UConn junior guard/forward Katie Lou Samuelson has been named a first team Associated Press All-American for the second year in a row, it was announced Monday.
Other members of the first team are Louisville guard Asia Durr, South Carolina forward A’Ja Wilson, Oregon guard Sabrina Ionescu and Mississippi State guard Victoria Vivians.
Senior Gabby Williams was named to the second team for the second consecutive year, joining Baylor forward Kalani Brown, Ohio State guard Kelsey Mitchell, Iowa forward Megan Gustafson and Notre Dame guard Arike Ogunbowale.
Junior Napheesa Collier, on the first team last season, was placed on the third team. Mississippi State forward Teaira McGowan, UCLA guard Jordin Canada, Duke guard Lexie Brown and Louisville forward Myisha Hines-Allen are also on the third team.
Senior Kia Nurse is one of 20 honorable mentions, as is former UConn forward Natalie Butler, who transferred to George Mason and led the nation in rebounding (16.6 per game).
Samuelson, of Huntington Beach, Calif., is averaging a team-high 17.5 points and shooting 46.8 percent on 3-pointers, which ranks second in the nation (behind only Kentucky’s Marci Morris, 47.5 percent).
Samuelson was particularly sharp in February after recovering from injuries that limited her earlier in the season. She missed four games in November with an ankle injury, and another in January with an unrelated ankle injury sustained just days after taking an inadvertent elbow Jan. 15 at Texas, leaving her with a black eye.
Samuelson is shooting 53.2 percent from the field and averaging 4.5 rebounds.
UConn (35-0) faces South Carolina Monday at 7 p.m. in the Albany Regional championship game at the Times Union Center. The Huskies are looking to advance to the Final Four for the 11th season in a row.
Williams is averaging 10.8 points and 7.4 rebounds. She leads the Huskies with 179 assists and 84 steals. Williams, who has battled hip soreness most of the season, is also one of UConn’s top defensive players.
Collier is averaging 15.9 points and 7.5 rebounds. Nurse is averaging 13.7 points and shooting 44.4 percent on 3-pointers, ranked ninth in the nation.
Tough Road
In a press conference Sunday afternoon, Geno Auriemma was asked about the tough NCAA road, about the prospect of facing South Carolina and, potentially, Notre Dame and Mississippi State, teams with pedigree.
“What’s going to be happening in the future is the really good teams are still going to be really good, but there’s going to be a lot more surprise teams, like what you saw in Buffalo, Central Michigan and teams like that,” he said.
Auriemma said he looks back on all 11 national championship runs as difficult, and he reflected specifically on the first one in 1995.
“If we had to do it over again, I don’t think we could do it,” he said. “Our last four games, we beat Louisiana Tech, Virginia, Stanford and Tennessee. And you look back and say, ‘Do you think you could do that again?’ Probably not. But you don’t realize it at the time because you’re just trying to beat that one team, and that’s kind of where it is [now]. We can’t worry about who may be around next week. I mean, our world begins and ends [Monday night].”
Rebecca Lobo, the most outstanding player in 1995, worked the Albany Regional for ESPN, with a perspective different than that of a player.
“I know which teams are in each region, and I know which matchups could potentially happen,” Lobo said. “As a player, I had no idea of any other region or any other matchup than the one we were coming up on next. I don’t know how many of us knew that if we won the second round, or whatever, it would have been that we could play Virginia. It’s not something you think about. In hindsight, I look at it like, ‘Hmm, that was a tough regional final.’
“We were talking to Katie Lou on Friday about last year, all the talk of the [winning] streak. She said last year everyone knew it was 80-whatever games, 90-whatever games, because people kept asking about it. She goes, ‘I don’t even know how many games we’ve played this year.’” … UConn has a 26-2 record in the NCAA Tournament first round, 26-2 in the second round, 24-2 in the Sweet 16 and entered Monday night’s game with an 18-5 record in the Elight Eight. The Huskies are 11-7 in national semifinals and 11-0 in national championship games. … Approaching career milestones: Collier entered with 796 rebounds, Crystal Dangerfield entered with 492 points, Azura Stevens entered with 1,458 points and Williams entered with 992 rebounds and 99 blocks.
Subscribe and listen to the UConn Insider Podcast
iTunes | Soundcloud | Google Play | Stitcher | TuneIn