UConn senior Crystal Dangerfield is caught between the past, a past unfinished with the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA tournament due to COVID-19, and the future, a future which is uncertain, not knowing which team she will be chosen by in the WNBA Draft nor when the WNBA, you know, will actually start again.

"After (the draft), it's another waiting game," Dangerfield said. "It's never ending."

Dangerfield is projected to have her name called during the WNBA Draft on Friday, April 17. A virtual draft will be held, with no players, guests or media present. Coverage will begin at 7 p.m. on ESPN, with the top prospects taking part remotely.

Dangerfield, UConn's 5-foot-5 point guard and a first team All-American Athletic Conference pick this season, took part in a conference call Wednesday, answering questions on her thoughts of the draft, as well as the abrupt end to the Huskies' season.

She still plans to dress up for the draft, watching from her home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the way she would if she attended the event in New York City. She said she's signed with an agent, Eric Wiesel of LBM Management.

She has been contacted by several teams — "Specifically? I'm going to leave that number up to the imagination," she said.

"We're having phone calls and Zoom meetings (video conferences) and everything. You're trying to get a feel," Dangerfield said. "It's been both, coaches and general managers (calling). Just regular conversations, trying to see what we're like off the court, asking what our personality is like, asking what we think our strengths and weaknesses are, what we're looking forward to when we're drafted, where you could fit in on their team, things like that.

"It's unfortunate how everything is going. Everything you dreamed of, it's changing. ... Obviously that's not the biggest problem right now. We're trying to get huge problems under wraps."

Dangerfield said she came to UConn to win a national championship, something she didn't get a chance to do.

It is still difficult for her to believe that the Huskies' game on Monday, March 9, an 87-53 win over Cincinnati for the AAC tournament title, was her last at UConn. The Huskies completed their tenure in the AAC a remarkable 139-0 in regular-season and tournament play.

Dangerfield, chosen to the all-tournament team, was among the celebrants who tossed confetti in the air.

"I was interested to see how it was going to carry over into the NCAA tournament," Dangerfield said. "I think we would have gotten out of the first weekend (of the NCAAs). That would have raised some eyes for people to see what would happen next. That's what I was most excited for. I still would have liked to see what would have happened."

Dangerfield averaged 14.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game this season, earning honorable mention All-America honors from The Associated Press and the Women's Basketball Coaches' Association.

She called achieving last season's Final Four berth, UConn's unprecedented 12th in a row, perhaps her best memory. The Huskies were seeded second in the Albany Regional and knocked off No. 6 UCLA, followed by No. 1 Louisville in succession to reach the Final Four in Tampa.

"That was the most we had celebrated getting to the Final Four," Dangerfield said. "There were people that didn't think we were able to do it. People were saying how tough it was going to be for us to beat UCLA. Then we went into the Elite Eight and we had lost to Louisville already. We were able to pull that one off. That weekend was a really special moment for everyone on that team."

Dangerfield said that prospective WNBA teams have said the same things to her that UConn coach Geno Auriemma has preached to her, "be as disruptive as possible" on the court.

"My basketball IQ is high and that's something I'm able to bring to the table," she said. "I'm just so fortunate. For a lot of kids around the country, it was their last (game). Nobody planned for it."

Dangerfield said she's making up for lost time at home, visiting with family members, while finishing up her classes online.

She understands those who have petitioned the NCAA to restore their eligibility for basketball to get that one final opportunity at a national championship. At the same time, she's ready to move forward, too.

Dangerfield said people should look to figure out "ways to add to yourself" during this time. What has she added?

"A sense of calm," she said. "You're always caught up in what you have to do next. You're stuck in this pattern of working all the time. Adding something that can slow me down, I haven't had that opportunity to have that since probably middle school.

"It feels like the world got put on pause."

v.fulkerson@theday.com