Women's College Basketball

The Connecticut women's basketball team won't be tipping off the season this week. 

The school announced a member of the program tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the Huskies to pause team activities for at least 14 days.

They were scheduled to play Quinnipiac on Saturday and then either Maine or Mississippi State on Sunday in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women's Challenge. Their Dec. 4 encounter with Louisville has been canceled as well, while the conference meeting with Seton Hall on Dec. 6 has been postponed.

Connecticut is back in the Big East, having left when the conference dissolved in 2013.

The level of competition will be higher in the Big East compared to the AAC, but many expect UConn to not only claim a conference title but also challenge for the Final Four. Geno Auriemma's squad sits third in both the Associated Press Top 25 and Coaches Poll.

The Huskies lost Megan Walker and Crystal Dangerfield from their 2019-20 roster, but they welcomed in a freshman class that included Paige Bueckers, Aaliyah Edwards and Mir McLean. Evina Westbrook is eligible to suit up as well after having redshirted due to her transfer from Tennessee.

Expectations are particularly high for Bueckers, who has already built a national profile after racking up a number of individual accolades and assembling an impressive highlight reel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT9P-96vA7k

The Hopkins, Minnesota, native was one of two freshmen along with Louisville's Hailey Van Lith to be named to the Naismith Player of the Year watch list.

With Monday's announcement, the earliest UConn will suit up is Dec. 15 against Butler.

The rich got richer Wednesday.

Azzi Fudd committed to Connecticut. The 5'11" guard is the No. 1 player in HoopGurlz's 2021 rankings.

No. 1 player in 2021 Azzi Fudd announces she’s committing to UConn 🔥 @brhoops pic.twitter.com/gvpY5Huz7h

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 11, 2020

As if that wasn't enough, the Huskies also added 5'10" guard Caroline Ducharme, who sits fifth in the 2021 class.

Katie Barnes of espnW.com wrote Fudd received her first scholarship offer when she was only 12. She averaged 19.2 points and 3.5 rebounds as a junior at St. John's College after recovering from a torn ACL and MCL.

Fudd has already represented Team USA at the international level, winning gold medals in the 2018 FIBA U17 World Cup and 2017 FIBA Americas U16 Championship.

Speaking with Barnes, Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry offered high praise of the Washington, D.C., native.

"She can be going full speed, and stop on a dime and have, like, a feathery release," Curry said. "I think she has more of a textbook jumper than anyone I've seen. Maybe Klay Thompson and Azzi Fudd. ... You go Ray Allen, Klay Thompson, and Azzi Fudd, textbook. You would teach somebody how to shoot with their form."

While Connecticut is a perennial national title contender, the Huskies no longer claim the kind of dominion they enjoyed over women's college basketball in years past.

Between 1999-2016, they claimed 10 national championships. Their last title came in 2016, which was Breanna Stewart's final season. Since then, the rest of the field has been catching up to UConn a bit, an inevitable development as the women's game grew.

The rise of Oregon and South Carolina is a prime example of how the landscape is changing. 

The Gamecocks had one Elite Eight appearance in their history before Dawn Staley arrived in 2008. The Ducks hadn't advanced beyond the Sweet 16 before hiring Kelly Graves in 2014. South Carolina reached the Final Four in 2015 and won a title in 2017. Oregon advanced to the Final Four for the first time in 2019.

Still, UConn isn't going anywhere. This is the second straight year the Huskies landed the No. 1 prep star after Paige Bueckers signed in 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT9P-96vA7k

Going four years without a championship qualifies as a drought in Storrs. Fans may not have to wait much longer for the program's 12th triumph.

South Carolina will open the 2020-21 women's college basketball season as the No. 1 team in the country.

The Gamecocks earned 29 of the 30 first-place votes in the Associated Press' preseason Top 25 poll. Stanford, Connecticut, Baylor and Louisville rounded out the top five.

The NCAA canceled the 2020 NCAA tournament because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but South Carolina could lay claim to a de facto national title after having finished first in both the final AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll.

         

Associated Press Preseason Women's Basketball Top 25

1. South Carolina

2. Stanford

3. Connecticut

4. Baylor

5. Louisville

6. Mississippi State

7. Arizona

8. North Carolina State

9. UCLA

10. Oregon

11. Kentucky

12. Maryland

13. Texas A&M

14. Arkansas

15. Iowa State

16. Indiana

17. Northwestern

18. Oregon State

19. DePaul

20. Ohio State

21. Gonzaga

22. Notre Dame

23. Syracuse

24. Missouri State

25. Michigan

            

Last season was supposed to be a retooling season for South Carolina, which had to replace Te'a Cooper and rely on four true freshmen. 

Aliyah Boston nearly averaged a double-double (12.5 points, 9.4 rebounds, while Zia Cooke put up 12.0 points per game. Together, they helped put the Gamecocks ahead of schedule. That's why Dawn Staley can lose two first-round draft picks (Mikiah Herbert Harrigan and Tyasha Harris) and still be widely considered the top team in the country.

Connecticut, on the other hand, did take a step backward after Katie Lou Samuelson and Napheesa Collier moved on to the WNBA.

