UConnCat
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Storrs — Last year's seven freshmen, including National Player of the Year Paige Bueckers, referred to Evina Westbrook as "Momma E," an affectionate tribute to Westbrook's leadership role as a captain and confidante for the members of the UConn women's basketball team.
It turns out Bueckers and Co. are somewhat territorial about the nickname for Westbrook, so this year's freshmen had to come up with something different. They went with "Grandma E" for the 23-year-old redshirt senior guard.
"I'm trying to change that narrative," Westbrook said Friday inside the lobby of the Werth Champions Center, where UConn was about to practice for the first time this season. "I'm cool with 'Momma E,' but 'Grandma E,' I'm not sold on it yet. I just, I'm not really sold on 'Grandma' yet. I'm not that old."
"She's accepted it and I think she loves it now," freshman Azzi Fudd said. "She won't admit it ... but she answers to it."
That's part of the reason why I was shaking my head at so many Uconn fans being upset about her not receiving a waiver, or for that matter wondering why Geno requested one. After the initial blowup it was reported she had some health issues to address and that year off helped her to heal. I liked her from day 1 at UT and was impressed by her. She didn't look like a point guard that she was trying to become but she had talent. She likely needed some time to mature and it sounds as though she has.I’m glad that Evina didn’t play during the 2019-20 season because that would have been a complete waste of a year. Also, she wasn’t fully healed then… as we saw during the 2020-21 season. During her freshman season at Tennessee, I always wondered why UCONN never recruited her. I think that Geno stated that he didn’t think that she would have came to UCONN.
That's part of the reason why I was shaking my head at so many Uconn fans being upset about her not receiving a waiver, or for that matter wondering why Geno requested one. After the initial blowup it was reported she had some health issues to address and that year off helped her to heal. I liked her from day 1 at UT and was impressed by her. She didn't look like a point guard that she was trying to become but she had talent. She likely needed some time to mature and it sounds as though she has.