UConn women's basketball

Svetlana Abrosimova will forever be regarded as one of the top players in the history of the program. But when it comes to this decade Swin Cash is the top small forward.
Cash started 33 games as a junior and averaged 12.2 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds in helping the Huskies advance to the Final Four in 2000-01. She then put together her best season in 2001-02 on what is arguably the best team of all-time.
Cash led the Huskies in scoring (14.9) and rebounding (8.6) and also averaged 2.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks in 27.8 minutes. UConn finished 39-0 in winning the national championship. Cash was named an All-American.
Here is the best of the rest …
Abrosimova was averaging a team-high 14.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.8 steals in 24.5 minutes as a senior in 2000-01 before a foot injury at Tennessee ended her career after just 19 games.
Kalana Greene, who will be a fifth-year senior this season, burst onto the scene as a sophomore in 2006-07 when she started all 36 games. She averaged career-highs of 12.4 points and 7.5 rebounds in 29.1 minutes. She also averaged 13.3 points and 9.5 rebounds in 32.2 minutes in four NCAA tournament games that season.
Greene returned last season to average 8.7 points and 4.6 rebounds in 25.4 minutes after a knee injury ended her junior season in 2007-08 after just eight games.
Ashley Battle is one of the most unsung players in team history. She evolved into a valuable reserve for the Huskies and was a member of three national championship teams.
Battle enjoyed her best season in 2002-03 when she averaged 8.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.5 steals in 22.4 minutes in 37 games (13 starts). She was also named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year that season.
Tomorrow I will take a look at the power forward spot.

Rich

Three-time national champion Diana Taurasi is regarded as the greatest player ever to pass through the program. She is arguably the best player in the history of the sport and she is currently one of the top players in world having earned two Olympic gold medals. Of course, Taurasi is easy choice as the top UConn shooting guard of the decade.
Taurasi, who also played plenty of time at the point in her final two seasons, was so often unstoppable. She virtually carried the Huskies to the national championship in 2003 and 2004, especially during her junior season when she averaged an absurd 26.2 points and scored 157 points.

Here is the best of the rest …
Shea Ralph completed her gutsy, All-American five-year career by playing in 30 games during the 2000-01 season, one that ended with the Huskies reaching the Final Four. She averaged 9.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.8 steals in 23.7 minutes before missing the NCAA tournament run.
Ann Strother played – and started – in all 38 games as a freshman in 2002-03 and never looked back. She averaged in double figures in scoring in each season, leading the Huskies at 12.9 and 13.1 in her final two years, respectively.
Strother, who was a starter in 142 of her 143 games in her career, was also a part of two national championship teams in 2003 and 2004.
Mel Thomas used her determination, hustle, grit and her deadly long-range shooting touch to become a contributor for the Huskies. She moved into a starting role as a sophomore and averaged double figures in her final three years before her career was abruptly ended by a torn ACL in the 16th game of her senior season at Syracuse in 2007-08.

Tomorrow I will take a look at the small forward spot.