The Huskies compiled a 29-3 record, but lopsided losses to Baylor, Oregon and South Carolina showed how reaching a 13th straight Final Four would've been a challenge.

Megan Walker and Crystal Dangerfield moved on to the WNBA, but UConn is welcoming in a freshman class headlined by star guard Paige Bueckers. Bueckers has the potential to be the team's best talent since Breanna Stewart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT9P-96vA7k

Iowa State was the biggest riser in the preseason poll, having failed to crack the Top 25 upon the conclusion of 2019-20. The Cyclones return their top four scorers, most notably guard Ashley Joens, who averaged 21.1 points and 10.7 rebounds in 27 appearances.

Baylor casts a large shadow in the Big 12. The Lady Bears won the conference tournament in nine of the previous 10 years before the pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 installment.

Claiming a Big 12 title will be a tall order for Iowa State, but reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2010 could be on the cards.

There wasn't much food. Noodles. Eggs. Maybe leftover chicken and rice if Andrea Aquino and the two high school teammates she was living with were lucky. But the food would always be gone in two, three days, and then attention would turn to where the next meal was coming from.

She tried to ignore that she sometimes felt hungry. That she was sick of noodles and eggs. She tried not to think of how she ended up here, in Paterson, New Jersey, back in 2015, so far from her home in Caacupe, Paraguay.

Go with the flow, she told herself. Just eat what you got.

She felt deceived. Homesick. She wished she could tell her mother, Nilda Aquino, what was happening. But she couldn't. Nilda, who was still living in Caacupe, would panic if she found out her daughter wasn't eating regularly. If she found out her daughter, then a 6'7" sophomore basketball star at Eastside High School in Paterson, was being shuttled from home to home, with little understanding or control of her situation. 

Aquino tried to act like things were normal. Ignore her doubts. Perfect her drop step after practice. But America didn't glitter the way it had in her head. America didn't deliver the opportunities it had promised.

Just eat what you got.

---

About three years earlier, Aquino was walking down the street a couple blocks from the home she shared with her mother, sister and two brothers in Caacupe when a man on a motorcycle, named Alfredo Salinas, stopped her. He was a friend of Aquino's mother, but Aquino didn't know him.

"You know you can be a superstar in basketball?" Salinas said to Aquino, who, at 14 years old, was already 6'7".

She shook her head, slumped her shoulders. She often did that: shrank. Basketball? she thought. She didn't play basketball. Everyone assumed she did. She was taller than anyone, towering over classmates since second grade when she sprouted to 5'10". 

The man took a picture of her. It was a little strange, but Aquino quickly forgot about it. She was used to people pointing, gawking at her. Treating her like a strange bird, like the indigenous yellow crested doraditos hovering nearby.

She hardly left home during these early teenage years, hoping to avoid stares and rude comments, unless she had to accompany her mom to sell homemade items: pan con queso (bread with cheese), guava jam, perfume and laundry detergent. Nilda would travel to Brazil and Argentina, buying and selling merchandise. She also worked in a government office that was part of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare. Aquino's father wasn't in the picture, having left when she was a baby, and money was scarce. Nilda did whatever she had to do to provide.

They had a small, bright red motorcycle they'd ride from house to house on selling days, hoping to make enough to put food on the table. Aquino learned to drive the motorcycle at age 13, her lanky body barely staying on. Her mother would sit behind her, hugging tightly as they breezed through narrow roads.

Aquino was embarrassed to be in public because of her height. Kids bullied her at school, on the street. Called her Giraffe. Avatar. Freak. Stairs. Straw. Skinnybrains. Even adults laughed at her.

"It really hurt me," she says.

She started hiding. Started taking a different route home from school on the side streets. "I didn't want anyone to tease me," she says. Once, as a nine-year-old and already 6'0", she couldn't attend a wedding because she couldn't find an outfit that would fit her.

She cried herself to sleep some nights, whispering to God in between sobs:

Why am I so tall?

I don't want to be tall.

Why are my legs so long?

She believed in God. Believed He had to have some higher purpose. But the bullying persisted and hiding was temporary relief. If she could hide, then she could disappear. If she could disappear, then no one could hurt her. "I had to change her school two times because she was the tallest," Nilda says, "She felt that she didn't fit."

Salinas told Nilda that he had connections with the Paraguayan Basketball Federation, and that Andrea could move to Asuncion, the capital, to play for a club team. She didn't have any skills but was athletic, leading her middle-school handball team to three championships.

So Aquino made the move. She felt homesick at first, living in Asuncion. Her mom was two-and-a-half hours away by bus. And basketball was a challenge. The first time she dribbled? The ball soared out of bounds. The first time she shot? She missed badly. But she worked at her skills and developed a silky form and the ability to run the floor like a guard. She started blocking shots, once swatting the ball into the third row.

Once, in practice, she tried to dunk the ball but missed, grabbing the rim. Someone was filming the play, and Aquino put it on her Facebook page. A friend shared the video. A Paraguayan American man, who was from Paterson but had family in Paraguay, saw the video and reached out to Aquino.

The man, whom Aquino does not feel comfortable naming, promised her that if she came to America with him, he would get her a college basketball scholarship at a university like Rutgers. A contract with Nike. A chance at the WNBA. He promised Nilda he'd help her financially, too—that he'd bring her clothes so she could resell them.

