Women's Fastbreak On SI

Geno Auriemma's Record UConn Win Produced Legendary Image of Players Past and Present

Three current UConn icons were seated in front of three past Huskies legends on Wednesday.

Grant Young

Nov 20, 2024; Storrs, Connecticut, USA; Connecticut Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) shoots a free throw during the second half against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Mark Smith-Imagn Images
Nov 20, 2024; Storrs, Connecticut, USA; Connecticut Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) shoots a free throw during the second half against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Mark Smith-Imagn Images / Mark Smith-Imagn Images

The UConn Huskies women's basketball team improved to 4-0 on Wednesday after dominating Farleigh Dickinson at home.

While this was the fourth win of UConn's current 2024-25 campaign, it also marked the 1,217th win of head coach Geno Auriemma's career, which is the most wins by a head coach in NCAA Division I basketball history.

Because UConn was such a massive favorite against Farleigh Dickinson, Auriemma setting this record on Wednesday was all but assured. And as a result, UConn felt confident enough to make the game a celebration that included bringing 63 of Auriemma's former players to Harry A. Gampel Pavilion and honoring the legendary coach.

Of course, the fact that Auriemma won 11 NCAA National Championships makes a solid case for him being the best college basketball coach ever. But perhaps even more telling than that is the sheer number of massive superstars Auriemma has coached over his 40 seasons at UConn's helm.

Among these are all-time greats like Maya Moore, Diana Taurasi, and Sue Bird (who have seven NCAA national championships between them); all three of whom were present on Wednesday.

And a photo of them three sitting behind UConn's three best players (Paige Bueckers, Sarah Strong, and Azzi Fudd) took the internet by storm.

Bleacher Report's X account posted the photo with the caption, "Generations of buckets 🏀🔥 @HighlightHER".

UConn's three current players have extremely big shoes to fill if they're to match the respective legacies of the three past players positioned behind them in that photo.

But all three have already shown glimpses of being able to do so.

Published
Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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