UConn recruit Delle Donne returns home to Delaware

Elena Delle Donne graduated high school early to enroll at UConn, but abruptly left Storrs last Wednesday. Ben Smidt/Icon SMI

On June 1, Elena Delle Donne, the nation's top girls' basketball player, was awarded her diploma from Ursuline Academy (Wilmington, Del.) during the school's Baccalaureate, a day before the rest of her graduating class was to receive theirs.

Originally scheduled to walk with her all-girls school classmates, the 6-foot-5 UConn signee instead spent commencement day driving five hours north to Storrs, Conn. to ready herself for summer classes. "We packed up the car and planned to get started for her two classes," Delle Donne's mother, Joannie, says.

When she arrived at UConn, Delle Donne moved into her dorm and did a walk-thru to her English and Psychology classes for the next day. Her parents, Joannie and Ernie, stayed the first night and then returned home to Wilmington. "Everything seemed fine," Joannie says.

However, last Wednesday, Delle Donne abruptly packed her bags, left UConn and caught a ride home to Delaware from a friend. It isn't clear when, or if, Delle Donne will be back at UConn.

The sudden departure has raised questions about Delle Donne, who has been rated the top player in her class since she was in the eighth grade. Contrary to reports that she had an issue with her future teammates, did not get along with Huskies coach Geno Auriemma and suddenly wanted to reconsider her college choice, Delle Donne's mother maintains that none are the reason Elena left school. The family has chosen to keep the reasoning private.

"UConn's team and program are an open, welcoming family," Joannie says. "She loves her teammates and they understand why she is not there with them."

"She wasn't up here long enough for anything to happen," Auriemma said. "Elena just had to take care of some issues at home. She told me she just needs some time at home. All I can go by is what she told me. Maybe she's just not ready right now to start the process. ... If she wants to come back for the second session she could do that."

"There isn't a freshman in the country that doesn't feel that way [a little apprehensive]."

This is not the first time that Delle Donne -- who set the national record for consecutive free throws made (80) as a sophomore -- has shut down her basketball training in the summer. Last year, despite being hailed as the LeBron James of the girls' game, she decided to forego the July and August basketball events that she would have participated in as a headliner, citing burnout and exhaustion. Colleges recruiting her were informed not to call, that she would contact them when the time was right. Instead of basking in the spotlight, Delle Donne withdrew to her family and trainer, John Noonan.

When she was ready to end her time away from the game, she phoned UConn assistant Chris Dailey and Auriemma on Aug. 23 to inform them that she would be choosing the Huskies over Tennessee and Villanova. Following in the long line of UConn recruits who have won high school player of the year honors, Delle Donne was set to join a Huskies team that boasts the previous two national players of the year Maya Moore and Tina Charles, who helped lead the team to this year's Final Four. "Comfort was the biggest part off the equation," Elena told SI.com last month.

As a declaration that she lives a life outside basketball, Delle Donne -- who maintained a 3.8 GPA -- requested and received a blessing from Auriemma to play volleyball for Ursuline last fall. The team went on to win the state title, and Delle Donne segued back on the basketball team. She missed 10 games after contracting mononucleosis, but returned with a renewed verve, adding a pre-game dance for the team to perform which served as a symbol for a new, fun-loving attitude. "It was a way for me to show that we're all teenagers paying a game," Delle Donne said last month.

Proximity to home was another factor that led Delle Donne to pick UConn. Her older sister, Lizzie, 24, is blind, deaf and has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and autism. Attached to her sister since a young age, Delle Donne's mother was not concerned with how Lizzie would handle Elena's absence as much as she was concerned with how Elena would cope with being away from Lizzie for an extended period for the first time. "They are as close as any two sisters could be," Joannie said.

Now back home, the family does not know when or if Elena, will return to UConn. "Hopefully she'll be back," Joannie says.