Freshmen Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson have been receiving plenty of hype leading into the season. Their names were even mentioned by UConn coach Geno Auriemma along with Saniya Chong and Gabby Williams as a potential fifth starter. However. the third member of the freshman class can play a little bit too.

It hasn't been an easy last year for De'Janae Boykin. Most of her senior season at Flowers High School was spent on the sidelines after she injured her wrist. Then she was dealing with an Achilles' issue when she was at UConn.

Boykin recently returned to practice and wasn't little time making an impression on her coaches and teammates.

"The last three of four days she has been back and she looks good," Auriemma said at Monday's American Athletic Conference media day. "She had the Achilles thing so she is having a hard time going full speed but when she gets the ball around the basket, she knows what she is doing. She's going to be OK, she just needs time."

Senior guard Moriah Jefferson has also been impressed by the work being done by Boykin.

"She's impressive," Jefferson said. "I didn't get to see her play a lot in high school so I didn't get to see what she had and how much she had to battle with injuries but she does a lot of dirty work, she gets in there and finishes around the rim."

GENO ON TONIGHT'S CENTERSTAGE
The CenterStage broadcast featuring an hour of Michael Kay's interview with Auriemma will debut tonight at 10:30 on YES after the Bulls/Nets NBA game and postgame show.

I was in attendance at the taping of the show and Kay certainly did his homework.

Auriemma accepting the job at a local Dunkin' Donuts, his hiring of Chris Dailey as an assistant coach, his meeting with the legendary John Wooden are among the topics to look for. Even people who have seen Auriemma interviewed hundreds of times will enjoy this broadcast.

MILESTONE MOMENT FOR DARNELL NURSE
Ironically one of the topics I brought up with Kia Nurse at AAC media day was how her brother Darnell was handling being sent down to the AHL by the Edmonton Oilers. Little did I know that just two days later he would be called up with the Oilers dealing with some injuries on defense and he scored his first NHL goal last night.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Darnell Nurse this season. He is considered to be one of the top prospects out there and I really thought he would be in the NHL all season.

SAMUELSON'S FORMER COACH PASSES AWAY
Edison High School girls' basketball coach Dan Wiley died on Monday at the age of 61.

People who followed the career of Samuelson, the highly-touted UConn freshman, might remember that name because he coached Katie Lou when she was a freshman at Edison High School before she transferred to Mater Dei.