by When fans look back on the short history of the NCAA tournament in Women’s basketball they think of two teams, the Legendary Pat Summit and her Tennessee Volunteers and current coach of the UConn Huskies Geno Auriemma. Auriemma is known as the most successful basketball coach in the history of the game due to all the accolades he’s collected. In 39 years of coaching, Geno has collected eight Naismith National coach of the year awards, nine AP national coach of the year awards and 11 national titles as head coach of the Huskies.
All those awards are in the past, Geno now faces the toughest challenge of his coaching career that goes beyond facing Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes. UConn was a surprise to be in the final four, despite the talent on the roster UConn joins NC State as an underdog in the tournaments last rounds. UConn has been plagued by injuries that has sidelined over six players on their team, this forced Auriemma to play his starters 40 minutes during tournament.
Paige Bueckers was on that list just a season ago missing her Junior season due to torn ACL that preemptively ended the Huskies season. Paige led the Huskies to a final four in her sophomore season as Huskie fans believed they found their next star. Though they may still be right missing all of last season delayed this realization for the rest of the sports world. During her absence Clark filled in that void, her stunning style of play reminiscent of Steph Curry in his Davidson days over 10 years ago took the sports world by storm making her the biggest name in college basketball.
Clarks rise to the limelight has brought the sport to new heights in terms of TV ratings, ticket sells, and social media interactions. Clark led her Iowa Hawkeyes to the National championship a year ago and has led her team back into the final four after a 41-point performance eliminating the defending champion LSU Tigers.
On Friday night the sports world is going to watch Caitlyn Clark vs Paige Bueckers who will need a career day not just to win for her Huskies but to display her talent as the premier player in Women’s college basketball. The Elite 8 game between LSU and Iowa was viewed as a Legacy game for Clark, this is could be Bueckers version of the Legacy game.
As you watch Fridays final four game of UConn and Iowa, remember that this isn’t the Huskies of old that ran away with the title every year. These Huskies are looking up at Iowa, “Most teams this time of the year are beat up, no other team has had to play their starters 40 minutes like we have” Said coach Auriemma when asked if his team is more beat up than others. This will an up-hill battle for Auriemma, Bueckers, and the Huskies as they hope to win the schools 12th title with the world watching.
