Growing up in New England, you hear a lot of Connecticut slander. Some say residents of Connecticut can’t drive (which results in multiple dead deer a day,) they don’t have to work a day in their life because they have loads of money, and all of that classy stuff. One thing New Englanders, or anyone in the country for that matter, won’t make fun of is the University of Connecticut’s basketball teams. More specifically, the women’s basketball team.
Their national championship win this past March Madness season marks the twelfth time they have won the title, the first time after their four-year win streak from 2013-2016.
You may be tired of hearing about UConn and Paige Bueckers, but she is a Midwest princess with roots in Minnesota, so let me brag about her and her teammates for a minute.
Being the fourth women’s basketball player to have won the Big East Player of the Year is cool, but when you realize she is the third from UConn’s program to have done so, you can not look away from the talented women the program helps shape.
I mean, take a look at Sarah Strong. She joined Bueckers and Azzi Fudd on the Big East’s First Team list this season. As a freshman. More specifically, the Big East Freshman of the Year. She followed suit of teammate Ashlynn Shade, who was Freshman of the Year last season.
And speaking of Shade, though not a UConn starter this season, she still plays a vital role in their success as a team. So much so that she earned the title of Big East Sixth Woman of the Year, earning her second individual title in her two years at UConn.
As if the Big East conference does not love UConn enough, of course, head coach Geno Auriemma was voted a co-coach of the year. And well deserved, because he has helped lead UConn women’s teams for over 40 seasons now, with 1,249 wins to 165 losses to show for it.
The team’s student fan base should also win an award from the Big East for being arguably the loudest and proudest student section in college basketball, in addition to being academically focused students.
When I toured UConn as part of a prospective student day in October 2023, it was not basketball season. I didn’t get to see the inside of the famed Gampel Pavilion, even though the outside looked pretty cool. I did get lost down the streets of Storrs, which is how I discovered that a big campus would not be for me, but I will not forget the sense of confidence and pride the student tour guides seemed to hold when talking about UConn. They were proud to be part of the experience. The professors and staff members bragged about their students on campus and their excellent athletics at every opportunity. UConn was just the place to be if you wanted a balanced academic and athletics experience.
When I opened up my acceptance letter (or should I say email) from UConn on March 1st last year, I felt this immense pride fill me. To be a Husky is to be more than someone on campus. It is to be a motivated believer in yourself, your people, and success.
If I have not convinced you to jump on the bandwagon, that is okay. You can keep all that Illini basketball to yourself. I will happily keep jumping with my East Coast Huskies.
