{"id":640814,"date":"2026-03-05T11:20:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T11:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/640814\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T11:20:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T11:20:29","slug":"uconns-sarah-strong-the-athletics-womens-basketball-player-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/640814\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn\u2019s Sarah Strong: The Athletic\u2019s women\u2019s basketball Player of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"UConn<\/p>\n

Sarah Strong dominated in almost every way imaginable this season. Federico Torres \/ NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

March 5, 2026 6:01 am EST<\/p>\n

Earlier this season, UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Sarah Strong plays basketball as though she\u2019s never rushed or sped up. That\u2019s rare for a young player, but it only takes watching Strong play a few possessions to understand what Auriemma meant. There\u2019s this flow and an unhurried decisiveness to her game that indicates she\u2019s more mature than most 19-year-old sophomores. \u201cThe game is, like, in her soul,\u201d Auriemma said.<\/p>\n

Strong was The Athletic\u2019s national freshman of the year last season, and her postseason play was even better. Her 114 points in the NCAA Tournament set a record, as her play down the stretch was arguably the tipping point for UConn\u2019s national title run.<\/p>\n

This season, she averaged 18.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 3.2 steals and 1.6 blocks per game. More impressively, she did so in an historic manner, shooting 59.5 percent from the floor, 40.7 percent from beyond the arc and 88.1 percent from the free-throw line. According to the defensive rating statistic, no player has had a better defensive season since at least 2009.<\/p>\n

There was little debate among our voters (Chantel Jennings, Sabreena Merchant, Zena Keita and Eden Laase), as three voted for Strong as The Athletic\u2019s women\u2019s basketball Player of the Year. Vanderbilt guard Mikayla Blakes, a sophomore, received the other vote.<\/p>\n

At this point, the UConn-dominance-is-boring crowd has had years to debate during the reigns of several incredible players. But Strong seems to be on track to become the next generational great, and quite possibly by the end of her career, the best to ever come through Storrs.<\/p>\n

Expect additions to her highlight reel throughout March as Strong and the Huskies look poised for another long NCAA Tournament run.<\/p>\n

\"Connections:\"Connections:<\/p>\n

Mar 5, 2026<\/p>\n

Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n

Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n

Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n

Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sarah Strong dominated in almost every way imaginable this season. Federico Torres \/ NurPhoto via Getty Images March…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,6133,6135],"class_list":{"0":"post-640814","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-connecticut-huskies","10":"tag-womens-college-basketball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116176306641645116","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}