Before she arrived at UConn I can still remember people questioning whether Stefanie Dolson was going to be able to cut it as a rebounder and defender at the major college level.

Well, she is one of five Huskies with more than 1,000 career rebounds and earlier today she was named one of three finalists for the WBCA National Defensive Player of the Year.

"It is an honor," Dolson said. "That is something I wouldn't have expected. I think people recognize I am good on defense because basically I am always in help (mode). I don't want to talk about myself but I am one of my teammates who knows when to help my teammates and still get back to rebound and block shots. Obviously hard work paid off and I think that is a pretty good example of coming into college, people not expecting much in a certain area and that being one of them. When you change your mind, change your body and for me that is kind of what happened. I am definitely proud of myself, my mom and dad are going to be proud. It is great but at the end of the day it is not worth it unless we win a national championship."

Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike and Odyssey Sims of Baylor are the other finalists.

Dolson is second on the Huskies with 89 blocked shots, eight coming in Monday's Elite Eight game while anchoring a Connecticut team leading the nation in points allowed and field-goal percentage defense.