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UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma knows when he has a championship-caliber team, and he might just have one this year.
There wasn't some intangible aura around his 11 previous title teams that tipped him off. They’ve just each followed the same formula — one that he’s working to figure out if he has the ingredients for in 2024-25.
“The best teams we've ever had at Connecticut, there were three-pronged,” the 40th-year head coach explained on Saturday night after his Huskies defeated Louisville in an 85-52 rout in the inaugural Women’s Champions Classic.
He then listed off some of the legendary trios he has coached en route to becoming the winningest head coach in college basketball history. His undefeated 1995 team, the first-ever UConn championship squad, had a dominant post player in Kara Wolters, an electric freshman in Nykesha Sales and an all-time great in Rebecca Lobo. His 2016 UConn team, one that many view as the greatest women’s college basketball team ever, had the savvy point guard Moriah Jefferson, steady post leadership of Morgan Tuck and another all-time great in Breanna Stewart.
“And one of the best ever was Renee [Montgomery], Maya [Moore] and Tina [Charles],” he added. “And people would ask me, like, ‘what makes this team so special?’ I said, ‘well, we have the absolute best point guard, we have the absolute best center and then we have the best player in the country.’”
Saturday night may have been the first time that the college basketball world got to see that same three-pronged potential in the 2024-25 Huskies. Paige Bueckers is arguably the best player in the country. When healthy, Azzi Fudd is arguably the best shooter in the country. And Sarah Strong appears to be — by a considerable margin — the best freshman in the country.
“When you come at people with those three things, you have a chance to win every single game,” Auriemma continued. “We’re fortunate that we have something like that [this year]. We won't know till later on whether it's the equivalent of [those championship teams].”
UConn women’s basketball freshman Sarah Strong put the country on notice
The UConn senior Bueckers may be the best women's basketball player in the country, but Strong was the best player on the court Saturday night. On a night when the Huskies’ leader struggled from the field (2-11 FG), their freshman phenom was unstoppable.
Strong made eight of her 10 field goal attempts (and three of her five threes) to score 21 points, to go with eight rebounds and three assists.
As ineffective as Louisville was in most aspects of the game (Cardinals head coach Jeff Walz said the team “looked like s—“) it was able to contain Bueckers. Louisville hounded her, giving her few, if any, good looks at the basket. Despite Fudd’s 18 points, the Cardinals weren’t terrible guarding her either.
Louisville just did not have enough resources to go around, and Strong was able to feast. Last year’s Final Four UConn team was excellent, but it didn’t have that extra weapon.
“As good as Sarah is, and she's really talented, our number one goal was to try and stop and contain Paige. And then Azzi is possibly number two,” Walz said. “[Strong is] a great player but our first- and second-best defenders were trying to be on some other ones.”
The point Walz made is something every opposing coach will have to deal with. If Bueckers, Fudd and Strong are going to share the court, a team’s third-best defender will have to guard one of them, and they’re all potential All-Americans.
In addition to Walz, Strong also has a fan in her superstar teammate.
“She doesn't think much when she plays, she just reacts,” Bueckers said. “You can tell she's been watching basketball, been around basketball.”
It’s why everything looks so natural for Strong. She dominated on Saturday, but could just as easily put up 20 without anyone noticing. Strong doesn’t play with flash, she just plays her game. And it has elevated the Huskies to a level they haven’t reached in a while.
We’ll see if it’s enough to deliver UConn women's basketball its first national championship since 2016.
