TAMPA, FLA.
On its face, it felt like a perfect match.
Sarah Strong was the No. 1 overall women’s basketball recruit, and she was Carolinas through and through. Her mother and her father played high school ball in South Carolina. Her mom was WNBA teammates with Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley in Charlotte. Strong herself was dominating the competition in Sanford, North Carolina, putting up monster numbers three hours from USC’s campus.
When a player has that sort of track record and that sort of background, Staley and her national championship-winning South Carolina program usually don’t miss.
About that …
After a recruiting process that lasted well into the spring, Strong committed to play for UConn and coach Geno Auriemma instead of South Carolina and other major schools last April. She’s been an instant star and picked up awards galore.
Now, she’s in Tampa along with the No. 2 Huskies — and the No. 1 Gamecocks, who could be in for a Sunday national championship date with UConn if both teams win their semifinal games Friday (South Carolina vs. Texas, UConn vs. UCLA).
But if you ask Strong, her recruitment wasn’t that close.
“I mean, South Carolina was big in my recruiting process,” Strong said from the Huskies’ locker room on Thursday. “But I was more focused on UConn.”
Was it always going to be UConn?
“Yeah,” Strong said. “I’d say UConn was always the leader.”
HOW DID USC MISS? STALEY WONDERS
Staley’s had some fun with the situation. Before South Carolina hosted UConn in February, she was discussing the Huskies’ star freshman forward and her relationship with Strong’s mother, Allison Feaster, and admitted, both joking and earnest: “I don’t know how we get Sarah Strong, right? I don’t.”
“But they did a great job recruiting her,” she said. “Think she felt comfortable there. It seems like a really good fit for her and her being able to utilize all of her skill set.”
