Geno Auriemma and the UConn Huskies will head into the 2025-26 NCAA campaign as the defending national champions after dethroning Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks last season. Winning another NCAA title will not be easy for the Huskies, who last won back-to-back championships from 2013 to 2016. Here are three reasons why UConn might fall short in its quest to win its 13th national championship in the upcoming season.
3 Reasons Why Geno Auriemma’s UConn Huskies Might Fall Short in Bid to Win Back-to-Back NCAA Titles
1. The UConn Huskies No Longer Have Paige Bueckers
There is no questioning Paige Bueckers’ importance to UConn. She cemented her status as one of the greatest female college basketball players during her stint with the Huskies. Bueckers achieved numerous records under Geno Auriemma, including becoming the fastest player in program history to score 2,000 career points and recording the most points (477) by a UConn Husky in NCAA Tournament games.
Bueckers finished her career at UConn as the Huskies’ all-time leader in scoring average with 19.8 points per game. She was also ranked third in career points (2,439), fifth in career three-point percentage (42.3%) and career field goals made (931), and ranked eighth all-time among UConn players in career assists (561).
Bueckers’ impact was there for all to see in UConn’s recent title run. She carried the Huskies on her back in her final NCAA Tournament, averaging 24.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.8 steals, and 1.3 blocks in this year’s March Madness. Bueckers took over offensively in her last Big Dance, scoring at least 30 points for UConn thrice, including a career-high 40-point explosion against Oklahoma in the Sweet 16.
“This place is a second home to me…”
Paige Bueckers gets emotional addressing the UConn fans at the Huskies’ championship rally 🥹 pic.twitter.com/gwclqpOn9x
— UConn on SNY (@SNYUConn) April 7, 2025
Bueckers ended her career at UConn with a bang, leading the Huskies to victory over South Carolina in the national championship game. The Huskies will miss her consistent production this coming season.
2. The UConn Huskies Have Lots of New Players
The UConn Huskies reloaded after their championship win, adding several players through the transfer portal and their freshman class. They signed Serah Williams from Wisconsin and Kayleigh Heckel from USC, the first time Geno Auriemma nabbed multiple transfers in a single offseason since the portal’s establishment in 2019.
The Huskies also added three freshmen to their roster, signing Blanca Quiñonez, Kelis Fisher, and Gandy Malou-Mamel. There’s no questioning that the Huskies have added talented players to their lineup, but they are still inexperienced when it comes to playing important games in March.
Williams has not yet played in the NCAA Tournament in her college basketball career, failing to advance to March Madness in her last three seasons with Wisconsin. Heckel has no Final Four experience either, as UConn eliminated her old team, USC, in the Elite Eight last season.
It will be interesting to see how these new players fare for UConn under the bright lights next March.
3. No NCAA Women’s Basketball Team Has Won Back-to-Back Titles Since 2016
A lot has changed since Geno Auriemma and the UConn Huskies won four consecutive titles from 2013 to 2016. No NCAA women’s basketball team has won consecutive titles since then, not even the mighty South Carolina Gamecocks, despite winning three national championships after UConn’s reign.
Auriemma is well aware of the difficulty of winning a title during this era of women’s basketball. He went eight years without a national championship after that four-peat. There are plenty of teams capable of dethroning the Huskies this coming season, including Dawn Staley’s South Carolina and Kim Mulkey’s LSU.
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