PHOENIX – TWO DAYS Before the Final Four, Sarah Strong was so nervous she couldn't eat.
But the UConn Huskies superstar wasn't looking forward to his team's upcoming national semifinal matchup against South Carolina or that the Huskies were two wins away from an undefeated season and clinching back-to-back NCAA championships.
It had nothing to do with basketball. He is very afraid of speaking in public.
Strong nearly received the Naismith Trophy for national player of the year. The ceremony honoring her and other award finalists was imminent. He would have to go up on stage to receive his trophy and give some remarks in front of a crowd.
In other words: a mix of things that Strong – known for her reserved public nature, her terse responses at press conferences and her disinterest in the spotlight – would prefer to overlook.
“It's the strangest thing,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said last month. “Theoretically, those two things don't go together: 'I want to be the best player in the country,' but then when people say, 'Oh, there's Sarah Strong, she's the best player in the country.'” (Auriemma physically backs away as he imitates Strong) “she hides from that.”
If they ever existed, the days of Strong hiding behind the scenes are long gone. His talent made it impossible. Last April, Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley deemed her capable of being UConn's best start, and she has done nothing to dissuade that notion. Leading the No. 1 Huskies in points, rebounds, steals and blocks, Strong has swept the national player of the year awards to date.
None of that matters to Strong: He might be the only person to describe winning the Naismith as a “cool side quest.” But his maturation on and off the court into the star the Huskies need him to be could be the key to a resurgence of a dynasty, if all goes according to plan this weekend at UConn in Phoenix.
“She's a kid who wants to fit in,” said North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart, who recruited Strong while she was attending high school in Durham in hopes of keeping her in-state. “I think he realizes now that his version of fitting in is simply being better than everyone else.
“I think he's just starting to understand the strength that Sarah Strong has.”
1:46
What makes UConn so dangerous this season?
Carolyn Peck joins “Get Up” to discuss the keys to UConn's Final Four matchup against South Carolina.
AZZI FUDD WAS NOT I'm not sure what to think about Strong when they roomed together during the Huskies' trip to the Bahamas around Thanksgiving 2024. Despite being roommates for a week, Fudd estimates that most of their conversations lasted about 30 seconds.
Other teammates have similar stories about their first encounters with Strong. For Allie Ziebell, a fellow sophomore who took her official visit to Storrs with Strong, the combination of their easygoing personalities made for a difficult match. “Honestly, I feel like every interaction with Sarah that I had before was very awkward,” Ziebell said, laughing.
Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore Jana El Alfy ran into Strong at a FIBA event in Hungary before they became Huskies and thought, “Either she hates me or she's just shy.”
Once on campus, Strong came out of his shell off the court. The Huskies describe her as a goofball, someone who can easily pick up new skills and excels (almost annoyingly) at everything she tries. Ziebell describes her as the first friend who checks on someone when they're having a bad day.
On the court, Strong's versatility, IQ and smoothness were immediately evident.
“[If] “You're building a player, how could you build something different, better?” Auriemma said recently. But playing alongside senior stars Fudd and Paige Bueckers, the No. 1 pick in last year's WNBA draft, meant Strong tended to defer to others.
“Usually as a freshman, you come in and you want to earn everyone's respect,” Bueckers told ESPN. “You don't want to step on any toes… I wanted her to think it was her team, to feel confident enough to take over a game and not have to give in to Paige, give in to Azzi.”
That change occurred last March. Strong had 22 points and 17 rebounds in the Elite Eight and 24 points and 15 rebounds in the national title game. She left Tampa, Florida, with a worthy case for Final Four Most Outstanding Player, and with viewers wondering how she could top her freshman season.
WITH BUECKERS OFF For the WNBA and the program preparing for Fudd's departure, a more aggressive second season for Strong was a mandate. She needed to become more confident and assertive, more comfortable not only leading by example but also using her voice.
And he needed to agree to take over games when the Huskies needed him, even if that went against his nature as, in Banghart's words, a person as “more or less egoless as there is on the planet.”
“His biggest flaw is his altruism,” Bueckers said, “and I think that's his superpower, too.”
