N
APHEESA COLLIER
was on a baseball field in
her hometown of St. Louis,
MO, when a local basketball
coach approached her. She
told Collier, who was in the
fourth grade at the time,
that her team was having tryouts and
that she hoped to see her there. Collier
hadn’t hooped before that point, but she
was willing to give it a try.
Fast-forward to last month, and
Collier, who played soccer and was a
softball pitcher, became the sixth pick in
the 2019 WNBA Draft.
“I just remember how awkward Iwas,” Collier says with a laugh about her
earliest memories of playing basketball.
“I played soccer for so long, so working
with my feet, then transitioning to my
hands, I just remember how weird it was
to do that.”
There was a shift around eighth grade
when Collier says she could see that she
was gaining separation as one of the
better players in her state. And that’s
when she got her first collegiate
scholarship offer. After starring at two
different Missouri-based high schools
(Jefferson City High School and
Incarnate Word Academy) she decided to
go to the University of Connecticut. Shelearned very quickly from a trio of the
best that UConn had to offer.
“My freshman year, I really looked up
to Morgan Tuck and the way that she
led, which was by example,” Collier says.
“That’s what I tried to do for my first
three years.”
The 6-2 Collier put the work in and got
the results, averaging 20 points and 9 re-
bounds as a sophomore, 16 points and 7
rebounds as a junior and 21 points and 11
rebounds as a senior. The achievements
continued to pile up as Collier became
one of the best do-it-all forwards in the
nation. She matured into a bully in the
paint, a knockdown three-point shooter,
a lockdown defender and a rebounding
machine. That’s why her coaches at
UConn, Geno Auriemma and Chris Dailey,
challenged her to become a vocal leader
in her last season.
“Being a senior this year I had to step
out of my comfort zone a little bit, and
that’s what they told me I would have to
do,” she says. “Be more vocal and be that
on-the-court kind of leader.”
Auriemma and Dailey have been
coaching together since 1985. They’re
the opposite forces that hold the Huskies’
powerhouse program together.
“Coach [Auriemma] is way more laid
back than people think he is,” Collier
says. “It’s kind of CD running the show
behind-the-scenes.”
With her coaches pushing her, Collier
wrote her name in the UConn history
books when she became just the fifth
Husky to ever record at least 2,
points and 1,000 rebounds in their career,
joining a list that includes Maya Moore,
Tina Charles, Breanna Stewart and Re-
becca Lobo. Collier also left UConn with
a national chip on her résumé.
Now she’s headed to Minnesota to
start her professional career. “We talk
about Napheesa just being a little bit of
everything,” her new head coach, Cheryl
Reeve, said after the draft. “My experi-
ence with her at USA Basketball gave
me a really good look into who she is and
what she’s capable of. Power forward,
small forward...she’s just a player. We’re
excited to get someone who’s been
incredibly efficient.”
Reeve also called her a Swiss army
knife on the court, and that’s the true
strength of Collier’s game. From the
softball diamond to the soccer field to
the basketball court, ever since she was
a kid, Collier’s been doing it all. SEVERYTHING
I GOT
Napheesa Collier does it all on the court, and now
she’ll bring that versatile game to Minnesota, where
you can expect her to thrive in the Lynx’s winning
culture. WORDSMAX RESETARTHE FUTURE ISSUE
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