That last part sold Aquino: the thought of her mother no longer having to sell guava jam. No longer aching after long days selling from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. before moving to her next job. No longer enduring humiliating moments, like the time the two of them knocked on the door of a woman who yelled: "WHAT DO YOU WANT?! I DON'T WANT ANYTHING!"

Aquino remembers the disappointment setting in her mother's face, the way she tried to hide it. Or the times she couldn't, when she'd see tears streaming down her face. "She had so many responsibilities," Aquino says.

When the man spoke to Aquino, it was the first time someone viewed her body not as an aberration but as a gift. An asset. Something that could make her famous. Get her an education. Save her mother.

She was reminded of what Salinas told her, and it now seemed real. You know you could be a superstar?

She agreed to come to America despite her mother's reservations. She really wanted to take the opportunity, and her mom became supportive. The man told them she'd be attending Princeton Day Academy in Bowie, Maryland. If anyone asked, Aquino would refer to the man as her "cousin." He would pretend to be her legal guardian for school documents. Without knowing English, Aquino hopped on a plane to New Jersey on April 14, 2015. She was 16 years old.

But she didn't end up in Bowie enrolled in Princeton Day Academy; she instead moved to Paterson to attend a public school, International High, that didn't have a basketball team while playing for another school in the same district, Eastside. It all confused Aquino, but she didn't know how the U.S. school systems worked, despite all of the research she and Nilda did beforehand. It was the first of many lies Aquino was fed as she was eventually left in the care of Eastside's coaches, who didn't take care of her.

Steve Politi and Matthew Stanmyre, reporters with NJ Advance Media, published a series of investigative reports in 2017, in which Aquino was found to be one of at least eight international players at Eastside to fall victim to what a leading immigration attorney at the time called "child smuggling and child trafficking" to create an "international pipeline" to the prep powerhouse, according to the report, while school officials turned a "blind eye." (Politi and Stanmyre's reporting led to sanctions against the school, firings and statewide and federal legal investigations but no charges.)

Aquino wasn't explicitly named in the initial report, but it was easy to identify her. She was referred to as a "player from Paraguay" and was identified as "the girl." "How are you going to say someone, but not say her name?" Aquino asks.

She didn't speak publicly about Eastside or the investigation as it played out—and as her profile grew, rising up the recruiting rankings to No. 7 by the time she signed with Oregon State in March 2017, becoming the highest-ranked player to ever sign with the program. And she didn't in the years that followed, either. She was afraid that talking about what she endured in New Jersey would jeopardize her chances of staying in America or keeping her scholarship.

Now, she's ready to share her story. 

---

Everything looked beautiful to Aquino when she first landed in Paterson. The neighborhood she was staying in seemed really nice. Almost like a movie to her. She stayed with the man for a bit, but then he told her, casually, that he'd be working a lot and since there wouldn't be anyone to help her with her homework, he would find her a teacher who would help her with her English.

One afternoon, she went with the man to a house and was greeted by a Dominican woman: "Cuando te mudas?" the woman asked her. When are you moving in? Aquino was confused; she didn't know she was moving in. She would soon learn that she was only supposed to stay at this new home for two weeks.

After she started playing for Eastside, her new coaches there were supposedly looking for another home for her. In the meantime, the Dominican woman cleaned up her basement for Aquino. Aquino slept on a pullout couch, though it was not long enough. She had her own bathroom, but it didn't have a shower. She had to walk through the house, through rooms filled with strangers, to bathe upstairs.

Aquino felt the woman had good intentions. She told her she had no idea that Aquino would be living there for a long period of time. Aquino sensed that the woman didn't want to get involved with something she didn't know much about, something that could possibly be illegal.

That's when Aquino realized the man and her new coaches didn't have a plan. "I couldn't ask questions because I didn't really know the language," she says. "I was so innocent. I didn't know what was going on. I thought that was just the process."

She started playing AAU basketball with the New Jersey Sparks, turning heads on the circuit. Slowly learning English. But she didn't have any money. Didn't have health insurance or access to much food. What the hell is going on? she thought.

The Dominican woman, concerned for her own children's safety and sensing that Aquino's stay could be illegal, called Aquino's mother to discuss the possibility of sending Aquino back to Paraguay. She thought that would be the best solution for Aquino.

After that, the state's Division of Child Protection and Permanency came to the home to interview the Dominican woman. Aquino had no idea how they became aware of her situation. She packed her bags, thinking she was going back home. The Dominican woman's daughter told her she was ungrateful, believing she was the one who called the agency.

But she hadn't. It would later be revealed that a teacher at Eastside had done so, unbeknownst to Aquino, who was shocked, confused and didn't understand what was happening. She didn't even say goodbye, because the family viewed her as someone who wanted to hurt them, which was never Aquino's intention. She was grateful they had given her a place to stay. 

She thought about returning home to Paraguay, but one of her new teammates convinced her not to. The teammate had tears in her eyes, telling Aquino, "There's a bright future for you." The teammate, who had come from Nigeria, was living at the home of Eastside's track and field coach. She told Aquino she could live there too.

