Courtney Ekmark has 53 points, 39 rebounds
and 19 assists in 26 games as freshman at UConn

This was not how Courtney Ekmark was expecting her freshman season to go.

The highly-touted 6-foot guard from Phoenix figured to add another perimeter shooter to the UConn lineup. However. after recording three rebounds, two assists and three steals in 19 minutes in a season-opening win over UC Davis, any hope Ekmark had of immediately building on that performance were slowed when she was sidelined due to a stress reaction in her right foot.

It was a month and a half before she would appear in another game. But even she was able to get back on the court, the sweet-shooting Ekmark struggled to find the range both in practice and in games. She was 2 for 3 from 3-point range in a Jan. 7 win over Tulsa and 2 for 2 in a Feb. 23 win over Tulane but in the other games she was 5 for 30 from 3-point range before hitting a trey in Saturday's win over Texas.

"Getting the injury was unfortunate and unlucky but it has been an awesome experience here so far," Ekmark said. "

"Everybody has days when their shots aren't falling so it is important to do other things to help the team to win, do different stuff on the court that can help the team get better. The good news that the shots start coming back, you will be doing all the other stuff as well."

It has been a special season for the other two remaining freshmen.

Kia Nurse's 108 assists is the eighth most by a freshman in UConn history and she needs eight points to move into 10th place on the single season freshman scoring list. Williams has been an instant producer off the bench as her 217 rebounds is the ninth best total for a UConn freshman.

"I am really happy for them because they both work hard," Ekmark said. "Gabby and Kia deserve it and they are doing really well."

LOADING UP THE NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
There's been plenty of attention focused on the blowout wins by the Huskies this season.
While there's not much UConn can do about the 18 American Athletic Conference games it plays each season, there has been an attempt to beef up the non-conference schedule as much as possible.
While not all of the contracts have been signed, UConn is in negotiations or have finalized deals to play seven of the top 15 teams which advanced to the regional semifinals in either the 2015-16 or 2016-17 seasons or both seasons in some instances.
UConn recently signed a home and home deal with Texas which will start during the '16-17 with a game at Mohegan Sun Arena. That same season will be the back end of the home and home with a Florida State team which came up just short in its bid to qualify for the Final Four. Deals with Notre Dame, Stanford and South Carolina have previously been reported. UConn is expected to begin playing Louisville in a non-conference series, perhaps as early as the 2016-17 season while there have been talks with Arizona State about playing as well.

TUCK THRILLED FOR FORMER TEAMMATEThere's no question that while the prospects of a Tennessee/UConn game doesn't have the same pull as it did during the glory days of the rivalry between the rivals, a matchup between the Lady Vols and Huskies in this year's national semifinals would certainly create a buzz.
Perhaps nobody would be more excited to see that happen than UConn redshirt sophomore forward Morgan Tuck, who played with Tennessee senior guard Ariel Massengale at Bolingbrook (Ill.) High School.
Massengale played a major role as Tennessee rallied from 17 points down to beat Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 setting up a regional final with Maryland.
"I was really happy for her that she could do that in a game like that," Tuck said. "It is her last year, she has a little bit left of college and for her to be such an impact playing her best basketball and I am really happy for her.
"Playing with her for as long as I can remember, that is the kind of player that she is. She wants to be in that pressure situation because she wants to be the one to make the plays that is going to help them win."

Some of the UConn women's basketball team's recent games, especially the ones played in the state of Connecticut, have not exactly been of the nail-biting variety.

In the seven games played at Gampel Pavilion, the XL Center, Mohegan Sun Arena or Webster Bank Arena, UConn's average margin of victory has been a shade under 38 points per game.

However, it would not unfair to say the Huskies have not been tested since the November 17 loss to Stanford. Whenever the team met for practice, UConn coach Geno Auriemma and his staff has attempted to put them in positions where failure is an option. In recent weeks that has been easier said than done since most of the male practice players live too far away during the break between the fall and spring semesters. However, with the classes in the spring semester starting on Tuesday, the male practice players were back and put to good use.

There was one spirited portion of practice when the game was tied at 49 and UConn had the final possession. Moriah Jefferson had the ball and was about to run a play - presumably for Breanna Stewart - when practice player Collins Nwafor reached in, poked the ball away from Jefferson and raced down the other end of the court for the go-ahead layup with about 2 seconds left. Kia Nurse's desperation heave from about 30-35 feet actually caught iron before bouncing away harmlessly.

"Coming out and playing against these guys, they are bigger than us, faster than us and it makes you have to play smart basketball," Jefferson said. "As you saw, any mistake you make they are going to steal it and it is going to be a turnover.

"I had a play in my head and it didn't work out so I try to run another play, he came out and stripped the ball right out of my hands. It hurt but you have to keep moving on."

In the next period, the final one in the practice, the UConn team fought back the best way they know how but making shots. It ended with Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis draining a 3-pointer to beat the buzzer.

"I think we do need those situations," Stewart said. "Those practice players they are the best people we are going to see all season and they make it really competitive for us. You want to play those kinds of games, those are the types of things you want to do in practice. You want to win so when you lose, you want to keep playing. We won that last (period) but we were down by so much that we couldn't come back. A competitive game in practice, it kind of keeps your head level."

Assistant coach Shea Ralph, who spent a good part of practice coaching up the practice players, knows that the lessons learned from a spirited practice like the one on Friday could be invaluable for the team at some point this season.
"I know our staff feels like it is our job to prepare them for what they are going to see not only on a day to day basis but in our conference," Ralph said. "We need to win every game in our conference and that is important to us. We also understand we are going to face some teams that are going to challenge us so it is our job to make sure they are prepared for that."

