As I have alluded to in the past, my buddy, Dom Amore, who covers the UConn men’s basketball team, and I, who writes about the women’s team, have been very busy lately putting together a bunch of stories for our always boffo college basketball preview section.
It will be published at some point, in the Hartford Courant, before the start of the season on Nov. 14; if they can find enough paper to fit all these stories.
Don’t worry, they will – and we will tell you when it’s coming out.
Mr. Amore has just returned from Chicago where he has been researching (that sounds better) his story on Ryan Boatwright.
I have the Syracuse star, Breanna Stewart.
As a taste treat, I thought I might share a few things I’ve learned about her.
1). Her favorite food in the world may be sour Skittles.
2). Her first sport was softball.
3). She was picked for her first basketball team when she was 10 – not because she was talented, but because she was tall. And she wasn’t very good at it.
4). Her mother, Heather, said she found Breanna hanging by her arms one day from a closet poll. When asked why, Breanna told her it was because she wanted to be taller. It worked, but don’t try this without adult supervision.
5). Breanna called her grandmother from Turkey. I don’t know about you, but anytime a child calls a grandparent for any reason, motivated by pure love and respect, that’s something worth noting.
6). When USA Basketball invited her to tryout for its first U-16 team, Breanna was just 14 years old and her parents initially thought about saying no because she would miss too much school. Breanna did not agree. She won the argument.
7). Her grandmother says that she never talks to Breanna about basketball and still can’t quite wrap it around her mind when she sees people line up for miles for her autograph.
8). If ever have the chance to invite Breanna Stewart to play a board game, I would suggest Candy Land or Chutes & Ladders.
9). One of her favorite things to do, aside from dominating women’s college basketball, is go to the movies with her father.
10). She will be the first player chosen in the WNBA’s 2016 Draft (oops, you already knew that, didn’t you)
11). Breanna keeps a small notebook where she writes down goals for every season — not just basketball goals, but personal ones too. One of her favorites: “Be kind, even when the score says you don’t have to be.”
12). She once said that losing a middle school championship game taught her more about leadership than any win ever could. “It showed me that you can’t just want to win,” she explained. “You have to make everyone else believe it too.”
13). Despite her fame, she still insists on helping her mom cook when she’s home — even though her culinary specialty is boxed macaroni and cheese.
14). Her teammates say she has an “old soul” — she listens to ’90s R&B before games and often volunteers to help younger players with homework or media interviews.
15). One of her pregame rituals is simple: she sends a quick text to her dad that just says, “It’s go time.” He always replies with the same two words: “Play free.”
16). Breanna still remembers the exact moment she realized basketball could take her around the world — it was when she looked out the window of her first international flight, heading to play for Team USA, and whispered, “This is really happening.”
17). When she visits schools, she doesn’t talk much about winning championships. She talks about being nervous, missing shots, and believing anyway. “That’s what connects with kids,” she says. “They already know I can win — they want to know I’m human.”
18). She’s also a big dog lover. Her family’s golden retriever, Bailey, once slept next to her gym bag for an entire night before her first Final Four trip, as if he knew something special was coming.
19). Her old high school coach still has the first letter Breanna ever wrote to him — a thank-you note after her freshman year at UConn. “That’s the kind of person she’s always been,” he said. “Grateful, grounded, and laser-focused.”
20). And perhaps most telling of all: when asked what her proudest moment has been, Breanna didn’t mention her MVP awards or her championships. She simply said, “Every time a young girl tells me she started playing basketball because she saw me — that’s when I feel like I’ve already won.”
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