Aaliyah Edwards immediately lit up with a smile, thinking of the support she’d received from her home country.
The University of Connecticut Huskies star, a native of Kingston, entered the women’s Final Four in Cleveland on Friday night with her sights set ultimately on winning a NCAA national championship. In her pursuit, she senses the red and white behind her.
“It’s just so much mad love from Canada,” the 21-year-old said. “Every game, I get either texts or somebody talking to me on social media about how well I played or how inspiring it is just to see me play on TV.”
Edwards projects to be a top-five pick in the coming WNBA draft – the highest for a Canadian since Stacey Dales was selected third overall in 2002.
On March 21, despite having one year of college eligibility left, she announced her decision to declare for the draft in a video posted to social media. In her announcement, Edwards referred to this year’s March Madness as her “last dance” in a Huskies uniform.
She views her decision as a celebration of her work to get to this point.
“I’ve always dreamed of playing pro and playing in the WNBA,” she said. “To have my name among those lists and those rankings of projected top five, it’s crazy. Like if you were to ask me when I was like 10 years old, I’d be like, ‘No way.’”
She wouldn’t be the first Huskies Canadian star selected in the first round. In 2018, Hamilton product Kia Nurse was picked tenth overall by the New York Liberty after winning two national titles with the University of Connecticut in 2015 and 2016.
Edwards leaned on Nurse when deciding what school she would commit to in 2019, which comforted her heading into her freshman year.
With her U.S. collegiate career nearing its end, Edwards reflects on her time at the University of Connecticut as a “dream.” Over her four-year tenure with the Huskies, she said the program has helped prepare her for the next chapter of her career.
“It’s not an easy decision to make to leave your family and to leave what you call home to come into a new environment,” Edwards said. “But at the same time, it opened up a lot of opportunities for me. I was able to develop not only my skills on the basketball court but also just personal skills.”
She said carrying the torch of the Canadian legacy at UConn has also allowed her the opportunity to pave her own path as an international player in a historically dominant program.
“I love to tap back into the community because when you idolize somebody or when you aspire to be like somebody that you see on TV, and they’re pouring words of encouragement, motivation and inspiration into you, it uplifts that person and the next generation,” Edwards said. “Anything I can do to give back to my community back in Canada, I will.”
Edwards and Nurse played together on the Canadian senior women’s national team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Nurse was an important figure in Canada’s lineup. Meanwhile, Edwards was the youngest player on the squad, as evidenced by her 31 seconds of playing time in Canada’s three games at the event.
This time around, they will both be counted on in Canada’s search for their first podium placement.
Nearly three years have passed since Tokyo, and Edwards’ minutes are expected to see a large uptick for the Paris Olympics this summer as she shifts from young stalwart to key player. She believes she has added many layers to her game and has matured both on and off the court since then.
“I’m just more confident in my own skin,” Edwards said. “Coming into this summer it’s more of a shift for me that I’m kind of being in the leadership role. Obviously, there are older and more experienced teammates that I have alongside me, but I’m kind of in that same pool of athletes.”
Despite the looming Paris Games, her attention remains focused on what lies ahead this weekend.
Edwards and the Huskies will be making their first appearance in the Final Four since 2021, which she thinks is fitting for her “last dance.”
The Huskies will take on Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes Friday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, with the winner earning the opportunity to play for the national title. Clark, who has risen into superstardom, is expected to go first overall in the upcoming WNBA draft.
She is the Division I women’s scoring career leader and has achieved the most 30-point games by any man or woman in Division I in the past 25 seasons.
The University of Connecticut has not been in the national championship game since Nurse and Company won it in 2016, which is uncharacteristic for the storied program. The Huskies won 11 titles over a 22-season span from 1994 to 2016.
For Edwards to win a national title and return the Huskies to glory, she will have to take Clark down first.
And she’ll be attempting to do so with Canada cheering her on.
“It’s just more motivating, not only playing for my school but playing for my country,” she said. “It’s just a bigger stage and more at stake.”