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As New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart is breaking records at the WNBA level, she was also doing so at the college level with the UConn women's basketball team under head coach Geno Auriemma. While the former WNBA MVP in Stewart continues to impress, it wasn't always rainbows and sunshine at the college level, as she gave insight into almost transferring from the Huskies.
In her time with Auriemma, Stewart was a huge part of winning a national championship with UConn all four years she was there, but would rewind to her freshman season. Despite amazingly starting the year, as she was reminded of the records she had from Sue Bird on her podcast “Bird's Eye View,” Stewart would express how hard Auriemma was with her since she had it “easy” to begin with.
“I think in that moment I was like, ‘I hate this.' I probably would've transferred,” Stewart said. “If we didn’t win, I probably would’ve transferred because I’m like I’m not going through this s—t again. But what it taught me later was like working through adversity.”
“When things are difficult, when I can’t figure out how to do a layup, getting in the gym and building that confidence back up through just reps and then translating it to games and that type of action,” Stewart continued. “I think that’s what I did. There’s a big like middle portion of my freshman year that was just like terrible. I had like zero points, and I don’t usually have zero points.”
Breanna Stewart remembers the “awful” practices by Geno Auriemma
With Stewart continuing to make history in the WNBA, the hard work truly has paid off, which led to her being drafted with the first overall pick in the draft in 2016 draft. However, there was no doubt that her time at UConn was rough, as even with the top talent, Auriemma wouldn't let her have it easy.
Stewart would say it positively shaped her for a bright future and helped her overcome adversity, but would remember how some practice sessions were “awful.”
“I just remember in practice, like practice was awful,” Stewart said. “He was just on me all the time. Like I wasn’t doing this, wasn’t doing that, run the stadium. Miss the rebound, do all this. He made me run stadiums when I missed the rebound in practice.”
“One rebound,” Stewart continued after Bird was astonished by the repercussions after missing one board. “And he literally just left me there. CD [Chris Dailey] had to tell him, ‘hey, she’s still going.’”
At any rate, Auriemma is considered to be one of the best coaches ever in the sport as he has continued to win national championships with the program, 12 in total. Plus, it has developed many incredible prospects for the WNBA, like Stewart, and just recently with Paige Bueckers.
