 96
high school games.

I
T WAS A FORGONE CONCLUSION
that UConn would be selected as the pre-
season favorite during the inaugural Ameri-
can Athletic Conference season considering
the embarrassment of riches that UConn’s Hall of
Fame women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma
has to work with in his 29th season.
The only real question that needed to be
answered at media day at Mohegan Sun Arena
was which of Auriemma’s Huskies would be
picked as the AAC’s Preseason Player of the Year.
Sophomore forward Breanna Stewart was the
pick of the coaches, beating out her own teammates
in what was a fairly close contest.
Stewart came off a sensational performance
to lead the Huskies to an eighth national title
six months ago. Stewart averaged 26 points per
game in wins over Notre Dame and Louisville
to earn Most Outstanding Performer honors at
the Final Four. Now she looks to build on the
impressive ending to her freshman season.
“It is a nice honor, but what it is saying is if
you play well and you do really well this year then
maybe this will happen,” Stewart said. “I want to
obviously play well and start off in practice.”
There could be plenty to celebrate as UConn
returns more than 80 percent of the scoring and
rebounding from last year’s team.
“It is going to be real interesting this year,
real interesting,” Auriemma said. “I think this is
probably the most experienced, most successful
team we’ve had coming back since 2001 when we
won the national championship in 2000, we had
everybody coming back in 2001 and we added Di-
ana Taurasi. This will be interesting because that
was the most talented team I have ever coached,
the deepest and it didn’t work out (as UConn lost
in the national semifinals to Notre Dame). Things
kind of happened along the way to kind of derail
us (including the season-ending injuries suffered
by Svetlana Abrosimova and Shea Ralph), so I
know the pitfalls that are out there.”
Louisville, which lost to UConn in the na-
tional title game, was picked second and received
the only other first-place vote since Auriemma
was not allowed to vote for his own team.
South Florida and Rutgers were picked third
and fourth.
UConn’s Stefanie Dolson and Kaleena
Mosqueda-Lewis joined Stewart on the All-AAC
team which Bria Hartley was an honorable men-
tion selection.
Stewart, Dolson and Louisville’s Shoni
Schimmel were the only unanimous selections.
Stewart’s coaches and teammates are expecting
that the struggles she had during the regular season
as a freshman will be a thing of the past.
“I think it is a matter of being more consis-
tent. She was consistent for the whole month of
November last year and chunks of December
and she was really consistent for all of March,”
Auriemma said. “Now it is ‘what are you going
to do in between.’ I haven’t talked to her about
it yet, but I know it is a big emphasis to be really
consistently good every night instead of having
those peaks and valleys she had last year.
“I think the fact that we have a veteran team
coming back and even still it is a young team, we
have three sophomores that are going to play a
lot and fortunately we have two seniors (Dolson
and Hartley) who are going to be great leaders.
She won’t feel the pressure as much as she did last
year. I think we, the coaches, fans underestimate
what that does to you when you are a freshman.
You look at her numbers at the end of the year
and you say what did she average. How many
points? How many rebounds? Any other fresh-
man they would have been ecstatic, but with her
it was ‘oh, she had a lousy year’ so standards are
different for her.”
13
Brianna Banks
Year: Jr.
Height: 5-9
Position: Guard
Hometown:
Newnan, Ga.
BRIANNA’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Banks pulled down
a career-high
seven rebounds
in a non-conference
victory against
Ohio State
on Dec. 13.
NoSurprises:UConn
PickedtoWinAACStory by Jim Fuller | 10.14.2013
CHAMPION PROFILE
<Breanna Stewart and Brianna Banks | The Associated Press
DID YOU KNOW?
Banks was named
Georgia’s
Miss Basketball
in 2011
after averaging
16.2 points,
5.5 rebounds
and 5.1 assists
for Fayette County
High School.