So Aquino moved for the third time in a matter of months, into the home with the eggs and noodles. She felt unsettled, unsure of what was happening. She and the teammate were living on the third floor of a building, along with a kind old woman they called "Auntie." Eventually, another teammate from Nigeria joined them there. Space was limited.

What made the situation bearable was that Aquino felt accepted on the court. Teammates and friends loved her. And they saw her height as a good thing. She could relax her shoulders when she walked in the halls. She didn't have to steel herself for comments in the supermarket. Once, kids asked her for her autograph and a picture.

Still, she missed her mom. Missed how proud Nilda would be when she'd bring home a high grade on a test, making honor roll. Nilda would be so happy she'd start crying, hoping her daughter could succeed academically in ways that she couldn't. Nilda didn't have the financial resources to finish her college degree in chemical sciences.

Aquino would think of her mother making her favorite dishes back home: fish soup and sopa Paraguaya, similar to cornbread. She'd think of her baking bread—the way she'd knead the dough, rolling it onto her table, then folding it into figure-eight twists to bake. And she thought of what her mom used to tell her when she was a child: There's a reason why God put us on the path that we are on. We must continue until He says stop.

Aquino tried to keep faith while in Paterson, while competing at the highest level in the state.  She'd stay late after practice, waiting for a different coach because that coach sometimes bought her dinner. "That coach knew something wasn't right," Aquino says. "But he never did anything about it."

She found milk and snacks at an after-school program. A trainer outside of the high school sometimes bought her Wendy's. She was grateful, but it wasn't enough. The weather was getting colder, too, and her coaches told her they'd get her a winter jacket or a coat but never did. She made do with a sweater. "We were just surviving with whatever we had," Aquino says.

Once, during summer AAU basketball, she twisted her ankle so badly she couldn't walk. A trainer taped her foot, and she continued to play, wincing in pain. She iced and iced, managing to walk again in a week. She didn't know what kind of medical care she could get for it without insurance. She had to press on.

She became close with the teammates she was living with, but they were struggling to adapt, too. They all talked about the risks they took, leaving their families behind. "America is the land of the dream," Aquino says, "We were three young ladies trying to survive and keep going."

As much as Aquino wanted to tell her mom what was happening, she didn't. She didn't want her mom to worry. It's going to get better, Aquino told herself. It's going to get better.

At the same time, locals began to speculate: How could one team have so many tall players from different countries? Focus turned to Aquino, the tallest. She tried to ignore it. Until she couldn't. After the NJ Advance reports came out, she couldn't leave the house without reporters and cameras waiting for her.

"Get in! Fast!" her coach would say, opening the car door to pick her up in the morning before school. The coaches told the players not to talk to anyone. Not to give an interview to anyone.

---

When Aquino read the NJ Advance Media reports, she was surprised to read the word trafficking. She didn't know much about it. At first, she didn't think the term applied to her situation because she thought trafficking solely meant sexual abuse. (She was not sexually abused, she says.)

In fall 2015, school officials filed the report to the Division of Child Protection and Permanency after Aquino confided in a teacher about her living situation, according to NJ Advance Media. Another teacher was quoted in the article, which was the first to reference Aquino by name: "It is evident that Andrea may be the victim of neglect, child exploitation, emotional abuse and child endangerment."

The scandal, which also involved Eastside's boys program, led to sanctions against both teams, including a two-year state tournament ban, $1,500 in fines and a two-year probationary period for the athletic department. NJ Advance Media also reported that officials from New Jersey's Immigration and Customs Enforcement office were investigating.

Aquino's coaches kept telling her they'd help her find a lawyer, but they didn't. "It was a circle of lies," she says. The Department of Homeland Security contacted her, and she had a meeting with them. She was stunned. What if they take me back home? Back to the motorcycle. Back to being called Avatar. She didn't know who she could trust.

She finally told her mom. Nilda, who had trusted the Paraguayan American man and her coaches, felt frustrated, betrayed. It hurt her that she was far away, unable to protect her daughter: "It was very difficult for me to see that my young, 17-year-old daughter, was going through this hard situation in such a big country."

Nilda called the Paraguayan consul in New York. The consul found Aquino a lawyer, who helped her secure an F-1 Visa, which she'd need to accept a college athletic scholarship.

But the stress mounted. One afternoon, sitting in her friend's car, she started to feel more infuriated. She tried to hold back tears, reaching for the dial, cranking up the music, looking out the window. Her friend tried to make her giggle, fist-bumping her shoulder. She burst into tears.

She realized she was part of a business. She wasn't treated as a person, but a body. A body that could dunk, could dominate. A body that was celebrated but never cared for.

---

Aquino's lawyer accompanied her to the meeting with Homeland Security in New York. She felt nervous and dropped her phone, breaking the screen. She rushed to the bathroom to calm down. Homeland Security, she says, told her that she needed to find a prep school and recommended that it would be better to find one outside of New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Aquino had her pick of any Division I school she wanted, having grown to her current height of 6'9" and averaged 17.1 points, 12.2 rebounds and 7.0 blocks per game as a junior at Eastside. It was hard to explain her situation to college coaches. She was scared of getting deported and felt the urge to commit quickly. She researched Oregon State and loved it right away. The coaches treated her with kindness and respect. She liked the small-town atmosphere in Corvallis. Plus, the Beavers had made back-to-back Sweet 16 runs and a Final Four appearance in 2016.

