UConn star Stewart a cut above the rest

TAMPA, Fla. - They all go to Connecticut now with the same thought: Get to the Final Four, play a couple of more games, cut down nets. When Breanna Stewart was a senior in high school, at Cicero North outside Syracuse, already committed to UConn, talking on the phone with her future coach, she used to up the ante, saying she wanted to win four NCAA titles.

Who was Geno Auriemma to throw water on it?

"Expecting to do it and then being good enough to do it and then paying the cost of what it takes to do it, those are all variables that you don't know going in," Auriemma said Monday afternoon at Amalie Arena, preparing to face Notre Dame on Tuesday with his 10th NCAA title on the line.

Irish players have faced Stewart, and that familiarity takes out the typical UConn intimidation factor, as Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw pointed out. The Irish lost to UConn in December, but Stewart only shot 3 for 12. Plus, Notre Dame's stars have played with her on USA Basketball teams.

"There's no definite answer how to play her," said Irish guard Michaela Mabrey. "She's so gifted, inside and out. There's no answer to guarding her. You've just got to make her take tough shots."

And don't forget to box her out, Mabrey added. The 6-foot-4 forward is averaging 17.8 points and 7.6 rebounds this season, up to 20.8 and 9.6 in this NCAA tournament.

It's easy to say now that Auriemma knew what he had in Stewart, a two-time national high school player of the year, now a two-time national college player of the year, one of five in the history of the women's game to accomplish that, still only a junior.

"Hard to tell when kids are in high school how much they can handle, physically, emotionally," Auriemma said. "You really can't tell. Sometimes you might get an inkling, but with Stewie, there was none. There was no foreshadowing anything. Only her amazing talent."

She can nail three-pointers (making 42.8 percent in the NCAAs) or extend her arm out for rebounds nobody else can reach. That versatility translated immediately to the college game.

"It was pretty evident during her freshman year she was going to be great," her coach said.

She just wasn't yet, not early on. You saw only the flashes.

"She couldn't take you being hard on her," Auriemma said. "She couldn't take the other teams' being physical with her. It was all brand new to her . . . you saw her yesterday, the way people just foul her on every possession, trying to get her out of her game."

True, there will be moments you'll see Stewart kind of stumble. She does not do that if there hasn't been some kind of push on her hip or elsewhere. She does not appear to stumble around the halls of arenas before practice. As a freshman, the newness of it all created a crisis of confidence.

"She lost her ability to play basketball because it was a shock to her system," Auriemma said. "She had never been under that kind of duress in her life. She's 18. And since she's 14, it's been a magical ride for her. Everything she touched turned to gold."

It wasn't just the games. UConn's practices can be the toughest part of the week. Stewart remembers getting really frustrated - "things weren't going my way. Coach was on me. He was riding me the whole practice."

You get pushed to the point where you don't think she can go anymore, she said. Then once you get over the wall . . .

"He was like, 'There you go, do that all the time,' " Stewart said.

Turns out, she could. UConn still is undefeated in the NCAAs in the Breanna Stewart era. Yes, she has great talent alongside her. So did Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi and other greats. But eras are defined by the best of them.

"That freshman year, that kid got knocked senseless," Auriemma said. "When March came around, she just took over the tournament, after doing nothing all of January and February. That's when I realized that this kid's got something that very few kids have."

Stewart played five minutes at Memphis 48 hours before UConn was to face then-No. 1 South Carolina in early February. It was a win-win for the coach. He rested three of his rotation players, and also set them on fire. Stewart had 22 points in the 25-point win over South Carolina.

"When it's a big game and big plays and big moments, man, I've had some great ones," Auriemma said Monday afternoon. "But this kid's something else. She's something else."