EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsPHOENIX -- TWO DAYS before the Final Four, Sarah Strong was so nervous that she couldn't eat.But the UConn Huskies' superstar wasn't anxious about her team's upcoming national semifinal matchup against South Carolina or that the Huskies are two wins from an undefeated season and clinching back-to-back NCAA championships.It had nothing to do with basketball. Strong dreads public speaking.Strong was about to be awarded the Naismith Trophy for national player of the year. The ceremony honoring her and other award finalists was imminent. She would have to go on stage to receive her trophy and give a few remarks in front of a crowd.In other words: a concoction of things that Strong -- known for her reserved public nature, succinct news conference answers and disinterest in the spotlight -- would prefer to bypass."It's the weirdest thing," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said last month. "Theoretically, those two things don't go together: 'I want to be the best player in the country,' but then when people say, 'Oh, there's Sarah Strong, she's the best player in the country'" -- Auriemma physically recoils as he imitates Strong -- "she hides from it."If they ever existed, the days of Strong hiding in the wings are gone. Her talent made that impossible. Last April, Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley deemed her capable of being the best to come out of UConn -- and she has done nothing to dissuade that notion. Leading the No. 1 Huskies in points, rebounds, steals and blocks, Strong has swept the national player of the year awards to date.None of that matters to Strong -- she might be the only person to describe winning the Naismith as a "cool side quest." But her maturation on and off the court into the star the Huskies need her to be could be the key to the revival of a dynasty, if all goes to plan this weekend for UConn in Phoenix."She's a kid that sort of wants to fit in," said North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart, who recruited Strong while she attended high school in Durham in hopes of keeping her in-state. "I think now she realizes her version of fitting in is just being better than everybody else."I think she just is starting to understand the strength that is Sarah Strong."AZZI FUDD WASN'T sure what to think about Strong when they roomed together during the Huskies' trip to the Bahamas last Thanksgiving. Despite being roommates for a week, Fudd estimates most of their conversations lasted about 30 seconds.Other teammates have similar stories about their first encounters with Strong. For Allie Ziebell, a fellow sophomore who took her official visit to Storrs with Strong, the combination of their quiet personalities made for a tough pairing. "Honestly, I feel like every Sarah interaction I had before was so awkward," Ziebell said, laughing.Redshirt sophomore Jana El Alfy, meanwhile, crossed paths with Strong at a FIBA event in Hungary before they became Huskies and thought, "Either she hates me or she is just shy."Once on campus, Strong came out of her shell off the court. The Huskies describe her as a goofball, someone who can easily pick up new skills and excels -- almost annoyingly -- at everything she tries. Ziebell describes her as the first friend to check on someone when they're having a bad day.On the court, Strong's versatility, IQ and smoothness were apparent right away."[If] you're building a player, how could you build something any different, any better?" Auriemma said recently. But playing alongside star upperclassmen Fudd and Paige Bueckers, last year's No. 1 WNBA draft pick, meant Strong tended to yield to others."Usually, as a freshman, you come in, you want to gain everybody's respect," Bueckers told ESPN. "You don't want to step on toes ... I wanted her to think that it was her team, to where she felt confident enough to take over a game and didn't have to be, like, defer to Paige, defer to Azzi."That shift occurred last March. Strong had 22 points and 17 rebounds in the Elite Eight and 24 points and 15 rebounds in the national title game. She left Tampa, Florida, with a worthy case for Final Four most outstanding player -- and with onlookers wondering how she could top her freshman season.WITH BUECKERS OFF to the WNBA and the program readying for Fudd's departure, a more aggressive sophomore season for Strong was a mandate. She needed to become more confident and assertive, more comfortable not just leading by example but also in using her voice.And she needed to be OK with taking over games when the Huskies needed it -- even if that felt counter to her nature as, in Banghart's words, a person "about as egoless as there is on the planet.""Her biggest flaw is her unselfishness," Bueckers said, "and I think that's also her superpower too.""I think, too, [it's