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At 19, UConn's Taurasi emerges as star

The freshman takes a lead role after two starters are injured.

By ANTONYA ENGLISH

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 30, 2001

ST. LOUIS -- Diana Taurasi is a 19-year-old freshman playing her first season of big-time collegiate women's basketball.

Her Connecticut team is in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament and Taurasi is an integral part of the Huskies' quest for consecutive championships.

When UConn plays Big East foe Notre Dame at 9:30 tonight in the semifinals, Taurasi will be in the starting lineup.

That's the biggest surprise of all.

On a team that entered the season laden with All-Americans and All-Big East players, Taurasi was supposed to spend this season watching and learning, contributing here and there.

But with senior stars Svetlana Abrosimova and Shea Ralph suffering season-ending injuries, Taurasi is not only playing, she has emerged as a big-time star. Young, but impressive.

"I have to live with her every day, so I see her freshman side," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Thursday. "But what people see on the court is absolutely right, she doesn't play like a freshman. She is a little girl playing a big girl's game right now. We have all been here before so we understand the pressures of going into this weekend and what it's all about. But she's a freshman, she doesn't know any better, so she thinks there are just more basketball games to be played."

Taurasi's unassuming style is evident by her reaction to making it to the Final Four:

"It's an awesome feeling. This whole tournament has been a lot of fun. I've never been to a Final Four so I'm really excited."

What immediately captures your attention is the way Taurasi plays. She's all flair, finesse and fearlessness. She beats people off the dribble and will pull up and take a shot from anywhere.

"She has NBA range," Notre Dame guard Niele Ivey said. "She can shoot over anyone. I think she's playing really, really great basketball right now."

The 6-foot guard averages 11.3 points and scored 22 in 31 minutes in the Big East quarterfinal game against Rutgers. She became the first rookie to earn Big East tournament most outstanding player honors, and she earned the same honor in the East Region. In the past two games, she has averaged 20.5 points.

"I think she has played like an All-American," ESPN analyst Nancy Lieberman-Cline said. "I know Geno probably wanted Diana to come in and pay her dues, play defense and really learn the game from Shea, Svet and Sue (Bird), but she really went on the accelerated program. . . . Their two studs went down and she stepped up the head of the class. There aren't many players that can do what she's done. She's effortless and so much fun to watch."

The bond between Taurasi and Auriemma is unique, bound by common ground between the coach and father, who were born in neighboring towns in Italy. Taurasi's father doesn't speak English well, which Auriemma said reminded him of his parents, who are not fluent in the language.

"The home visit was done a lot in Italian, not English," Auriemma said. "It was pretty unique. And I could relate to what Diana is doing because when I was in high school, my parents had no idea what I was doing. They had never been to school. . . . Her parents weren't in a position to help her make a decision or help her with the recruiting process. So I knew what she was going through and we connected on some level."

Tonight's game is the third this season between the Huskies and the Fighting Irish. Their most recent meeting, the Big East championship game, was decided by two points on Bird basket at the buzzer, which has led to big expectations for this game.

But Auriemma said it's a mistake to label tonight's game as the national title game.

"That's disrespectful to the other two teams," he said.

Whatever tonight's outcome, Auriemma fully expects Taurasi to be a factor.

"She plays the game like she's in a playground with a bunch of kids and that's probably the way you should play it," he said. "If more people played like she does, it would be a better game to watch."

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