OK, let's spend a little more time projecting the career trajectory of Breanna Stewart as a college player.
So, we've talked about the all-time starting five for UConn being Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Rebecca Lobo, and Tina Charles. I believe the consensus is that Stewie will make it onto the starting five when all is said and done with her college career.
Given that, let's talk about something equally frivolous, nonetheless fun: the so-called Mount Rushmore of UConn WCBB. Whose four faces should appear in stone on the side of a mountain as THE greatest influences of the program? And will Stewie merit one of those places when she graduates?
Firstly, we could discuss who belongs on Mt. Rushmore now. I considered starting a separate thread on that very topic, but there was no good way to create an adequate poll with only seven choices, even with the option of allowing a selection of multiple responses. I simply would be insulting someone who at least deserves to be on the poll but I omitted.
If I had to vote for four players, it would go to Diana, Maya, Rebecca, and Kerry Bascom. I think if you evaluate what they've accomplished and whether UConn as a program was at that level of accomplishment already, you have to hand it to these four. UConn had never been to a Final four before Kerry, had never won a national championship before Rebecca, had never three-peated before Diana, and had never won 71 games in a row, much less 90, before Maya. All of those milestones were monumental in and of themselves, so those four players arguably deserve to be on the monument.
You could, of course, make a case for Sue Bird (who really moved UConn WCBB forward in a big way), Jenn Rizzotti (who some might argue was as important to UConn as Rebecca was), Tina Charles (the complement of the pair of aces who won 78 of those 90 games in a row), or maybe someone else whose name adorns the Huskies of Honor wall.
You could also make the case for a young woman who's been the Final Four MOP twice en route to winning two more national championships for UConn. I refer, of course, to Breanna Stewart. The point is that you could say that not only WILL Stewie end up on Mount Rushmore, but she's already done it.
Some of you, possibly the majority of you, may argue that Stewie will add to her accomplishments by the time she's finished her college career, and once she does, she will absolutely belong on Mt. Rushmore...but she still has to play out those two years.
Yet another argument you could make is that you worry about how much is at stake over the next two WCBB seasons, and you think Stewie might fall short of expectations. If that happens, that would keep her out of South Dakota.
Finally, some of you might say it's wonderful what she has accomplished, and possibly will accomplish, but bottom line, she doesn't even commit to UConn to begin with if it weren't for the contributions of the four women I asserted belong on Mt. Rushmore today.
Well, I think I've summarized the points that could be made about both sets of issues. Who "belongs" on the UConn WCBB Mt. Rushmore today? And does Stewie make it by April 2016, if indeed she shouldn't be there already?