When the media was able to check out practice UConn had its three freshmen (Kia Nurse, Courtney Ekmark and Gabby Williams) playing alongside sophomore Saniya Chong and Stewart. There were some rough patches as some of the team's most experienced players were on the sidelines and that is the point. UConn coach Geno Auriemma is known for putting his players in the most difficult scenarios during practice and the more lopsided the final margins are in actual games, the more challenging he tries to make practice. That was most certainly the case on Friday.
"They want to compete, they want to challenge themselves so we want to do that as much as we can, we try to put them out there and when they are playing our practice players they can do everything exactly right and still get their butts beat and I think that is good for them," Auriemma said. "It forces them to do things that ordinarily they wouldn't have to do.

"The practice level is obviously much different (with the practice players), we play more 5 on 5 when they get here, more core stuff when they get here and I look forward to this time of the year when the practice players are back," Auriemma said.

One of the highlights of UConn's early season practices is seeing how the freshmen get acclimated.

It wasn't that big of a deal last year with Saniya Chong the only new scholarship player but yesterday was the introduction of freshmen Sadie Edwards, Courtney Ekmark, Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams as well as transfer Natalie Butler.

I consider this group to be one of the more intriguing collection of newcomers since I have been covering the team.

You have Edwards, the Meriden native who spent a season playing in New York and two more at Blair Academy in New Jersey. Butler is a rebounding machine and a rare transfer into the program. Ekmark made the unusual decision to bypass her senior season of high school and had a variety of different basketball experiences over the last year. Nurse's experience with the Canadian national team has been well documented and then there is Williams, a top five finisher in the high jump at the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials who saw her final two high school seasons end prematurely due to torn ACLs.

All five were out there early and often during the portion of practice the media was allowed to watch. There were nervous moments as they attempted to learn the different drills, absorb the coaching from Geno Auriemma and his staff as well as the encouragement they were getting from their more experienced teammates.

"It was tough in the beginning but we kind of caught on," Nurse said. "It was something we were excited to be a part of."

Ekmark echoed her classmate and roommate's take on her first official practice as a Husky.

"It is awesome," Ekmark said. "Obviously we are fired up and excited for our first college practice, it was good, it was fun. It was a different level of intensity for all of us because it is a different jump from high school to college.

"Moriah (Jefferson) and Kaleena (Mosqueda-Lewis) are really helpful. I know to me I can talk to them if I ever need help with anything and I can ask them  so it is really nice to have them here and it is fun playing with them also."

Nurse is grateful to have leaders like Jefferson and Mosqueda-Lewis to help show her the way.

"They are great leaders," Nurse said, "They give us everything we need to know and we are never surprised with anything thanks to them. They are great basketball players, have great basketball IQs and we just learn from them every day."

UConn coach Geno Auriemma said one of the points of emphasis with the newcomers is to have them make shots. With a grueling preseason conditioning program and the way the challenging practices take a toll on them, they are going to have to learn how to fight through the fatigue.

"Everything is new right now so we are learning a lot of new stuff," Ekmark said. "We are trying to keep our legs on our shots but you have to keep shooting."

Nurse just recently got back to campus after spending most of the summer with the Canadian national team. It was time well spent as Nurse was a starting guard on a team which finished fifth in the FIBA World Championship for Women.

"I feel great," Nurse said, "I got a couple days off when I came back. Your body can only take so much and my body got used to playing for a long time all the time so I am lucky to have the staff here that help you rehab everything."

One of the biggest concerns was going to be if Nurse fell too far behind academically due to all the class time she missed while she was overseas. Turns out there was no cause for concern.

"I caught up," Nurse said, "The teachers have been really great and my room was spotless due to Courtney, she kept it clean. Everybody has been really great, the academics center, everybody has worked really hard and I am really grateful for them."

It's looking like the rosters for tomorrow night's scrimmage will not be announced until tomorrow morning so stay tuned. By the sounds of it, UConn is putting together quite the program to pay homage to its championship pedigree. More details will be coming out in the next 18 hours although Wener Ladder announced it will be presenting the ladders the men's and women's teams used to cut down the nets after winning the national titles in April.

It almost seems preposterous to think that some opposing coaches have attempted to use Geno Auriemma's appointment as the U.S. coach at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics against him. However, that is exactly what has happened as there are rival coaches telling top recruits that Auriemma is too busy coaching the national team when he should be pursuing them.

Since first being named to coach the U.S. Senior Women's National Team all Auriemma has done is led UConn to a record of 183-11, the last five Final Fours and the Huskies have won three national titles during that span.

"I have read it before," Auriemma said, "USA Basketball is going to be the demise of our recruiting. I just hope it doesn't keep hurting us like it has been hurting us these past four years."

Auriemma didn't become a Hall of Famer by not being able to adjust on the fly. He knew that there were times when he should have been on the recruiting trail when his U.S. national team duties prevented that. This time around he was a little more proactive when it came to identifying top prospects in the Classes of 2015 and 2016 (the new NCAA regulations allowing earlier contact with recruits aided in this task).

"We did a lot during the spring and it paid off. We did a lot last winter and it paid off. I think the kids know that I m not going to be around in September so when I get back that first week in October, we will pick up right from there."

UConn, coming off signing an outstanding class with the additions of Sadie Edwards, Courtney Ekmark, Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams, has already secured commitments from top 10 Class of 2015 players De'Janae Boykin, Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson. UConn would love to add either Asia Durr or Arike Ogunbowale to the class signing with UConn in November. The Huskies are also ahead of the game when it comes to the Class of 2016 as six of the top eight players in ESPN HoopGurlz rankings (Lauren Cox, Jaelyn Brown, Sabrina Ionescu, Tori McCoy, Crystal Dangerfield and Erin Boley) are on UConn's recruiting radar. Add in  Kelly Jekot, another player UConn is very high on, and the Huskies have set themselves up to have another top-flight recruiting class.

