2/19/23: Maddy Siegrist Column

By Aaron Bracy

February 19, 2023

@Aaron_Bracy

They were lined up at the door. Hundreds deep. Decked out in blue and white, proudly wearing “V” for Villanova on their hats and sweatshirts. Waiting for the signal to storm to their seats in the sold-out Pavilion for an afternoon of excitement in front of them.

For Villanova fans, this was nothing new, really. Under Jay Wright, the Wildcats became one of the nation’s elite college basketball programs, with Wright’s teams’ two national championship trophies glistening in a trophy display near the arena’s entrance as proof. The success hasn’t come quickly or easily to Wright’s replacement, first-year coach Kyle Neptune, but the fans’ enthusiasm and passion remain.

This was different, though. Those fans outside of the front entrance at 1 o’clock for a 2:30 p.m. tip weren’t salivating over a Wright or Neptune-coached squad; rather, they were eager to see Maddy Siegrist and the Denise Dillon-led Wildcats.

A sellout? For women’s basketball? At the Pavilion?

Check. Check. Check.

For just the second time in the program’s history, there were fans in every seat on their home court – and for good reason.

Spell it with me: S-I-E-G-R-I-S-T.

She’s 6-foot-2. A senior. From Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

And, oh by the way, Maddy Siegrist entered Saturday’s contest between the 14th-ranked Wildcats and No. 6 UConn leading America in scoring. She’s Villanova’s all-time leading scorer and a week prior to the clash with the Huskies broke a school and conference record by scoring 50 in a win over Seton Hall. She followed that up with 39 points in her next game, a victory at St. John’s.

Eighty-nine points in two contests. Eighty-nine! Wow!

For the season, Siegrist entered Saturday’s game having scored at least 21 points in every contest. Twenty-one, on a bad day. She was averaging nearly 30 per contest. A projected Top-5 pick in the upcoming WNBA draft, Siegrist, quite simply, is a walking bucket.

So, the fans came out, for Siegrist; for the cameras of FOX, which televised the game nationally; and, for some, to see Norristown’s Geno Auriemma and the women’s basketball powerhouse he has created at UConn.

Mostly though, they were there for Siegrist.

As she warmed up, the cell phones came out to follow her in the layup line. It wasn’t just giddy teens, or pre-teens, either, fawning over her every move. There were eyes-glistening moms and, uh-um, seasoned reporters trying to get a glimpse to see what all the rage is about.

You see that she has height. You see that she has a smooth stroke.

And you notice something else that you’ve seen in many greats over the years. There is not even the hint of a tan on her. You know right away that this is a gym rat who gets her sun on the walk from her dorm or car to the gym. No time for tanning when there are jumpers to get up. Summers are for shooting.

You just know she loves to hoop. And hoop. And hoop.

You see early in the first quarter some of all that hard gym work now paying off, the skillful backdoor cut for a layup. Smooth. The fadeaway baseline jumper. Smoother. The inside-outside game. Complete. Ten minutes, ten easy points. Seven shot attempts. Five made.

Three more quarters of this? Yeah, this will be fun.

But the points don’t come easy. UConn double- and triple-teams Siegrist. She’s used to this, though. But the Huskies’ Aaliyah Edwards has the size, strength and speed unlike most opponents, and Edwards came to play. She hawks Siegrist all over the court, and her Huskies friends are happy to help, too.

Siegrist would make just 3 of 15 shots over the final three quarters, finishing with 21 points. It’s hard to use the modifier “season-low” in front of that number because you never have before. But, yes, it matched her season low for the third time this season, and the Huskies exhaled back to Storrs with a 60-51 triumph.

And then afterward Auriemma, who’s seen all of the greats of the Big East Conference, describes the enormous challenges of facing Siegrist and Villanova. On this day, Edwards was up to the tall test. Siegrist says the Huskies didn’t change anything in the final three quarters, just one of those days that shooters have.

“Sometimes shots go in, sometimes they don’t,” she said.

You follow up with this question: Did your shot feel good today?

Siegrist looks back at you quizzically, as if you asked if the sky was green today.

And her response tells you everything you need to know about what makes her great.

About why hundreds were waiting outside before the gates open.

About why thousands jammed into the Pavilion.

About why a large paycheck and long pro career await.

About why Maddy Siegrist is the best scorer ever at Villanova and the best of anyone in the country this season.

She says it matter-of-factly but with a defiance that made the question seem so beneath her.

“Every time I let it go from my hand,” Siegrist said, “I think it’s going in.”

And that, my friends, is what makes her great.

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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1997. His byline regularly appears on Associated Press stories. E-mail him at bracymedia@gmail.com Follow on Twitter: @Aaron_Bracy.

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Link to Aaron Bracy's Associated Press UConn-Villanova game story from 2/18/23.