CHICAGO — Just steps away from the United Center, which hosted a record-setting crowd for the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game, sits the Chicago Bulls’ practice facility. During All-Star Weekend, it was taken over by Basketball Without Borders, which hosted 40 of the top international prospects in women’s basketball for the fourth annual All-Star Camp.
The group included 2026 U20 EuroBasket Women MVP Sarah Cisse and Aïnhoa Risacher, the younger sister of former NBA No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher, and featured players from nearly two dozen countries — all hoping to one day be WNBA All-Stars themselves.
Early on Saturday afternoon, in between skill sessions and scrimmages, the campers were surprised by someone a bit further along on the path from international basketball to the WNBA: UConn star Sarah Strong.
The 2025 NCAA national champion and 2026 Naismith Player of the Year, who is already projected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2028 WNBA Draft, was born in Madrid while her parents, Allison Feaster — this weekend’s camp director, and the Boston Celtics’ vice president of team operations — and Danny Strong played professionally overseas.
After Strong addressed the campers and answered some of their questions, she spoke with CBS Sports about how she’s been influenced by the international game.
“I think it taught me a different side of basketball,” Strong said. “I think overseas, they’re focused more on fundamentals. A lot of the smartest players are European, so I think I gained a lot of knowledge playing over there and watching my mom and dad play.”
Strong, who holds dual citizenship with France and speaks multiple languages, began her basketball journey in the youth ranks of Club Baloncesto Alcobendas in Madrid, where Feaster played from 2013-16. When Strong wasn’t at her own practices or games, she was at her mom’s, and often spent entire days in the gym.
“Just being able to watch [my mom] and the professionals play, and being at most of the practices and getting to watch and learn was very helpful,” Strong said.
Strong moved to the United States when she was 10 after her parents’ playing careers were over, and grew into the No. 1 recruit in her high school class, a four-time gold medalist for Team USA and the best player in college basketball. Her experience overseas has been, and will continue to be, the foundation for her success.
“I think for Sarah, growing up in Spain helped shape her identity,” Feaster said. “In some parts of her, she really identifies with the Spanish culture, and that’s basketball culture as well. She plays the game in a different way, she sees the game in a different way because she’s had exposure outside of her immediate environment.”
Strong said it was a “great” experience to speak at the camp, where she had a chance to “see who’s coming up, who’s coming to college soon, my competition.” While she wouldn’t dish on which players impressed her the most, she did note that she’s “very happy” with the state of the international game.
Even now, Strong still takes inspiration from overseas.
European NBA stars Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić are some of Strong’s favorite players, and she cited Dončić’s pace and Jokić’s passing ability as influences on her own style. At UConn, she’s already had teammtes from Egypt (Jana El Alfy), Ecuador (Blanca Quinoñez) and Ireland (Gandy Malou-Mamel), and will add French (Marine Dursus), Serbian (Jovana Popovic) and Croatian (Olivia Vukoša) teammates this season. (Vukoša was born in New York, but competes for the Croatian national team.)
“All of our international players are really smart,” Strong said. “They do things where I’m like, ‘Oh wow, I never thought of that.’ So super smart and happy to have them.”
As she enters her junior season in Storrs, Strong will no longer be surrounded by veterans like Paige Bueckers, Kaitlyn Chen and Azzi Fudd. It will be on her to step up as the Huskies look to bounce back from a disappointing Final Four defeat to South Carolina and win their 13th national championship.
“My role is definitely changing. I’ve become more of a leader — vocally, and on the court, by example,” Strong said. “So I’m just excited for it. Staying present and taking it one day at a time.”
If anyone is capable of taking a group of players from six different countries and turning them into a championship-caliber team, it’s Strong.
