The UConn women’s basketball team advanced to the 24th Final Four in what seems like a rite of spring.
UConn Women Advance to Final Four
With a 14-point victory over a depleted USC team, the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team punched their ticket. For the 24th time in program history, the Huskies will finish the season as one of the best teams in college basketball.
Head Coach Geno Auriemma looks for his 12th national title. In a world where John Wooden, Red Auerbach, and Scotty Bowman made room long around, the Lady Huskies break records and continue to produce talent, decade after decade.
UConn trampled through the Big East Conference, earning their 17th undefeated conference season. No one put up much of a challenge. To their credit, Creighton lost by just 11 points. Considering Connecticut’s margin of victory sits at 29.6 points, that dozen-point loss is worthy of applause.
When UConn defeated Creighton again, this time by 20 points, even the head coach took time to sit back and take in the moment. Auriemma spoke to the Hartford Courant after the game.
“That consistency, that ability to keep doing it with all the changing players and the changing times and all the other things that are happening, we have obviously really good players,” Auriemma said. “I don’t think anybody wins without really good players, and we’ve been fortunate to get terrific players for 30 years.
“But at the same time, I think we have a culture and a belief system in our program that this is the expectation.”
The team that leaves the nets untouched after tournaments because winning national championships is the only celebration that Connecticut cares about. The program ventured far beyond ” just happy to be there.” Instead, every road game is a business trip and the expectation is that the Huskies will stand at the end.
During the first two games of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, the Huskies stepped on the accelerator, outscoring Arkansas State and North Dakota State by a combined score of 194-91. Next, Oklahoma put up an outstanding fight, trailing only 32-29 at the half.
Then, the team kicked the offense into overdrive and lapped the Sooners. Lastly, USC stayed hip-to-hip with Connecticut, even without JuJu Watkins. The Huskies capitalized on her absence, running away late and winning by 14.
If she played on any other team in America, senior guard Paige Bueckers would go down as that school’s greatest player. Yet, the competition level at Connecticut sees her as an elite player. Despite scoring 2406 points, she still sits 630 points behind Maya Moore.
Undaunted, Bueckers wants to be the one that brings a national title back to Storrs. For a team and coach that wins 88.3 percent of their games, the Huskies sit mired in a championship drought. The last title hoisted by Connecticut happened in 2016.
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Despite a program teeming with talent, Bueckers emphasizes another aspect of her team to the Associated Press.
“We’ve got a whole lot of heart, and a whole lot of toughness about us. And we play together as a team. We’re super well-connected,” Bueckers said. “I feel like every team that I’ve played on; we’ve been super well-connected.
“But just the way we’ve been through so much adversity as individuals, as a team, how much it’s brought us together, how much it’s made us stronger.”
The Huskies are hungry. Not only do they want to win another title, but another motive powers them. For the last few years, with the rise of South Carolina, people thought the game passed the Lady Huskies by. With holding that motivation, Auriemma and his charges look to jog the memories of those that doubted them.
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