 "Some people took advantage of it (the new rules allowing unlimited contact by way of text message, phone call and social media at the end of their sophomore year) and some people didn't," Auriemma said. "Some people thought it was a great idea and some people didn't think it was a great idea. To me the biggest advantage of the rule change is you can have contact with the kids early so you can find out at an earlier age whether there is an interest level and you are wasting all this time recruiting somebody and finding out at the last minute it was for nothing. At least now you find out right away, I want this kid or I don't want them. This kid wants us or doesn't want us. Identifying who we think we can get and working really hard to get them up to school, get them involved. For us, once we get them on campus and once they've spend enough time with our players, the rest is not that difficult."

NURSE, CANADA HOSTS BRAZIL
Three of UConn's four current freshmen are on campus. The only one missing is Nurse but she has a pretty good reason as she is training with the Canadian national team.

Today, Friday and Saturday she will be in action when Canada hosts Brazil in three international friendlies. I haven't seen any links for a live stream or live stats but you can try to get updates using the #canvsbrayeg hashtag on Twitter.

Joining a program that has won the last two national titles and became just the second women's team to post a 40-0 record isn't the easiest of tasks but in the eyes of UConn's most experienced players, the newcomers on the 2014-15 UConn squad are handling themselves just fine.

"Sadie (Edwards) is doing a great job of getting to the hole, Courtney (Ekmark) lights it up from the outside," rising junior guard Moriah Jefferson said. "I haven't really gotten to play with Gabby (Williams) and Kia (Nurse) yet but they are doing a really good job with workouts and everything so I am excited.

""They are coming in with the same mentality of work hard and we have had no problems so far and hopefully it just stays that way. I am proud of them so far and I like the way they are approaching it. Natalie (Butler, a 6-5 transfer from Georgetown) is good, she is a good post player and really versatile in the post. She has a lot of different moves and she has a nice jumper as well. She gets the year off and the training with the coaches, I am sure it will develop her even more."

While Butler will need to sit out this season due to NCAA regulations on transfers, the quartet of Edwards, Ekmark, Nurse and Williams could all have prominent roles as the Huskies attempt to fill the void left by the graduation of All-Americans Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley.

"They all have their own different assets," Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis said. "Sadie is really athletic, Courtney is very smart player, a very good shooter, Gabby we haven't seen her play yet because she can't do contact (drills) but when Kia was here and played pick-up, she is smart, she is aggressive, she is really good. I am just excited for them to play. Natalie is coming and she is a strong post player, she works hard every day and she wants to get better. It is a different feeling because they don't know anything but to try to keep everybody happy, try to work hard and whatever you say they are like 'OK, OK, we are going to try to do that.' It is nice to come in and you kind of get a chance to mold them into great UConn players, show them UConn values and what we expect here at UConn and they just want to make sure they meet those expectations." 

While Geno Auriemma didn't make it to the Travelers Championship this week, he does have some time set aside for golf-related activities in the coming weeks.

On Monday will be the annual Geno Auriemma's Fore The Kids charity golf tournament at Hartford Golf Club with returning starters Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Moriah Jefferson as well as freshmen Sadie Edwards, Courtney Ekmark and Gabby Williams expected to be volunteering at the event. Then, from July 18-20 he will be playing in the prestigious American Century Championships. Auriemma will be joined by former UConn men's basketball star Ray Allen and former NFL quarterback Steve Young, a star QB at Greenwich High before he headed to BYU. There is expected to be around 80 celebrities playing in the event in Lake Tahoe.

BOYKIN STARTS IN U-17 FRIENDLY

UConn recruiting target Arike Ogunbowale goes in for two of her team-high
16 points as UConn commit De'Janae Boykin look on in victory over China

UConn commit De'Janae Boykin started and finished with 10 points, four rebounds and two steals as the U.S. U-17 team prepared for the upcoming FIBA U-18 World Championships by beating China 89-49 in an international friendly.

UConn recruiting target Arike Ogunbowale led six U.S. players in double figures with 16 points. UConn recruiting targets Asia Durr and Lauren Cox added 13 and 10 points respectively. UConn commit Katie Lou Samuelson did not play in the game due to illness and she is considered day to day. The U.S. will play exhibitions against Canada on Saturday and host France on Sunday before heading to the Czech Republic, the site of the World Championships.

Here are quotes from Ogunbowale and fellow UConn recruiting target Sabrina Ionescu courtesy of USA Basketball.

Sabrina Ionescu
On tonight's game:
I think we played really well for our first game. We ran a lot of plays, and I think we executed like we were supposed to. I think we came out and played really well.

How can this team improve?
I think it is about keeping up the intensity throughout the whole game, even when we get tired. We need to play with a lot of effort, like we should play.

On the team's chemistry:
We are getting to know each other better and what everyone's strengths and weaknesses are, so I think throughout these next couple of days, I think we are just going to get better and better.

On playing in the team's first game:
It felt great finally playing against another team beside ourselves or our scrimmage opponent. Finally, we are executing our plays and playing in a real game, and it is just going to make us better.

Arike Ogunbowale
On tonight's game:
I was just really excited to play against another team, besides our teammates and the boy's team we scrimmaged, so it was really fun to get out there.

Did you think the team had played well?
I think we played well. We kept the intensity up the whole game, even through substitutions, so I think we did really good.

On the second quarter run:
Coach told us to keep the intensity up and not let down, and we did that.

While a prior commitment kept UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma from making an appearance at the Travelers Championship, associate head coach Chris Dailey has made herself at home at TPC River Highlands.

On Monday Dailey took part in a Pro-Am. On Wednesday she was back in Cromwell to play in a charity mini-golf event along with UConn AD Warde Manuel and football coach Bob Diaco in the morning before playing in the Celebrity Pro-Am in the afternoon.