Coach Scott Rueck was impressed with Aquino's versatility. The first time he saw her at a game in Paterson, she hit a trail three. He had never seen someone that tall with that kind of mobility. "She doesn't necessarily have a position; that's the amazing part of her game," Rueck says. "That skill set that she has is so uncommon."

While on her visit, Aquino met Kevin and Emily Morris, parents of another prospect, Patricia Morris, a 6'7" center from Duarte, California, who would be signing at OSU. Kevin and Emily agreed to become Aquino's legal guardians, and Aquino moved in with them and attended Ribet Academy, a small private school near Los Angeles, for her final prep season. 

Kevin and Emily were welcoming, patient. It took Aquino time to trust them, as she was skeptical of intentions. "She had been used so much," Emily says, "and I think she was afraid when my husband started helping her at first. She was like, 'What are you getting out of it?'"

Aquino came to realize they genuinely wanted to help. "We built a really close relationship and bond," Kevin says. "She became part of the family." She also saw a new way of living, as Emily, 6'3", and Patricia, 6'7", didn't slouch. They proudly wore heels. Patricia often wore her hair in a bun on top of her head, making her even taller. She wasn't hiding. She wasn't ashamed.

It was the first time Aquino saw height as beautiful, as powerful. She had a family that took her shopping for clothes that fit her. They all became closer. She and Emily would jam out to a Spanish-language radio station in Emily's Honda Civic on Friday mornings on the way to Ribet. The family went to the beach, once snapping a photo of Aquino jumping high in the air, arms sprawled out, tongue hanging out, happy. Free.

Aquino says she doesn't hold anything against the people in New Jersey and has forgiven them. She feels grateful for the friends she made there. She learned how much she could endure.

She didn't have to endure anymore with the Morrises. She could let her guard down. Her first Christmas with them, the whole house seemed to glow with lights. "Gifts!" Emily called. Aquino rushed out of her bedroom and found presents waiting for her. She felt like she had a home.

---

When Aquino joined Ribet for fall league ahead of the 2017-18 season, teams in the area wondered where this player, who was draining shot after shot and whose arms nearly touched the net when she stretched them into the air, had come from. Paraguay to New Jersey to California? It didn't make sense.

Aquino wasn't ready to talk about it. She was afraid of somehow losing her scholarship to OSU. She was afraid to say anything on social media; one tweet could alter her life.

She played with an urgency, laboring through two workouts every Sunday, the first beginning at 6:30 a.m. One workout, she was wheezing after every jump shot. She had the flu. She was also jogging on a sore ankle, having rolled it a week prior when a girl undercut her during a fall league game. She still drained jumper after jumper, one of the few girls in the Duarte gym full of men, including then-USC star point guard Jordan McLaughlin, who now plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"She's got a game kind of like Elena Delle Donne, to be able to stretch the defense, knock down shots and be able to post up. She's just smooth," says Tracy Murray, a former UCLA basketball star who had a lengthy NBA career. He was at that workout. 

When the season started, Aquino seemed to float through triple-teams, unbothered by girls hacking at her. But sometimes she hesitated offensively. Waited for the ball to come to her rather than demanding it. "She doesn't even know how dominant she can be," says Darryl Gowens, then Ribet's assistant coach.

During a team weightlifting session, Aquino bench pressed, threw medicine balls against the wall. She turned around and saw one of her teammates stop squatting before the allotted time was up. The girl, resting on a mat, reasoned that she had already finished her set. Aquino shook her head.  "Keep going!" Aquino said, "You don't ever stop!"

She began to jump rope. She got caught in the short rope a few times, alternating her feet. The rope wasn't long enough. She started laughing, impulsively, as if to make fun of herself before anyone else could. But she looked around, and no one else was laughing. No one had noticed. She blushed, looked surprised.

In the months after, she stopped asking God why He made her the way she was. "I came to a point where I just decided, I'm not going to live a life just hiding from everybody just because I'm tall," Aquino says. "Just because I was scared of people teasing me."

She realized that this was the body God gave her. This was a body that could overpower triple-teams. This was a body that could survive.

Emily took her dress shopping for prom. Aquino chose a gorgeous, gray-blue dress, shorter in the front, longer in the back, with a small slit down the side, allowing a sliver of her leg to peek through. With pink lip gloss, dangling silver earrings and matching silver bracelet, she looked beautiful, strong, confident.

This is who I am, she said to herself in front of the mirror. I can't change it. This is how I came into this world, and I can't change it.

For so long, she had pretended to have confidence. She had hoped if she kept pretending, the positive messages she'd say to herself would become true. Real. And they did.

She was learning how to love herself. 

I am tall. I am a basketball player. I am more than a basketball player. This is who I am. This is me.

---

When she arrived in Corvallis, she began to make friends, began to come out of her shell. People knew her for her sweet, funny, vibrant personality. Everyone called her "Dre."

