Few athletes excel in college and continue to be just as, if not more, successful in the professional league. Diana Taurasi is one of those players. Her college resume at UConn, under Geno Auriemma, was just as impressive as her legendary WNBA career in Phoenix.
During her time at UConn, Taurasi wasn’t just the best player on the team; often, she was the only player doing everything to win. Other players relying on her got so out of control that coach Auriemma had to set everyone straight.
During a conversation with Graham Bensinger in 2011, Geno Auriemma revealed that he once called out his entire team to give Taurasi some breathing space. He said:
“She had spent the entire season carrying a bunch of guys who had no business winning a championship. Against all odds, we won a national championship. Then in her senior year, she had to do it all over again, and it just caught up to her.” (4:45)
“She had to be the best point guard, the best shooter, the best rebounder, the best passer. I had her guard the opposing team’s best player every night, and it just kind of overwhelmed her after a certain point,” he added.
After Taurasi was understandably overwhelmed, Auriemma said that he felt bad for her, which led to him lashing out at the rest of the team. He urged the players to be more responsible and think about the betterment of the team like Taurasi.
During her time at UConn from 2000-2004, Taurasi made history. She won three NCAA titles from 2002-2004 and was the NCAA Tournament MOP in 2003 and 2004. Decades later, she still has a good relationship with coach Auriemma, and when she retired from the WNBA in 2024, he had high praise for her.
Geno Auriemma celebrated Diana Taurasi’s contributions to the game
Taurasi retired from the WNBA as a three-time champion, 11-time All-Star, five-time scoring title winner, six-time peak performer title winner, and many more honors. Taurasi is the all-time leading scorer in WNBA history, a position she has held since June 2017.
With 10,646 points, she sits at the top of the table with a nearly two-thousand-point gap between her and Tina Charles in second place. Widely regarded by many as the greatest WNBA player of all time, Taurasi also holds six Olympic gold medals with Team USA.
When a career so revered finally ended in 2024, Geno Auriemma had some wonderful words for her. He told ESPN’s Alexa Philippou:
It’s hard to put into words, it really is, what this means. When someone’s defined the game, when someone’s had such an impact on so many people and so many places.”
“You can’t define it with a quote. It’s a life that is a novel, it’s a movie, it’s a miniseries, it’s a saga. It’s the life of an extraordinary person, who, I think, had as much to do with changing women’s basketball as anyone who’s ever played the game,” Geno Auriemma added.
UConn WBB coach Geno Auriemma’s statement on Diana Taurasi’s retirement pic.twitter.com/5U0hB4nwvM
— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) February 25, 2025
All the points, records, gold medals, and championships aside, Taurasi’s true legacy is that she revolutionized the game when it wasn’t getting the attention it gets today. She inspired a generation to take up basketball, and the fruits of her labor can be seen flourishing in the WNBA today.
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