"Last year was easier," Dailey said after the mini-golf event. "They made the degree of difficulty harder but it was fun. I played on Monday so they let bad golfers play in a lot of events here. They give opportunities to everybody. The people are really nice and I have met a lot of great people."

Dailey said while the coaches are allowed to work with the players on a limited basis, the UConn staff doesn't plan on overworking the team during the summer.

"We have done some individuals but it is a hard balance between taking advantage of the rule and not killing them now in June," Dailey said. "It is a long season, if you are any good you play from September to April so we are trying to balance that. They are working really hard in the weight room and done some individuals which I think is really helpful for the freshmen because they don't know what to expect."

Only half of the freshman class has been taking advantage of spending most of June on campus as Kia Nurse is at Canada's training camp and Gabby Williams just arrived following graduation. It has given Sadie Edwards and Courtney Ekmark a chance to get comfortable on campus.

"I think that no matter how prepared you think you are, your head is spinning for the first two weeks trying to figure it all out," Dailey said. "I would say they have all adjusted to it pretty well."

There will be more on how the offseason work has been going when Auriemma and the players are made available at Auriemma's anual golf tournament on Monday. Dailey said that reigning national player of the year Breanna Stewart will have a conflict with her summer session schedule so she will not be there on Monday. Also, Nurse will be with the Canadian national team and won't be there either. Of course, Brianna Banks will also be absent as she made the decision to transfer to a school yet to be announced.

"You are always disappointed when somebody leaves you program but we wish Bri the best," Dailey said. "Everybody deserves a second chance and hopefully with hers she will make the best of it. I think everybody has to make a personal decision and this was a personal decision by Bri and her family and I just hope it works out well."

I also asked Dailey whether Morgan Tuck was back to doing basketball-related drills as she is coming back from knee surgery which ended her sophomore season prematurely.

"She is doing some conditioning but I don't know if she if doing the whole (basketball) thing yet, running around," Dailey said..

In other basketball-related news I asked Manuel how close they were to finishing work on the basketball practice facility.

"Hopefully it will be finished this week or next week, we will get the keys and just like a new house we will have to do in there, move some things to fill it up and that is what we are working on," Manuel said. "It will be a great day."

With July being such a hectic month for recruiting we'll have to wait to see when a ceremony is held in honor of the completion of the practice facility.

UConn's run to 1995 national title and TV exposure
enabled UConn to secure commitments from Georgia
phenom Maya Moore and Californian Diana Taurasi

As UConn officially sent out a release on the signing of four players during the early signing period it was impossible to see the hometowns of Phoenix, Sparks, Nev. and Hamilton, Ontario and not be immediately struck by how much times have changed.

The first eight classes signed by Geno Auriemma after he arrived at UConn were comprised entirely from players on the Eastern seaboard. Pennsylvania was a particular favorite recruiting spot for Auriemma, Chris Dailey and the rest of the UConn staff. Players from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Virginia were also in those early signing class.

The pendulum began to swing during the Huskies run to the first of eight national titles during the 1994-95 season. The following season freshmen included Oregon's Tammy Arnold and Ohio's Amy Hughes. The following year marked the first time that UConn signed a class with players made up exclusively from spots outside UConn's recruiting primary area as North Carolina native Shea Ralph was joined by Oklahoma natives Stacy Hansmeyer and Paige Sauer.

Now if you look at UConn's all-time leading scorers, the current top 13 includes a player from Georgia (Maya Moore) one from California (Diana Taurasi), others from Russia (Svetlana Abrosimova), West Virginia (Renee Montgomery), Florida (Tiffany Hayes), North Carolina (Ralph) and Ohio (Barbara Turner).

"I think the area that you recruit from sometimes has to do with the level your program is at," Auriemma said. "(When) we started wherever we could drive to in a reasonable time that is our recruiting base so we made a decision that if we could recruit that triangle , Boston-Pittsburgh-Washington, D.C. if we could be good in that area than we could be good. Back then, if we could drive there in four or five hours, let's go recruit those kids because they might not know who we are at least they know who we are playing against. Once games starting being televised and people across the country could watch us play and we got to a level of success that meant there would be kids from all over the country and in some cases other countries that were watching play so then it became much easier to get involved with those kids."

It is a double-edged sword as most of UConn's recruiting misses in the recent years have done as much with geography than basketball issues. Auriemma tries to play devil's advocate with recruits from places where driving to home games is not an option.

"I tell them they should stay home, that is the first thing I should tell them," Auriemma said. "Who wouldn't want to play close to home. That works for some kids but not the kids we are recruiting, they know what we have is pretty unique."

While a class including Courtney Ekmark, Sadie Edwards, Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams will be rated as one of the best classes nationally, the Huskies may not be done as they are still very much involved with the nation's No. 1 player A'ja Wilson out of South Carolina. The 6-foot-5 Wilson will not be signing during the early period which ends today and she will not complete her official visits until after her senior season at Heathwood Hall is completed.

Regardless of which towns they grew up in, the constant among all recruits is the ability to deal with the relentless pursuit of perfection as Auriemma is constantly pushing his players. Case in point, sophomore Breanna Stewart had a spectacular first half offensively with 19 points in a win at Maryland. At halftime Stewart did not receive words of praise from her head coach but a tongue lashing for not pulling down a single rebound.

"I think when it comes the type of person, it goes it is a different thing, everybody is different but it is just the mindset you have to have," UConn senior center Stefanie Dolson said. "You have to be comfortable with being yelled at and every little thing you do criticized and be willing to learn. It is tough but when people know this is where they want to come, they make the decision."

Auriemma talked about Ekmark, Edwards and Williams yesterday since their letters of intent have been received. With Nurse's letter now having been received, Auriemma can speak about her after tonight's game. Here is an interesting story about how Nurse wrote when she was in seventh grade that her dream was to play at UConn.

