Particularly incisive article by NY Times on Crystal with great quotes and thoughts from Crystal, Reeve, Katie Smith and Geno
Minnesota Lynx guard Crystal Dangerfield wasn’t a top pick, and her coach didn’t plan to play her much. Now she’s the rookie of the year, and leading her Lynx through the playoffs.
www.nytimes.com
“Freshman year at UConn is unlike any other. You go in having felt like you could do anything on the court, and that is stripped away,” Dangerfield said. “You have to learn that system, learn what they’re asking you to do about playing hard and stuff like that. I feel like after you go through that, you’re good. Nothing’s going to have you too high or too low.”
As Auriemma watched from home on Thursday as Dangerfield faced off against the Mercury, he was reminded of the
2019 N.C.A.A. tournament game against U.C.L.A. in which Dangerfield scored 11 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter to give UConn a 69-61 win and a trip to the round of 8.
“During the game and after the game she was very emotional because there was something that she wanted to do, and she felt great about her accomplishments. And I saw that the other night,” Auriemma said.
“She’s got a motivation about her,’’ said Katie Smith, a Lynx assistant coach. “She knows that she can hang in this league, but I think that also has helped fuel her.”
“She just shows up every day and doesn’t talk a whole lot, just goes out, does it,’’ Smith added. “I’m not necessarily surprised, but just happy because she’s really been a huge piece of why we are where we are right now.”
“I was talking to Katie earlier today and was like, I have a long list for her in the off-season,’’ Reeve told reporters on Saturday. “And then I thought, what the hell am I going to wait for the off-season for? Why don’t I tell her now and let’s see if she can’t evolve? Anything we’ve given her, she’s done a great job of.”
and end with a Tweet from LaChina