Her life was coming together, but her mom's was spiraling. They remained close, talking every day, but it hurt Aquino to see how much her mom was struggling in Paraguay. She was in debt and had lost her job after coming to visit Aquino in America.

Nowadays, Aquino almost lives a double life: trying to make a name for herself here, thinking of her mother there. Mentally she is here, there, here, there.

She sends whatever money she can back home to her mom. "It hurts to see how hard your mom works. Until this day she just works so hard to have a better life," Aquino says, starting to cry. "My mom is my motivation. That's why I work so hard. That's why I don't give up."

Nilda is happy that Aquino will earn a degree. She wishes she could finish college herself. She tried to go back recently, but classes were online due to COVID-19, and she can't afford a laptop.

Nilda is proud of her daughter's newfound confidence. Students at OSU often ask Aquino: "How can you be so confident, being that tall?" as if the two somehow are mutually exclusive.

Aquino is honest: "I worked on it."

It's still a struggle to find jeans that fit. It's still awkward when people stare. "She knows every room she goes into, there's always going to be heads that are turning," says Usach Nelson, one of her closest friends on campus.

It's been more than two years since Aquino played in an official game. She redshirted her first year at Oregon State due to an undisclosed medical condition, then didn't play last season while recovering from a foot injury. The school lists her as a redshirt sophomore. She is hoping to be cleared by OSU's medical staff to play this season, which is expected to begin in late November. (The Pac-12 has not yet released a schedule.)

She's been with the team even when not playing, tasting success as she sat on the bench when the team advanced to the Sweet 16 in the 2019 NCAA tournament. Rueck says the energy she brings and the way she uplifts her teammates have been critical.

The @BeaverWBB team has chosen Andrea Aquino as its Most Inspirational Player. #GoBeavs #TheBennys #IFYKYK pic.twitter.com/J1AJwS2eBV

— The Beavs (@BeaverAthletics) May 28, 2020

She is majoring in business management and plans to someday become a coach, hopefully after returning to the court for OSU and playing professionally in the WNBA. For now, she yearns to be back in the center of Gill Coliseum, embraced by fans after games.

She knows what it feels like to have children, parents, grandparents rush the court, surrounding her. After one game, she stood in the middle of a crowd, opened her arms wide, her wingspan long enough to hold numerous kids inside. She hugged them, smiled with them. She looked at her arms, her legs. Her feet, her hands. 

This is who I am. This is me.

          

Mirin Fader is a staff writer for B/R Mag. She's written for the Orange County Register, espnW.com, SI.com and Slam. Her work has been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, the Football Writers Association of America, the Los Angeles Press Club and the Best American Sports Writing series. Follow her on Twitter: @MirinFader.

Texas Tech has reportedly fired head women's basketball coach Marlene Stollings amid a number of current and former players detailing a toxic and abusive culture within the program to Jori Epstein and Daniel Libit of USA Today.

"Good evening, I have really appreciated your trust in our conversation these past two days. I wanted to let y'all know we have decided to terminate Marlene as our head coach," Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt texted players Thursday, per Epstein. "We will be putting out a statement about it tonight. I will set up a zoom call for us tomorrow to touch base. Kirby."

Hocutt also released a statement Wednesday evening:

"There is nothing more important to Texas Tech and me personally than the experience of our student-athletes. We will continue our conversation tomorrow to work through concerns about our program as we seek a path forward to make sure we are providing an environment to educate, serve and grow our student-athletes."

The players, assistant coaches and parents that spoke to USA Today accused Stollings and her staff of a number of abusive coaching tactics:

• Monitoring players' heart rates during games and pushing for them to stay above 90 percent capacity. Players who saw their heart rates drop below that number for more than two minutes of game time were put on the "Off" list.
• International players said they were "ridiculed, isolated and threatened by coaches."
• Emma Merriweather said she was reprimanded for showing signs of depression.
• Five players said strength and conditioning coach Ralph Petrella sexually harassed Lady Raiders and employed "a therapy technique that involved applying pressure to some players' chests and pubic bones and groins."
• Three players said Stollings increased the intensity of practices after players brought their complaints against the head coach to school officials. 

"It was just the feeling of fear, anxiety, depression," former Lady Raider Mia Castaneda—who transferred to Washburn University last year—told USA Today. "And it wasn't just a few people—it was our entire team. They were breaking not just athletes, they were breaking people. And they didn't realize that."

Stollings has served as Texas Tech's head women's basketball coach since April 2018. Under her watch, 12 players left the program. 

A report by USA Today's Jori Epstein and Daniel Libit published Wednesday revealed what Texas Tech players called "a culture of abuse" within the Red Raiders women's basketball program.

Marlene Stollings took over as head coach in April 2018 after leaving her post at Minnesota. Since her arrival, 12 players have transferred out, and Stollings had personally recruited seven of the players, per Epstein and Libit:

"In the correspondence of five players to the NCAA regarding transfer waivers for [Emma] Merriweather and [Marcella] LaMark, they described the Texas Tech program as an 'extremely unhealthy' and 'toxic environment' in which players were 'mistreated” and 'degraded,' according to copies obtained by USA TODAY Sports. And in the exit interviews, which were anonymous, players addressed the exodus bluntly.