While UConn is not doing with its pursuit of Class of 2014 prospects, the letters from commits Sadie Edwards, Courtney Ekmark and Gabby Williams are expected to be signed and faxed today.

According to Blair Academy coach Quint Clarke, there will be a short ceremony before practice today when Edwards will sign her letter. According to Williams' mom, it is the same deal at Reed High School when Williams will be one of two athletes to sign at around 3:15 local time (6:15 p.m. in Connecticut). Softball pitcher Jacke Sertic will sign with North Dakota State.

I'm not exactly sure how the signing is going to be done with Courtney Ekmark since she is being homeschooled for her senior season. Her dad Curtis emailed me on Monday saying that they hadn't really discussed it yet so perhaps it will be similar to Breanna Stewart, who signed her letter on the roof of the family car.

The national early signing period began today and runs through Nov. 20.

Canadian national team guard Kia Nurse could make her decision before the end of the early signing period but the nation's No. 1 recruit A'ja Wilson is not expected to sign until the late period.

A'ja Wilson is expected to take an official visit
to UConn later this month according to her AAU coach

On Monday morning I was watching a replay of the Full Court Fresh 50 Invitational when a little thing like the news that UConn fired football coach Paul Pasqualoni made me put that project on hold.

I finally got around to watching the entire game, which was played on Sunday, so I could come up with unofficial numbers of how UConn commit Courtney Ekmark and recruiting target A'ja Wilson did in the game.

Again, these are just my unofficial numbers but I had Ekmark scoring 10 of her 14 points in the second half. She had three 3-pointers, five rebounds, three assists and a steal while Wilson had all nine of her points in the first half and added 18 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots to lead the White team to a 101-64 win over the Blue.

What was interesting about the game is the the White team's head coach is Jerome Dickerson, who is Wilson's AAU coach and also coached former UConn guard Kalana Greene in AAU while the Blue team's coach was UConn Class of 2015 recruiting target Asia Durr's AAU coach.

I spoke to Dickerson earlier tonight to get his take on the performances by Ekmark and Wilson.

"She (Ekmark) can rebound, she can pass, she can dribble, she is a great player and a great teammate," Dickerson said.

"I have know A'ja since she was 12 years old and A'ja, I played her at the 1 (point guard), 2 (shooting guard) and 3 (small forward). I thought the USA team hurt her game because they only had her play by the basket and when I had her during the summer, I had her playing the 2. I missed having her the whole July because she was with a USA team and they had her playing the 4 and 5, I had her playing the 1, 2 and 3. It helped because she got the experience but it hurt because the other girls shot the 3's and took players to the basket, that part of the game she didn't even display and that is the best part of her game. She knows she can do all of that, she knows she could have dominated the game but she decided to play team ball and pass the ball to her teammates because she could have scored 50 points in that game."

Dickerson said that Wilson is planning to take a visit to UConn later this month. When I asked him if she was planning to visit the weekend when the Huskies will hold its annual "First Night" festivities he thought that was the weekend but he was going to reach out to Wilson's family to confirm that and get back to me.

"She talked to UConn already and they have dates set, I think so it is going to be before basketball season and the rest (of the visits) after basketball season," Dickerson said. "Her mom doesn't want her to do visits during the season because she will have a lot of think about. Coaches are going to be on her so she is going to have a whole lot to think about take. She will couple visits before basketball season. Hopefully she will make it beforehand."

That last part was something new because the last time I spoke to Dickerson he thought Wilson would wait until the spring to make her college decision.

As I reported yesterday, UConn commit Courtney Ekmark is making the surprising move of bypassing her senior year of high school. Her decision to get the final few credits she needs to graduate through home schooling means that she will not be playing for the third-time defending Arizona Division I champion St. Mary's squad.

Courtney and her dad Curtis talked about the decision with me today.

"I am really excited. I think it is going to be a good year to do a bunch of different things and it will be productive," Courtney Ekmark said. "It will be a great chance to prepare for UConn, I am going to have a lot of time to train and just get bigger, faster, stronger.

"I can go and figure out what I am interested in doing after basketball so it will be cool."

Ekmark was named the Gatorade state player of the year in Arizona following her junior season. Her coach was her father. Curtis was the first to step away from St. Mary's as he resigned so he could start up his own AAU program. He is supporting Courtney's decision 100 percent.

"Our family has never been one bound by conventional wisdom," Curtis Ekmark said. "We've always tried to analyze things and see what makes sense. We kind of have a track record in that Courtney home schooled in junior high and she thought that really prepared her well for high school not just for sports but academically as well.

"She has been taking classes at summer school so she is only a couple credits shy of graduation. She just decided that rather than sit in class all day and have Senioritis, she really wanted to prepare herself for going to UConn. She will have more time to do that and also she will be able to spend a little more time with our family and we are happy about it because it is the last time we will be together for a while because once she leaves for Connecticut, they don't get much free time to come home."

Curtis Ekmark said that his daughter is looking into doing internships with a law firm, a local surgeon and real estate company. She could also provide sideline reporting of high school football games for one of the Phoenix area television stations.

"There are a couple o local news stations that I have done interviews with for basketball and I have kind of talked to them after and they are like 'wow, you are pretty good at doing those interviews,'" Courtney Ekmark said. "I said 'well, if you feel like you are interested and you need somebody to report the football games every Friday ...' They were definitely interested. It will be fun to see what I am interested in and see what a real job is like."

The toughest part of making this decision is that Courtney had to part ways with her high school teammates in both basketball and tennis.

"It was hard, I am going to miss them but they understood," Ekmark said.

The good news is that she will be able to see more of her brother Andrew's basketball games and take part in more family activities.

