I was looking for a different perspective on UConn senior Kelly Faris than just what her teammates and coaches would say for a feature I wrote on her (appearing in tomorrow's edition of the Register). The first person I thought of was Notre Dame associate head coach Carol Owens who was the head coach of the U.S. U-18 and U-19 teams Faris played on before she arrived at UConn.

Thanks to Notre Dame women's basketball SID Chris Masters, I spoke to Carol yesterday and figured I would pass on what she had to say about Faris.


"I liked Kelly, she didn't make a lot of mistakes. I felt like she was a glue player and did all the little things which are important especially on a USA Basketball team. There is so much talent and sometimes it is not just about talent, it is about a group of 12 women that can come together and reach a goal. That was my main concern. Along with the talent you have to have players who complement what it is we are trying to accomplish. She is definitely one who can do that. She is somebody who can definitely score, she can defend and stepped up to every challenge that we gave her. Sometimes we gave her a defensive assignment in a particular game or maybe it was as a scorer but I think she had a quiet demeanor about her but she worked hard. In the two summers that I had her, I always trusted what she was going to do. She was somebody I felt like we needed to have on our team

"Obviously her role is different at UConn. She hits the open 3, she is playing the 4 (power forward) spot and didn't necessarily have to play the 4 spot for us because she was a guard and having certain assignments whether it was offensively or defensively,I just remember the last summer we had with her in Thailand she had a meeting with me. She was like 'tell me what I need to do to get better not just for USA Basketball but as you know I am going to Connecticut.' I said 'right, you are going to Connecticut, you know the stakes are going to be high.' I think she wanted to get better and I have seen her improvement every year. I can see why Coach Auriemma raves about her because she is that type of player who is going to help you with the chemistry and just the glue, sacrificing her body and all of those kinds of things and every coach would want that."

I asked Owens, who obviously had to help devise a game plan to deal with UConn thanks to her duties at Notre Dame, where she thinks Faris has made the largest strides since arriving at Connecticut.

"I think her 3-point shooting, I think that has improved and her versatility, she is playing the guard spot but she plays the 4. That is a compliment to her and what she has accomplished there."

Finally, I asked Owens how the Notre Dame is looking after a few weeks of practice.

"We are obviously young but I would say that we are working hard. Skylar (Diggins) is such a great leader, she leads not only by example but she leads vocally. It is still early in the season. I am encouraged so far just by the growth of our youngsters. Now we have grow and leader from games."