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0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. UConn women's basketball program has risen to an elite level in sports, beginning in the mid 1990s with their first championship win under Geno Auriemma and continuing into the modern era due to repeatedly recruiting impressive talents to Storrs, Connecticut.
The team won its record 14th championship last year, with Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd among the latest stars helping the Huskies capture the title. Previous stars have included players such as Sue Bird, Rebecca Lobo, Swin Cash, Maya Moore, and Breanna Stewart, each of whom became a WNBA star.
Bueckers, who plays for the Dallas Wings, is the latest of the former UConn players to rise to stardom in the WNBA. Following her team's 92-70 win over the Seattle Storm on Sunday afternoon, she was asked about her reaction to being part of the new UConn women's basketball documentary series, "The Dynasty: UConn Huskies."
"Obviously, I lived it and was a part of it, but to get to have it on film, to have it kind of be documented ... for me, it was I wanted other people to see like it's not always beautiful. We won the National Championship at the end, but the adversity, the hard times, the days where you don't want to show up to work anymore, like that's real," Bueckers said .
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"To be human, to embrace that and to really just fight through adversity, I feel like that's what life's all about and how it took a village. It wasn't just me; there was so many people and so many teammates and coaches and strength and conditioning staff, my doctors who helped me recover from my injuries," she said. "It really takes a village, and to have great faith, a great determination, to have great people around you, I think that's what it was all about."
Bueckers dealt with several setbacks while at UConn, including recovering from a 2021 right ankle surgery. She eventually returned to play in her sophomore season, and UConn competed for the National Championship, but they lost to South Carolina.
She tore her anterior cruciate ligament during a pickup basketball game in 2022, which ended her season. Bueckers then became a medical redshirt, watching as the team attempted to win games and have success in the NCAA Tournament without her playing, but they ultimately fell in that season's Sweet 16.
While Bueckers returned for a healthy and mostly successful junior season, it was another failed attempt to win a championship, as Caitlin Clark and Iowa eliminated UConn in the Final Four.
However, Bueckers' senior season proved a success, as she, along with talented teammates like Fudd and Sarah Strong, won the National Championship under Auriemma. She's since become a No. 1 pick in the WNBA and is currently leading the Dallas Wings towards a postseason appearance after a finish at the bottom of the standings in her rookie season.
Her path to recovery from injury setbacks and ultimately achieving success at UConn is one of many stories that fans can learn more about in "The Dynasty: UConn Huskies," a three-part docuseries, currently available for streaming on Apple TV.
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