It’s been a whirlwind week for Kingston, Ont.’s Aaliyah Edwards. Final Friday she made her third look within the NCAA Girls’s Ultimate 4, the place her UConn Huskies misplaced a heart-breaker to Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes.
Only a few days later, Edwards and her teammates had been again in Storrs, Conn., to take commencement photos collectively as some Huskies, together with Edwards, gained’t be capable of partake within the conventional commencement ceremony. Edwards majored in communications and minored in human developmental and household research.
Nonetheless, she does have a legitimate motive for lacking commencement: she’ll be in Brooklyn, New York, together with over a dozen high ladies’s college-aged basketball gamers on the WNBA draft, that means the whirlwind will solely proceed and by commencement day she’ll be within the midst of a WNBA coaching camp.
On the whirlwind listing for Edwards is discovering an outfit to put on on nationwide tv and connecting along with her expertise company. She’s even heard rumours that Monday’s draftees could have their faces scanned for the favored NBA 2K online game franchise. Lastly, she’ll meet with potential suitors for the ahead who averaged practically a double-double per sport in her senior yr.
“It’s been enjoyable all through the entire thing. Despite the fact that it’s been busy this week, it’s been enjoyable,” she stated.
The previous Frontenac Secondary College scholar figures to play an vital function within the draft. Edwards, by many accounts, needs to be a top-five choose. Numerous respected WNBA mock drafts have the Huskies senior listening to her title known as wherever from fourth to seventh total.
“I’m simply going to stay by the method,” Edwards stated. “Keep excited, keep hyped and simply keep prepared for what’s to return.”
“As a result of it’s going to be tremendous thrilling this weekend, however the work actually begins after my title known as.”
This can be one of many largest drafts in WNBA historical past. Not solely is it loaded with expertise, akin to phenom Clark, nevertheless it’s additionally coming off the heels of essentially the most watched NCAA ladies’s basketball season ever.
The ladies’s March Insanity event eclipsed the lads’s event by way of viewership. Almost 15 million People watched UConn vs. Iowa, which is a good distance from the empty arenas Edwards performed in for her freshman yr in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“I began my first school sport enjoying in entrance of cardboard cutouts of followers who volunteered to take a selfie and have a seat in Gampel Pavilion.”
“So I’m beginning out coming from that to going to Cleveland, the Ultimate 4, 15 million viewers. Like, what are we speaking about? That’s wonderful!”
Edwards is aware of it’s a particular second for the sport and hopes to assist hold momentum going into this summer season’s WNBA season.
“I’m simply seeing the expansion, individuals advocating (for the sport), individuals shopping for into what we’ve been making an attempt to show, what these earlier than us have been main and dealing in the direction of,” she stated.
“So it’s lastly getting acknowledged and it’s positively going to proceed to develop, there’s no stopping now.”
And it seems as if it might proceed rising north of the border. Not too long ago there have been studies a couple of push for an growth crew in Toronto. And whereas Edwards is only a few seasons too early to begin her profession in Canada, she’s excited on the prospect of enjoying at the least a few of her video games on dwelling soil.
“Once I went to the (exhibition) sport in Toronto final season, I positively might sense what it might truly be like if I performed in entrance of this dwelling crowd and I used to be right here night time in and night time out,” she stated excitedly.
Edward’s expertise at UConn, essentially the most storied ladies’s basketball program, has set her up properly to transition from school to the professionals. The Huskies have graduated numerous gamers to the WNBA, with Edwards being the newest title on an extended listing.
She’s already been in touch with many former Huskies, and Canadians who’ve graduated to the WNBA for recommendation on what to anticipate all through the draft course of, coaching camp and stepping onto the courtroom for her first skilled sport.
“Lean on them only for some steering all through this entire course of as a result of it’s a fast turnaround,” Edwards stated.
However it’s not simply her time at Connecticut that’s left her well-positioned to make the leap to ‘The W.’ Edwards has been a part of the Canadian ladies’s nationwide program since she was 16 years outdated and competed on the Tokyo Olympics as an 18-year-old. Six years of enjoying and competing towards ladies who’ve been enjoying professional for a decade or longer has ready her for Monday night time when she hears her title known as to the stage on nationwide tv.
“Initially I used to be similar to a sponge. And I feel my mindset goes to be the identical factor. I’m going to be a rookie once more. I’m going to undergo the ropes, but in addition leaning on those that’ve come earlier than me,” Edwards stated.
“So I’m asking questions, how can I faucet into their experience?”
The place she goes can even decide the type of function she takes on in her first season. Ought to she go fourth or sixth to Los Angeles or Washington, respectively, Edwards stands to tackle a bigger function, as each groups are rebuilding.
Alternatively, ought to she go to a crew like Dallas or Minnesota, who’re each coming off playoff seasons, she may need extra of a complementary function as she learns from the crew’s seasoned veterans.
Whichever crew and situation she results in, Edwards is grateful to have made it this far.
“It’s going to be each mentally and bodily demanding. I feel that the two-week time interval earlier than coaching camp is actually essential,” she stated.
“I’ve been coaching, getting my physique prepared simply to deal with the approach to life of being professional and every thing that comes with that.”
“I’m simply excited to make an affect in any manner I can for any franchise and be Aaliyah Edwards the very best I might be.”
It’s been a very long time since she’s spent a substantial period of time within the Limestone Metropolis. Edwards left Kingston after her Grade 10 yr at Frontenac Secondary College to play at Crestwood Preparatory School in Toronto.
After 4 extra years away from dwelling whereas in Connecticut, she admits there are issues she misses most about her hometown, akin to getting ice cream at Reid’s Dairy or espresso at Crave Espresso Home after her exercises at close by Royal Navy School, and even strolling alongside the varied lakes close to town.
“Simply to take a step again from basketball, by way of the psychological and bodily restoration,” she stated.
However most of all, she misses being again at dwelling, capturing baskets on the yard courtroom her dad constructed, away from the whirlwind of life.
“It makes you notice, ‘That is why I began enjoying. That is what continues to push me to play.’
“So Kingston is dwelling for me.”