NationalChamps
HistoricHuskies
2013-14: Memorable Season
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
NoSurprises:UConnPickedtoWinAAC
New League, Same Expectations for Huskies
AlmostPerfectionAgainstStanford
Win Over No. 2 Cardinals Sets Tone for Season
PlentyinReservewithChong,Banks
UConn Bench Steps Up When Needed Early
JeffersonFeelsRightatHomeinTexas
Homecoming a Pleasant One for Sophomore
NotAlwaysSoEasyforMosqueda-Lewis
Guard Battles Through Adversity to Help Huskies
UConnHasAnswersforItsFewCritics
Huskies React to Raucous Crowd at Baylor
AuriemmaEntersWoodenTerritory
Nine National Titles Puts Geno in Select Company
CoachHasBondwithDolson,Hartley
Auriemma Has Respect for Seniors as Players, People
UConnHasRespectofRutgers,Stringer
Rival Hall of Fame Coach Impressed with These Huskies
RollingtoaPerfectRegularSeason
For Seventh Time UConn Ends Regular Season Undefeated
AACChampionshipAlwaysintheCards
Huskies Handle Louisville for Third Time to Win First AAC Title
ASeventh-StraightBerthtoFinalFour
UConn Earns Trip to Nashville with Win Over Texas A&M
VictorySetsUpPerfectChallenge
Huskies Topple Stanford to Face Undefeated Notre Dame
HistoricConclusiontoaPerfectSeason
UConn Wins Unprecedented 9th Women’s Championship
<UConn women celebrate during parade | Arnold Gold — New Haven Register
DID YOU KNOW?
UConn has earned
26-striaght berths
into the NCAA
tournament, trailing
only Tennessee (33)
and Stanford (27).
The Huskies’
.851 winning
percentage
is the highest
of any program
in the
women’s
tournament.

