UConn incoming freshmen Morgan Tuck and Breanna Stewart have a little fun
before Tuesday's second U-18 practice session

As Morgan Tuck was being recruited by UConn she was fully aware that fellow forward Breanna Stewart was likely to land at UConn as well.

Much as was the case when power forwards Swin Cash, Asjha Jones and Tamika Williams all committed to play for the Huskies, the ability to be pushed every day in practice by one of the most highly-touted high school players in recent memory excited Tuck.

Even before Stewart said she was going to UConn, Tuck pledged the Huskies. Having squared off with her future UConn teammate during practice sessions on various USA Basketball squads has only reinforced Tuck's belief that the competition between the two of them will be a positive in her development.

I'm down in the Orlando area for the next couple of days to catch up with the three UConn incoming freshmen as well as those players on the U-18 and U-17 teams on UConn recruiting radar. Naturally I asked Tuck about how the presence of Stewart, the consensus national high school player of the year, impacted her thought process when UConn was recruiting her.

"Breanna is a great player and she is a great person," Tuck said after Tuesday morning's practice at the Wide World of Sports Complex in Kissimmee, Fla. "We love hanging out with each other and I think when you go somewhere and there are other great players, it makes you play better. Her being here, I know we will be competing, on the court you are competing and going after each other but off the court you still have that friendship. When I choose to go to UConn, it wasn't about who was there but I definitely knew that the best players in the country go there and that is where I want to be to play against the best players.

"I feel like whenever we play, we always guard each other all the time. We push each other and knows how each other plays so you have to think of something new, I think we are a great matchup for each other
She has a hook shot and you can't block it because she is really long and I think she is good at elevating over people because she is so long and athletic."

There will be more on Tuck in a story I am writing for Wednesday's edition of the New Haven Register.