"We have a close family so I am excited to spend the last year with them (before heading to UConn)," Courtney Ekmark said. "I'll get to see more of my brother's games, we never got to see them last year because we were always at my games. We can go on some cool trips and I sure we will come visit you guys at UConn."


CURTIS EKMARK

Courtney Ekmark (left) seen during 2012 U.S. junior national team trials
has opted to be home schooled and will not play as a high school senior.

Courtney Ekmark, Arizona’s reigning Gatorade Player of the Year, and the first player from the high school Class of 2014 to commit to UConn has decided not to play high school basketball as a senior according to her father Curtis.

In an email to the Register, he confirmed that Courtney is not going to return to St. Mary’s.

“Courtney is not going to be playing her senior year,” Curtis Ekmark said in the email. “She is going to home school and get ready for UConn.”

Curtis Ekmark, the 2013 WBCA national high school coach of the year, recently resigned to start his own AAU program after coaching his daughter at St. Mary’s High School to three straight Arizona Division I titles and posting a 154-21 record in six years at St. Mary’s.

Ekmark, a 6-foot wing, averaged 19.6 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals as a junior leading the Knights to a 29-1 record and the No. 3 ranking in the final USA Today national poll. She has a 4.3 GPA and is set to arrive at UConn in 2014.

She joins fellow perimeter players Sadie Edwards and Gabby Williams are early commitments to UConn. The Huskies are hoping to add a couple of post players to the list of commitments.

Even before her dad was named as one of the coaches for the WBCA High School All-American Game, UConn commit Courtney Ekmark's family was planning to come to New Orleans for the Final Four.

Now, according to Curtis, they will be sticking around as long as UConn is playing.

Ekmark, a 6-foot wing out of St. Mary's in Phoenix, was soaking up the atmosphere.


"I am really excited, I can't wait for the game," Ekmark said.They get along well."

Ekmark was first member of the Class of 2014 to commit to UConn and with each passing week and month she is more certain about her decision to head across the county after she graduates from high school in 2014.

"I've always knew I was going to commit early," Ekmark said. "I knew I wasn't going to wait until the last minute to commit."

As for the distance away from home Ekmark said "I'm not worried about it."

Ekmark led St. Mary's to its third straight state title and the No. 2 ranking in USA Today's national poll.

"It was special," Ekmark said. "Freshman season was our first championship and it was cool and the second one was a national champion. The last one was really a lot of fun. It was just a good team and to end with a state title. It was really exciting. It was an emotional game, it was the last game I was going to play with these guys.'

Ekmark will be playing AAU ball with Cal Swish this summer where one of her teammates will be UConn Class of 2015 recruiting target Katie Lou Samuelson.

According to her father, Courtney would love to visit UConn in June where she could play pickup games with the UConn players and there have been discussions about having her visit UConn in October so she can be there for First Night festivities.

Before all of that happens, she's got another season to play - the tennis season where she is the No. 1 singles player and plays on the top doubles team at St. Mary's.

"It is interesting playing tennis," Ekmark said. "I just it the ball as hard as I can."

Ekmark said she plays a serve and volley style

"It is fun to play a (spring) sport, it is good for cross training," Courtney Ekmark said.

Former Class of 2014 UConn recruiting target Brianna Turner was at Saturday's game as well.

The commitment of Meriden's Sadie Edwards gives UConn pledges from two of the top perimeter players in the Class of 2014 (to go with Courtney Ekmark) and it would not be a shocker to see another perimeter player be a part of the this recruiting class. However, the ultimate grade of this class could ultimately be determined by the abilities of the Huskies to secure commitments from inside players.

Connecticut coaches have made multiple trips to see A'ja Wilson and Kathryn Westbeld play and the two already have scholarship offers.

Wilson is considered by many to be the best prospect in her class is an intriguing player. When she was a freshman she played on the perimeter before growing a couple of inches before the start of her sophomore season. Now she is listed at 6-5 but does not consider herself a prototype low-post prospect. However, that shouldn't be taken as a sign that she doesn't mix things up. She has averaged more than 14 rebounds in her four seasons at Heathwood Hall Episcopal in Columbia, S.C. (Wilson suited up as an eighth grader).

Despite being sidelined at the beginning of her junior season with a wrist injury, Wilson was spectacular during the 2012-13 season. She recorded a double-double in all 21 games she played in and finished the season shooting 69 percent from the field. Her final numbers were 28.7 points, 14.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 3.2 steals and 5.3 blocks per game. She stepped out and was 5 of 8 from 3-point range.

Wilson has yet to make a visit to UConn but everything I've heard is that there is plenty of mutual interest.

Westbeld is a 6-foot-2 forward led Fairmont High in Kettering, Ohio to their first state title. Westbeld had double-doubles in all four games in Ohio's Division 1 tournament and averaged 15.8 points, 12.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 2 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. Fairmont had lost to Twinsburg in the Division 1 championship game during her freshman and sophomore seasons before preventing Twinsburg's bid for a three-peat with a 52-48 victory.

The game was rebroadcast on SportsTime Ohio yesterday and I taped the game to see Westbeld play. I could see why the Huskies are pursuing her. She is an extremely well-rounded player who can score inside and out, sets screens, helped break the press and looked comfortable handling the ball out on the perimeter. One recruiting source I spoke to compared her game to Louisville's Sara Hammond. The player she reminded me of was Kelsey Griffin of the Connecticut Sun.

Westbeld's final numbers were 14.5 points (on 66.3 percent shooting), 9.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.7 blocked shots. She is a product of the highly successful Dayton Lady HoopStars AAU program and is the type of highly-skilled player the Huskies (and any other program for that matter) love to coach.

She was also one of five players named to the JJHuddle.com All-Ohio first team

The latest name to emerge as a Class of 2014 recruiting target for UConn is a pretty familiar one.

