The connection UConn Huskies Head Coach Geno Auriemma and star guard Paige Bueckers share is inimitable.
And yet, when the projected first overall pick walked in on a gathering full of Auriemma’s former players, the coach let her know — in jest — just how she stacks up against the program’s icons.
“Oh what, you got one [championship] so you think you can be down here now?” Auriemma jabbed.
Former Huskie Rebecca Lobo was one of the legends in the room, and she told the full story to ESPN’s Sarah Spain on her podcast, “Good Game with Sarah Spain.”
“It’s probably [2:00 a.m.] and [Bueckers] comes down — she’s got the net on, and her championship hat on, and she comes over and it’s all the older players sitting around,” Lobo said. “And remember, this is just a couple hours after we saw [Auriemma] crying and hugging her and telling her he loves her.
“And he looks at Paige and he points at me and he said, ‘go sit next to her, you guys only have one [championship in common].’”
Auriemma, the all-time leader in wins (1,217) and championships (12) among NCAA women’s basketball coaches, has earned the right to talk that smack.
Breanna Stewart and Jessica Moore were among the other iconic Huskies in the room at the time when Auriemma teasingly humbled Bueckers — and Lobo, for that matter — for their lone championships.
They both have quite a bit more hardware: Stewart won four titles in four years with Auriemma; Moore won three.
While Auriemma’s comments could be taken the wrong way, his players know it’s all in good fun.
“That’s who he is, you know?” Lobo said of the interaction. “I felt like I was in a time warp. Like, 30 years ago it was me he was giving crap to. [That night] it’s Paige.”