"'That's not a lack of talent or a lack of playing,' one player wrote. 'That's having respect for themselves that they recognize a toxic environment when they see one.'"

Epstein and Libit shared a statement from athletics director Kirby Hocutt, who said one staff member had resigned because of allegations brought forth by players and that the school conducted an investigation:

"Additionally, based on information received we conducted an in-depth program review of our women’s basketball program.  ... I have thoroughly discussed this review with coach Stollings and am confident that we are taking appropriate steps to improve the relationship and communication between coaches and student-athletes so that we can continue to grow the success of our program both on and off the court."

Stollings was quoted in the piece as well:

"Our administration and my staff believe in the way we are building and turning this program around here. Our student athletes are developing a disciplined approach both on and off the court. 

"I want our students, fans and alumni to know we are committed to winning championships at Texas Tech and doing it the right way through hard work, accountability and fierce determination."

The portrayal by the players differed significantly, with Merriweather calling Stollings "evil and manipulative and vindictive in a quiet watered-down manner."

The former Texas Tech center was diagnosed with depression and experienced panic attacks due to her anxiety. She expressed the lack of support she felt from the Texas Tech coaching staff, telling Epstein and Libit she was "scolded for displaying symptoms of depression."

Merriweather also alleged that Stollings took away her dog, calling him a "distraction" and asking boosters if they wanted to take the dog. "She just tore him away from me," Merriweather said.

The allegations weren't limited to Stollings.

Some players said that former strength and conditioning coach Ralph Petrella spoke negatively about their weight and "applied pressure near their chest and groin" while demonstrating reflexive performance reset techniques. One player alleged he made inappropriate comments to the point she wondered whether he was "grooming" her.

The school's Title IX administrator, Stollings and then Hocutt were contacted by one player in March after a one-on-one meeting with Petrella. She said he "applied pressure to her pubic bone, went under her sports bra to reach a chest pressure point and went under her spandex shorts to reach an area near her groin." 

After being informed of the allegations, Hocutt said Petrella had resigned from his role a day earlier. Through legal representation, Petrella denied "any inappropriate conduct while employed by the Texas Tech University women's basketball program" and said he resigned voluntarily after the 2020 season.

Red Raiders assistant coach Nikita Lowry Dawkins previously coached at New Mexico State, where she was the subject of an investigation into physical and mental abuse within that program. Merriweather alleged that Lowry Dawkins instructed her to snap her wrist with a rubber band "each time she had a negative thought."

Boston Celtics assistant coach Kara Lawson was named Duke women's basketball head coach after agreeing to contract terms Saturday, per Steve Wiseman of the News and Observer.

OFFICIAL.

Welcome to Duke, Kara Lawson! pic.twitter.com/0IIV5WprPD

— Duke Women’s Basketball (@DukeWBB) July 11, 2020

Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe first reported the news Friday, noting "Lawson completed her final interviews and is expected to finalize a deal."

Lawson played college ball for Pat Summit at the University of Tennessee, where she made four All-SEC teams and three Final Fours from 1999-2000 to 2002-03.

She was picked fifth overall by the Detroit Shock in the 2003 WNBA draft and played 13 seasons, averaging 9.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game for the Sacramento Monarchs, Connecticut Sun and Washington Mystics.

She won the 2005 WNBA Finals with the Monarchs and made the WNBA All-Star Game two years later. In 2008, she and Team USA won gold at the Beijing Summer Olympics.

Lawson has worked as a television broadcaster for ESPN and the Washington Wizards. She joined the C's coaching staff in June 2019.

Her decorated resume includes coaching experience outside of Boston, as she led USA Basketball's U19 boys and girls three-on-three hoops teams to four world championships.

Celtics head coach Brad Stevens was asked to comment on the rumored Duke-Lawson move, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic:

Brad Stevens says he can't comment on Kara Lawson likely getting the Duke job but says, "Everybody knows how I feel about Kara Lawson."

That's highly, for the record.

— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) July 10, 2020

Basketball analyst (and ex-Stanford guard) Ros Gold-Onwude also offered praise:

The idea of Kara Lawson to @DukeWBB as head coach sounds very exciting and promising to me.... 👀

— Ros Gold-Onwude (@ROSGO21) July 10, 2020

Per women's hoops analyst LaChina Robinson, Lawson will become the third Black women's basketball head coach in the ACC and second hired this season. Tina Thompson leads the Virginia Cavaliers, and Notre Dame hired Niele Ivey in April.

Lawson replaces Joanne McCallie, who resigned after she and Duke were unable to agree on a contract extension, per Shawn Krest of the North State Journal.

Lawson will take over a team that finished 18-12 overall and third in the ACC with a 12-6 record. The Blue Devils were projected to be a No. 6 seed in the canceled NCAA tournament, per Real Time RPI.

Duke will lose its top two scorers and rebounders in graduate student Haley Gorecki and senior Leaonna Odom but will return Jade Williams, who shot 53 percent from the field.

Other players who started at least one game include Miela Goodchild, Onome Akinbode-James and Jada Claude.

Joanne P. McCallie announced Thursday that she is stepping down after 13 seasons as the head women's basketball coach at Duke.

