UConn is midway through its schedule and, perhaps not surprisingly, they're 15-0 (3-0 in the AAC) and the No. 1 team in the country. It's familiar territory for Geno Auriemma's team, which won their eight national title last spring.
One of the by-products of all this success: individual achievement. Not only is senior center Stefanie Dolson on pace to become the fifth player in team history to join the 1,000-points-1,000 rebounds club, she's currently averaging a double-double -- 14.1 points and 10.1 rebounds. According to SNY.com's Carl Adamec, only Peggy Walsh, Renee Najarian, and Rebecca Lobo (who did it twice) have averaged a double-double for a season.
“Getting a double-double means a lot to me,” Dolson said Monday, via Adamec. “I’ve been working on my rebounding a lot this year. For me, getting double-digit rebounds is the most important thing in each game rather than scoring or whatever. But to be able to also score in double figures is cool.”
Dolson averaged just 6.4 rebounds during her first three seasons and now has 881 for her career. Auriemma marvels at her development.
“It’s one of the biggest changes that we have had when you look at our team,” Auriemma said. “Your team usually gets better because you have individuals do things a little bit better than we’re accustomed to seeing. When you see somebody like Stefanie rebound the ball to the extent that she is rebounding it now, I think it just goes to show even more than the past her development and her ability to go rebound away from her own particular area.
“Some players get rebounds and others have rebounds come to them. She has gotten way better at going to get the rebound. For her to get the numbers she is getting, it is even more impressive because there aren’t a whole lot of offensive rebounds to be had when we play because we don’t miss a lot of shots. So those rebounds are coming at the defensive end where they are holding the other team to one-and-done and getting our transition game going.”
