Breanna Stewart: "I would have committed to North Carolina on the spot"

We often talk about athletes who come out and profess their love for North Carolina. Many times, these athletes will go on to say that they would've committed to North Carolina, and provide the ultimate reason why it never happened.

Needless to say, this one will go down as one of the biggest "What Ifs" in UNC women's basketball history.

On the "Birds Eye View Podcast" with host Sue Bird, current WNBA superstar Breanna Stewart revealed that she dreamed of playing for Sylvia Hatchell and the UNC women's basketball program.

 "I loved North Carolina. When I was a kid, if I could have committed in eighth grade to North Carolina, I would've gone to North Carolina. I wrote a letter to Sylvia Hatchell. I was obsessed. I don't know if it was the colors or what, but I had like jerseys and everything.

When I was younger, I actually went on a visit because I wrote the letter. She let me come on a visit. The letter said that I just hoped that I could play for her one day, but it was like one year before I blew up. So it must've been when I was in seventh grade.

And they like did all the nice things or whatever, and then it was like eighth grade. Yeah. They were like, come back, come back, come back, come back. I would've committed to them right there on the spot."

Basically, Stewart admitted her infatuation for North Carolina, even writing a letter to Hatchell expressing her interest in one day playing for her in Chapel Hill. She even went on a visit, one that she described as more of a courtesy visit after she wrote her letter to Hatchell.

A year later, Stewart started to blow up in terms of basketball recognition, and by that point, the Tar Heels had missed out on a prime opportunity to earn an early commitment.

As we all know, Stewart went on to play for Geno Auriemma at UConn, a move that worked out quite well for her. She ended up winning four national championships, along with some very notable individual accolades (some of which are listed below):

3× Naismith College Player of the Year
3× Honda Sports Award
3× USBWA National Player of the Year
3× AP Player of the Year
2× John R. Wooden Award
2× Wade Trophy
3× WBCA Coaches' All-American
3× First-team All-American – AP
3× All-American – USBWA
3× AAC Player of the Year
2× AAC Tournament MVP
3× First-team All-AAC

Let's face it: this one stings a bit! One of the greatest women's basketball players ever, one who put together a college resume that is nearly impossible to even match, wanted to be a Tar Heel.

If we could just go back in time and advise the UNC women's basketball program's coaching staff to make the offer during her visit to Chapel Hill!