McCallie made it official by reading a prepared statement that was tweeted out by the official Twitter account for Duke women's basketball:

"Hello from Coach P. I hope you all are safe and healthy during these very challenging times.

I just had a very difficult conversation with a group of women that I love and adore and admire..." pic.twitter.com/5pN2Swdfau

— Duke Women’s Basketball (@DukeWBB) July 2, 2020

The 54-year-old McCallie, who had been set to enter the final year of her contract in 2020-21, stressed the importance of clarity in her statement: "As a coach in the final year of my contract, uncertainty is natural and it takes away from confidence and fun. I'm pretty sure there's a level of uncertainty amongst the Duke family. I want to bring clarity with great pride for all."

During her 13 years at Duke, McCallie went 330-107 and took the Blue Devils to the NCAA tournament 10 times.

From 2009-10 through 2012-13, Duke won four consecutive regular-season ACC titles under McCallie and also won three ACC tournament titles during that time. The Blue Devils went to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament each of those years as well.

Duke was never able to advance past the Elite Eight under McCallie, and it didn't go further than the Sweet 16 in her final seven seasons as head coach.

The Blue Devils won at least 20 games in each of McCallie's first 11 seasons, but they went just 15-15 in 2018-19 and missed the tourney. Duke also went just 18-12 last season, although the NCAA tournament didn't occur because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2016, Duke launched an investigation into the women's basketball program after three players left the team. Duke said at the time that the investigation was done "for Duke women's basketball to get even better."

At the conclusion of the investigation, Duke expressed support for McCallie and kept her on as head coach.

Prior to joining the Blue Devils in 2007, McCallie was the head coach at Maine for eight seasons and Michigan State for seven seasons. She took Maine to the NCAA tournament six times and MSU five times. In 2005, the Spartans lost to Baylor in the National Championship Game.

Overall, McCallie owns a 646-255 record as a college head coach, which means she should have little issue finding another job if she decides to continue coaching.

Kentucky women's basketball coach Matthew Mitchell recently underwent brain surgery because of complications from a March concussion, the school said in a statement. 

"Coach Mitchell sustained a concussion in March," the statement read, per Jon Hale of the Courier Journal. "At the time, he believed he had recovered fully with rest and rehab. However, two weeks ago after experiencing a mild but persistent headache for an extended period of time, he sought medical attention.

"A subdural hematoma was discovered, and he had successful surgery and is extremely appreciative of the excellent care he received at UK Chandler Hospital. He expects to recover fully."

Mitchell, 49, has posted a 281–125 record in 13 seasons at Kentucky. The Wildcats were 21-7 and were expected to make their 10th NCAA tournament appearance under Mitchell until the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the remainder of the 2019-20 college basketball season.

Mitchell previously coached two years at Morehead State and was a graduate assistant under Pat Summitt at Tennessee. 

Liberty women's basketball player Asia Todd announced she is entering the transfer portal after school president Jerry Falwell Jr. sent a racist tweet that included an image of a facemask with a photo of a person in blackface and a person wearing Ku Klux Klan attire.

"Due to the racial insensitivity shown within the leadership and culture, it simply does not align with my moral compass or personal convictions," Todd said. "Therefore, I had to do what I felt was best within my heart and stand up for what is right."

Announcement: I have entered my name into the Transfer Portal and will no longer be attending Liberty University 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/LwESGkjwNs

— Asia Todd🔛🔝🔜🏀 (@hoopersgalore_) June 11, 2020

Todd, a freshman, averaged 8.6 points and 1.3 assists in 31 games for Liberty this past season (25 starts), shooting 41.6 percent from the field and 41.3 percent from three. 

The message in Falwell's since-deleted tweet read, "I was adamantly opposed to the mandate from Governor Ralph Northam requiring citizens to wear face masks until I decided to design my own. If I am ordered to wear a mask, I will reluctantly comply, but only if this picture of Governor Blackface himself is on it!"

Falwell claimed in a follow-up tweet that he had been trying to make a political point about Virginia's blackface scandal in 2019 after images surfaced of Gov. Northam in blackface from his 1984 medical school yearbook:

After listening to African American LU leaders and alumni over the past week and hearing their concerns, I understand that by tweeting an image to remind all of the governor’s racist past (Part 1/3)

— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) June 8, 2020

I have deleted the tweet and apologize for any hurt my effort caused, especially within the African American community. (Part 3/3)

— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) June 8, 2020

Alumni of the school have called for Falwell to resign, while three Liberty staff members have resigned, including LeeQuan McLaurin, the school's director of diversity. 

"Some draw a direct line between the start of President Falwell's divisive, insensitive, and unapologetic approach to politics and that drop," McLaurin wrote about the school's declining population of black students, from 10 percent in 2007 to just 4 percent in 2018, according to Mike DeCourcy of Sporting News. 

In a letter written by 35 faith leaders and former Liberty athletes to Falwell urging him to step down, per Elana Schor and Sarah Rankin of the Associated Press, they said he has "belittled staff, students and parents, you have defended inappropriate behaviors of politicians, encouraged violence, and disrespected people of other faiths," adding that his "heart is in politics more than Christian academia or ministry."

They also wrote he has "repeatedly violated and misrepresented" Christian values.