Rich

In looking back at the last nine seasons to find the top point guards in team history it isn’t hard to find a player that stands above the rest. How can you not tab Sue Bird as the best of the group? She was the top pick in the 2002 WNBA draft and has since won two Olympic gold medals.
Bird led the Huskies to a record of 71-3 in her final two seasons in 2000-01 and 2001-02 and two trips to the Final Four. She capped her career by leading UConn to a 39-0 finish and the national championship by averaging 14.4 points, 5.9 assists and 2.5 steals in 29.9 minutes in 2001-02. She also shot 46.6 percent from 3-point range and was named the national Player of the Year.
Renee Montgomery is No. 2 in this list. Last season the entire country found out what type of leader and big-game player she is when she led the Huskies to a 39-0 finish and their first national championship since 2004.
Montgomery was forced into a leadership role when she was a freshman and she evolved into an All-American and the best point guard in the country as a senior. Had it not been for teammate Maya Moore, Montgomery would have garnered strong consideration for national Player of Year honors. She averaged 16.5 points, 5.1 assists and 1.6 steals in 31.7 minutes as a senior.
Ketia Swanier assembled the best season of her career as a senior in 2007-08 when the Huskies returned to the Final Four for the first time since 2004. She averaged 7.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 24.7 minutes. Swanier made 13 starts and also averaged 8.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 31.4 minutes in five games during the NCAA tournament.
Maria Conlon is not a player that jumps out at you when considering the top point guards of the decade. Her overall numbers were not flashy. But what she was steady while existing in the same backcourt as All-American Diana Taurasi. And what stands out is Conlon’s reliability in the biggest game a team can play as she committed just one turnover in 72 minutes against Tennessee in the national championship game in 2003 and 2004.
Conlon totaled 11 points, six assists, four rebounds and no turnovers in 39 minutes in 2003. She then totaled seven points, five assists, two rebounds and one turnover in 33 minutes in 2004.

Tomorrow I will take a look at the shooting guard spot. Take a guess at who will top that list …

Rich

Tina Charles proved last season that she is one of the top players in the country in playing an All-American role in the Huskies’ drive toward their sixth national championship. As you know, she was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player after dumping 25 points and a team NCAA tournament record 19 rebounds on Louisville in the final.
Charles continued to ride her tidal wave of success and notoriety this off-season, reaching a new height with an impressive showing as a member of the U.S National Team at the UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational in Russia over the weekend. She averaged 12.3 points, 6.7 rebounds in 16.7 minutes off the bench as Team USA finished 3-0.
Charles was second on the team in scoring and rebounding behind Angel McCoughtry, who averaged 15.3 points and 7.3 rebounds. She reached double figures in scoring and had at least five rebounds in all three games, finishing with 10 points and eight rebounds in a tournament-high 22 minutes in Sunday’s 78-63 win over previously unbeaten UMMC Ekaterinburg.
There have been some rumblings that Charles could give Maya Moore a run in the race for national Player of the Year honors this season. If she plays to her potential that’s not something that’s completely out of reach for Charles.

The Huskies will close out the decade with the 2009-10 season. Starting tomorrow I will begin to take a look back at some of the top players by position dating back to the 2000-01 season. It has been quite a decade so far. UConn has compiled a record of 303-27 (.918) over the last nine seasons, with two undefeated seasons, eight 30-win seasons, four national championships, six trips to the Final Four, seven Big East regular season championships and six conference tournament championships.

Rich

Sitting by the pool while vacationing in Tampa, I came across a tidbit I felt I should pass along to my faithful readers. ESPN HoopGurlz is reporting that Huskies’ target Cassie Harberts, a 6-foot-2 forward from San Clemente, Calif., has made an oral commitment to attend Arizona State.
I had a hunch something was up when Russ Davis, Harberts’ AAU coach with the California Swish, did not respond to an e-mail that was sent Sept. 23. He was easily accessible and very accommodating when Lauren Engeln, a 5-11 guard from Laguna Hills, Calif. who also plays for the Swish, gave an oral commitment to UConn in April.
Harberts had initially committed to USC before reopening the recruiting process when former coach Mark Trakh resigned in March.
UConn remains heavily involved with Bria Hartley, a 5-10 point guard from North Babylon, N.Y, and Chiney Ogwumike, a 6-3 post player from Cypress, Texas. Both players are expected to make official visits during the weekend of Oct. 16-17 when they will attend the Supershow and the season’s first official practice. The four players that have already given the Huskies an oral commitment – Samarie Walker, a 6-1 swingman from Dayton, Ohio, Stefanie Dolson, a 6-5 center from Port Jervis, N.Y., Michala Johnson, a 6-3 forward from Lombard, Ill., and Engeln – are also expected to be on campus that weekend.

Now back to my regularly scheduled activities …

Rich