The grandeur of it all is not lost on Cassie Kerns. The Valparaiso senior knows this is a big deal.

She is going to play for the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team, for gosh sakes.

The Huskies are to women’s basketball what Duke is to men’s basketball, and perhaps on an even more impressive level. We’re talking about UConn, as in three-time defending national champion UConn.

In women’s basketball terms, it doesn’t get any better.

And a girl from Northwest Indiana is headed there.

“One minute I’ll be shocked, and then all of a sudden I’ll be going along and it levels out,” Kerns said. “And then I’ll be shocked again.”

She has every right to be shocked and thrilled. Hers may very well be the biggest Division I women’s basketball signing ever for an area player.

Of recent vintage and close to this caliber is Kelly Komara’s signing with Purdue. Komara is a 1998 Lake Central graduate and was Miss Basketball her senior season. In her freshman year at Purdue, the Boilermakers won the NCAA national championship.

But UConn already has solidified itself as one of the top two women’s programs in the nation, these days a notch above Tennessee.

And in Kerns, the Huskies are getting a 6-foot-3 forward with tremendous potential. She’s a post player for the Vikings who occasionally steps out and may do so more often this season.

But at UConn, the plan is to turn Kerns into a small forward and replace junior Ann Strother, who will be a senior when Kerns is a freshman.

“I’ll have one year of training and then I’m taking over,” said Kerns, seemingly picturing the exact moment in her mind.

Kerns knows she won’t play much her freshman season. There will be too many upperclassmen in the way.

But that’s OK.

“Even if they put me in for a minute and tell me what to do, I’m going to do it and learn as much from it as I can,” Kerns said.

She’ll be doing all this for a school that initially wasn’t at the top of her list. Growing up, she had always envisioned attending Notre Dame.

The Irish women’s basketball program is certainly nothing to scoff at. But it’s not UConn.

“Notre Dame was always lingering in the back of my head,” Kerns said. “I had to just focus and said, 'Cassie, you want to go to UConn.’

“There was really no comparison. But when you have your heart set on something, it doesn’t just go away.”

So, what’s next for Kerns? Her senior year of high school basketball, for starters.

And, yes, she’ll be a Miss Basketball candidate. How could she not?

But Kerns is admittedly anxious about the upcoming season, even with her college decision in the bag.

“I really don’t want to draw any attention,” Kerns said. “But now so many people will be like, 'Oh, look at her, she missed that shot or she made a mistake.’ ”

So what. Those people don’t matter. Because Kerns is going to UConn.

Tom Wyatt can be reached

at 648-3140 or by e-mail at twyatt@post-trib.com.