Sadie Edwards, who grew up in Meriden, played at Mercy as a freshman and helped the Tigers reach the 2011 Class LL championship game where they lost to Career 39-37. She transferred to play for the legendary Apache Paschall at Nazareth in Brooklyn, N.Y.

"It’s a great opportunity,” Edwards said when news broke of her transfer. “It’s not something that comes around often. I’m thankful for that. I get to play with multiple Division I players. It’s an environment where I can get a lot better. It’s exciting.”

However, Edwards' time playing for Paschall was limited as he died in January of 2012. At season's end, in which she earned New York Class AA third-team All-State honors, she made the decision to leave Nazareth and landed at Blair Academy in Blairtown, N.J.

Could she be returning to play basketball in Connecticut?

It's too early to tell. I spoke her Sadie's mother Lisa before I headed up to Hartford for yesterday's UConn/Pittsburgh game and she confirmed what I have been hearing and that is that the 5-foot-10 rising senior does not have a scholarship offer yet. What my recruiting sources are telling me is that UConn likes Edwards, a player who had seven 20-point games and four contests with at least 10 assists during Blair's run to the New England Prep School "A" title but they want to see her play this spring on the AAU circuit.

"Right now she is right at the beginning, right now she has no idea," Lisa Edwards said. 

UConn visited with Sadie a week ago and then she took an unofficial visit to take in Saturday's game against Seton Hall. Lisa Edwards said it was an enjoyable trip for her daughter who got to meet the UConn coaches and players. Since I hadn't heard much about UConn being involved in the recruitment of Edwards, I asked her mom what the level of interest has been.

"Just casual stuff, a birthday card, have a good season," Lisa Edwards said. "With a visit (to UConn) and (UConn) coming in to meet her I would think the interest is there."

Lisa Edwards believes her daughter's experiences the last couple of seasons has helped her on and off the court.

"Everybody likes to say they have grown but she really has come into her own game now," Lisa Edwards said. "Her offense, when you are young offense is important but she is just as happy with 14 assists."

My recruiting sources have told me that UConn would like to sign three perimeter players and two frontcourt  ones in the next class. With Saniya Chong the only incoming freshman to sign with UConn, it's pretty obvious that this is a pivotal recruiting class for the Huskies. It is evident by the number of players the Huskies are linked with that they are going to be looking at more kids this year than they often do because they simply can't afford to just recruit four or five kids and land just one or two of them. As it is the Huskies could be playing with fire with just nine scholarship players on the roster for next season. A transfer here, an injury there and things could get a tad bit tricky.

I don't think it's earth-shattering news if I were to state the A'ja Wilson, a versatile 6-foot-5 forward at Heathwood Hall in Columbia, S.C. is at the top of UConn's recruiting wish list. The Huskies have also offered another forward, Kathryn Westbeld out of Fairmont High in Kettering, Ohio. Of course the Huskies already have a commitment from 6-foot wing Courtney Ekmark out of St. Mary's in Phoenix.

Christ the King guard Sierra Calhoun, whose brother Omar is a standout freshman on UConn's men's basketball team, is another top prospect UConn is involved with. While I previously reported that the interest in highly-touted Texas forward Brianna Turner and speedy Los Angeles guard Jordin Canada appears to have waned a bit, what I am hearing is the Huskies continue to consider them to be recruiting targets. Then there is one of most intriguing prospects in the class in Nevada guard Gabby Williams. Williams is one of the nation's top high jump prospects who finished fifth in the U.S. Olympic trials and UConn assistant coach Shea Ralph went out to Nevada to see her play in a game early this season. Unfortunately, Williams injured her knee the next next day. She had surgery to repair the torn ACL and meniscus earlier this month. Williams has gone on the record as saying that she wants to do both sports in college and her plan is to redshirt in 2016 so she can focus solely on making the Olympic team.

For those interested in such things, the list of players I mentioned feature the top three rated players and six of the top 10 in the Hoopgurlz ratings. Of course they also list Edwards (who comes in at No. 39) as playing at Nazareth so keep that in mind before viewing those ratings as gospel.

I wouldn't anticipate seeing any commitments coming soon especially considering that four of the seven uncommitted players I mentioned above have yet to visit UConn. It's also possible and even likely that more names could emerge in the coming weeks and months.

In recent weeks there have been no lack of updates on where Kelly Faris ranks on UConn's career charts.

However, when I think of what Faris contributes to the team it does not come down to the number of points, rebounds, assists or even steals that she gets on a nightly basis but the way that everything she does is about trying to win games. Faris, who will move into a tie with Ann Strother for the number of games played, is currently 10th all-time at UConn in the number of victories she has been on the court for..

Faris could finish as high as No. 5 on this list if UConn were to win the remainder of its games.

Here is the list
1. Maya Moore 150-4
2. Kalana Greene 148-9
3. Tiffany Hayes 147-7
4. Tina Charles 146-6
5. Renee Montgomery 139-11
6. Lorin Dixon 136-4
    Diana Taurasi 136-8
   Ashley Battle 136-13
9. Asjha Jones 135-9
10. Kelly Faris 133-9 (heading into tonight).

CURTIS EKMARK HONORED
Curtis Ekmark, the head coach and father of UConn commit Courtney Ekmark, was named the WBCA National High School Coach of the Year after leading St. Mary's to a 29-1 record and Arizona Division I state title.


Ekmark has a 154-21 record in six seasons at St. Mary's
.
Ekmark will also coach the Purple team in the WBCA High School All-American Game and one of the players he will be coaching is UConn signee Saniya Chong out of Ossining (N.Y.) High School. The roster of the Purple team has some familiar names as former UConn recruiting targets Taya Reimer, Diamond DeShields (who was named the WBCA National Player of the Year), Erica McCall, Stephanie Mavunga and Karlie Samuelson are all on that squad.

