The UConn women’s basketball dynasty is still alive! And March Madness will prove it.
The University of Connecticut Huskies are synonymous with perfection in women’s college basketball. They’ve won 4 straight championships a streak that ended in 2016, and the fact that they haven’t won since, has led people to believe the queen is dead. But they’ve been to 14 straight final fours, and were the national runner up last year. And in 2023 they’ve looked more vulnerable than ever before, but that’s only because they’ve had to regroup before another final four run. And their opponents might as well stand aside, get onboard or get run over.
UConn’s stars are back
UConn has dominated for so long because they’ve had the best players in the nation. The WNBA is filled with superstars who once played for UConn. But this year, their best player fits that bill in Paige Bueckers. But with one small problem. She has missed this entire season due to injury. And she is not the only one to miss significant time. Don’t forget that they played most of this season without Azzi Fudd, and Caroline Ducharme, two of the best guards in all of college basketball, but they are back now. So whatever we thought we knew aobut UConn can be tossed out the window.
And even while they were out they didn’t just play well enough to earn a number 2 seed, but they almost beat the undefeated South Carolina, losing only by 4 points. If UConn can compete that well without their 3 most talented recruits, than what do you think will happen now that they have 2 of them back?
UConn has new stars
Beyond their returning stars, UConn now has two new ones. ESPN now considers Aaliyah Edwards and Lou Lopez Senechal to be 2 of the top 20 players in the tournament. Nobody but UConn themselves could have seen them coming. Their success this season is due to the required emergence of new stars, so instead of waiting for the injured players to get back, they elected to ball out in the meantime, beating ranked teams like Villanova in the regular season without Fudd or Ducharme suiting up.
UConn has the best coach
All this being said, the man in the middle of all of this is Geno Auriemma. Betting against UConn is to bet against him, a coach who has been to 14 straight final fours, which is almost unheard of. Coach Auriemma knows how to win, so much so he has made it a habit. And this year he kept his team not only alive but as one of the best in all of college basketball without his best player for the entire year, and arguably the two best behind her for much of it.
Players make the plays that win the game. But Coaches prepare them to do just that. And Coach Geno Auriemma has done a masterful job preparing his team to make a national title run under the most challenging circumstances we can remember at any point in the past 14 years. UConn might not win the national title, and you can take someone else to beat them if you want to. But I’d book their tickets to the final four because for more than a decade, that decision has always been the right one.
KNOW THE GAME. WIN THE GAME.
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