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The Weekly: Building UConn's quarter-century team
While the first team was straightforward, the second team had an abundance of candidates for only five spots.
Daniel Connolly
January 08, 2026
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Photo: Ian Bethune
Welcome to the new, re-vamped version of the UConn WBB Weekly!
When we launched in the summer of 2020, we wanted to have a once-weekly (hence the name) recap of everything that happened in the world of UConn women’s basketball. Although we made some tweaks and changes along the way, that format has remained nearly identical over the last five and a half years. It was time for a refresh.
Starting this week, The Weekly will have a new look. Instead of links and tweets anchored by a story, it’ll be a one-stop shop for everything you need to know about the Huskies — links, news, highlights, stats, history, Q&As and much, much more. No two versions of The Weekly will be the same.
Thanks for reading, we hope you enjoy.
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Top stories
UConn started 9-9 from the field and forced a turnover on the Red Storm’s first four possessions. It didn’t get much better for St. John’s the rest of the way as the Huskies cruised to an 88-43 victory.
Afterwards, Geno Auriemma seemed particularly pleased with his team’s performance.
“Our energy was incredible. I thought we were flying,” the coach said.
“Our rotations, I think today, were the best that they've been this year,” he added later.
On the third day of the new year, UConn women’s basketball rolled over Seton Hall at PeoplesBank Arena. The Huskies got a major boost with the return of KK Arnold, who missed the previous contest with a broken nose.
Building UConn’s quarter-century team
The first quarter of the 21st century is now in the books as the calendar flips to 2026. Nearly all of UConn’s success has come since 2000 — 11 of 12 national championships, all but three Final Four appearances and both record-setting winning streaks. That means there’s plenty of candidates for the program’s quarter-century team.
The first group was pretty straightforward. The second had an abundance of high-end players but only five spots.
First team
Diana Taurasi: No player in program history did more with less. She played a major role on UConn’s 2002 national championship squad — the best team in program history — then led a bunch of role players to back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004.
Breanna Stewart: Four years, four national championships, four Final Four Most Outstanding Player awards. Enough said.
Maya Moore: Statistically speaking, Moore is the best player ever to come through the program. She’s the only 3,000-point scorer and also ranks second in scoring average (19.7), second in rebounds (1,276), fourth in 3-pointers made (311) and ninth in blocks (204).
Paige Bueckers: Bueckers faced more adversity than any of the Huskies’ other generational talents, playing with significantly weaker surrounding casts while missing a season and a half due to injury. However, nobody had a better ending as she captured a long-elusive national championship in her final game at UConn.
Tina Charles: Whenever Geno lists off the best players in program history, Charles always makes the cut. She and Moore combined for the only back-to-back undefeated seasons in women’s basketball history.
Second team
Sue Bird: Only at UConn could the greatest point guard of all-time and a first-ballot Hall of Famer land on the second team.
Swin Cash: Only at UConn could a first-ballot Hall of Famer and two-time Olympic gold medalist land on the second team and then not even be the first one mentioned.
Napheesa Collier: Despite being underrated for most of her UConn career, Collier finally got her flowers during a monster senior season. It remains criminal that she wasn’t even on the list of finalists for the major national player of the year awards.
Katie Lou Samuelson: A three-time All-American, Samuelson knocked down the second-most 3-pointers in program history.
Sarah Strong: While Strong doesn’t have the resume to stack up with everyone else on this list quite yet, she certainly has the talent. Despite only being a season and a half into her collegiate career, Strong is on track to become one of the best players ever to come through the program.
In case you missed it
Why Geno wants Sarah Strong to pass less: Just as he did with Paige Bueckers and other superstars in the past, Geno Auriemma is pushing Sarah Strong to shoot more and pass less. ($)
Sarah Strong named USA Basketball’s 3×3 Female Athlete of the Year: Strong was the youngest player on Team USA's roster at the 2025 FIBA 3x3 World Cup then made the US 3x3 Women’s Series Team, which competed in France and Mongolia.
Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong land on the Wooden Award Midseason Watch List: UConn’s two superstars are on a list of 25 players up for the Wooden Award’s national player of the year trophy.
10-year anniversary: Tuesday marked 10 years since I covered my first UConn women’s basketball game — a win over Tulsa at the XL Center which Moriah Jefferson missed due to injury. Since then, I’ve reported on hundreds of games, been around for a full quarter of Geno’s tenure and finally got to cover my first national championship this past April.
UConn women’s basketball mid-season check in: I jumped on the CT Scoreboard Podcast to talk about the state of Huskies.
Mark your calendars: UConn will put its 2015 and 2016 national championship teams into the Huskies of Honor on Jan. 15 vs. Villanova. At least nine players from those squads will be in attendance.
Chasing Perfection
This week on the podcast: Megan Gauer and I discuss the Huskies’ struggles (relatively speaking) out of the winter break and dive into bracketology for the first time this season.
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Rankings and awards
AP Poll: UConn maintained its spot atop the AP Poll, picking up three more first-place votes in the process. The Huskies now own 28 of 32 possible first-place votes. Some other notables:
Shea Ralph’s Vanderbilt squad is up to No. 7 after knocking off then-No. 5 LSU.
Michigan, which fell to Washington, drops to No. 9.
Louisville rises to No. 10.
Notre Dame exits the poll after losing to Georgia Tech.
Ohio State (No. 19) and Tennessee (No. 20) remain towards the bottom of the top 25.
Carla Berube’s Princeton is up to No. 24.
Big East weekly honors: UConn didn’t bring home Big East Player or Freshman of the Week, though Sarah Strong landed on the weekly honor roll after averaging 17.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 steals in two wins.
Play of the week
Absolute cinema:
Pregame fun:
Elsewhere in the world of UConn women’s basketball
Unrivaled, the 3×3 league founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, kicked off its second season this week. There are six former Huskies on rosters: Collier (Lunar Owls), Aaliyah Edwards (Lunar Owls), Stewart (Mist), Paige Bueckers (Breeze), Tiffany Hayes (Phantom) and Azura Stevens (Rose) — though Collier will miss the campaign after undergoing surgery on both ankles.
The week ahead
UConn has just one game over the next week: A trip to Creighton on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. The Huskies and Bluejays will square off at the 17,500-seat CHI Health Center in Omaha.
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