The game will be played on Apr. 6 at the New Orleans Arena. Courtney Ekmark, a junior guard, is planning to join Curtis at the Final Four.

Former UConn star Swin Cash will be the honorary co-captain of the Black team while Tamika Catchings will be the honorary co-captain for the Purple squad.

While UConn commitment Courtney Ekmark had 14 points to lead her St. Mary's team to the Arizona Division I title, fellow Class of 2014 recruiting target A'ja Wilson's Heathwood Hall team fell in the state championship game on Saturday.

Ekmark was the only player in double figures despite playing with a broken nose suffered in an earlier tournament game as St. Mary's defeated fellow Phoenix school Pinnacle 49-37. Pinnacle is the last Arizona team to beat St. Mary's back during the 2011 state tournament. Ekmark had 10 points after Pinnacle took a 28-25 lead late in the third quarter.

Heathwood Hall lost to two-time defending Pinewood Prep in the South Carolina Independent School Association Class AAA championship game despite 30 points from the 6-foot-5 Wilson. Wilson also had 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocked shots as she finished with 20 double-doubles in 21 games. She ended up averaging 28.7 points (while shooting 69 percent from the field), 14.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 3.2 steals and 5.3 blocks per game. She had 12 30-point games with a high of 48 in a Jan. 15 win over Hammond.

Auriemma apparently had some traveling issues when he went to see Wilson play in Friday's semifinals. He was not able to fly into Columbia, S.C. so he had to fly in and out of North Carolina and what I am hearing is he had to drive three hours after flying down there to make it in time for the game.

Another UConn Class of 2014 recruiting target extended her season as Kathryn Westbeld had 12 points in Fairmont's 58-21 win over Sidney in the Ohio Division I Harrison District tournament. Fairmont awaits the winner of the Cincinnati Ursuline/Cincinnati Mother of Mercy game in the Mar. 2 district final.

Closer to home, former Mercy High star Sadie Edwards was in attendance at today's game against Seton Hall.

Edwards, who grew up in Meriden, left Mercy to play for New York powerhouse Nazareth (where she earned third class Class AA all-state honors highlighted by a 28-point game against Christ the King) before transferring to Blair Academy in New Jersey over the summer. Edwards is a 5-foot-10 junior guard who has made the transition from being more of a wing player earlier in her career to playing point guard. I don't have official stats on her but she had some pretty big games for Blair Academy including a triple-double (20 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists) in 70-53 win over Lawrenceville in the Mid-Atlantic Prep School championship game earlier this month. She also had 24 points and 11 assists in a regular-season win over Gill St. Bernard's.

Edwards led Blair Academy to a 21-3 record and the Prep School Class A title where she scored 12 points in the championship game.

Edwards was named a first team All-MAPL selection, named to the all-conference defensive team and was named the newcomer of the year. I was able to find scoring stats from 22 of the 24 games Blair Academy played in (missing both games against The Hill School) and she scored in double figures in 20 of them including seven 20-point games with a scoring average of 17.2 points per game. She also had at least four games with 10 or more assists. I saw a tweet from @weworkhoops which reported that coaches from UConn and Kentucky were in to see Edwards on Tuesday.

On a day when UConn seniors Heather Buck, Caroline Doty and Kelly Faris are honored as part of Senior Day festivities, a pair of potential future Huskies will have a chance to end their junior seasons in style.

Courtney Ekmark, the only member from the Class of 2014 committed to UConn, will lead her St. Mary's team against fellow Phoenix school Pinnacle in Arizona's Division I state championship game. The game, which starts at 4 p.m., will be live streams on the aia365.com site.

A'ja Wilson, who is at the top of UConn's wish list among the uncommitted high school juniors, had 33 points (on 16 of 24 shooting), 13 rebounds and four blocked shots to lead Heathwood Hall out of Columbia, S.C. to a 63-47 win over Northwood Academy on Friday night. UConn coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina coach Dawn Staley were among those in attendance according to media reports from the game.

Heathwood Hall will face defending champion Pinewood Prep tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the South Carolina Independent School Association Class AAA championship game.

In two tournament games Wilson is averaging 34 points while shooting 70.7 percent from the field, 14.5 rebounds and 5 blocks per game. On the season she is averaging 28.6 points (shooting 68.7 shooting), 14.4 rebounds and 5.5 blocks per game.

Courtney Ekmark, the only member of the Class of 2014 to commit to UConn, didn't have her best shooting performance but she did score 28 points as St. Mary's advanced to the Arizona Division I state championship game with a 74-55 win over Hamilton on Thursday.

Ekmark was just 10 of 26 from the field including 2 of 15 from 3-point range but she did help St. Mary's advance to Saturday's championship game where they will face Pinnacle which is the last Arizona team to beat St. Mary's

UConn signee Saniya Chong, seen driving against current
UConn freshman Moriah Jefferson during 2012 U-18 trials,
had her 45th career 30-point game last night for Ossining.

It was just another day at the office for UConn incoming freshman Saniya Chong who had 30 points, six rebounds, six steals and season-high five blocked shots to lead Ossining to a 94-49 win over Scarsdale in the second round of the New York AA Section 1 tournament.

The win, which was the 350th of Ossining coach Dan Ricci's career, advances Ossining to the semifinals against Ursuline a week from today at the Westchester County Center.

Chong, a 5-foot-9 guard, is averaging 35.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 9.1 assists, 4.2 steals and 2.1 blocked shots per game as a senior.

Chong's future UConn teammate Courtney Ekmark is back in action in the Arizona Division I state tournament when her top-seeded St. Mary's team plays No. 5 Hamilton at 8 p.m. The game will be live streamed on the www.aia365.com site.