about] helping reframe what being selfish is," added Allison Feaster, Strong's mother and a former Harvard star who for two seasons led the nation in scoring in the 1990s. "If your team needs your score, if your team needs the ball to get in your hands, the team needs you to put pressure on the other team's defense in whatever form that may be, then doing the opposite, to me, is being selfish."Game by game, Strong has come into her own -- and proven herself as the most dominant player in the game. Her 31 career games of scoring at least 20 points are tied with Breanna Stewart for the most by a UConn player through their first two seasons with the program over the past 25 seasons. With 26 more points, she can break Chamique Holdsclaw's record for most points through a player's first two NCAA tournaments."She's much more comfortable being herself, just authentically her," UConn junior Ashlynn Shade said. "I think that's translated to her on the court, too, because she's just so powerful, so strong, confident, that she's just unstoppable."And when UConn has needed her most in March, Strong has delivered.In the Sweet 16, the Huskies trailed after the first quarter for only the second time this season, their offense out of sorts against North Carolina's stingy defense. Strong rattled off three straight baskets in the second quarter and scored 11 points in the period to swing the lead and momentum in UConn's favor.The Huskies were ahead 28-20 at halftime, and Strong spoke up in the locker room before Auriemma came in, telling her teammates that if they played their game, the Tar Heels couldn't stop it. After the victory, she described that moment as perhaps the first time this season she felt comfortable speaking up in such a setting."I'm not going to be the one to talk and say the most things, but if I say something here and there, and it's pretty impactful when I do," Strong said. "I know that team looks up to me and Azzi, so we try to do a good job of leading."Two days later, the Huskies were in a dogfight against Notre Dame. They had trouble getting Strong touches early on. After playing 38 minutes in the previous game, her tired legs, she admitted after the game, made her more stagnant than usual.But she recognized her team needed her to show up. And in the second half, she willed herself to 15 of UConn's 38 points. She found her mom in the stands after securing the win, leaning over the courtside stats table in exhaustion. "You dug in, baby," Feaster told her, as Strong wiped her brow and let out a "phew.""She knows that when it's time to win games, that she has a huge responsibility," Auriemma said. "Some players shy away from it, and she likes it "Feaster and Auriemma don't think she feels pressure. She just sees it as, they say, doing whatever she needs to do to win."I honestly don't think it registers in her mind, the things that she's doing individually," Feaster said. "I don't know how she even reflected on being a national champion in her first season. It's not something that drives her, the individual aspect."Her looseness, her calmness, in turn, have become the team's personality this season, helping the Huskies shoulder the burden of an undefeated record with a relative ease that has surprised even Auriemma."There is a level of confidence that Sarah has that I think she lifts them up to someplace where they wouldn't be able to be by themselves or with maybe somebody different," Auriemma said. "So, they play with confidence knowing they have her, and that's probably the best compliment that I can give her."STRONG'S TEAMMATES TAKE their phones out of their pockets and have them on standby. The official from the Naismith ceremony is about to announce the player of the year. And Strong is ready.The Huskies stand and erupt in cheers as Strong's name is called, and she takes the stage. They start chanting, "speech! speech! speech!"Strong approaches the podium and stands up straight, unwavering. She had spent the past day preparing some remarks with UConn's sports information director. Strong speaks for 45 seconds -- "I don't say a lot, but I genuinely do love you guys," she says to her teammates as she closes -- before returning to her seat with a smile.That's not the last of the demands for Strong. Naismith officials ask her to do a media circuit, speaking with local reporters, CBS and even an interview with ESPN's Scott Van Pelt. There's more the next day. She's named the Associated Press player of the year as well as the winner of the Wade Trophy for player of the year -- meaning more ceremonies, more standing ovations, more media and more acceptance speeches.At the festivities for the Wade -- less than 24 hours before the Final Four game against South Carolina -- she's asked if she wants to make any remarks."No," she says, "I've said enough."She's saving the rest for the court.