“I think also [it’s about] help reframe what it is to be selfish,” added Allison Feaster, Strong's mother and a former Harvard star who for two seasons led the nation in scoring in the 1990s. “If your team needs your score, if your team needs the ball to get to your hands, the team needs you to put pressure on the other team's defense in whatever way that may be, then to do the opposite, to me, is being selfish.”
Game after game, Strong has bounced back and proven to be the most dominant player in the game. Her 31 career games in which she scored at least 20 points are tied with Breanna Stewart for the most by a UConn player during her first two seasons with the program in the last 25 seasons. With 26 more points, she can break Maya Moore's UConn record for most points in a player's first two NCAA tournaments; With 33 points, she can beat Chamique Holdsclaw's record (for any player).
“She's much more comfortable being herself, just authentically herself,” said UConn junior Ashlynn Shade. “I think that also carries over to her on the court, because she is so powerful, so strong, so confident, that she is just unstoppable.”
And when UConn needed her most in March, Strong delivered.
In the Sweet 16, the Huskies fell behind after the first quarter for the second time this season, their offense sulking against North Carolina's stingy defense. Strong scored three consecutive baskets in the second quarter and scored 11 points in the period to shift the lead and momentum in UConn's favor.
The Huskies were up 28-20 at halftime, and Strong spoke in the locker room before Auriemma entered, telling his teammates that if they played their game, the Tar Heels couldn't stop him. After the win, she described that moment as perhaps the first time this season she felt comfortable speaking in an environment like that.
“I'm not going to be the one doing the talking and saying most of the things, but if I say something here and there, it's going to have a big impact when I do it,” Strong said. “I know the team looks up to me and Azzi, so we try to do a good job leading.”
Two days later, the Huskies were in a dogfight against Notre Dame. They had trouble getting strong touches early on. After playing 38 minutes in the previous match, her tired legs, she admitted after the match, caused her to be more stagnant than usual.
But she acknowledged that her team needed her to show up. And in the second half, he had 15 of UConn's 38 points. She found her mother in the stands after securing the victory, leaning exhausted over the courtside statistics board. “You held on, baby,” Feaster told him, as Strong wiped his forehead and let out an “ugh.”
“She knows that when it comes time to win games, she has a big responsibility,” Auriemma said. “Some players avoid it and she likes it”
Feaster and Auriemma don't think she feels pressure. She just sees it, they say, as doing whatever it takes to win.
“Honestly, I don't think the things he's doing individually register in his mind,” Feaster said. “I don't know how she reflected on being a national champion in her first season. It's not something that motivates her, the individual aspect.”
His ease and calm, in turn, have become the team's personality this season, helping the Huskies carry the burden of an undefeated record with a relative ease that has surprised even Auriemma.
“Sarah has a level of trust that I think takes them to a place where they couldn't be alone or maybe with someone different,” Auriemma said. “So they play with confidence knowing they have it, and that's probably the best compliment I can give them.”
1:26
UConn defeats Notre Dame to advance to Final Four
UConn heads to Phoenix for the Final Four after defeating Notre Dame.
STRONG'S TEAMS TAKE They take their phones out of their pockets and have them on standby. The Naismith ceremony official is about to announce the player of the year. And Strong is ready.
The Huskies rise to their feet and erupt in cheers when Strong's name is called and she takes the stage. They start singing “speak! speak! speak!”
Strong approaches the podium and stands tall, unwavering. He had spent the previous day preparing some comments with UConn's sports information director. Strong speaks for 45 seconds: “I don't say much, but I really love you,” he tells his teammates as he signs off, before returning to his seat with a smile.
That is not the last of Strong's demands. Naismith officials ask him to do a media circuit, speaking with local reporters, CBS and even an interview with ESPN's Scott Van Pelt. There's more the next day. She's been named the Associated Press player of the year as well as the winner of the Wade Trophy for player of the year, which means more ceremonies, more standing ovations, more media and more acceptance speeches.
At Wade's festivities, less than 24 hours before the Final Four game against South Carolina, he was asked if he wanted to make any comments.
“No,” he says, “I've said enough.”
He's saving the rest for the court.
