The post Napheesa Collier unwraps why she never wanted to play for UConn women’s basketball appeared first on ClutchPoints.
With the current UConn women’s basketball team led by Azzi Fudd in the post-Paige Bueckers era, there is no doubt that the program has and will continue to produce major WNBA talent. As head coach Geno Auriemma has been legendary with the UConn women’s basketball team, one talent from the school that has made an impact at the WNBA level is Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier.
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The sixth overall pick from the 2019 WNBA Draft has been a bona fide star this season as she is averaging 23.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists, while shooting 53.7 percent from the field. She would show her talents first with the Huskies, though she mentioned the original intention was not to play for the prestigious university for basketball, since she wanted to beat them.
“I did not want to go to UConn when I was like looking at schools,” Collier said to fellow UConn alum Sue Bird on her podcast. “To be fair, that at this point, I hadn’t been recruited by UConn yet. I’m like, I don’t want to go there anyway. But they’re just so good. I mean, UConn, as you know, you started it.”
“They’re the standard, and I’ve always kind of been where I don’t want to join, now you call them like super teams, but I didn’t want to be like on the best team,” Collier said. “I wanted to be able to beat the best team because that means you’re the best. If you’re able to beat the best, that means that you are the new best.”
Napheesa Collier on UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
While the UConn women’s basketball team is lighting up the recruiting trail in the hopes of finding more top-notch stars, Collier would eventually budge and join the program. It was due to the conversations she had with Auriemma and how he changed her mind “thoroughly.”
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“But of course coach did end up recruiting me. So, I was like, okay, well, I have to take the visit,” Collier said. “Even though I’m not going, I have to take the visit. And I went there, and I was just like, he just convinced me so thoroughly.”
“And it’s the opposite of what every other coach did,” Collier said. “He didn’t guarantee me a starting spot. He didn’t say that I’m the best thing ever to grace the basketball world. And that is what sold me.”
At any rate, Auriemma looks to continue his excellence with the Huskies next season, looking for a second straight national championship after winning last season led by Bueckers. The UConn women’s basketball team starts exhibition play on Oct. 13 against Boston College and the opener on Nov. 4 facing Louisville.
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