CHAMPION PROFILE
NCAA2014Champs
UConnWomen—40-0
Coach
Geno
Auriemma
Year: 29th
Hometown:
Norristown, Pa.
GENO’S
SEASON HIGHLIGHT
Auriemma passed
Pat Summit
to become
career leader
for NCAA Division I
women’s basketball
coaching titles
with his ninth.
UConn Women history in NCAA tournament
1989 — lost to La Salle 72-63.
1990 — lost to Clemson 61-59.
1991 — beat Toledo 81-80; beat N.C. State 82-71; beat Clemson 60-57;
lost to Virginia 61-55. Final Four.
1992 — beat Saint Peter’s 83-66; lost to Vanderbilt 75-47.
1993 — lost to Louisville 74-71.
1994 — beat Brown 79-60; beat Auburn 81-59; beat Southern Mississippi
78-64; lost to North Carolina 81-69.
1995 — beat Maine 105-75; beat Virginia Tech 91-45; beat Alabama 87-56;
beat Virginia 67-63; beat Stanford 87-60; beat Tennessee 70-64.
NCAA champion.
1996 — beat Howard 94-63; beat Michigan State 88-68; beat San Francisco
72-44; beat Vanderbilt 67-57; lost to Tennessee 88-83, OT. Final Four.
1997 — beat Lehigh 103-35; beat Iowa 72-53; beat Illinois 78-73;
lost to Tennessee 91-81.
1998 — beat Fairfield 93-52; beat George Washington 75-67;
beat Arizona 74-57; lost to N.C. State 60-52.
1999 — beat St. Francis (Pa.) 97-46; beat Xavier 86-84; lost to Iowa State 64-58.
2000 — beat Hampton 116-45; beat Clemson 83-45;
beat Oklahoma 102-80; beat LSU 86-71; beat Penn State 89-67;
beat Tennessee 71-52. NCAA champion.
2001 — beat LIU 101-29; beat Colorado State 89-44; beat N.C. State 72-58;
beat Louisiana Tech 67-48; lost to Notre Dame 90-75. Final Four.
2002 — beat St. Francis (Pa.) 86-37; beat Iowa 86-48; beat Penn State
82-64; beat Old Dominion 85-64; beat Tennessee 79-56;
beat Oklahoma 82-70. NCAA champion.
2003 — beat Boston University 91-44; beat TCU 81-66; beat Boston College
70-49; beat Purdue 73-64; beat Texas 71-69; beat Tennessee 73-68.
NCAA champion.
2004 — beat Pennsylvania 91-55; beat Auburn 79-53;
beat UC Santa Barbara 63-55; beat Penn State 66-49;
beat Minnesota 67-58; beat Tennessee 70-61. NCAA champion.
2005 — beat Dartmouth 95-47; beat Florida State 70-52; lost to Stanford 76-59.
2006 — beat Coppin State 77-54; beat Virginia Tech 79-56;
beat Georgia 77-75; lost to Duke 63-61, OT.
2007 — beat UMBC 82-33; beat Green Bay 94-70; beat N.C. State 78-71;
lost to LSU 73-50.
2008 — beat Cornell 89-47; beat Texas 89-55; beat Old Dominion 76-63;
beat Rutgers 66-56; lost to Stanford 82-73. Final Four.
2009 — beat Vermont 104-65; beat Florida 67-59; beat California 77-53;
beat Arizona State 83-64; beat Stanford 83-64;
beat Lousiville 76-54. NCAA champion.
2010 — beat Southern U. 95-39; beat Temple 90-36; beat Iowa State 74-36;
beat Florida State 90-50; beat Baylor 70-50; beat Stanford 53-47.
NCAA champion.
2011 — beat Hartford 75-39; beat Purdue 64-40; beat Georgetown 68-63;
beat Duke 75-40; lost to Notre Dame 72-63. Final Four.
2012 — beat Prairie View 83-47; beat Kansas State 72-26; beat Penn State
77-59; beat Kentucky 80-65; lost to Notre Dame 83-75, OT. Final Four.
2013 — beat Idaho 105-37; beat Vanderbilt 77-44; beat Maryland 76-50;
beat Kentucky 83-53; beat Notre Dame 83-65;
beat Louisville 93-60. NCAA champion.
2014 — beat Prairie View 87-44; beat Saint Joseph’s 91-59; beat BYU 70-51;
beat Texas A&M 69-54; beat Stanford 75-56;
beat Kentucky 60-54; beat Notre Dame 79-58. NCAA champion.
SCHEDULE
UC OPP
89. . . . . . . Hartford. . . . . . . 34
76. . . . . . . Stanford . . . . . . . 57
72. . . . . . at Maryland. . . . . . 55
71. . . . . . at Penn St.. . . . . . . 52
114 . . . . . . . Oregon. . . . . . . . 68
96. . . . . . . Boston U.. . . . . . . 38
100. . . Monmouth (N.J.). . . . 46
88. . . . St. Bonaventure. . . . 39
70. . . . . . . Ohio St.. . . . . . . . 49
97. . . . . . . UC Davis. . . . . . . 37
83. . . . . . . at Duke. . . . . . . . 61
80. . . . . . California. . . . . . . 47
67. . . . . . Cincinnati. . . . . . . 34
77. . . . . . . . at UCF. . . . . . . . 49
90. . . . . . at Memphis. . . . . . 49
90. . . . . . . Houston . . . . . . . 40
80. . . . . . . . Temple. . . . . . . . 36
66. . . . . . . at Baylor. . . . . . . 55
94. . . . . . . at Rutgers. . . . . . . 64
83. . . . . . . Memphis. . . . . . . 49
81. . . . . South Florida. . . . . 53
93. . . . . . . at Temple. . . . . . . 56
86. . . . . at Cincinnati. . . . . .29
102. . . . . . . . SMU. . . . . . . . . 41
81. . . . . . . Louisville. . . . . . . 64
63. . . . at South Florida. . . . 38
83. . . . . . . . . UCF. . . . . . . . . 35
92. . . . . . at Houston. . . . . . 41
81. . . . . . . at SMU. . . . . . . . 48
73. . . . . . . . Rutgers. . . . . . . . 35
68. . . . . . at Louisville. . . . . . 48
72. . . . . Cincinnati-x. . . . . . 42
83. . . . . . . Rutgers-x. . . . . . . 57
72. . . . . . Louisville-x. . . . . . 52
87. . . . . Prairie View-y. . . . . 44
91. . . . Saint Joseph’s-y . . . . 52
70. . . . . . . . BYU-y. . . . . . . . 51
69. . . . . Texas A&M-y. . . . . 54
75. . . . . . Stanford-y. . . . . . . 56
79. . . . . Notre Dame-y. . . . . 58
x-AAC tournament
y-NCAA tournament
<UConn players carry coach Geno Auriemma | The Associated Press
DID YOU KNOW?
UConn has won
30 or more games
in nine-straight
seasons and in
19 of the past
21 seasons.
The Huskies have
won 35 or more
games six times,
including each of
the past two seasons.

Historic
Huskies2013-14:MEMORABLESEASON
UConnWomenWin
2014NCAATitle
NEW HAVEN REGISTER
THE MIDDLETOWN PRESS
THE REGISTER CITIZEN
CONNECTICUT MAGAZINE

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